Disclaimer: We all know I don't get paid for this. =( Total bummer.


A disgusted look was plastered across Elle's face as she stared down at the outlandish invitation in her hands. Looking over at Harry and Hermione, who had also received the green envelope in the morning post, she tossed it on the table and slammed her elbow down, resting her chin in her hand.

"The things we do for Dumbledore," she sighed. "I don't want to be in the Slug Club. What a horrid name."

"I'm sure it won't be too bad," Hermione said, attempting to cheer the Potter siblings who had been hoping the invitation would never come.

"Why didn't I get one?" Ron blurted, snatching up Elle's discarded invite.

"You can go for me," Elle offered, hopefully.

"Elle, Dumbledore told us to go. Slughorn won't be happy unless he gets the both of us," Harry reminded.

"I know, I know," she huffed. She peered around the hall in search of others who had been delivered the green notice. There weren't many, apparently Slughorn was fairly picky.

"It says here the first meeting is tonight. We're to go to his office for dinner," Hermione said, reading over the instructions.

Elle groaned and Harry jabbed at her with a fork. She maneuvered as far away from him as possible on the crowded bench, allowing room for someone to slip in-between her and her brother, which Colin took advantage of right away.

Slumping her shoulders and looking around uncomfortably, she eyed Harry, who was currently eating the last of her breakfast off her plate. Normally Harry would intercept Colin before he could pull Elle into an awkward conversation, but this time he just watched on, laughing at her predicament.

Standing up before Colin had the chance to greet her she walked so she was standing behind her brother before she said, "Good luck at Slug Club by yourself."

"WHAT? You have to go!" But by the time Harry had turned around to look at her she had begun a sprint towards the exit.

He took off after her, catching her quickly and hoisting her over his shoulder so that her torso was dangling down his back he began to haul her out of the Great Hall in order to force her into submission. She was pounding on his back, demanding he let her go, and struggling awkwardly to reach for the wand she had stashed in her boot.

"And there's a Christmas party before break!" Hermione yelled loud enough so they would hear. "You have to bring a date!"

Both Potters froze, Elle in the midst of trying to punch Harry in the face, and looked around at her horrified. Harry lost his grip on Elle and she tumbled to the floor. Collecting herself she glared at Harry who was beginning to look nauseous.

"There isn't anyone I want to go with," He whispered, looking around at the faces of all the girls who were trying to get his attention.

Elle, however, found herself searching out the face of Draco Malfoy. He was seated, watching the siblings like the rest of the school. His face looked antagonized and raged all at the same time. Shaking off the pull she'd felt to look at him Elle turned on her heel and marched out of the Great Hall.

"I've got Advanced Incantations and Spells with Dumbledore," Elle told Harry, who had looked like he was going to follow her. "Ignore them and we'll figure out a date for you later."

The trek to the seventh floor was long and highly annoying for Elle. News spread like wild fire about the famous Potters needing dates to Slughorn's Christmas party and boys weren't being shy about attempting to talk to her. She managed to dodge all of their requests in a polite manner, which she was proud of.

Once she reached the corridor her classroom was in she was able to meander about much more freely and she took her time strolling toward the door, behind which Professor Dumbledore would be waiting for her.

"Hello, Professor!" Elle greeted while sitting down upon the desk in the first row, kicking her legs back and forth in front of her.

"Good morning, Elle. I trust you've been staying out of trouble after your detention?" Dumbledore said; greeting her in return, chuckling slightly.

"Trying my hardest, Headmaster," she grinned.

"I'm glad to hear it," his blue eyes twinkled as he smiled.

"What are we doing today?" Elle asked, eager to learn from the aged wizard.

"Before we begin with the lesson I would like to present a topic for your consideration," Dumbledore explained.

"What is it?" the young girl wondered.

"It is my opinion that now would be the opportune time to let your brother in on your prophecy," he told her.

"What? Why now?" Elle was taken aback by the professor's request.

"I think, dear child, that you have kept him in the dark for long enough. While I understand you do not want the weight of what you and I have deciphered it to mean weighing heavily on his shoulders I think he is ready," the headmaster stated.

"Are you sure?" Elle wanted nothing more than for him to change his mind.

"Quite sure," he responded. "The time for open warfare may be coming much sooner than we anticipated and I think though some parts of your prophecy will be difficult for Harry to come to terms with it will inevitably ease some of his worries should you two be separated for any long duration of time."

