Part 11

If Dumbledore were in the Great Hall, as Hermione thought, he would have certainly noticed the alarms he'd placed in the infirmary going off. Instead he was in his office, where the lights were brighter than usual and the walls oddly absent of any shadows. So distracted was the ancient wizard that while the alarmed sounded, Dumbledore only had eyes for the student before him.

To the unknowing eye the student was doing nothing of interest, just standing and staring into the air. The student's eyes flashed brightly then he smiled. Dumbledore responded to the odd smile with a slight nod of his head. The room dimmed to a normal level and the student blinked, his smile morphing into confusion.

In Voldemort's quarters, under the baleful gaze of his prized Lucius and Draco portrait, shadows covered the walls. These shadows were so thick and unnatural that they mocked the very natural shadows made from the fixtures and people in the room. The alarms he had placed to warn him of when Lucius awoke sounded but Voldemort didn't hear them. He was intent on the man before him while a particularly dark shadow crossed his face. The others could see nothing really different but they were nervous and the room seemed heavy. Voldemort ignored them all. The man blinked and the Dark Lord chuckled. Slightly off to his side, Bella trembled in delight.

Hermione fell back against the door. Her shocked mind scrambled for a coherent thought and blindly came up with, only Ron could have bed hair while floating two feet above the bed.

She slowly gathered her thoughts and pushed for her heart to shut-up so her brain could take over. Not a very hard task for a girl who so very often let her head govern her. After a few moments her mind was steady even if her hands still shook.

She studied the situation. There were four beds in the room and little else. There was a chair sturdy and padded, obviously made for Dumbledore's comfort during the long hours he spent within the room. She didn't see the reason for the four beds as the four boys were hovering in mid-air. She waved her hand in the air between Harry and his bed. There was nothing, just air.

When she stood on her tiptoes she could see the side of Harry's face. She objectively studied his appearance. His hair was still a slightly curled mess. She tilted her head. Wait, what was that? She moved in closer to Harry's hair and noticed it had a dark, almost blue-black color to it. She didn't remember Harry's hair having a blue tint to it before so it was new. She wondered what it meant.

She made note of it and moved on. While it was hard to tell, with him hovering in mid-air and all, Harry didn't look any taller or any heavier. The hand closest to her was on his stomach relaxed. His other hand was stretched out, palm up towards Draco next to him.

She looked back to Harry's face. His eyes were closed and his long eyelashes were twitching with slight movements. Except for the floating thing, Harry looked like Harry, not some all-powerful orb or some unknown mythical creature. Then again he had never looked like the end of all evil Dumbledore claimed he was either.

The light seemed to reflect oddly against his skin and she near about put her noise to his arm to study why. She watched closely for several seconds and then gasped. There was something beneath Harry's skin. It was bluish-green in color. She no had idea of what it could mean or what it was. Whatever it was it covered every inch of Harry's skin that she could see. It was like he had muted bluish-green glitter under his skin.

She moved from Harry to Draco. She looked to the long locks that hung in the air. Draco was going to be upset. It seemed his white-blond hair had developed more than just a tint of silver. She glanced to his pale features and watched his long lashes flutter for a moment. Then she focused on his check and leaned in. Silver, there was a silver glint to his skin. Just like Harry's except for the color.

She frowned. Hair and skin color changes were all good and fine, slightly interesting even, but there had to be more. She stood for a few seconds and looked between Harry and Draco. If there was more, she wasn't seeing it.

She looked to Blaise and fell back. She hadn't looked at Blaise until this moment and now couldn't believe it had taken so long for her eyes to fall this way. Now this was far more like what she had expected.

Blaise had changed far more than just his hair. The dark blond locks were now a fascinating mixture of browns and his light skin had darkened to a lovely caramel color. Only his facial features, which had remained the same, made it clear to her that it was Blaise at all.

She huffed and twisted her lips. He looked bloody fantastic, bugger. Even she would've been tempted to date him now. She turned away from him, dismissing him and unwilling to look any further or closer.

She turned to Ron with an inquiring eye.

Ron's hair, always unmistakable, had changed. The red was fierier now, a mixture of dark and light reds. There was even a touch of gold within the thick locks. The total result made a breathtaking change. She mindlessly let her fingers play within the locks, his hair was soft and seemed almost warm to her touch. Her thoughts caught up with her fingers and she pulled them away with a slightly guilty glance around.

