"When I had said I was excited to see my future," Ron said at lunch. "I hadn't really thought that it might be more serious than just whether or not I made it as an Auror." Pansy's vision of Ron's life had been less dark than Draco's vision, but not by much. Again, Harry had died, and again Voldemort had worked to consolidate power, but he had done it in a much more insidious way.

Muggles hadn't been imprisoned, but there was so much anti-Muggle propaganda that there were many "unexplained" Muggle deaths. Diagon Alley and the surrounding area had been expanded as Muggles had been moved from their homes, either by force or coercion. Muggle-born students were no longer allowed at Hogwarts - something which Hermione had fumed at Ron about over dinner. It had been a secret dinner that both Blaise and Pansy had been at, as they were unable to meet in public with either of them due to Hermione being Muggle-born and Ron's blood traitor status.

"At least we were still friends," Ron said when Pansy told him about that part. "I might have assumed you would just drop us."

"We were still dating, actually," Pansy said testily.

"Even better."

"Though for the life of me, I can't see why right now." She put her nose in the air. Ron's face fell and she smirked at him. "I'm kidding."

"You really had me going for a moment there." He put his arm around her and squeezed her close.

While the six of them were still getting some strange looks from the rest of the student body, they had emboldened others to sit wherever they wanted. Neville was an almost constant fixture at the Hufflepuff table, having officially starting dating Claudia - the girl who none of the rest of them had heard of until Neville had introduced them. Ron still wasn't one hundred percent sure which one she was.

Harry was glad that this meant he could see Draco more often, but he still wished they could be more open about their feelings for each other. He knew they couldn't, but every time Ron put his arm around Pansy, or Hermione smiled at Blaise in that particular way, it hurt. He ached to be able to lean his head on Draco's shoulder, and instead had to restrict himself to resting his leg against Draco's, or finding some other subtle way of getting discreet physical contact with him.

"What did you see, 'Mione?" Ron asked, turning his attention from Pansy back to the group.

"Something not too far off of what Pansy saw. We were in hiding, trying to come up with ways to kill Voldemort, but all the time feeling like it was too late. People had already swallowed his propaganda, and so the problem was bigger than just Voldemort, with random Muggle killings and the like." She sighed. "I just don't understand it. How can people dehumanize each other like that?"

"I'm not sure it's a conscious thing," Blaise said, chewing on his bottom lip.

"Was I the only one who saw anything remotely happy?" Harry asked.

"I think so," Blaise said. "Mine was pretty bleak too."

"So the only happy future is one where I survive?"

"I would have thought that was obvious," Draco snapped. "How could any of us be happy if you're not here?"

"Well, you weren't alive in mine," Ron said. "But neither was Voldemort. A lot of people died. My vision was directly after the war, or whatever, ended. Pansy was, uh, crying over me. I'd died, you see. And there was just an entire field strewn with bodies." He shuddered. "It was awful."

"Oh god," Hermione said. "I hope it doesn't come to that." They lapsed into silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Finally Harry put his knife and fork down.

"Well," he said. "I guess we have our work cut out for us."

"What?" Draco asked. "Kill the fucker?"

"Exactly."

"Gemino," Draco said, tapping his wand on the shirt that lay on the table. A moment later, a copy appeared next to it. It was almost a perfect copy. The cut was the same, the material was the same, but the color was slightly off. It was grey, not the black that it was supposed to be. He sighed.

"Again," Hermione said. She moved the copied shirt to the growing pile at the end of the table, all of which were going to a very excited Ron when it was all done. "You're so close, Draco."

"Is it supposed to be this difficult?" he asked. Hermione frowned down at the book in front of her.

"Well, in the instructions left by the Hyslop twins, it does say that it took them a while to master the spell." Draco scrunched up his face in frustration but nodded.

"You can do it, Draco," Harry said. He caught Draco's eye and gave him an encouraging smile. Draco returned it and then squared his shoulders, turning to the shirt again.

"Gemino," he said, tapping the shirt. This time it worked. A perfect copy appeared next to the shirt on the table and Draco whooped in delight.

"Yeah!" Harry cried. He hurried over to Draco and wrapped his arms around his waist. Draco sank into Harry's arms, relieved that he had finally mastered the spell.

