Chapter 39: Choosing a Path

December 27th, 1995

Narcissa Malfoy wasn't usually invited to the meetings of the Death Eaters, but this was no ordinary meeting. Her husband was skilled enough in politics and business, but he was a terrible accountant. So when he had volunteered to act as the treasurer for the Dark Lord's war fund, he had essentially been giving the job to Narcissa. She wasn't exactly keen on the idea. The Dark Lord had been rather embarrassingly defeated last time, and Narcissa wasn't all that keen on getting too close to him unless he was certain to win.

"Fudge was at Arthur Weasley's funeral," observed Nott Sr., "That does not bode well for Fudge's continued neutrality."

"Virtually all measures against Dumbledore have ground to a halt," observed Lucius, "It happened about the same time Dumbledore was ousted as Headmaster. My guess is that Fudge overplayed his hand."

"Potter did make some sort of deal with Fudge," said Snape, "However, I had thought it only pertained to the school, as Umbridge was reigned in. If he managed to get Fudge to call off his campaign against Dumbledore, Fudge must really have overreached."

"Interesting, but irrelevant," said the Dark Lord, "He has not yet begun moving against us."

"Like us, he is almost certainly trying to make his initial moves in secret," argued Lucius. Narcissa nodded in agreement. That was the only course of action Fudge could now take.

The Dark Lord nodded.

"He has not yet taken Azkaban out of the control of the dementors," said Snape, "But eventually he will probably do so. I think we need to approach the dementors sooner rather than later, otherwise breaking our most loyal Death Eaters out will be significantly more difficult."

Narcissa nodded approvingly. That would include her sister Bellatrix, of course. Bellatrix was a bit… intense, but Narcissa would very much like to see her again.

"Make that our top priority," commanded the Dark Lord. "The Lestranges and Augustus Rookwood are among my most loyal servants. With their help we can finally begin our true campaign. What about the situation at Hogwarts? Are we any closer to breaking Potter's hold on Slytherin?"

"My son believes that Ginevra Weasley may not be as attached to Potter as has previously been reported," said Nott, "At the very least, she did not support him against Umbridge. He is going to try to approach her and convince her to stay out of things. She is a formidable witch and would be a very valuable asset."

"Given that we just killed her father, I hardly think her likely to jump ship," said Snape dismissively, "I am more inclined to believe that Ginny didn't want to make any trouble for her brother Percy, who is an assistant to the Minister, and sat out the campaign against Umbridge. I can guarantee you, my Lord, that she is absolutely loyal to Potter."

"Ginny?" said Lucius questioningly.

"She is one of my students," said Snape defensively, "And a good one too. If she'd been born into any other pureblood family we might have had a good recruit there. Unfortunately…"

"Please, we all remember how partial you are to redheads," said the Dark Lord, his voice slightly mocking.

"A-as you say, my Lord," said Severus, with a bow of his head.

Lucius was grinning. Severus had been scoring a few too many points with the Dark Lord recently. Someone needed to keep him in his place. And Lucius hadn't forgotten that Snape had told the Dark Lord about the diary. Not that he blamed Snape precisely, if Snape had held that information back he would have been punished. But Narcissa knew that Lucius was relishing this.

"How are our finances?" asked the Dark Lord.

Narcissa stepped forward. "We're in good shape, the fortunes of several pureblood families are behind us, as well as donations from the Parkinson family and Clarise Zabini. Clarise has been wanting to donate more, but it hasn't been possible yet. She is under rather close surveillance right now. Still, I would say that within a year we will be able to finance operations to begin taking over the Ministry."

There were murmurs of approval. Many people had objected to her taking this position, but Lucius had insisted. After he had been punished for losing the Dark Lord's diary, Lucius had been out of favour, and the Dark Lord had wanted him to move Draco towards being a Death Eater. In order to prevent that, Narcissa had agreed to take up this position. It seemed that most of the Death Eaters here were re-evaluating her skills.

"So soon?" said the Dark Lord.

"So long as Fudge doesn't start dropping sanctions on us," warned Narcissa, "We'll probably need imperiused agents to actually make it happen of course, but money will make that easier."