"Do you think that that will happen, Professor? Do you really think we'll be separated?" Elle asked quietly. The thought of leaving her brother and each of them having to fend for themselves was foreign to her; they had not been apart for longer than a day since Elle was born, excluding Harry's first year at Hogwarts. Remembering back to that time Elle wondered if she would be able to survive such a thing again. Living with the Dursleys alone had been torture. She was treated as a slave and beaten up by Dudley on an almost daily basis. She had never told Harry any of this while he was away; fearing he'd come back and they'd lose the chance of knowing the world they had truly been meant for.

"There is a large possibility. But let us not worry over such things now; it is time we began your lesson for the day," Dumbledore said, pulling his wand from the inside of his robes and vanishing all the furniture in the room.

"What are we learning today?" Elle muttered, picking herself up from the floor, where she had fallen when the headmaster vanished the desk she had been perched upon.

"Today we will be attempting an old piece of magic that I stumbled across while reading a book of outdated spells," he explained.

"Why bother if it's outdated?" she said, quirking her head to the side.

"I believe that it may come in handy someday," Dumbledore said. This didn't impress Elle much; she was used to him believing all sorts of ridiculous things had the potential to come in handy. Just last year he had insisted she perfected a charm that enabled her to animate trees so they could move around throughout the ground and sway in the most abnormal fashions. Once she had mastered it, charming the entirety of the Forbidden Forest's trees to line dance, she had never used it again.

"It is an old Estonian magic, created by a wizard named Paavo over two hundred years ago. Paavo never told anyone of his magic and it was not discovered until after his death, when instructions were found scrawled on the walls of his home. It is an old summoning charm," Dumbledore explained as he began writing on the board in a language Elle didn't recognize. "This charm can be used to summon one person to another; no matter where they are, how much distance is in between them, or if the one being summonsed has ever seen the place in which the other is."

"So it's sort of a mixture of the accio charm and apparition," Elle observed.

"It incorporates many of the principals of those spells, yes," Dumbledore agreed.

"It sounds strangely similar to how Voldemort uses the Dark Mark to summons the Death Eaters," she mused, beginning to grow weary of the spell. "Is this how Voldemort thought that up?"

"I had the same doubts when I first read of Paavo's spell. But there are significant differences that lead me to assume that Lord Voldemort's Dark Mark and Paavo's summons are very different; plus I do not believe Lord Voldemort would have ever taken the time to read of Estonian wizards, they would have seemed insignificant to him."

"What are the differences?" Elle asked, speculatively.

"There are several. The one I find the most comforting is that both participants need to consider each other equals and must not wish each other harm. Another difference is the activation of the charm. In order for the Death Eaters to know Lord Voldemort requires them he brands them with a mark, a painful process in and of itself, which will then burn when he wishes them to come. Paavo's summoning is more like a binding spell and will leave no marks upon you or I. Nor will it burn when being activated," Dumbledore explained.

"How does it work?" he had finally managed to get Elle interested.

"We will perform a binding ceremony. I have written what we will need to say on the board," the elderly headmaster began.

"Can't read that," Elle grumbled pointing at the board and looking at him as if he was as crazy as Ron was always claiming he was.

"That's because it is written in Estonian," Dumbledore told her as though it was obvious. "We will go over the meaning in its translated form, but it will need to be done in the native language in order for it to work properly. As I was saying; during the ceremony as we are saying the incantation we will present our wands to each other, so that we are holding them side by side. I do not know exactly what will happen, so it should be a delightful surprise."

"If this Paavo bloke had a clue what he was on about," she muttered, arching an eyebrow and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Faith and patience, Elle," Dumbledore chastised in his typical fashion. "Now the incantation translates to, 'Child, come to me in time of need. I am old. I need your strength. My child, I pledge to give you my wisdom, my guidance. To you I will come.' 'Professor, come to me in time of need. I am young. I need your guidance. Professor, I pledge to give you my youth, my strength. To you I will come.' I had to change them from Paavo's original. He did not have a version meant for a professor and student, only for friends and family members."

"It'll work the same?" Elle asked cocking her head to the side as she stared up at her teacher.

After a seconds' hesitation Dumbledore replied, "Faith and patience, Elle."

Giggling at the uncertainty of her mentor Elle skipped closer to where he was standing and readied herself to begin the ritual. Professor Dumbledore pulled his wand from beneath his clothes and held it, palm facing up, in between himself and Elle. Repeating his action Elle pulled her wand from the back pocket of the jeans she wore, and mimicked his hand's position.

"How many times has Alastor told you and Harry not to store your wands in your back pockets?" Dumbledore asked the twinkle in his eyes brightening.

"Lost count," Elle shrugged.

