So my muses are being the jerks they like being... Not very fun, but I managed to bully another chapter out of myself. Yay, willpower!

So that one-shot present featuring the pairing Haven X Fred X George X Neville is out, and it turned out better than I had hoped from myself. It's called Moments in Time, and I hope everyone enjoys it!

As to Haven and Draco being friends once again, all I can say is... *SPOILERS*. That's it kiddos. Nothing more to tell you.

I own... you got it. Nothing. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 35: This Is a Warning

The section of narrative displayed below beings a few days before the Halloween of Haven Winchester's second year at Hogwarts. Our first scene places us within the library, specifically within the section designated to allow students a quiet place to study. After all, not all Common Rooms have an environment well suited to productive studying. Several second years of the house Gryffindor, accompanied by a lone Hufflepuff and two fourth year twins are seated at one of the tables provided.

"Where's Michelangelo?" asked one Hermione Granger, quick to notice the empty seat reserved for their friend.

Haven Winchester paused in her furious writing, "Now that you mention it, he's been strangely absent recently."

"That would be because he's been spending time with that Ravenclaw firstie." answered Fred Weasley.

Actually, he was not spending time with the Ravenclaw- not yet, though he was making his way to meet up with her. In the meantime, Luna Lovegood found herself in quite the predicament.

Luna's POV

Luna's first indication that she'd noticed the newcomers at all came when they kicked her pots of paint over, spilling them across the ground and her painting. However, she didn't give the upset reaction that the others seemed to be hoping for. Instead, her serene smile changed to a look of thoughtfulness as she examined her now-ruined painting.

"Hm? That is not a bad alteration- the streams of color makes for an interesting picture, don't you think?" the young girl asked, looking up to the four Ravenclaw third years standing around her.

"I suggest you stop wasting time on those ugly mud puddles, Loony Lovegood." said the girl who appeared to be the ringleader. Of all of them, she was most infested with wrackspurts and other such things that did nothing to sweeten her disposition.

She would one day join a Ministry that would exploit her and lead to her falling under an Imperius to serve a cause she'd never supported, even for all her failings.

"They're just as much of a waste of space as her, don't you think?" said a girl with very plain features.

She would watch her family die before her and then join them in death.

A boy beside her laughed, before saying, "Don't be so harsh. Her silly made-up stories are entertaining, don't you think?"

He'd become an auror and save many lives, though he'd fail to save just as many.

"She's an embarrassment to the Ravenclaw House." sneered the final boy, "I can't believe she was put here. She's more like a Hufflepuff, really. They don't mind crazies there."

He'd die an old man, realizing he'd never done anything meaningful in his life.

"Hey, Loony, do you think we should teach you a lesson on how a Ravenclaw is supposed to act?" asked one of the girls with a wicked smile.

"A lesson? What would this lesson entail?" Luna asked, a bored sort of curiosity in her voice. As an answer, the four students drew their wands.

A new voice interrupted in a pleasant tone, "I hope you four are not planning on breaking any school rules with your wands pointed so threateningly at your fellow student? That would be a ridiculous notion, would it not?"

Daphne Greengrass, Slytherin second year. Destined to lead the life of a diplomat. Blonde hair done up with great care and guarded grey eyes that revealed nothing, even at this young age. The angular features that were commonplace among aristocratic purebloods. The grace and poise expected of an Heiress to a prominent pureblood family. Overall, an ally.

"Stay out of this, Slytherin." said the ringleader, lowering her wand. "This is a matter between Ravenclaws."

"Oh, I don't mean to intrude. However, since you appear to be done here, I was wondering if I could borrow this young woman for a time?" Daphne replied, her voice perfectly polite as she glided over, coming to stand right before the ringleader, meeting the older girl's eyes. She held herself like a Queen, and every one of them saw it. Only a few moments passed in silence before the leader of the group backed down. The Ravenclaws then retreated without any further comment, leaving Luna with the Greengrass Heiress. The girl didn't say anything, pulling out her wand and cleaning up the spilled paint, before picking up the little now-empty jars. Luna herself gathered up her bag and altered painting.

As Daphne handed her the jars, Luna said, "You are worried for me. There is no need."

If the other girl was unsettled, she hid it well, "I doubt that this is the last you will see of those four."

"I most certainly will see them again." Luna hummed in agreement. The other girl's face was carefully blank.

"I am Daphne Greengrass. May I know your name?" the Slytherin asked.

Luna replied, "Luna Lovegood. It's nice to meet you. You house a refreshing lack of wrackspurts."

"I suppose that comment merits a thank you." Daphne says, the slightest touch of amusement in her eyes, "Will you be well if I take my leave?"

"Of course. I hope you live up to the potential I see in you." Luna said in her way of farewell. Thus, she set off to find Michelangelo and suggest they spend time with his friends lest they think she was monopolizing his time.

That Halloween saw much merrymaking among the main group of characters. The two Slytherins were much more subdued in comparison, but that may have just been their way. They found themselves frustrated by the lack of clues regarding their current case, but they were soon to encounter the first one, allowing them to truly begin to plan out a course of action.

Draco's POV

"Are you still worried for Neville?" Blaise, ever the perceptive one, asked as Draco picked at his food. He wasn't really feeling up to the lively feast held for Halloween, but he was hardly going to make Blaise skip a meal. He'd probably faint or something.

Draco sighed, giving up on forcing himself to eat anything, "Yes, I am. Can you stop looking at me like that now?"

"Like what?" the other boy asked.

"Like that." Draco answered, "Like you're just waiting for me to spill all of my secrets or something."

