We've still got a few months in story before the end of the year. I wonder what I will fill it with... hm...

Looks like this is going to be fun.


Chapter 50: Wondering

Draco's POV

Draco really should have thought through his plan before jumping straight into it. Granted, he hadn't been able to think much at the time. If he had stayed in the Slytherin Common Room any longer, he would have destroyed something or someone. Sleeping wouldn't have been possible. He had felt the overwhelming need to do something. Anything. Draco had also known that there was no way that the others- Potter, Smith, and the rest of them- would stay in their own Common Rooms. They would be going after Neville. The question was one of when, and where.

He'd thought he'd been lucky to run into the group, sans Potter (even if Smith was in it), but obviously that had only been to lure him into a false sense of security.

They hadn't made it around the first bend from the Hospital Wing before Professor Snape arrived, with Neville (alive, thank Merlin, if tired- was that a sword he was holding?!), Potter, and the Weasley twins (who, strangely, seemed to be the worst off of the bunch) in tow. Everything seemed to freeze in place for a moment. Draco could feel the moment Potter's eyes locked on him. It took everything in him not to cringe.

Draco didn't hear whatever it was Professor Flitwick said. Potter spoke only moments later, her eyes like acid.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" the Gryffindor demanded. Her eyes flicked across the group. He could tell the instant she registered that Smith wasn't with them, as her face flushed red in anger as her glare returned to him. Evidently, she went with the stupid answer- it had something to do with him.

Draco made an effort to seem nonchalant, "I was just here to visit my friend. It's your lot who shoul-"

"What's wrong?" Diggory interrupted, looking between Draco and Potter. "We're lucky Smith tracked him down! He's the one who pointed us in the right direction. We never would have found where Professor Lockhart kept his captives without Malfoy's help."

Draco closed his eyes and grit his teeth, barely managing to refrain from cursing Diggory into oblivion. How would the older Hufflepuff have any idea what he had just done? He managed to stumble into outing both Draco and Smith in one go in a misguided attempt to defuse the situation.

"What."

Merlin. This was going to be bad. This was going to be so bad. The teachers were all right there, but Draco doubted it would matter too much. Even if Potter had the brain cells to hold off until there weren't any authority figures around, Draco was still going to get it. This is what he got for wanting to help.

Surprisingly, it wasn't a teacher who stepped in. It was Neville. "Haven, please. Can we just… not fight right now? Please? I'm tired." His voice was low and dull. Draco didn't know how much of it was acting, but it worked like a charm. Draco watched as Potter's anger seemed to evaporate in an instant as her attention turned to Neville.

"If you'll excuse me," Professor Snape began, his lip curling as he looked at the four Gryffindors, "I must ensure Miss Potter and her entourage do not someone get… lost on their way to the Hospital Wing." Potter shot him a glare, but none of the others reacted. Draco was surprised by the lack of reaction from the Weasley twins. Now that he looked at them, they hardly seemed to be registering anything at all. Their faces were disturbingly blank. Just what happened that had the Weasleys expressionless?

Professor Snape swept past them, the four he brought trotting behind him.

"Well, come along." Professor Sprout said after a moment. No one spoke as they continued on. Draco noticed that Diggory shot him confused looks, but he didn't ask for an explanation, thankfully. Draco was in no mood to go through the history of their conflict. It was late; he was tired. It was bad enough that Daphne would require an explanation as soon as possible- if she wasn't asleep yet, that would be the instant he returned to the Common Room.

Professor Flitwick took Lovegood and Granger upstairs for their dormitories, so Draco was left with Professor Sprout and Diggory. They stopped by what Draco assumed was the Hufflepuff dormitory on the first floor. Professor Sprout escorted Draco away before he could hear what the password might be.

He was dropped off in the dungeons before the Slytherin Common Room. Draco said the password at a sigh.

Inside, as he had dreaded, he found Daphne sitting on one of the couches with a book in her lap. The instant he stepped inside he had her attention.

"Well?" Daphne asked. Perhaps she was just tired, but he could hear her anxiety.