For several minutes Elle and Dumbledore practiced saying the incantation in its native language. Elle was struggling with getting the pronunciation correct and was glaring fiercely anywhere other than at her professor. After a half hour of the headmaster correcting her and right before she began to grow truly bored with his tutelage Dumbledore declared them finally ready to proceed with the ceremony.

"Laps, tulevad mulle aega vaja," Dumbledore began. "Ma olen vana. Ma vajan su tugevust. Mu laps, Ma luban teile minu tarkus, mu nõu. Teile ma tulen."

Scrunching her face in concentration Elle replied, "Õpetaja, tulevad mulle aega vaja. Olen noor. Ma vajan su nõu. Õpetaja, tõotan teile mu nooruses, mu tugevus. Teile ma tulen."

The wands that were held out between the two as if in offering began to move towards one another until they were ripped from the hands of their wielders and were hovering in midair of their own accord. Slowly the wands separated and it appeared as though there was a silver web holding the two together. Once they were again in the same spot they had been when they were in their owners hands Elle and Dumbledore took them back into their grasps.

"What now?" Elle asked while she held her wand up to her face in order to examine it.

"Now we practice," Dumbledore replied. He flourished his arms and began to back up in order to put distance between himself and Elle. "Now; to activate the spell I am going to say your full name and concentrate on you appearing closer to me."

"Right," Elle said. "Is the transportation going to be painful?"

Dumbledore tilted his head towards her and shrugged, "I haven't the faintest idea."

"Oh fab," Elle grumbled. "If it does I'm going to turn you into a mouse and let Mrs. Norris chase you."

"Elle Violet Potter," Dumbledore said in response, closing he eyes to better concentrate on her moving from her current position to where he wanted her.

As the headmaster said her name Elle began to feel a sharp tugging sensation behind her heart. It felt similar to that caused by a Portkey, but at the same time remarkably different. Elle could feel the connection she had to the old man before her seemingly solidify in her chest and could sense the request to appear before him. She closed her eyes and mentally answered 'alright' to the tugging in her chest. Before she even had time to doubt their ability to pull the spell off without a hitch the first time she was slamming into a completely unsuspecting Dumbledore and they were tumbling into a heap on the classroom floor.

"Oof," Elle heard a gasp of air rush from Dumbledore's mouth as she scrabbled about wildly trying to right herself. "You are kneeing me in the chest, Elle."

"I think you concentrated a wee bit too hard, Professor. Or were you trying to use me as a projectile to knock yourself over?" Elle replied. She had finally managed to disentangle her boot from where it had gotten caught in the wizard's long, silver beard and was trying to help him back to his feet.

"I dare say I may have concentrated overzealously," the professor said. "Shall we try again? I think that maybe we won't need to say anything out loud."

"Yeah, alright," Elle said, looking at him speculatively and returning to her former place on the other side of the room.

This time Elle had no warning before the tug reclaimed her chest. She contemplated the feelings again and before letting them pull her through space towards Dumbledore she looked at the spot in front of him and concentrated her mind on landing near him instead of on him.

Unfortunately the second attempt ended worse for Elle than the first had. While she did not plow into Dumbledore and she did land in the spot they had been aiming for she was dropped from high in the air onto her back. The fall winded her and she lay on the floor glaring up at the bearded wizard who was leaning over her.

"It's painful," Elle seethed, internally debating on whether he would punish her for transfiguring him into a mouse.

"Months' worth of detention with Professor Snape if you attempt to feed me to Mrs. Norris," he chortled as Elle stumbled to her feet.

"Drat," Elle said. She glided back to her original position saying, "One more go Professor. I'll concentrate on landing upright."

Their time passed quickly, Elle getting more and more aggravated that she couldn't land on her feet while Dumbledore became more and more amused watching Elle stomp across the room screaming, "One more time!"

Elle left as soon as she heard the magical bell that signaled class change without even saying her farewells to Dumbledore. She was extremely aggravated and bleeding from her left knee, not matter how hard she had tried to land upright the force of the spell threw her off balance and one body part or another would get jammed into the floor. Limping down the hallway she spotted her brother crouched on all fours behind the armor of a knight.

"What in the name of Merlin's hat are you doing?" She practically yelled.

Harry jumped, spinning around and pulling her down behind the statue with him. He was waving his hands in an attempt to convince her to be quite and gesturing back and forth from the Marauder's Map that was lying, splayed out, on the floor in front of him and the corridor.

Looking over the map Elle noticed that they, and the retreating from of Dumbledore, were the only people currently on the seventh floor. She glanced at her brother quickly and made to stand up but was stopped by Harry grabbing onto her waist in order to keep her there.