She took a deep breath and moved on with her inspection. Ron's skin was still pale and yet he seemed tanner. She looked closer and his skin reflected back a golden-maroon glimmer that shifted and twisted beneath his skin. She was missing something obvious and looking at his arm she figured it out, his freckles were gone. Ron would definitely stand out among his siblings now.

She looked up to his face and all the color in hers fled. Her eyes widened, her mouth dropped in a soundless scream. Ron's eyes were open, but they weren't anything she recognized as her friend or even human. They were blood red, no white-no black, large and alien. While she stared horrified, gold colored vein-like streaks moved across the red orbs.

She backed away and bumped into Draco's leg. She turned and looked up at him. He looked back and she squeezed out a high-pitched whine. Where Draco's eyeballs had been were large silver orbs with blue veins. She nearly stumbled in her complete terror to get away.

She continued to back away and jumped when her back hit the wall. Somewhere within her she realized the noises she heard were her own muttered ramblings. Huddled against the wall she could no longer see their eyes. Those eyes had no place in the face of a human. She shivered. It felt like something not of this world had touched her soul.

It took her a few moments to start breathing regularly again.

Then they swung from their laying and floating positions to floating and standing. The movement was nearly instant and so unexpected that she choked on her own breath. She coughed and took deep shuttering breaths. She was too afraid to say anything and to afraid to move so she drew up against the wall and watched.

They stood in mid-air long enough for Hermione to get a frightening look at Harry's dark sea-green orbs with sharp veins of blue and Blaise's deep brown orbs with gold veins. She turned her head enough to look towards Ron. He didn't seem to recognize her, his face was completely blank but for those flaming orbs. She swallowed thickly.

Ron didn't see the room before him or Hermione's face. He was too busy trying to figure out what had happen to him. His body felt different. Not at all like it had, he used to fit in his body seamlessly. So much so that he'd never even thought about his body before but now that it was changed he felt it keenly. He felt tired and weak like he did after being really sick or hurt. It felt like pain had just left his body. He hoped it wasn't coming back. He also felt energized and filled with magic, like he was in the middle of using his wand for strong magic. The feeling of magic running through him was the same but it wasn't going anywhere. Yet he didn't feel the burn of hanging onto magic for too long instead he felt right with it staying. Slowly he felt his body form around him again, like he had slipped into the slot and everything made sense.

Draco swayed with the feelings at first it had been strange, wrong, but it felt natural now. He had changed. He could feel it in his bones, where the magic ran like it was his very marrow. There was more than just the magic. There was also information. If he likened the content of this new information to a book, it would've been a very large manual. He skimmed the surface of the new knowledge. Somehow he knew that if he allowed himself he could get lost in it, it was so very much it had to be taken slowly.

Harry had edged towards the knowledge, but sensing the weight of it, he mentally skipped away. He felt like there was more magic in him now than blood. At first it had felt weird, when the magic didn't recede, but he found himself growing used to it. Beneath the magic and the knowledge, he felt something. Something him and yet not him, almost like feelings, voices that were and weren't his. He began to feel the unyielding form of his body, his skin wrapped around him. He attempted to pull away from all the newness and find the part of himself that was still just plain Harry.

Blaise glimpsed at the knowledge and then pulled away, but not before mentally marking several places to touch again later. The magic, at first overwhelming, was becoming tolerable, though he couldn't image a wizard who would be comfortable holding onto this. It seemed to be apart of him and becoming more familiar by the second. When he tried, he could hear sounds, whispers that came from outside, but weren't alien. He didn't allow himself to be drawn into them or anything else instead he strived to wake up.

Hermione took several fortifying breaths. They hadn't moved again or changed at all, so she fought through her fear. She swallowed, trying to get some moisture in her mouth, and managed to croak out. "Ron? Harry?"

Like the red sea the red in Ron's eyes parted and she could see the familiar blue. The gold veins took seconds longer to retract yet when they did, she could see Ron, her friend. He blinked at her.

Harry glanced to his left and at Draco, who was rubbing his eyes, but stopped and looked to him with a smile. Harry smiled warmly back.

Blaise rolled his neck, his muscles felt stiff.

"Hermione?" Ron said and coughed, his voice felt rough. She was standing next to the wall, looking concerned. She looked shorter than he was used to. He looked down. "Ahh!"