"Oh. I'm sorry, I guess. I'm not trying to make you say anything. I'm just, uh…" Blaise trailed off, attempting to think of exactly what he 'just was'.

Eventually, Draco took pity on his friend, "Concerned is the word you're looking for."

"I suppose." Blaise said indifferently, taking a sip from his goblet as his eyes strayed to Neville across the room. "Back the the previous subject. If Neville doesn't want to tell you about it, there's not much you can do. I don't think it's anything personal against you, or even me."

What annoyed Draco the most was that Blaise was probably right, as he normally was when it came to reading people. He didn't bother replying, staring off into space and attempting to block out the sounds of the other students laughing and talking. Blaise didn't do anything to attempt to regain Draco's attention, allowing him to daydream until the feast was finally over.

The pair were among the first to leave, the crowd of loud students making their way out of the Great Hall.

"Draco, there's something there." Blaise said, bringing Draco out of his thoughts to see words splayed across the wall and the immobile cat hanging beneath them. The chatter died as the blood drained from Draco's face.

It had finally started.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

"Oh, no." Blaise whispered, his hands going to his mouth as he realized what this meant. Draco's fists clenched, his brain beginning to work. They needed to figure out the culprit and the means, and quickly. Before anyone else was targeted. You could hear a pin drop as the crowd stopped moving, holding their breath.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" that was Argus Filch, shouldering his way through the crowd. When he saw his cat, Mrs. Norris, he fell back in horror.

"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" the words came out at a shriek. Then his gaze snapped to the crowded students, attempting to find a culprit.

"Who murdered my cat!" the man demanded, beginning to point to members of the crowd, "Was it you?! Or you?! I'll kill who did this! I'll-"

The voice of Albus Dumbledore cut through his tirade, "Argus!"

The crowd parted before him and the group of teachers that followed him. He approached the hanging cat, carefully detaching her from the torch bracket.

"Come with me, Argus." the man said in a commanding, yet not unkind, voice. "Students, if you'll return to your Common Rooms?"

"My office is nearest, Headmaster- just upstairs- please feel free-" that was the fraud, Lockhart, as he approached the Headmaster with an excited expression.

The Headmaster replied, "Thank you, Gilderoy."

The host of teachers hurried away, leaving a silent crowd behind. No one said anything, staring at the words.

Finally, the prefects called for the students to begin making their way to the Common Rooms. Once there, conversations finally began, everyone whispering about what had happened within the safety of the Common Room.

"We'll have to return to the scene of the crime and search for clues as soon as possible." Blaise said in a hushed voice, keeping an eye of the students nearby. "For now, just start talking at me, I don't care what about. I'm going to listen to see what everyone's saying."

Draco gave his most unimpressed look at his friend, who adopted a concentrated look as he leaned against the arm of his chair. He may have been looking at Draco, but he was no longer paying him any attention.

"Hopefully you hear something useful." Draco said, "Anyway, so we'll go look around early tomorrow, and plan from there do you think?"

He knew Blaise wasn't really listening to him, but it might help to think out loud.

"I don't think the cat was targeted in purpose- likely the mistake of a beginner, do you think?" Draco rolled his eyes when Blaise nodded absently, eyes darting to a group of sixth years talking nearby, "We'll have to figure out the cause of death, anyway. There didn't seem to be any physical harm or any visible signs of curses. That points to advanced magic of some kind… Anyway, I should have hopefully managed to convince the others to stay out of this, so we shouldn't have to look out for them in all of this mess. Unless they ignore my warning… It'll be more complicated if they do, it'll be hard enough to do this on our own without getting caught. Adding in those idiots who are about as subtle as a group of rampaging dragons would be asking to get us all killed."

Blaise nodded again, still not paying attention to what he was saying. However, Draco had expended his current thoughts.

"So are we going to be going to sleep any time soon? I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted… you're going to make me sit out here and talk to myself for hours, aren't you? I'll be getting revenge for this Blaise. You just keep nodding like an idiot." Draco continued quietly, repositioning himself to make himself more comfortable. Maybe he'd doze while waiting for Blaise to finish eavesdropping.

"Will you mind if I go to sleep?" he asked. When he got no answer, he decided to curl up and take that as a yes.

He didn't know how much time had passed before Blaise woke him again. The Common Room was mostly empty by that part aside from a few remaining stragglers.

"What'd you find out?" Draco asked, rubbing his eyes.

Blaise replied, "No one knew who the Heir was, or sounded like they might be. Mostly it was talk about how their parents had warned them to be cautious and keep their heads down, and they wouldn't be targeted. Most everyone agreed that muggleborns would be targeted… the muggleborns here seemed worried about that, however since no person's been hurt it's nothing too serious yet, only talk."

"So you kept me out here… for that." Draco said, giving Blaise another unimpressed look.

Blaise shrugged, "Any information might become important later, we just don't know. Besides, what if I'd missed something that turned out to be critical information later? Tomorrow we'll go take a look at the crime scene during dinner, I think. Hopefully something useful will turn up."

"You're way to excited about this." Draco commented.

"Not excited, really… Well, I suppose excited, but because there's finally something we can be doing about all of this. We haven't been able to do anything since you first told me about this in the first place." Blaise replied.

Draco nodded, standing up, "I'll try to be more excited tomorrow morning. Can we sleep now?"

Is it short? Yes. Did I take more time than I had wanted to? Also yes. Did I only manage to write because my sister was playing Dragon Age Origins and therefore monopolizing the time of my gaming laptop so I couldn't distract myself by taking over the world in CK2? You can't prove it (but the answer is probably yes).

Thank you for reading! I send hugs to all of you lovely humans, and hope you'll stick around for the next chapter (whenever I manage to write it).