"He's in the Room of Requirements," Harry whispered dramatically.

"Who? Voldemort?" Elle giggled.

"No! Not Voldemort! Be serious, Elle! It's Malfoy!" Harry glared at his little sister.

"Didn't I tell you to stop stalking Malfoy?" Elle asked, rising her eyebrow. "The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one, Harry."

"I do not have a problem!" he seethed.

"Are you sure about that, Potter?" a third voice intruded into their conversation.

Both kneeling Potters dove for the map that had been disregarded during their squabble. Elle managed to reach it first, sitting down on top on it, as Harry squished his body as close to his sister as humanly possible. They ended up extremely uncomfortable with Malfoy still staring down at them as if their idiotic antics didn't faze him in the slightest.

"Your wand is poking me," Harry hissed at Elle.

"Good, I can't breathe. Scoot over, you are squishing me!" Elle hissed back.

"What are you two doing?" Draco questioned.

"Slumber party!" Elle exclaimed the first thing that came to her mind.

"You're having a sleep over? In a corridor? With just the two of you? Behind a suit of armor?" Draco raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Best place to have a slumber party," Harry growled, glaring at Elle as if he was trying to set her on fire.

Elle smiled widely and looked between her brother and Draco before saying, "Good quality bonding time."

She punched Harry in the arm, marginally attempting to make it look like a show of camaraderie. Harry retaliated by shoving her into the armor, which went clattering to the floor.

"I'd love to stay and see the two of you get in trouble with Filtch, but I have to be going," Draco said before taking off down the hallway to avoid the wrath of the caretaker.

Harry and Elle rushed to gather themselves from the floor and get the map from beneath the rubble of the knight. Running down the hallway they checked the map to see where Filtch was; finding the seventh floor clear of him for the moment they made their way towards the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Blast-Ended Skrewt!" Elle gasped at the Fat Lady, causing the portrait to swing open.

They stumbled through the portrait hole and into the cozy Gryffindor common room. Harry rounded on his sister and shoved her onto the couch.

"Hey! Don't shove!" Elle protested.

"You ruined my cover!" Harry yelled.

"Maybe you should quit stalking Malfoy and I wouldn't have to worry about ruing your cover!" Elle retorted.

"A slumber party?" he asked throwing his body onto the couch beside Elle who shoved him away and crawled to the opposite side.

"I thought it was much better than 'On nothing, Draco. Harry here was just STALKING you!" Elle grumbled.

"I am not stalking him!" Harry defended.

"Oh. I hadn't noticed you trying to be friends with him. Is that what you're doing?" Elle asked sarcastically.

"I… No. Of course not," Harry said, refusing to meet his sister's eyes.

"Harry, quit obsessing over Malfoy," Elle said.

"He's a Death Eater!"

"Let it go!"

"Why? Why should I?"

Elle decided she probably wasn't getting through to Harry about it so decided to change topics. Shrugging and stretching out on the sofa so that her legs were propped in her brother's lap she asked, "So have you thought of any one you'd like to take to Slughorn's Christmas party?"

"I can only think of three people I wouldn't mind going with. And they're all friends," Harry replied.

"Who are they?" Elle asked knowing her brother only had four female friends he'd be willing to spend that much time with, if you were including Elle.

"Hermione," Harry began.

"She already has a date, Harry," Elle said rolling her eyes.

"What? Who?" Harry gapped.

"I'm not sure, but after Ron acted like a total git to her she was determined to find someone to take that would bug him," she explained.

"So my other options are Ginny and Luna," Harry said.

"Yep. Who do you want to go with?" Elle asked.

"Doesn't Ginny have a boyfriend or something?" Harry inquired, thinking over the options.

"She did. She was with Dean, but they broke up a week or so ago," Elle said.

"I… I think I'll ask Luna," he muttered.

"Oooh. You like Lu?" Elle asked, trying hard not to giggle. "I thought you said there wasn't anyone you wanted to ask?"

"What? She's just a friend!" Harry insisted. He was refusing to meet Elle's eyes.

"Then why not ask Gin? She'd love to go with you," Elle told him.

"I know," Harry replied, examining his hands and trying to push Elle's legs from his lap. "I just think, I just think I'd rather go with Luna. She's good company, you know? And Gin is more like a sister, lately."

"Hopefully Ginny won't be too upset," Elle said, worried for the girl who was much like a sister to her as well. "At least you won't have to deal with Ron trying to light your pants on fire every time you look at Gin."

Harry chuckled before sobering up. Elle noticed his shoulders stiffen as he asked, "How do I ask her? Do you think she'll say yes?"