"Good," Hermione said. She walked over to the blackboard that was now covered in their plan to steal Hufflepuff's Cup from Malfoy Manor. She put a checkmark next to the step that read "Learn Gemino spell".

It was now the following Saturday and they had met up almost every evening from Wednesday onwards, that week to work on their plan to steal the Cup from Malfoy Manor. It was risky, certainly, but it was a solid plan and they were pleased with it. They had consulted with Professor Snape, but Dumbledore had been away for the week, so they had not run it by him. The plan had Snape's blessing however, and they felt that was probably enough. He had even helped them, in particular by supplying some Polyjuice potion, which had been Hermione's main concern.

"I mean, I could have done it again," she had said. "But it is supposed to take a month, and we only have twenty five days."

"What do you mean 'again'?" Blaise had asked.

"Your girlfriend managed to brew a perfect Polyjuice potion in our second year," Ron had said and Blaise had been properly impressed.

"I know we've been working on how to get the Cup," Pansy said, looking up from the armchair she was sprawled in, legs draped over the arm of the chair. "But I think I may have found another horcrux."

"Have you?" Blaise asked, his interest piqued. She nodded and swung her feet down. She stood up and walked over to the table where the rest of them had clustered.

"Oh, you finally got it," Pansy said, indicating the matching shirts. "Well done." She pushed one of the shirts to the side and placed Hogwarts, A History on the table. "Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem."

"Dia-what now?" Ron asked.

"Diadem," Pansy said again. "It's like a crown." Ron squinted down at the book.

"There aren't any pictures," he said.

"Well, no one actually knows what it looks like," Pansy explained. "It's known as the lost diadem of Ravenclaw, because it was lost when Rowena died."

"How can it be a horcrux then?" Ron asked. Pansy shrugged.

"Dunno," she said. "But we don't have anything else to go on right now."

"Fair," Blaise said. "Maybe some Ravenclaws know more about it. What if," he paused for dramatic tension. "It's a Ravenclaw house secret?"

"I doubt it," Hermione said. "It says here's it's been lost for centuries."

"It couldn't hurt to ask though, could it?" Harry asked. "It's not like we have any other ideas."

"Right," Pansy said. "That's it. We're throwing another sixth year party tonight."

"What?" Hermione's tone was just short of scandalized.

"Why not? Liquor them up and ask them questions. Who knows, maybe there's another amazing Ravenclaw object that is a Ravenclaw only secret."

"She's got a point, 'Mione," Harry said.

"Oh, you just want to throw another party," Hermione snapped.

"What's wrong with a party?" Blaise asked. He had made his way around the table until he was standing next to Hermione and now he swung his arm over her shoulder. "I think it's healthy for us to forget about our worries for a couple of hours every week."

"Well, when you put it that way," she said.

"Should we throw it in the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked, remembering Seamus's idea.

"Really, Harry?" Draco asked. He was still cradled in Harry's arms, but shifted so that he could look his boyfriend in the face. Or, rather, the cheek.

"Fuck it," Ron said. "Let's do it."

It was starting to become their motto.

"You are amazing," Blaise said to Hermione. They were standing side by side, looking at the impromptu elevator that Hermione had rigged in the girl's second floor bathroom. He wrapped an arm around her, pulled her close to him and then kissed her cheek.

"Oh," she said. "It was nothing." It was not 'nothing'. It had taken her the better part of the afternoon and lots of poring through architectural magic textbooks that she had gotten from the library. But it was done now, and she was rather proud of it.

"Nevertheless," Blaise said. "You're amazing." He squeezed her close again and she smiled.

"I know."

"When you came up with this idea," Draco said. "Did you remember how far away the Chamber of Secrets is from everything?" He and Harry were in the process of levitating several tables through the pipe that led to the Chamber. Ron and Pansy were not far behind them, bringing a precarious pile of chairs.

"No," Harry admitted. "But it will be fine. We're almost there as is."

"What about supplies?"

"Uh." Harry quickly checked his watch. They still had several hours before they expected any people to show up. (Seamus had all but kissed Harry when he had told him where this evening's party would be. Then he had promptly run off to tell every single sixth year he could find.) "I think the house elves can help. Dobby might, at any rate." There was a loud crack and they both jumped, nearly dropping the tables they were levitating. Improbably Dobby was there, in the middle of the pipe with them.