Draco sighed again as he slumped onto the couch beside her. "Ran into Smith and a few of the others in the halls. Went after Lockhart, found some students he kidnapped- including Thomas. Smith fainted. I caught him. Went to the Hospital Wing, reported Lockhart. He's been arrested by now. Ran into Potter, the Weasleys, and Neville on the way out. Potter hates me even more. Neville's alright, as far as I could see. The worst off looked like the Weasleys. No one's dead, even if Thomas was half-alive when we found him. I'll tell you more in the morning."

"You've been gone for… hours." Daphne whispered. Her eyes were downcast. There was a slight tremble to her hands. "I was worried you were… It was good you turned him into the Aurors. I am glad Longbottom, Thomas, and the others were found. Is Smith…?"

"Alive, if confined in the Hospital Wing." Draco answered, his lips quirking. The weirdest part of the day had honestly been that moment where he suddenly released Smith had fainted, and Draco had caught him. Draco didn't blame the Hufflepuff for acting like nothing had happened, but Draco had no intentions of ever letting it go. Ever. It was too good to pass up.

Daphne nodded. "They were lucky."


Neville's POV

Neville slept most of the next day away. He woke up around evening. Haven had already been discharged from the Hospital Wing, but Fred and George were still there. They hadn't said anything about the injuries they'd gotten in the duel against Tom Riddle, but according to Madam Pomfrey, they needed to be kept around for a day or two. Zacharias was still asleep, and showed no signs of waking up- severe magical exhaustion, Madam Pomfrey had said. The two girls that had been saved from Lockhart were awake, and for the most part doing fine. Michelangelo had woken up not long after Neville and promptly burst into tears. Madam Pomfrey had given him some potions and a little bit to eat, before Michelangelo had gone back to sleep.

Draco was the first to show up in the Hospital Wing, his friend Daphne Greengrass with him. After checking in on Blaise, they came to sit by Neville.

"Hi, Draco." Neville said with a smile. He had been surprised that Draco had gotten involved in Michelangelo's rescue. He still didn't know how he was going to talk Haven down, but for now he was glad Draco had helped. If Diggory was correct, without Draco Michelangelo would never have been found. From the state Michelangelo was in, it wasn't likely that he would have lasted much longer.

"Hello." Draco replied, his eyes glancing to the door. "Look, I… I'm sorry I got upset with you. Over looking into things. Guess I was just scared."

Neville's smile faded. "With good reason." He glanced over to the twins. Fred had migrated over to George's bed. He didn't know if they were sleeping or not. It was strange how quiet they'd been. Neville didn't like it. Their behavior was unsettling.

"What happened?" Draco asked after a few beats of silence. "Why did you get taken? And what's with the Weasleys?"

What could he say? It was hard to explain without saying anything about the Stone. Should he tell Draco about it? Greengrass was right there, and who else might overhear if he did? The idea of his secret getting out kept him quiet. Voldemort would have taken him. Who knew what would have happened? Neville feared, more than anything, other people finding out. He would be thrown into a cage, or a tower, and bled dry for the powers his blood held. Or perhaps he would be forced to make gold until he passed out from exhaustion, and then as soon as he roused he'd be at it again. Who knew what else he could do. Perhaps he'd be forced to revive the memories of all the Dark Lords and Ladies throughout history. He didn't know how he'd done it, but he'd proved he could. What other things could he do?

… Shouldn't he find out? This wasn't going to go away. He had to know and be able to control it, so something like this never happened again.

The sound of Draco clearing his throat brought Neville out of his thoughts.

"Oh, right, sorry. Just thinking." Neville explained softly. He looked to his audience and began. "Well, there's this diary that H- Alex found. It held the memory of Tom Riddle, a student at the time the Chamber of Secrets opened last time. After the most recent disappearance, I thought we should ask him more to clear up what signs went with the Chamber, and what had to do with the disappearances. Maybe he knew more he just didn't know he knew. I asked Alex about it, but she said she had Quidditch practice, so she gave the diary and I took it to the Greenhouses. Thought it would help me think."