"Just ask her. It's Lu, of course she'll say yes. Luna loves to be included, she'll be ecstatic—in her own 'Loony' way of course," Elle sat up and patted her older brother on the head.

"Who are you going to take?" Harry asked.

"Neville," Elle answered simply.

"Why?" her brother looked at her quizzically.

"Neville is a great friend and he'll understand that we're just friends better than anyone else would. It's not like I could ask Colin to go as just a friend; that would be a horrible night for me," Elle cringed thinking of the idea of taking Colin to Slughorn's party.

"He's a nice guy, though," Harry stated.

"Sure, he's a good friend. Or was. I just don't want to be his girlfriend. Ugh," she said, contorting her face to show her disgust.

"Maybe you going with Neville will get the point across?" Harry looked at her hopefully.

"Maybe," Elle said. It was obvious that Elle wasn't hopeful that her choice of a date would convince Colin she wasn't interested.

Elle got up from the couch then and trudged up the stairs to her dormitory to grab her backpack and change into her school robes. Once she was back downstairs she looked over at her brother who was still sitting on the couch looking like he was about to be sick.

"She'll say yes," Elle said, leaning over the back of the couch to hug him around the neck. "I'll see you back here before the dinner."

"What does one wear to a dinner party they don't want to go to?" Elle asked Hermione and Ginny who were both gathered in her room so they could help each other prepare for Slughorn's dinner.

"Just wear a black dress and some heels," Ginny advised as she finished pulling her own gold dress over her head.

"Simple and classy," Hermione said.

"This is way too much effort to put into a party I don't want to go to," Elle grumbled, stepping into a black dress she had pulled from her wardrobe.

Several moments later Elle, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione stepped into the enlarged office of Horace Slughorn. Taking in the room Elle noticed that Slughorn was seated at the head of a long table. Along the table were students from all of the houses, most from Gryffindor and Slytherin. Harry led their party to the table, taking a seat next to Blaise Zabini. As the girls took their seats Slughorn stood from his seat and spread his arms in greeting.

"Ah, the rest of our Gryffindor friends have arrived at last. Harry and Elle Potter! It is enchanting to have you here tonight!"

"Good to be here, Professor," Harry replied politely, elbowing Elle in the ribs to ensure that she didn't ignore the potions master.

"Yes, so enchanting I can barely breathe," Elle said, rubbing her side and glowering at her older brother.

"We'll start dinner as soon as our last member arrives," Slughorn said, reclaiming his chair.

The door swung open and in strode the tall from of Draco Malfoy. He took the only seat left, across from Elle and next to the Carrow twins.

"Draco, my boy, good of you to come," Slughorn said. Draco's only response was to nod his head in the direction of the head of the table.

Slughorn looked thoroughly affronted and sputtered for a minute before saying, "Ah, yes. Dinner."

At his words there was a loud crack followed by the sounds of several feels scuttling towards the table. There were two house elves scurrying around the table, placing food on the table and plates in front of all the people seated at the table.

"So, Draco, how has your father's business been coming along?" Slughorn asked, sounding slightly awkward.

"He has been focusing on other matters lately, so he isn't having as big of hand in all of the details; though I hear it is still doing quite well," Draco answered.

The room grew quite after Draco's response, most gathered knew of Lucius' involvement in Voldemort's plans. Elle looked over at her brother to see him glaring at the Slytherin boy. Harry looked as though he was ready to jump Draco the next time he so much as opened his mouth. Placing her hand on his shoulder Elle attempted to gain his attention.

"Don't do anything stupid," she whispered.

"He just mentioned his Death Eater dad like it was normal," Harry argued.

"Harry, just clam down. You can't make a scene here; you need to get the memory!" Elle told him.

"I know. Fine, but if he does anything else…" Harry began.

"You can hex his face off, yeah, yeah. Now make nice and suck up to the Slug," Elle demanded, pushing Harry away from her.

"Professor," Harry said, in order to gain the attention of Slughorn from Cormac McLaggen. "How long have you known Headmaster Dumbledore?"

"Ah, Harry. Yes, I've known our dear headmaster for quite a long time. I worked here at Hogwarts before your parents even attended," Slughorn said. "Your mother was a favorite of mine."

"Really, Professor?" Harry asked. He was always interested in learning more about their parents.

"Yes, yes. Quite a talented witch, she was; one of the best to ever set foot in Hogwarts. Though I hear she has been overshadowed by your own younger sister, here," Slughorn said. He nodded towards Elle.

"Yes, Elle is very talented," Harry laughed.