Hermione bit off the chuckle when Ron dropped ungracefully onto the bed, the alien presence forgotten with the reappearance of her friend. She could tell it was pure Ron, with his sweet blue eyes and embarrassed flush. Seconds after Ron hit the bed Harry fell after him. Draco and Blaise did as well but they did it much more gracefully.

Dumbledore stormed down the hallway, mentally cursing the boy's timing. It was imperative that his allies be placed before the orb awoke. Then there was the matter of taking care of the present his new compatriots had gifted him with. In getting everything completed he'd lost the first precious minutes with the orb. A sacrifice he disliked but could not undo.

Blaise, Ron, Harry, and Draco noticed completely different things.

Harry's senses screamed that there was a magically heavy presence heading their way. It was the presence of someone that held magic within like they did.

Ron noticed Hermione looked different. There was a light around her, lightly yellow and mostly concentrated around her wand hand.

Blaise felt the walls around him like never before. Hogwarts had its own presence, its own voice. He ignored Hermione and everything else and walked to the wall. He paused and placed his hand to the stone. His eyes closed as he listened.

Draco felt something akin to finger nails on a chalkboard. He sat on the bed and rubbed the back of his neck, trying to figure out what it was. Something or someone wasn't where they were supposed to be, something was out of alignment. His head snapped up. "They're here, on our plane."

Harry turned from the door to Draco. "What?"

Draco walked towards him. "Can't you feel it? They're here, on our plane."

Harry closed his eyes and tried to focus, his eyebrows crinkled in concentration. Seconds after he focused on it, it hit him hard and fast. He gasped as their presences smacked him. He could feel a large number of them, both good and evil, but not where on this plane they were. He opened his eyes. "Yeah, I feel them."

Ron's eyes followed Hermione, as she moved towards Harry, the light moved with her. He felt like it was important in telling him something about her but he wasn't sure what. He glanced to Blaise, hoping for some input, but it didn't seem like Blaise would be helping out any time soon. Ron had no clue what Blaise was doing but he seemed totally into it. Ron closed his eyes and attempted to feel what had Harry and Draco so upset. After a couple of seconds, he opened his eyes and rubbed his forehead. The beings Atricia had told them about were here. They had left the plane they belonged on and crossed over to theirs. Not good news.

Hermione joined Harry and Draco. She looked between their worried faces and crinkled her eyebrows in confusion. "What's going on?"

Harry shook his head. "It's not something I can explain right now."

She huffed. "What do you mean?" It came out sounding harsher than she had intended but it hurt that they were already cutting her out. Ron joined them, but one glance at him and her previous question flew out the window. Ron was now close enough to her and near enough to Harry and Draco for it to be noticeable.

Ron jumped on the new topic with a frightened yelp. "What the hell?" Draco took one look and started laughing. Harry wasn't as mean as to start full-out laughing but he did grin.

Ron scowled at Draco and looked plaintively at Harry. "I'm short. How did this happen?"

Harry rolled his eyes, tempted to laugh at Ron just to teach him a lesson. Instead he patted Ron's arm. "You're still taller than me and Draco."

Ron moaned. "That's not saying much."

Harry's patted turned into a cuff to the topside of his head. Then he grinned, because he could cuff the topside of Ron's head.

Hermione glanced at Harry, who was beginning to look a little blue around the eyes, then to Ron. "Harry has a very respectable height."

Harry flashed her a smile, which turned into a frown when he looked at Ron. "Yeah, you prat, there are a lot of blokes in our level about my height."

Ron crossed his arms. "Yeah, but none are shorter."

"And neither are you." Harry scowled and crossed his arms. "You'll fit right in."

Draco, still chuckling, not taking this nearly as seriously as the other two, waved a hand between them. "Knock it off." He turned to Harry, "we're the perfect height." He turned back to Ron. "So you've lost a couple of inches, it's not the end of the world."

Draco glanced over to Blaise, who certainly hadn't lost any inches. He hid the smirk and was tempted to point it out to Ron that Blaise had probably gotten his missing inches. Then decided (for Harry's sake) to let Ron find out himself. He glanced between Ron and Harry and rolled his eyes. "The day I'm breaking up fights between you two is a sad day."

Ron mumbled. "It's more than a couple, it was 4 whole inches."

Harry looked him over and tilted his head. "More like 3."

