A/N: Time for the magical town of Hogsmeade. I must say, as I forgot to mention it before, I have some awfully sharp reviewers. It makes me feel good that the foreshadowing that I try to include doesn't get completely overlooked. :o) And thanks again so much for all the new reviews. They make me happy!
Chapter 21
Harry was struggling. Trying to pull on a pair of trousers while still have his pajama bottoms underneath was tough. With an exasperated sigh, he yanked off the khaki trousers, took off his pajamas and tried again. Harry brushed hair out of his eyes. He'd overslept--his alarm clock had failed to go off, and the result of that was that he now had approximately ten minutes to get downstairs if he wanted to go into Hogsmeade. In fact, in reality he had even less time due to the fact that he wanted to catch Ginny before she went off with Dean.
"Damn these things," Harry grumbled, exasperatedly untwisting a pant leg.
"Harry?" Ron poked his head around the door and then laughed when he saw his friend, "What are you doing?"
"Trying to put my trousers on!"
"You're late. We're all about to leave. Ginny sent me back up here to see whether you were coming," Ron stepped into the room.
"Yeah, I'm coming. My alarm clock didn't go off," Harry said, and then looked questioningly at Ron, who, for some reason, had turned faintly pink.
"Oh...erm...well, you see, I got up early this morning and it was still dark, and well, er, I knocked your clock off the table...I didn't really think about it. Sorry," Ron looked a bit uncomfortable.
"Well don't worry about it now," Harry replied, buckling his belt and then grabbing a sweater out of his trunk as the air outside was quite crisp and chilly, "Let's go."
The two boys banged out of the portrait hole and practically hurled themselves down the main staircase into the hall, where most of the school was already assembled and looking slightly disgruntled as Filch was once again going over his list of forbidden items which had now grown to include some thousand things.
"Why does he do that every time?" Ron muttered to Harry at the foot of the stairs.
"Dunno," Harry was peering around trying to spot Ginny.
"I mean, Fred and George aren't here anymore and they were the only ones he really ever had to worry about. They've got a giant file in his office..." Ron trailed off, seeing that Harry wasn't really paying attention, "Who are you looking for?"
"Your sister. I have to talk to her about meeting up in Hogsmeade."
Ron shook his head, "She won't do it, mate. She's got Dean."
"I know, but I think she'll find a way if I let her know that it's the only chance we've got to talk about all of this."
Ron looked skeptical, but seemed to want to humor is friend, "Right. Maybe."
"Harry!" Ginny suddenly appeared next to him, "Oh good. I thought I wasn't going to be able to find you, only Ron sticks up about a mile so I just went towards him."
Harry laughed, "Where's Dean?'
"Oh somewhere over there," Ginny waved nonchalantly, "I just wondered what the plan was."
"You're going to have to meet me and Ron somewhere. There's no other way."
"Yeah, all right," Ginny didn't seem too surprised, "I figured that that's what we'd have to do. Where should we meet?"
"Let's just go to The Three Broomsticks. It'll be packed and noisy anyway so no one will notice us."
"Ok," Ginny furrowed her brow, "When? I mean, I want to be able to spend time with Dean...it wouldn't be right to just blow him off."
"Course not," Ron said sarcastically, but Ginny ignored him.
"Well technically we can be in Hogsmeade all day, so why don't we just meet after lunch?"
"That's all right then. I'd better get back to Dean. I'll see you," Ginny gave a little wave and disappeared back into the crowd of students that was just beginning to move.
"Leave it to her to say that being with Dean is more important than helping us figure out how to help Hermione," Ron stared after his sister.
"She cares about Hermione too, mate," Harry looked at his friend, "And we'll get Hermione back."
"I hope so. I sure hope so," but Ron's voice was not very optimistic.
As the crowd of students entered Hogsmeade's gates, Harry felt someone grab his arm, "Harry! I need to talk to you."
Harry turned to see Lucy clinging to his arm with all her might, "Er...all right Lucy," his mind was working fast. It would be better to meet in a popular place simply because that way Ealia couldn't take over and try anything.