The Dark Lord smiled. "Good. Our enemies seem to have recovered a bit quicker than we expected, but they haven't made it all the way back yet. We still have the advantage. We must make use of it quickly. Macnair!"

The brutal executioner stepped forward.

"Prepare to meet with the dementors," said the Dark Lord, his face displaying a horrible rictus of a smile.

XXXXX

January 8th, 1996

Ginny's return to school was muted. She didn't really know what to expect. Was she supposed to feel glad to be back at school? Sad that she didn't have more time to grieve? Angry that Umbridge was still lurking about? She didn't really know. To be honest, Ginny just felt a bit numb.

Umbridge was up to something. She'd begun auditing classes, and things hadn't gone well with Hagrid. Still, she had shown rather remarkable restraint. Ginny supposed Hermione was right, Umbridge was building to something, and when it became obvious what she was planning it wouldn't be pretty.

Ron and Daphne had made up, largely due to Luna. Luna had been all too happy to help Daphne. Privately, Luna wasn't very optimistic about their chances as a couple though.

"Daphne and Ron just don't have anything in common," explained Luna, "Add in the fact that Daphne being rich makes Ron feel self-conscious, and it's a recipe for disaster."

"So you think a poor person can't date a rich person?" asked Ginny, her mind unconsciously drifting to Justin.

"If both parties have something to contribute to the relationship, sure they can," said Luna, "But what does Ron have that Daphne doesn't? They are too similar in all the areas where they might complement each other, and too different in the ones where similarity could help. The truth is that I think Daphne is mostly attracted to Ron because dating him annoys her father."

"Why not date a muggleborn then?" asked Ginny.

"Bryant Greengrass would probably refuse to object to Daphne dating a muggleborn on principle," said Luna, "Doing so would only confirm his daughter's worst fears. But a Weasley? Well, that's a social shocker."

"You are saying all this as an aura reader?" asked Ginny.

"I'm saying this as their friend," said Luna, "I don't need to see Ron and Daphne's auras to know they are in trouble. They are both suffering from an acute case of wrackspurts, but that's just confirming what I already thought."

And that was when Ginny realized that Luna was no longer behaving the same as she had been before. She wasn't walking around as if she was in a dream anymore. She was talking to people and seeing things concretely. Analytically, but also empathetically. All the promise that Harry had seen in her was right there, come to the surface at long last.

Luna was growing up. Oh, she still liked to spend the day hugging a friend, or hunting for strange creatures, but she was relating to people as an adult now. Part of Ginny was a bit sad at that, but part of her was also proud of her friend. Slytherin had been good for her, it had just taken a while for it to show up.

It wasn't all good though. The third day she'd been back, Ginny had faced a rather rough meeting with Nott however.

"I'm sorry about your dad," said Nott on her second day back, "If there is anything I can do for you, I'm here."

"Thanks," said Ginny noncommittally. No reason to be rude to Nott, he was doing no more or less than was polite.

"There was a matter I did wish to discuss with you," said Nott, "It has to do with Potter."

Ginny's internal alarm started going off. Was Nott trying to recruit her? Now? She suppressed her internal revulsion at the idea. This could be useful. Malfoy was quickly losing his appeal as a conduit for seeding false information.

"What about Harry?" asked Ginny.

"You've not been supporting him the way you used to," said Nott, "I was wondering if you were staking out a more neutral position."

"I'm not sure," lied Ginny, "I'm certainly not interested in making the Ministry my enemy."

"I know how you feel," said Nott, "I wish the Dark Lord hadn't returned, I don't think that his plan for the muggleborns is right. But he has returned, and I'm afraid that this time he seems to be winning again. Throwing in with Potter is a good way to make him an enemy."

"I'm already his enemy," snarled Ginny, "My family are all blood traitors. He just killed my father!"

"I know," said Nott, "And I would certainly never ask you to support him after that. I don't want to support him. But maybe, if you stayed out of his way, he wouldn't need to come after you. I like you, Ginny, and I don't want to see you hurt. Can you really trust Dumbledore after all that has happened?"

"No," said Ginny honestly. Of course, Nott didn't know that for exactly that reason they had made their own faction to fight Voldemort.

"Listen, I won't pretend that this whole thing doesn't make me uneasy," said Ginny, "I'm not sure what I want to do yet. If I do decide, I'll let you know."