"You called Dobby?" he squeaked and Harry almost laughed in relief. "Did you need Dobby to take these tables somewhere?"

"Yes," Draco said. "Can you take them to the room at the end of this corridor?" Dobby bowed and snapped his fingers. The tables vanished. Harry frowned and lowered his wand.

"What?"

"Elf magic is different from ours," Draco said.

"Should we have thought of this earlier?"

"Yes, probably."

"Dobby!" Crack. "Can you also help Ron and Pansy with the chairs?"

They gave Kreacher a small bag of galleons and a list. The elf was back within the hour, clutching Seamus's undetectable extension charm altered bag which had been entirely refilled and wearing a pleased expression that he had been able to be of service.

"Why Fred and George never thought of this," Ron muttered as he pulled bottle after bottle out of the bag and placed it on one of the tables that were scattered around the Chamber.

"Well," Harry said. "I don't know if any of the school elves would have done this." Ron considered this for a moment before nodding.

"Fair point," he said. He put the last of the bottles on the table and whistled. "This is quite the haul."

"Well, I think most of the sixth years will show up," Harry said. "And perhaps a few people from other years, so I think we'll need it." Ron nodded. He looked around the Chamber, pretending that he had never seen it before and thus were seeing it for the first time. It still looked a little creepy. The basilisk skeleton remained in the middle of the room. (They had collected up all of the teeth and put them in the Room of Requirement so that no one could hurt themselves on them.) The only light came from the torches they had put up along the walls, which threw strange shadows, but it was at least better then when they had come to practice their patronus charms.

"It's still a bit gloomy, isn't it?" Harry asked, all but reading Ron's thoughts.

"Yes," Ron agreed. "But I think once we have some people in here, it will look a bit more lively."

"Ho-lee shit," Seamus cried as he walked into the girl's bathroom on the second floor. "This is incredible." Justin Finch-Fletchley was with him. The Hufflepuff looked nervous, but when Seamus snaked an arm around his waist he seemed to relax.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Harry said, beckoning them to the open pipe in the middle of the room. There was a platform levitating just inside the opening and Harry pulled both Seamus and Justin onto it. It was a squeeze with the three of them, but Seamus clutched Justin very close to himself and so they made it work. The platform descended slowly. Harry felt the side of the pipe scraping against his back and tried to crowd even closer to the other two.

"You trying to make this a threesome, Harry?" Seamus asked. His face was inches from Harry's. Harry had been so focussed on not getting scraped by the pipe that he had barely noticed.

"No," he said firmly.

"Pity."

"I'm dating someone, Seamus," Harry snapped. "As you well know."

"Oh?" This was Justin. "Who?"

"No one," Harry said quickly. He willed the elevator to descend faster, but Hermione had insisted on safety first.

"I get it," Justin said. His tone was bitter. "You'll tell Seamus, but you can't tell me."

"Seamus is my friend," Harry said before realizing this was the wrong thing to say.

"Wow. Ok. Sure, I joined Dumbledore's Army last year - before Seamus might I add - but now we're not friends. I get it." Justin tried to throw his hands up in front of himself, but found there was no room and so settled on a shoulder shimmy of sorts.

"Justin, it's not that," Harry said quickly. "It's just." He stopped, unsure of what to say next. How does one tell an acquaintance who is probably more of a friend than an acquaintance that you're dating someone who just a few months prior would have been considered an enemy? Particularly when it was supposed to be a secret. It was difficult. But Justin was frowning at him, clearly hurt, so Harry had to say something. But before he could, Justin's expression cleared and he spoke again.

"Oh! It's Draco Malfoy, isn't it?" Harry gaped at him. "I was wondering why you two were suddenly so chummy."

"I- what?" Harry spluttered. "No?"

"I see why you would want to keep it a secret," Justin carried on, ignoring Harry's outburst and instead taking it as the yes that it was. "Don't worry. I won't say anything." Harry shot him a grateful smile.

He was starting to lose track of who knew about them. Neville, Colin and now Justin? Blaise and Hermione were right. They really did need to be more careful.

"Oh, that's so cute though," Justin gushed. "You went from enemies to friends."

"Something like that," Harry said.