Ron glowered at him.

Draco patted his arm. "See Ron, you're still inches taller than me and Harry." He looked at Harry and rolled his eyes in Ron's direction. "You can lord it over us."

Ron shook his head. "It's just not the same. I was one of the tallest guys in the school, much less our level. What's to tell me apart from every other bloke now? Or even my other siblings."

Draco sighed. "Merlin, I thought she was the drama," he waved a hand at Hermione, who scowled at him.

Hermione turned away from Draco and to Ron, determined to make him feel better. "Oh you'll stand out. Your hair's changed and you don't have freckles anymore." She smiled at him. "You look great. The height thing is barely notable."

Ron put a hand to his hair. "My hair's changed? What's it look like?" He didn't wait for an answer before looking at his arms. "Bloody hell, I'm pale." He lifted his arm to his face. "Well I'm sorta pale. What's going here?" He studied his arm, blinked and a touch of fear crossed his face before he thrust his arm in between Harry and Draco. "What's wrong with my skin?" His voice conveyed his fear.

Hermione felt a little put off that he didn't ask her. She had been about ready to tell him about that. She stepped closer to him but Ron didn't seem to notice her.

Draco and Harry looked at his arm. Harry put his nose to it and across Ron's arm, Draco and Harry's eyes met. They lean back at roughly the same time.

Draco answered. "It's okay Ron."

Harry nodded. "It's supposed to be there and if you tried you'd know that."

Ron crinkled his nose. "But I don't want to. It's too much."

Hermione budged in. "What's too much?"

Draco ignored her. "Ask a specific question towards it. Don't just start digging and you'll be alright."

Ron sighed. "Does that mean you're not going to tell me?"

Harry crossed his arms and Ron's shoulders dropped. Ron closed his eyes and a look of concentration crossed his face. A second later a smile brightened his features. "Oh, I get it."

Hermione nearly stomped her foot. "Get what?" She crossed her arms and gave Harry and Ron her intense look. "One of you had best start explaining."

Dumbledore's entrance cut off anything Ron or Harry could've come up with.

Dumbledore appeared calm with a serene smile and a hand stroking his beard. He glanced at Hermione but didn't seem surprised to see her. He nodded at her in greeting and recognition.

Hermione was so relieved not to be in trouble that she grinned at the headmaster and in her relief she missed the interactions around her.

Draco grabbed Harry's hand, trying to cut off the sub-vocal growl before it could be heard. At the same time he grabbed the back of Ron's tee shirt. Harry looked to him and Draco shook his head. Ron saw Draco shake his head and Harry frown but relent. Ron wasn't about to be put off by whatever Draco's reasons were.

Draco could see his warning to wait wasn't going to stop Ron and he sent a mental call to Blaise's back. 'Blaise, stop communing with the bloody walls and come get your Gryffindor.'

Blaise blinked and turned away from the wall. He cast a look at Draco, who looked surprised, but released Ron's tee shirt. Blaise quickly wrapped an arm around Ron's shoulders. Ron turned and looked at him and then up at him. His complete surprise stopped his attack on Dumbledore or anything else. He studied Blaise at the same time Blaise realized he was taller than Ron.

Dumbledore wasn't sure what was going on, yet the look of confusion never crossed his features. He kept his harmless and pleasant smile as he attempted to decide how to proceed. "Hello boys, welcome back."

Harry turned to Draco, putting his back to Dumbledore. Draco reached out to Harry and brushed his finger down Harry's cheek, trying to sooth the pain in those emerald eyes. He didn't turn away as he said. "Leave."

Dumbledore blinked, the only concession to his shock. "Draco,"

Hermione bit her lip, not understanding what was going on. She glanced at Ron and her stomach dropped, Ron only had eyes for Blaise. Harry was no help he didn't even look her way and Draco was looking past her to Dumbledore. Draco was so focused on the old wizard that she wasn't sure if he even remembered she was there.

Draco quirked eyebrow at the headmaster, "do you realize," he rubbed Harry's arms trying to calm them both, "that bodies are 70% water based?" Harry turned his head, his eyes crackling orbs of green and furious blue veins. Draco tapped Harry's chin, getting Harry's attention back onto him. "I suggest you shut the door after yourself." A sudden gust of wind opened the door and slammed it against the wall.