"All right," said Nott, who clapped her on the shoulder. His touch made Ginny want to bathe. She couldn't believe that he thought that she would sell out her friends like that! Sadly, Ginny now had to put Nott on the Death Eater list in her head. She'd hoped he wouldn't turn, but with his family connections she supposed it had been inevitable.

That very evening there was a IUC meeting, but Ginny didn't go. She didn't want to be in a big crowd right now. She didn't exactly want to be alone, but she wasn't ready for 100 different people to express their condolences at once. So she went to the Astronomy Tower to look out across the Forbidden Forest.

"Pretty view," said a soft voice. Ginny turned to see Justin standing behind her.

"Aren't you going to the IUC meeting?" asked Ginny.

"I thought you might want some company," said Justin, "Just because you don't want to face half the school, doesn't mean you want to be alone. Though if you do…"

"No, you're right," agreed Ginny, "I don't want to be alone. I guess your life debt to me is really giving you trouble, huh?"

"Nah," said Justin, "I'd have done this anyway. Funny thing, the life debt hasn't really caused me any trouble for a while now. Maybe because what I want to do and what helps you are the same thing."

"Funny how that works," said Ginny.

"I wish I knew what to say to you Ginny," said Justin sadly, "I wish I knew how to help you. But you don't have to be alone. I'm willing to listen, whenever you need an ear."

Ginny smiled. Here was Justin, not just expressing sympathy, but actually suggesting a way he could help her. How like him.

"You know what the worst part is?" said Ginny, "I am sitting here numb, and I hate it. I hate it! Is this how I really feel, or is it part of how HE would feel? I have all these ideas in my head, and I have no idea if they are mine! I want to cry and scream and lash out! But how can I? Would that put him in charge?"

"Is that how Voldemort feels?" said Justin, "Does he feel numb? Isolated from the world?"

"Well, no," admitted Ginny, "He hates everything. I mean EVERYTHING. He hates muggles worst of all of course, but he hates the purebloods who looked down on him, the other half-bloods who were too weak to stand up to him, the muggleborns who reminded him of the muggles. It is his hate that allows him to use the killing curse whenever he wants."

"You don't hate everything," said Justin emphatically, "You loved your father. And you love the rest of your family. And you love Harry, and Hermione, and Luna. And I hope… well, I think you are at least fond of me."

"I am," said Ginny.

"The point is, being numb just means you were hurt, and hurt badly. It's too painful to feel right now, so you've stopped. That doesn't make you a monster. It makes you human." Justin put his arm around her shoulders, "You should stop doubting yourself. I trust you."

"Thanks, I…" started Ginny before turning towards him. And suddenly his face was right there, next to hers. Ginny never knew whether she made the first move or he did, but suddenly they were kissing. It seemed to go on for a long time before she pulled away.

"I'm sorry," said Justin, "I shouldn't have…"

Ginny pressed a finger to his lips. "Don't apologize," she said, "I liked it. I like you, and… and…"

And suddenly, Ginny couldn't hold it in any longer. Justin had broken through her defenses, and suddenly everything hit her all at once. Desperately clinging to Justin she began sobbing into his shoulder. He put his hand behind her head and held her close. And for the first time since her father's death, it actually comforted her.

XXXXX

"That was a good session everyone!" said Colin as the IUC began to break up for the evening, "Keep practicing your stunners, and make sure to keep an eye out for the first years!"

Harry had to admit, Colin had done a good job taking over from Daphne as club president of the IUC. It was a big change, but one that Harry now had come to see as overdue. The IUC needed to be free from Harry's own machinations, and while Colin was one of Harry's closest allies, he was doing this for his own reasons, not Harry's reasons.

"Where was Ginny?" asked Ron.

"I don't think she was up to facing the whole IUC today," said Harry.

"Justin isn't here either," noted Tracey.

As they left the Great Hall, they saw Ginny and Justin coming down from the Astronomy Tower, hand in hand. Ginny's eyes were a bit red.

"Oi!" shouted Ron, "What have you been doing with my sister!"

"Ronald!" said Daphne angrily, "That was uncalled for."