"Tell me, Elle, what is it you and the headmaster study in your private lessons," Slughorn requested, leaning towards Elle in an eager manner.

"Oh, this and that," Elle replied evasively.

"Come, surely they are not secret," Slughorn persisted.

"Actually…" Elle was cut off by Harry poking her in the side.

"Two years ago he taught her a spell that will put someone into a coma until the caster of the spell removes it," Harry supplied.

"It's great," Ginny said. "She used it on Pansy Parkinson."

"Refused to remove it for two weeks," Hermione added, attempting not to smile.

"It was so refreshing not to have Parkinson tromping about ranting about blood purity and how pretty she was," Elle made no effort to look ashamed of what she had done. "Worth the month of detention I had to serve with Snape."

Conversation flowed on like this all while dinner was being eaten. Elle and Harry managed to rid themselves of Slughorn's full attention after Elle finally began to refuse him any more information about her lessons with Dumbledore and after Harry had offended him by mentioning memories. He had settled his attention on Blaise and several other Slytherins for the time being.

They had been sitting in Slughorn's office for an hour and a half before Elle gave in to the searing of Draco's eyes on her face. She barely had time to take in his stressed features before Harry was shuffling his chair closer to her and whispering in her ear about finding a way to get Slughorn alone.

"That sounds creepy," Elle giggled.

"I'm serious. The quicker I get it the quicker we can stop coming to these boring get togethers," Harry mumbled.

"I am board out of my skull," Elle agreed, peering around Harry to see what Slughorn was doing.

Their scheming was cut off when Slughorn clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. He then said, "Now I know it's getting rather late, but I hope you'll stay and join me for a quick nightcap."

Hermione was about to protest to a professor giving students alcohol but Slughorn proceeded to pour and hand them out over her complaints.

"To a new generation of excellence," Slughorn called to the room, raising his glass to toast.

Elle brought her glass to her lips but before she could drink the voice of Mad-Eye rang through her mind shouting, 'Constant vigilance!' So before she took a sip of the drink she muttered a spell that would reveal any tampering done to the mead. She took one look at the liquid that was beginning to turn black before shooting her arm out and knocking her brother's goblet from his grasp right before he drank from it.

"Wha…" Harry stuttered.

"Stop! Don't drink it!" Elle shouted to the room.

"Miss Potter?" Professor Slughorn asked while lowering his own cup and staring, mouth agape, at Elle.

"It's been poisoned!" Elle exclaimed right as choking sounds began to come from Ginny.

The Weasley girl was clutching her throat with one hand and attempting to stay upright by holding onto the table with her other. Her body began to convulse and she slammed to the floor, writhing in obvious pain.

"Do something! Professor, do something!" a distraught Hermione screamed from the floor, where she was crouched beside Ginny.

The shocked room began to panic then; Slytherins rushed for the door and everyone else started yelling. The portly old professor was staring numbly at the girl on the floor. The only people moving to do something were Harry and Elle.

Elle kneeled down at Ginny's head and began waving her wand above the girl and whispering quickly, trying to find a spell to stop the effects of the poison. Harry was ransacking Slughorn's private stock in search of something all while Slughorn and many others stood watching the scene, eyes filled with horror.

Finally finding what he had been searching for Harry rushed to the three girls on the floor and pried Ginny's mouth open, shoving something in and forcing her to swallow it. Within seconds Ginny's breathing began to return to normal and her body slumped to the ground and lay still.

"What happened here?" the voice of McGonagall demanded as she rushed into the room, following a very frightened Ravenclaw student. Elle took a second to thank Merlin for Ravenclaws and their intelligence; at least someone had thought to send for the Gryffindor Head of House.

"A drink was poisoned," Elle gasped. "She drank before I noticed. I should have been faster. Professor, I…"

"You did fine," McGonagall said in what was probably the most soothing voice the normally shrill and strict witch possessed. "You managed to save most from drinking it."

"What did you give her, Potter?" Slughorn asked. He seemed to have finally come to his senses as McGonagall was levitating Ginny in preparation to take her to the Hospital Wing.

"Bezoar," Harry responded.

"How did you get poisoned mead?" Hermione inquired.

"It was given to me," Slughorn rushed to say, wanting them to know no blame lay with him.

"By who?" McGonagall asked, her voice very shrill.

"Madam Rosmerta, I was going to gift it to Dumbledore for Christmas," he sputtered.

"It was Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed.