Dumbledore had taken a step back at the sight of Harry's eyes but wasn't going to give up so easily. "There are so many things we must talk about. I know things must be confusing right now, but there are many people who have been concerned and worried about you. You should speak to them."

Blaise stepped so he was in front, drawing Dumbledore and Hermione's eyes to him. "Gather Snape, Sirius, Remus, Molly and Arthur and we'll speak to them in an hour."

Dumbledore sighed, seemly concerned and sweetly muddled. He wrapped an arm around Hermione. "Come my dear."

Ron poked Blaise's side. Blaise sighed and said. "Hermione, you can return in an hour too.

She smiled sweetly at Ron and ignored Blaise.

Blaise rolled his eyes and looked to Dumbledore, who was leading Hermione from the room. "Headmaster, one more thing," Dumbledore glanced back and Blaise smirked.

"The last thing we are right now is confused."

Dumbledore nodded with an appraising gleam in his eye and shut the door.

Draco turned to Blaise. "Can we talk here?"

Blaise shrugged. "It's as good a place as any. Hogwarts is obligated to its Headmaster yet it has an obligation to us, which allows Hogwarts to grant us certain rights, such as privacy."

Harry slumped. "Good." He smirked at Draco. "70% of the body is water?" He chuckled and shook his head.

Draco shrugged. "It's true. He's lucky you didn't take his right out of him."

Harry paused, his chuckle drying up. "I could do that?"

"I image you could or even stop it from moving." Blaise said which caused Harry to glance at him.

Harry fell back, looking up at him. "What the hell happened to you?" He glanced to Draco. "He didn't look like that before, right?"

Ron answered first. "No, he didn't." Ron wasn't exactly sure what he thought about the new look. It was different, he kinda thought he liked it, but it was a little to embarrassing to admit it.

Blaise ran his fingers through his hair. The words slipped into his brain without conscious thought, and though he didn't know exactly where they came from, they felt right. So he tried to express them. "Um, Earth houses and protects everything on it, ultimately it safe guards it's elements. I don't know what that really means yet. But, I think, the orb felt this charge was necessary."

Ron poked him the chest. "You took my missing 5 inches."

Draco rolled his eyes. "You mean 3, maybe 4."

Ron scowled and swung his eyes to Draco. "Don't even."

Harry threw his arm around Ron. "We have bigger problems."

Ron sighed and looked down. "Yeah, we do, but those are big and it's a lot easier to pretend they aren't there."

"We've got to have something to say before we see them. A plan? Something?" Harry looked between them.

Draco grabbed the only chair in the room and sat down. "Harry's right. The first thing we need to decide is what we're going to tell everyone then on how we're going to get my father. After that we'll worry about the rest."

Ron dropped onto the closest bed. "My parents are going to kill me."

"One disaster at a time." Blaise interrupted.

"Draco's right though. Right after we talk to everyone, we should find Lucius." Harry dropped on the bed closest to Draco's chair.

Ron dropped his head unto his hands and staring at the floor he nodded. "Yeah, I agree. Heck, we all agree, but agreeing doesn't help me tell my mum and da that I can't help them."

Draco gazed at Ron, as much as it hurt to wait even a second to go and get his da, he tried to calm himself and think of another. Ron had to disappoint his parents, turn to them and tell them he couldn't help them. He had to tell the girl he liked that it wouldn't work out. And he had to do all that knowing the wizard he had looked up to his whole life was nothing more than a liar. Ron had to betray everything he believed in all at once and here he was telling him to hurry up already.

Draco took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Ron."

Harry jerked his head towards his best friend and after a second the confusion cleared from his face. "Oh shite Ron."

Blaise caught on at the same moment and quickly perched himself next to Ron and placed a warm, and he hoped, calming hand on Ron's back.

Ron didn't look up but he chuckled, it sounded forced and choked. "Oh Merlin, I've lost everything."

Blaise closed his eyes. He was painfully aware of the hurt underneath his hand, pouring from Ron's back. He hurt for him and couldn't think of anything to say but Draco's earlier words. "I'm so sorry."

Draco didn't feel comfortable giving Ron physical comfort but when Harry looked to him Draco nodded. His nod sent Harry to kneel in front of Ron. Sending Harry was the best he could give.

Harry placed his hand on Ron's knees. "You haven't lost everything Ron. You can't believe that. Your parents will love you no matter what and in time they'll come around."