"Justin was very kindly providing an ear for me to vent too," said Ginny, "And the two of us have decided to start seeing each other."

Justin nodded, though his enthusiasm seemed a bit dampened by something.

"Good for you," said Hermione, "I've always thought the two of you might make a good couple."

"Congratulations Ginny," said Harry.

Ron seemed to eye Justin suspiciously for a moment. Then he just sighed. "Oh, fine. It's not like I can make her stop seeing you anyway," he said, his voice sounding resigned to the prospect, "Just don't be a prat, hear me Justin?"

"Anyway, it isn't Ron you need to worry about," said Fred, who had appeared out of nowhere.

"It's us," said George.

Justin seemed a bit nervous at that, Harry noted. He'd get used to it. Probably.

XXXXX

January 18th, 1996

The news came in mid January.

Everyone was at breakfast when the morning mail arrived. With the mail came the morning editions of the Daily Prophet. And the front page story was a big one:

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN

Death Eater Prisoners Freed

"Augustus Rookwood, Bellatrix Lestrange, all of them, running free," said Daphne in disbelief.

"The only good news was that they hadn't sent Barty Crouch Jr. to Azkaban yet," said Ginny.

"Crouch will never go to Azkaban now," said Harry, "Amelia Bones has been interrogating him for months, but since he managed to escape from Azkaban, technically Fudge has the power to put him to death, pending approval from the Wizengamot. I bet you he gets it after this. Amelia will just have to find another Death Eater prisoner."

"You really think so?" asked Hermione.

"Fudge will do whatever it takes to stay in power," said Harry, "Hell, look at this article. He's already saying that this might be necessary. What he needs to do is remove the dementors from control of Azkaban."

"That will be an easier sell now," admitted Daphne.

XXXXX

February 17th, 1996

The Slytherin/Ravenclaw Quidditch match was a bit of a bust. The almost complete lack of a Ravenclaw defense this year meant that Slytherin pulled away to a commanding lead right from the start. After 2 hours, Slytherin was up by 200 and Harry and Cho were actually cooperating to find the snitch. In the end, it was Harry who had caught the snitch, but not before Slytherin had gone ahead by another 50 points. Cho seemed distracted.

"Everything okay?" Harry asked as they landed.

"It's fine," said Cho, "Cedric and I, well we broke up."

Harry put a hand on one of her shoulders. "I'm sorry," he said simply, "I know you liked him."

"It's all right," said Cho, "I knew it wasn't likely to last once he left at the end of the year anyway. We left on good terms, but I would have preferred to wait till the end of the school year."

Harry nodded. He could understand that.

"Don't worry, it won't affect our work with the Army," assured Cho.

XXXXX

February 20th, 1996

Things took a much darker turn a few days later, however, as Umbridge finally played her hand.

"Umbridge made her play last night at the meeting of the Board of Governors," said Daphne, "She compiled a report showing that discipline and respect for teachers and prefects has been in decline at the school. Most of the stories in the report are completely made up, but it will take us time to prove that. Luckily, my father managed to convince the Board to recess to consider the report, but he thinks all the other members of the Board are going to vote in Umbridge's favour."

"What does she want?" asked Harry.

"She is trying to create her own system of discipline at Hogwarts," said Daphne, "Including something called the Inquisitorial Squad, which would effectively overrule the prefects."

"Damn it," said Harry, "She's still playing games with us."

"My father has already gone to see McGonagall," said Daphne, "His hope is that he can convince her to partially implement this plan so that she can still exert some authority over it."

Indeed, a few days later the plan that was announced was similar to this one, but it had some crucial differences. While the Inquisitorial Squad was given the right to hand out point deductions and detentions, they didn't have the assumption of impartiality that a teacher would. Both the Deputy Headmaster and Headmistress could overrule any punishment if they had reason to suspect it was fraudulent. All punishments leveled against prefects and the Head Boy and Girl would have to be approved by either Flitwick or McGonagall as well. And finally, if a prefect was present for the supposed infraction and disagreed with a member of the Inquisitorial Squad's punishment, the whole matter would be decided by the Deputy Headmaster. McGonagall made it clear that any member of the Inquisitorial Squad committing any rules infraction would be punished harshly, and could be removed from the squad.