"Potter! You cannot go about making accusations like that; this is a very grave matter. It will need to be taken to Professor Dumbledore when he returns from his trip. Go back to Gryffindor tower and get some sleep!" their Head demanded. "You may all come see Miss Weasley tomorrow, as I assume she will need time to recover in the Hospital Wing."

"Yes, Professor," Hermione said. She tugged both Harry and Elle from the room and started to lead them in the direction of Gryffindor tower.

Half way there Harry jolted them to a stop. He dug into the pocket of his dress pants and pulled out his wand and the Marauder's Map.

"You two go on, I'm going to check something out," Harry said.

"Harry, McGonagall wants us to go back to the dorms," Hermione insisted. "Do you want to get in trouble?"

"You head back, 'Mione, I'll go with Harry," Elle said.

"Yes, I'm sure you'll keep him good and out of trouble," she replied sarcastically.

"I'm going to go back and talk to Slughorn," Harry lied.

"Fine, but don't get caught wondering the hall," Hermione ordered and then turned to stomp the rest of the way up to Gryffindor tower alone.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Harry muttered, jabbing the tip of his wand into the center of the map.

"What are you really doing?" Elle asked.

"I'm going to go have a talk with Malfoy," Harry replied. "He's in Myrtle's bathroom."

"Why is he there?" Elle wondered, snatching the map from her brother and watching the dot labeled 'Draco Malfoy' pace within the ghost's second floor girl's bathroom.

"Don't know, do I?" Harry said, taking off in the direction of the girl's lavatory. His wand was already drawn and his strides were so long Elle had trouble keeping up with him.

"This is a bad idea, Harry," Elle said, tugging on his arm trying to stop him.

"He poisoned that mead, I'm sure of it," Harry yanked his arm from his sister and pulled the door to the bathroom open. He put a finger to his lips and motioned Elle to draw her wand.

Elle rolled her eyes but did as he bade, as well as stowing the Marauder's Map, before following Harry into that bathroom. Draco's form came into view as they reached the part of the room that held the sinks and mirrors. He was leaning against a sink, splashing water against his face. He had removed his dress cloak and his tie; he looked to be trying very hard to hold his emotions in. Elle made the mistake of trying to move forward, having been draw by the urge to comfort the exhausted teen. Harry caught her shoulder and pulled her back abruptly, causing her heels to clatter against the marble flooring.

Draco raised his eyes to the mirror in front of him and his eyes fell upon the two Potters behind him. Harry pushed Elle aside and behind him before advancing quickly on Draco, who swirled around with his wand pointed back at Harry.

"You gave Slughorn poisoned mead!" Harry accused.

"You can't prove that, Potter!" Draco sneered, his eyes straying to the younger Potter for only a second. "Keep your nose in your own business."

"It is my business, Malfoy, if it was meant for Dumbledore," Harry retorted, taking a step closer to the taller Slytherin boy.

"Back off, Potter," Draco said in a warning voice.

"Harry, come on. Let's go," Elle said from her position several paces away from the boys.

"What are you after, Malfoy?" Harry demanded.

"None of your business, Potter. Run along," Malfoy demanded in return.

"Harry! This is silly, come on," Elle tried again.

"What goes on here is my business! Especially when it starts effecting Gryffindors!" Harry thundered.

"Yes, well all know you're the Gryffindors' bodyguard, Potter. Aren't you special? So very 'The Chosen One' of you," Draco taunted.

"Quit it, Draco! Don't taunt him," Elle said, stepping towards her brother. "Harry, please? Come on. I want to go back to the tower."

"Listen to your sister, Potter, and sod off," Draco continued, making a motion towards Elle with his wand.

Harry reacted to the gesture before noticing that Draco had not cast a spell, shouting, "Everte Statum!"

The spell hurled Draco backwards into the wall of sinks, causing them to fall from the walls and the mirrors above them to shatter and rain down around Draco. Elle began to rush forward towards Draco but the boy got up faster than she had thought possible after being thrown into a wall.

"Stupefy!" Draco shouted, thrusting his wand in Harry's direction.

"Protego!" Elle screamed, throwing the shield charm up between the two boys and keeping it there. "Harry! We're leaving, come on!"

"Expelliarmus!" Harry said waving his wand at an extremely surprised Elle, whose wand went flying cross the room.

"HEY!" Elle yelled in indignation, running across the room to fetch her wand.

Behind her Draco and her brother were trading spells in rapid succession, every spell cast more violent than the last. Her brother was sporting charred pants and Draco was soaked in the water that was spouting from the broken sinks. Elle stood watching them, unable to cast a spell to stop them without fear of hurting them further.

"QUIT!" she shouted, but neither boy paid her any attention. Harry cast another hex at Draco but missed.