Ron looked between the two, a grin on his face, "I think I'm going to head over to Zonko's...they have some stuff I'm interested in," and with that Ron left Harry and Lucy alone in the street, surrounded by the voices of other happy students.
"So...er...shall we go to The Three Broomsticks?"
Lucy hesitated, "If you don't think anyone will overhear us..."
"They won't. It's so hectic in there, no one will be paying any attention to us at all," Harry said positively.
"All right then."
Harry felt much more at ease seated at a table with a bottle of butterbeer before him, "What's going on?"
"Well, I never got to finish talking to you," Lucy looked as though she'd rather not think about the event, "The...er...well, she took over I think."
"Yeah," Harry said drily, "Yeah she did." but another thought was blooming in his mind. Ealia had said that she hadn't been keeping a close enough eye on Lucy and that she was going to have to start doing so...Harry didn't think that it had been an empty promise. So it currently presented a predicament: either Ealia was somehow not paying attention to Lucy at the moment or Ealia had gotten much sneakier about not being detected.
"I'm sorry," Lucy said softly.
"Don't worry about it. I'm fine."
"Good." There was a pause, during which both students felt a bit awkward
"Erm...there was something you didn't tell me before?" Harry prompted.
"Yeah. Well I started to. I just...I'm just afraid that I was the one who attacked Hermione."
"Yeah, I think you mentioned that before."
"Did I? I'm sorry...everything's kind of blurry from that conversation," Lucy rubbed a hand across her brow, "But you see, I have a vague memory of a bluish form hovering directly above me and then plunging into me," she paused, "It hurt so much. Then I remember sort of distantly hearing my voice say some sort of incantation or spell, there was a bunch of light, and then a thud. Maybe the whole thing was a dream? But I don't think so. It's too coincidental."
Harry was still. Everything she was saying made sense, and the fact that she had told him all of this, put to rest (at least mostly) his fears of Ealia being the one speaking, "Can you remember the spell?"
"No," Lucy shook her head miserably, "Oh Harry, I've been trying to remember but I just can't quite get it. It's hovering just on the edge of my mind but it's still out of reach. I feel awful."
"It's not your fault. You were possessed," Harry tried to reassure her.
"Yes, I know. But I just feel like I could've done something...anything...to prevent it. Why me?"
Harry had a rather good idea as why it was Lucy, however he kept that idea to himself, "Bad luck maybe. I know that doesn't help anything, but it isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself."
"Ron will blame me..." Lucy said softly.
Ron would. Lucy was right. Even though it wasn't the logical thing to do, Ron would do it anyway. Harry hadn't thought about that, "Well I won't tell Ron then."
"You won't?" Lucy raised her lovely blue eyes.
"No, I won't," Harry said firmly, "Listen, I ought to go catch up with Ron, come to think of it" then he remembered Hermione's advice about girls, he added, "You can...er...come along if you like."
"Thank you, but I think I'd rather stay here, actually. I'll see you around, Harry," Lucy gave a little smile, "Thanks for listening."
"Any time. Bye then," Harry waved and left The Three Broomsticks, meeting with cool autumn air as he went through the door.
Harry found Ron with Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom in Zonko's, looking at a new sort of Dungbomb that you could program to go off multiple times.
"Harry!" Ron said excitedly, "Seamus, Neville, and I were thinking of getting some of these...they'd drive Filch mad, they would," Ron grinned, "He wouldn't know what to do, and they're not on the forbidden items list yet."
Harry laughed in spite of himself. The vision of setting out dungbombs that would go off everytime Flich or Mrs. Norris went by, made the purchase very tempting, "Not a half bad idea, Ron."
"We could even catch Mrs. Norris and attach one to her collar...can you imagine/" Seamus snorted.
"Yeah. Well I think I'm going to get a box," Ron picked one up off the shelf and made his way through the crowd to the counter and Harry followed.