Ron lifted his face and Harry's own eyes blurred in sympathy at seeing the tears gathered in Ron's eyes. "How can you know that for sure?"

Blaise shook his head. "Because they love you, by Merlin, Ron they'd give up anything for you. You could tell them you'd joined Voldemort and they'd still love you."

Ron nodded and wiped away the tears. "I know, but I hate hurting them. I hate turning my back on them. They need me. I did this to help them and now I'm abandoning them."

Draco shook his head. "You are not abandoning them. You are fighting a war that would surely kill them to fight. You are fighting where they cannot. Don't demean how much they love you or how good of people they are. Give them a chance."

"He's right Ron. He usually is." Harry smirked trying to get Ron to smile.

Ron gave him a watery smile. "He is huh? So I should just listen to him and everything will be okay?" It started out teasing but by the end of his sentence it was awfully close to begging.

"Yep." Harry said with soft confidence and love.

Ron looked to Blaise, who nodded. "It's true Ron. He is usually right about people but he knows shite about sports." Blaise smirked. "Can you believe he doesn't like the Chudley Cannons?"

Ron scoffed and shook his head at Draco. "That's to bad Draco." His smile gained strength. "I'm planning on making the Chudley Cannons the official team of the orb."

Draco scowled. "You wish."

Ron frowned and turned to Blaise. "We have to vote on it right?"

Blaise smiled and pulled him closer. "I would think so. You'll have my vote."

Draco scowled. "I imagine he'd have your vote if he wanted to strip naked and dance in the great hall."

Blaise frowned and looked to Ron. "Do you want us to strip naked and dance in the great hall?" Ron, blush working up from his collar, shook his head and Blaise nodded convinced. "I think I can trust him." Ron's blush completed his journey to his ears.

Harry shook his head. Something had happened during all this that hadn't been a part of bad memories, or seeing their mothers, or anything else. Somewhere along the trip Blaise and Ron had changed their relationship. In the mist of being with Draco and the minefield of his own mind he hadn't noticed. He did now though. It looked like he and Draco wouldn't have to do a thing here, they had figured it out for themselves. Smiling, Harry looked back to Draco, hoping he saw it too. Draco nodded and Harry bounced off the floor and went to him.

Harry wrapped his arm around Draco's neck and swiveled to stand behind his chair and leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Thank you." Figuring out about Blaise and Ron reminded him how Draco had been his comfort and sanity in that place.

Draco leaned his head back and Harry straightened to let him. The top of Draco's head rested against his chest and their eyes met, Draco smiled sadly and whispered back. "No, thank you."

Harry smiled.

Ron glanced at Harry and Draco then back to Blaise, only then noticing how close to Blaise he was, leaning against him and how good it felt. Then it hit him. He was never going to date Hermione. He sighed. "Damn, how am I going to tell her?"

Blaise looked away. He didn't know what to think. He knew how he felt for Ron. He'd had a crush on the boy forever, but he didn't want this if Ron didn't. He didn't want to force Ron into this. "Ah," He swallowed. "Don't feel like, well, you don't have to, um, with me."

Ron quickly turned to Blaise. That wasn't what he meant at all. He wanted to get to know Blaise. He wanted to see where this led. He grabbed Blaise's sleeve and his attention. "Hey, no, that's not what I meant. I don't want to date her, not now, maybe I never did. If I had I would have pressed it with my parents."

Blaise looked at Ron, really looked at him, trying to read his eyes, all he saw was blue. "Are you sure?"

Ron nodded and smiled. "It's about the only thing I'm sure of."

Blaise felt a great weight lift from his heart and the relief was wonderful, he smiled. "Me too."

While Harry enjoyed seeing his best friend happy, maybe even falling in love, Draco was thinking. Draco interrupted with a burst of words. "We can't tell them about Dumbledore."

Harry's eyes instantly glowed green and veins of blue crackled. "Bastard."

Ron growled, his eyes following Harry's into a change of red and gold veins. "Why the hell not? Why didn't you let me at him before?"

Draco looked at Ron's eyes and then Harry's. "Those are pretty scary looking."

Blaise nodded in agreement. "They certainly draw attention to themselves. I hope we learn to control them."

Ron hissed with impatience. "Draco."