Draco interjected, "Idiot. You knew there were two things out there, and you still thought it would be a brilliant idea to go out alone?"

"Draco." Daphne Greengrass said in an admonishing tone.

"What? I'm right, aren't I? That was a stupid thing to do." Draco argued.

Greengrass tilted her head. "Perhaps, but the damage has been done. He must have realized his mistake himself by now."

Neville gave a small smile. "Just kicked myself over it for, I don't know, every minute I was down in the Chamber of Secrets? But the danger wasn't what you would have thought. I wrote a few words in the diary, and… well… Tom Riddle appeared. He took my wand and stunned me. After that, I woke up in the Chamber of Secrets." He paused for a moment. "I won't go over everything he said, but he told me that he was a memory of a younger Lord Voldemort."

Both members of his audience gasped at the name.

"He wanted to use me to lure H- Alex down to the Chamber of Secrets," among other things, "and sure enough she turned up with Fred and George. Voldemort summoned the monster in the Chamber- a basilisk. Me and Alex got hurt, but I killed the basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor in the Sorting Hat- which a phoenix brought. The phoenix healed the two of us while Fred and George dueled Voldemort. They ended up killing him, so I think that might be part of what's wrong."

It sounded that much more unbelievable when he sat down and explained everything. Neville didn't think the omission of the Stone had much to do with it, either.

"So what about you?" Neville asked, a little uncomfortable with the way Draco was staring at him. He knew his story sounded… outlandish.

Greengrass added, "You haven't yet told me everything, either."

Draco rolled his eyes and proceeded to explain his own adventure the night before, from running into the others through getting to the Hospital Wing. It was a relief that they had gotten in and out without being caught by Lockhart. Neville imagined that if he and Haven had gone after him, he would have showed up and they would have had to fight. That was their luck. It was nice that sometimes, the bad guy could just be arrested by the adults. Last year, Neville had killed Quirrell (granted, that had been more of the Stone, really, and an accident besides), and this year the twins had had to kill Riddle. Unlike Neville, they had seen the result of that.

Neville couldn't imagine that. Having to stare at the corpse after you'd killed it. Riddle had been, what, sixteen?

"Has Smith awoken, yet?" Greengrass asked with polite, but distant, interest.

Neville shook his head, glancing over to the bed where the Hufflepuff rested. "No. Not yet. It looks like whatever he did to get you guys through the mirror really took it out of him."

"He did faint." Draco mentioned with a shrug and a smile. Neville rolled his eyes. He wouldn't be surprised if Draco brought it up at every possible moment for the next year or so.

"I seem to remember you mentioning that you caught him." Greengrass added with just the hint of her own smile. Draco made a face.

"Momentary lapse in judgement." Draco chirped.

Neville laughed with them. After his laughter died, he said. "Thank you, Draco. For helping them. Diggory said they couldn't have done it without you, and…" He glanced over to Michelangelo. "I don't know what we would have done, if Michelangelo had…" Haven never would have forgiven herself, had Michelangelo died. He had no idea how Luna would have reacted, but it wouldn't have been easy to watch. It was bad enough hearing that the first girl, Sally-Anne Perks, hadn't been found. From what little words Neville had deciphered of Michelangelo's earlier break down, the girl had died. Neville didn't know her, but he felt worse for that, almost. Did her parents know yet? Her friends? Evidently Michelangelo wasn't taking it well, and they had never been friends until being held captive together.

"You're welcome." Draco replied. He looked uncomfortable accepting the gratitude. "Well, we should be off. Who knows when Potter's going to show up. I don't want to be here when she does."

"That's probably for the best." Neville agreed. He really needed to figure out how he was going to deal with that. He didn't have a proper idea of exactly how angry she was, but it was best to be prepared. How much of that anger was now directed at Zacharias, since Diggory had told them Zacharias had been the one to get Draco? Neville hoped he was still in the Hospital Wing when Zacharias woke up, so he could warn him ahead of time.