"We should probably go and try to meet up with Ginny now. It's almost one," Harry hissed to Ron as he was taking his bag from the man behind the counter.
"Yeah, all right. I'm starved anyway. Madam Rosmerta always has good things to eat," Ron agreed.
Harry and Ron made their way back to The Three Brommsticks, Harry feeling slightly silly due to the fact that he's just been there ten minutes previously. He rather hoped that Lucy would have left by now so that he wouldn't have to worry about avoiding her. However, luck was with him, it seemed, and Lucy was nowhere to be seen
"Hey Harry! Ron!" Ginny stood-up from a table tucked away in the far corner of the place.
"Hey, good. You...er...got away then?" Harry asked.
"Yeah. Dean didn't mind. We ate lunch at Madam Puddifoot's," Ginny shuddered, "Horrible place, that, but I dunno, we had a nice time. Dean said he understood that I had somewhere I had to be since he'd asked me to go with him kind of late. He figured I might have other plans," Ginny tilted her head thoughtfully, "Really understanding, actually."
"I bet," Ron didn't seem to be interested and instead fixed his eyes on Harry.
"Er...right," Harry looked between his two friends who were both looking at him intently, "I guess I ought to get started then."
"That'd be excellent," Ginny grinned.
Just then Ron's stomach gave a rather large growl, "Oh. I think I'll find something to eat...I'll be right back."
"Here," Harry dug into his pocket and brought out some change, "Get me something too, will you?"
"Yeah, all right," Ron wandered off towards the bar where Madam Rosmerta stood putting clean glasses back on the rack.
"I bet Ron couldn't wait to get over there," Ginny snorted, looking at her brother who stood talking to Rosmerta.
Harry laughed, feeling glad once again that he and Ginny were staying friends and nothing had gotten awkward since they'd decided that they weren't the best for one another in a relationship sense, "Yeah. Remember last term when he went to order a batch of butterbeers only he got so engrossed in talking to Madam Rosmerta that he forgot he was holding the tray she'd given him and dropped the lot?"
"Yes!" Ginny giggled.
"What's the joke, then?" Ron had appeared unnoticed balancing two roast beef sandwiches, three pumpkin pasties, and several bottles of butterbeer in his arms, "she wouldn't give me a tray," he grumbled. This made Harry and Ginny laugh even harder, which in turn made Ron scowl. He seemed to get over it, though, at the prospect of hearing Harry's discovery. Anything that would help Hermione out, whether he'd admit it or not, made Ron pleased.
"Got a lot to eat there, haven't you?" Ginny asked, looking pointedly at the pile in front of her brother.
"Well half of it's Harry's. Here you go, mate," Ron shoved a sandwich, a pasty, and a bottle of butterbeer at him. Harry took them gratefully and dug into the sandwich with gusto, "This is for you, Gin," Ron handed his sister a pasty and a bottle of butterbeer.
"Thanks, Ron. I guess you do have some good points after all," Ginny grinned at him.
"All right, Harry, we've waited long enough...tell us what you've found out!" Ron said impatiently.
Harry looked-up, his mouth full of roast beef. He fought to swallow it all and then took a swig of butterbeer to clear his throat, "I'm eating."
"Not now you aren't," Ginny said gleefully.
"Fine fine. I'll eat when I'm done talking. So impatient, the both of you," Harry feigned anger and then sobered, "So," he said, voice dropping a notch, "Lucy reckons--" then realizing he was about to break his promise to her, he switched mid-sentence, "Lucy's got a very interesting family situation, I'd say."
"Interesting? What do you mean?" Ginny had just taken a bite of her pasty.
"Try not to talk with your mouth full, Gin..." Ron wrinkled his nose.
"Sorry. You do it all the time. But Harry, what do you mean by interesting?"
"Well, she lives with her uncle--her mum died giving birth to her and no one knows who her dad is. Apparently this uncle of hers took her in as a favor to her mum who was his favorite sister but in actuality he doesn't like her, Lucy."
"She told you this?" Ron asked.