Draco stood up and crossed his arms, turning so he could see them all. "Well they all follow him don't they? If we out him, at best there'll be chaos. At worst, he'll convince them something's wrong with us and they won't listen to a word we say. They may even believe we've been corrupted and are evil. No, we need them and we need him. We don't even understand ourselves yet. We can't afford to make him an enemy. He's too powerful. He has to believe that, while we won't help him, we aren't a threat to him."

Ron forced himself to think about it and the stagiest in him agreed with Draco, as much as he hated it. He could see Dumbledore turning everyone against them and then turning them out. They couldn't fight Dumbledore directly so he'd have them over a barrow. The only way to operate was to let Dumbledore believe they didn't know of all his schemes. His eyes slid back to blue. "I hate it, but I get it."

Harry wrapped his arms around himself, his eyes still sharply alien and angry. He didn't know if he could go on pretending to like the old liar knowing what he done. However he could easily see Dumbledore turning the others away from them. Sirius didn't always trust Dumbledore, but the level of Dumbledore's lies and schemes was certainly even beyond Sirius' belief. Harry took a deep breath as his eyes returned to their green normality. "Okay, but after earlier he's going to know something's wrong."

Blaise shrugged. "He might know something is wrong but I think he wants us around enough that he'll be willing to overlook it."

Ron agreed and added. "Besides if we stick close to the ol' jerk he might lead us to some of the others on this plane. He has to have brought them over so he has to know where they are."

Harry sighed. "Yeah, and at the very least, we'll know what one sides doing and some of the movements of the other through them."

Draco retook his seat. He was relieved the others saw where his logic had come from.

Harry, suddenly distracted, reached into his wand pocket and found nothing. He started looking around the room. "I don't have my wand."

The others checked for theirs and confirmed Harry's finding.

"Dumbledore most likely took them." Blaise bit out with narrowed eyes.

Draco straightened in his chair. "He thinks taking them will make us weaker."

"It doesn't matter. They're pretty much useless anyway." Ron offered. When the others looked at him with disbelieving eyes, Ron chuckled. "You mean I know something you all don't?"

They waited a few seconds but Ron didn't continue and Harry waved his hand in a rolling motion. "Well go on, explain."

Ron crossed his arms and smirked. "If you'd just look you'd know."

Draco rubbed his temples. "We don't have time to look up every single thing. We still have to decide what to tell them."

Ron glanced at Draco's pale and worried face. He could nearly feel the hurt and pain Draco was trying not to show and his petty grudge couldn't hold. "We don't need wands to focus magic."

"Then how do we focus where the magic goes and what it does?" Blaise asked.

Ron threw his open hand towards the head of the bed where a pillow rose in response, hovered, and then exploded. They jumped back in shock and surprise. Ron looked to them with a faint blush and shaky smile. "It's going to take some practice."

Harry brushed the feathers off himself and his hair. "You think?"

Blaise shook his head and tossed the pillow's feathers from himself to the floor. "Our elements will come easier."

"I truly hope so or we're going to kill ourselves before the others ever get a chance." Draco mumbled, trying to untangle a feather from his long tresses. Harry leaned over to help and Draco left the mess to him.

Harry made a conscious effort not to pull to hard. He knew he was still upset over having to play nice with Dumbledore and didn't want to take it out on Draco. He thought it would've been nice if Ron had at least gotten one good hit in. He threw down a feather and lifted his head. "Blaise, what were you doing at the wall earlier?"

Blaise blushed. "Would you believe communing with Hogwarts?"

Draco shrugged. "At this point, sure why not."

Harry perked up. "Really, how? Can I do it?"

Blaise tilted his head. "I don't know. I think we have different skills. Like you and water, me and Earth."

Harry nudged Draco. "How did you know about me and water? I'm just now figuring it out."

If it had been anyone else but Draco the light red twinge on his cheeks would have been called a blush, on Draco it was just a trick of the light. "The information, I looked at the basic stuff about you first."

Harry grinned. "Draco's air."

"And Ron's fire," Blaise added. Ron glanced at Blaise and shook his head with a grin. Blaise shrugged. "I wanted to know what had happened to you."

Ron didn't answer. He didn't really know what to say. He wasn't about ready to admit that maybe he had checked on Blaise first. Ron figured the best way to avoid the whole touchy-feely issue was to change the subject. "We can't confront Voldemort." Ron bounced on the bed. "Hey- I said his name without throwing up."