"STOP IT!" she raised her voice even further as Draco aimed a jinx at her brother, who threw up a shield charm just in time to avoid getting hit by it.

"PLEASE!" Elle screamed, finally running forward to try to get between the enraged teens. Her movement distracted Draco, his face turning from determination to worry as he watched Elle run towards him.

The single second of hesitation enabled Harry to hit him, shouting, "Sectumsempra!"

Elle's feet faltered and she stumbled as she watched deep gashes appear across Draco's torso. The spell jolted his body with each new wound, throwing him off balance and causing him to fall to the floor. He landed with a thud and splash caused by the several inches of water that had accumulated on the floor.

"Draco?" Elle questioned in a voice that barely worked; her steps towards the boy causing loud splashing and clicking sounds. She reached him and fell to her knees beside him, clutching her wand in her hand, she was shaking; terrified as she watched blood pour from his wounds and mix with the water on the floor. "What was that spell, Harry? What did you do? Where did you learn it? Reverse it, quick! He's going to die!"

"I… I got it from the potions book. I didn't know what it did, I swear, Elle! I… don't know how to fix it," Harry stuttered as he approached his kneeling sister.

"Just go! Get rid of the book, Harry! 'Mione has been telling you all this time to get rid of it, you should have listened. I'll heal him, just go get rid of it!" Elle was screaming hysterically.

"I'll stay with you. We'll get rid of it later," Harry said, trying to join his sister on the ground.

"NO! JUST GO" Elle screeched, shoving him towards the door. "You can't afford to get in trouble with Snape. Just leave it to me."

Harry recognized there was no reasoning with her now and took off at a run to dispose of the book like she'd asked. Elle watched her older brother leave the room, waiting until she saw the door close to look down at the hurt boy in front of her; unknown feelings grabbing at her heart as her eyes met his and she noticed just how much pain he was in. She took him in one more time before closing her eyes and finding the strength to get her panicking emotions under control.

"I need to take your shirt off to get to the gashes," Elle mumbled, removing her heels and situating her dress around her so she was more comfortable, and pulling her hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her face so she could concentrate.

"No! I'm fine. Leave it on," Draco insisted, trying to sit up and move away from her.

"You're going to bleed to death, Draco! Let me heal you," Elle said, shoving him back down.

"Don't take my shirt off!" Draco grunted, struggling against her.

"Afraid of what I'll find on your left forearm?" Elle whispered. Looking into his eyes she noted the surprise on his face. "Draco, I'm an active member of the Order of the Phoenix, do you think we're stupid? I know what is on your arm, and I don't care. The war we're fighting isn't here. I can't let you die in Hogwarts, there is a time and a place for Death Eaters to fight The Order; here and now isn't it."

She began to unbutton Draco's shirt, careful not to cause him any additional pain, as she removed the shirt from his left arm she was careful not to touch where she knew the Dark Mark would be. She avoided his eyes, and he hers, as she flourished her wand above each abrasion whispering an intricate incantation that was slowly closing each would.

"I'm so sorry," Draco whispered, glancing at her face he noticed the silent tears streaming down her cheeks, joining the water pooled on the bathroom floor. "Why are you crying?"

"I don't know. I'm… I'm just so, so… confused," Elle said, finishing the last gash with a twist of her wrist and lowering her wand to her side. She slumped back onto her ankles and refused to look at the shirtless blond in front of her.

"About what?" Draco asked, pulling himself up to lean his back against the wall.

"You," Elle admitted.

"What about me?" Draco persisted.

"I feel a…" Elle shook her head and kept the rest of her sentence to herself. She gathered herself and stood, ready to leave the confusing boy.

"You feel connected to me?" Draco questioned, sounding like he knew the feeling.

Elle looked down at him and then at herself in the only mirror still intact and on the wall. Draco stood from the floor and stood behind her, watching their reflections. As Elle stood staring at Draco's mirror image words that and plagued her for so long sprang into her mind and tears began to spill down her face once more. Draco stepped closer to her, guiding her body to turn around to face him, he cupped her face with his rough hands and whipped the tears away as they fell.

"Harry will be so disappointed," Elle sobbed.

"What? Why? What are you talking about?" Draco questioned.

"You will betray the Dark Lord," Elle sobbed again, taking a step away from Draco.

"And that will disappoint Harry?" Draco asked, not understanding the young girl.

Elle shook her head and walked away, back to her older brother.


Sorry its been so long. =( Had a bit of writer's block I needed to work through, but I think its gone for good. Fingers crossed. lol. Leave a review to let me know what you think. =)