Draco and Greengrass left the Hospital Wing, taking only a moment to check on the petrified Blaise before they made their way out.

Neville found that he was too restless to remain in bed. When Madam Pomfrey was occupied, he got up and made his way to Zacharias' bedside. He dragged a chair over and sat down, so he couldn't be accused of not resting when Madam Pomfrey inevitably noticed.

Well, he'd wanted to investigate his powers, hadn't he? Perhaps he should start with curing magical exhaustion. There was always his blood to fall back on, but he'd given Riddle form without that. What if he didn't even need to bleed to make it work? He didn't need his blood for any of the other feats he'd managed, like burning the blindfold and the earthquakes.

Would just… willing it to happen do anything? Without touching or anything? Neville tried to imagine channelling some of his power to Zacharias, of providing the other boy with some of his own energy. He tried it with his eyes closed first, and then with his gaze concentrated on Zacharias' sleeping face. Neither seemed to do anything.

Then, perhaps Neville had to have some form on contact? With the diary, he had written in it first, after all. He reached forward and gently settled his fingers on top of Zacharias' wrist. He closed his eyes and focused on the contact. He thought of it as a bridge, where Neville's energy would transfer over to Zacharias. He concentrated on that for several seconds.

He pulled his hand away as Zacharias stirred. Had it worked? The Hufflepuff certainly seemed to have a little more color than before, but that could have been Neville's imagination.

"Wha…?" Zacharias breathed as his eyes opened.

"Hello." Neville said softly.

Zacharias turned his head to look at him. "You're okay. They got you out." Neville couldn't help but smile. He had known his friends would come for him, but it warmed him all over to hear how concerned each one of them had been. His friends cared.

"They did." Neville replied. "We made it sometime late last night. You were already sleeping. You slept the day away." He glanced out of the window, which had darkened during his conversation with Draco. "It's night now, but the sun didn't go down too long ago. Everyone else is okay, relatively speaking. I think Michelangelo might need some time- so do the twins."

Zacharias nodded. He looked like he could use another few hours of sleep.

"Well, I thought I should warn you… um, when we were coming back, Professor Snape caught us and decided to take us to the Hospital Wing. We ran into the others on the way up. Including Draco. Ha- Alex… she wasn't too happy." Neville admitted. "And Diggory told her it was your idea to bring him in. I mean, I think he was just trying to help. I don't know how angry she is yet, but I thought you could use the warning."

"Great." Zacharias grunted, adjusting himself so he was sitting up. The boy rubbed his eyes and sighed. "I knew I should have lost him."

Neville replied, "He did say that without Draco, you never would have found Michelangelo and the others. Maybe she'll remember that, too. Now that she's had time to think."

"Doubtful. She's stubborn." Zacharias sighed. "Thank you for the warning. I'll figure something out, maybe."

"What are you doing out of bed?!" Neville winced. Madam Pomfrey had noticed.

Neville smiled at Zacharias as he stood back up. "I guess the conversations over for now. You're welcome." Whatever Zacharias had to say in reply was lost as Neville was escorted back to bed and ordered under no uncertain terms not to leave again until Madam Pomfrey said so. Apparently, even that little bit of movement was too strenuous.

Then again, whatever he had managed to do with Zacharias had made him a little tired. That hadn't been from walking the few paces it took to sit down again, but he supposed more rest was still in order.

Oh, well. He'd gotten to warn Zacharias about Haven and investigate more about his powers. If he was going to seriously look into it, he had to start somewhere. Maybe he could make a journal or something, to record his findings? He'd have to be careful not to write anything incriminating in it, in case someone else read it, but it would help him remember everything. Given how often he needed Haven or someone else to remember the password to get into the Common Room, it was probably a good idea.

However, that was an idea for another day. Neville had been ordered to get more rest. Madam Pomfrey was not a woman to cross.


Go Neville. Deciding it's time to quit pretending the whole Stone thing doesn't exist... you go.

Let's see if any of you can guess what I'm building up to do next chapter. Anyone? If you get it, you'll get cookies and hugs sent in spirit.