Harry grinned at him but it faded as his words clicked. "No, we can't."

Draco stood up, his chair rocked back with the force. He looked between them with frazzled eyes. "My Da can't wait. We have to think of something to tell them now so we can get out of here."

Harry wrapped his arms around Draco and begged Ron and Blaise with his eyes.

Blaise looked to Ron. "We know Voldemort won't give him up."

Ron nodded. "And there is a chance he knows that we can't fight him directly."

"How would he know? Dumbledore doesn't seem to." Harry brushed Draco's hair back. "I like the silver." Harry held up a strand letting it gleam in the light.

Draco smiled sadly and touched one of Harry's wild locks. "Yeah, well, I like the blue."

Blaise smiled indulgently. He was thankful Harry was there to keep Draco from losing his mind.

Ron shook his head at them, at once understanding and amused. "We don't know what Voldemort knows, so we should assume he could have different information."

"Then we'll have to go around him." Draco announced.

Blaise pinched the bridge of his nose. "It could be a disaster. We don't have enough knowledge or even control yet. We barely know what we're doing."

Harry shrugged. "Or, as Hermione would say, 'it's a learning experience'. She usually means the library but hey it's all the same thing."

Blaise rolled his eyes and threw up his hands. "Of course it is." He looked to Draco. "And of course we'll try."

Ron sighed and dropped his head, mumbling to his feet. "I just got over saying his name, but sure, a house call sounds like fun." He looked up. "So where's the evil bastard keeping house these days?"

Blaise shrugged, dismissed Harry, and looked to Draco. "Any ideas?"

Draco bit his lip turning over ideas then growled in aggravation. "I have no idea. He could be anywhere." He turned away from them and paced a couple of rounds.

Harry watched Draco's frustration grow and offered. "Would he stay with any of his followers?"

Draco paused and twisted to look at Harry. "Belle!" He grinned, crossed the few feet between them and brushed a kiss onto Harry's cheek. "He couldn't stay in their main residence, but maybe one of their other homes."

Ron shook his head. How many homes did one couple need? "Do you know which one?"

Draco mumbled and mentally counted off properties. "They've got five in England."

"Five!" Ron declared then dropped his head, embarrassed. "Sorry, but really, who needs five bleeding places to live? They can only be in one at a time."

Blaise sat down next to Ron. "That's just the way they are." He looked to Draco. "How many of those properties does the government know about?"

Draco winkled his nose in thought. "Three."

Harry grinned. "That only leaves two, is one a better choice than the other?"

Draco dropped his head onto Harry's shoulder and struggled to think of the best choice. "The house she got from my Aunt, when she died. It's grand and I don't think many people know about it." Harry rubbed his back encouragingly.

Blaise rubbed his chin. "You know that might be it. Did they ever find out who killed Andromeda?"

Draco lifted his head from Harry's shoulder and shrugged. "Either Belle or my mum, either way Belle got the smaller estate."

Harry rolled his eyes. "The goings on in your family boggles the mind. Would that be the best choice?"

Draco nodded. "I think so."

"So how are we going to get there?" Ron asked, he tilted his head, "it's not like we can floo in and ask if the dark lord lives there."

Blaise gently cuffed the back of Ron's head. Ron fixed his hair and glared at Blaise. Blaise ignored him. "Depending on where it is, we could go by broom."

Harry mumbled. "We go missing for to long and all hell will break loose. How does the orb get from place to place?"

"As a crystal ball in a box." Ron moved back before Blaise could even think about it. Blaise, instead of cuffing Ron, ran his fingers through the back of Ron's hair. Ron blushed but didn't move away and for several seconds he pushed into the hand. Seeing Harry's smirk, Ron straightened and tilted away from Blaise's calming hand, trying to hide his blush by coughing.

Blaise shook his head and moved closer to Ron so their legs touched. Ron didn't move away. Blaise grinned and promptly forgot what he was suppose to be thinking about, until Draco rubbed his eyes and hissed. "We're the orb now and we are not going to be shoved into a crystal ball, so how do we travel?"

Blaise lifted the arm that had been sneaking around Ron and instead brushed his own hair back, he concentrated on the problem and promptly disappeared.

Ron's recoiled in shock. "Blaise?"

TBC - I want to thank my reviewers, one who recently made me find this. Reviews literally keep this story alive, thank you.