"Yeah. We had a long talk the other day," Harry didn't feel like explaining exactly where the long talk had gone.
"Go on," Ginny looked very interested.
"So she and her uncle live in this manor, I think she said, with house elves and everything, only her uncle's never home so she's all by herself with nobody but the elves," Harry paused, half-expecting to hear Hermione say something, but then remembered that she was the reason that they were all here.
"I don't see how this is helping us..." Ron shifted impatiently in his chair.
"Hang on, I'm getting there. It turns out that this summer she got really ill--no one knew what she had--for a couple of weeks, and during the worst bit no one was allowed to see here except her uncle," Harry waited for understanding to click with his friends but they didn't seem to get it. Well, Ginny seemed like she was getting somewhere, but Ron looked clueless, "Oh come on you two. It's fairly simple."
"Ohh," understanding suddenly dawned on Ginny's face, "During this summer you were getting visits from Ealia, and at least once she was actually a person and you think that maybe while Lucy was sick she was being used as a host for Ealia."
"Exactly," Harry smiled. Ginny looked pleased and Harry went on, "I think her uncle set it all up."
"But...why would her uncle do that? I mean I know you said that Lucy mentioned that her uncle doesn't like her, but I don't see..." Ron trailed off.
"There's more about her uncle. She told me that as far as she can tell, he's really awful, manipulative and cruel, that sort. She has no idea what he does when he's away from the house, but he's away from the house all the time and I think that he might--"
"Oh!" Ginny sat straight up in her seat as though she'd just remembered something, "A Death Eater!"
"I...well, yeah that's what I was going to say, but how...?" Harry looked at Ginny with some confusion.
Ginny blushed, "Oh, erm, I heard that Death Eaters are away from their families a lot..." or at least one Death Eater was away from his family a lot, anyway, Ginny added in her head.
"Oh. But yeah, I think that too. I'd be willing to bet that Lucy's uncle is Death Eater and I bet since he's never cared about her he volunteered to use her for Ealia, like that," Harry snapped his fingers.
"Who's her uncle?" Ron asked suddenly.
"That's the thing, I don't know," Harry shook his head.
"Yeah, we should find that out," Ginny said.
"Yeah it's probably important," Ron added, "I mean, because if it's someone we know it would be kind of helpful."
"I hadn't thought of that. Good job, Ron," Harry grinned, "Well I can try to talk to her. I dunno if she'll want to tell me though--she seemed to want to avoid it."
"I could always try. Sometimes girl talk is more effective," Ginny smiled slyly.
"If you can get his name out of her, then I'm for it," Harry said, "What about you, Ron?"
"Yeah, definitely," Ron nodded emphatically, "Anything to get Hermione fixed."
"We know, Ron," Ginny laughed.
"Look, I think Lucy might have already headed back to the castle. Let's go ahead and go back and then Ginny, you can go try to talk to her," Harry suggested, feeling that the sooner they got through this particular puzzle the safer things would be for everyone.
"Ok."
Their chairs scraped the floor as the three stood-up and made their way out into the street. The walk back to the castle was nice. It was almost possible to forget what was going on, Harry thought. Nothing happened on the return walk unless you count their passing Malfoy and him looking at Ginny with an intense gaze, but nothing happened. Ginny simply ignored him and no words were exchanged. Harry took note of it though.
Once back in front of the Fat Lady's portrait, Ginny spoke, "I'll go up first and try to find Lucy, you two go to the library or the kitchen or something. Just don't come up for a bit. You might make her nervous."
"Thanks a lot Gin," Ron shot his sister an annoyed glance.
"No, that makes sense. Come on, let's go. I wanna do something with those dungbombs."
At this, Ron cheered up substantially and went off with Harry. Ginny, left on her own, made her way up through the portrait hole. Then all was quiet and the hall deserted.
A/N: Whew. That was a lot longer than I'd originally planned on it being, but hey, I doubt you guys are complaining... :o) It might be a bit before I update again because I'm a procrastinator and I still have summer homework to do...bleh. But I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can.