Still, it meant that the lower years would be almost completely given over to the Inquisitorial Squad, as long as the Squad stuck to legitimate sounding punishments. Colin openly told the students in the IUC not to travel alone, as the only defense they had was traveling in large enough groups to discredit the accounts of the members of the Inquisitorial Squad. Umbridge, of course, seemed to only pick members of the squad from Malfoy's dwindling list of supporters of pureblood rights. Nott joined the squad, which Harry had found surprising. He'd thought the boy was all right, but Nott's encounter with Ginny and now this made Harry reconsider.

Nott hadn't visibly reacted to Ginny dating Justin, but Harry assumed he wouldn't be very happy about it. His lack of response was worrisome to Harry, but Ginny was just relieved that he hadn't caused a fuss. However she had started complaining about Snape again, but this time not for giving her trouble. He'd started needling Justin. That was very worrisome, though Harry had heard other stories of Snape harassing members of other houses who were dating Slytherins, so he couldn't be sure this was specific to Ginny. He hadn't been any worse to Ron when he had started dating Daphne, but part of that might have been that Snape already really hated Ron anyway and there was basically no way to treat him worse.

The school year slowly turned into March. Ginny was getting anxious as Hermione had still not made a decision about what to do about trying to trap the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. Harry was fine with her taking her time though. And then, one day in mid March, it all came to a head.

XXXXX

March 14th, 1996

The triumvirate was having a meeting in Harry and Hermione's room, and it wasn't going well.

"We're running out of time!" snapped Ginny angrily, "Eventually, someone is going to check whether the prophecy is still there, and when that happens, our opportunity goes out the window!"

"You're talking about killing people!" retorted Hermione, "I'm not going to commit to anything like that unless I'm sure it's the right option! And I am not sure."

"Well you need to get there!" said Ginny, "We need you to be able to make these sorts of decisions without you locking up for months!"

"Whoah, calm down," said Harry, trying to project calm, "This isn't getting us anywhere. I appreciate your desire to be certain about this Hermione, I really do. And this is a very important decision, so it shouldn't be rushed. Still, if we don't move soon, we won't even be able to capture any Death Eaters."

"Maybe we should have a debate on this?" asked Hermione, "get more input?"

"Do you think it would help?" asked Harry.

"The Gryffindors will say no, the Slytherins except for Luna (who will say no), will say yes. The Hufflepuffs will split down the middle and the Ravenclaws will mostly say yes," predicted Ginny, "Am I missing anything? Does anyone think it will go differently? The big problem is, we need to be certain about this if we do decide to do it, otherwise they will hesitate to go along with it. Holding a full debate kind of undercuts that."

"Just give me another day or two," said Hermione, "I need to figure something out quickly."

Ginny seemed exasperated at this, but Harry shook his head at her. "Take all the time you need Hermione."

XXXXX

Hermione sat by herself, miserable. She never should have accepted this position. She had been utterly outclassed by Harry and Ginny's resolve. The truth was, what they had seen had given them a larger perspective on the situation, and Hermione was feeling, for the first time in a long time, rather inadequate. If only she could understand things as clearly as Harry and Ginny! But they had Voldemort's memories in their heads. How could she compete on their level when they had that?

And suddenly Hermione realized what she could do. It was dangerous, but she knew she could do it. She began to make her way to the Room of Requirement. Harry had told her where it was, so Hermione was going to cleanse one of Voldemort's horcruxes.

XXXXX

Finding it was not easy, luckily Harry had described the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw quite well, just in case they happened to run across it accidentally. It took almost an hour of searching, but she finally located the diadem. Hermione wasn't certain about using legilimency on it though. She supposed that it would try to possess her if she just put it on.

And so she did. The moment the diadem hit her head, she felt a full on assault being against her mind. If not for her occlumency it would have carried her away and taken control of her instantly. Even with her occlumency, Hermione was on the back foot. This was far harder than she had thought!

"Foolish," whispered a voice inside her head. It wasn't Voldemort's voice though. It was a woman's voice.

"Who is it?" said Hermione aloud.

"I am in your head," said the voice, "There is no need to speak."

"What are you?" thought Hermione back.

"I am a memory," said the voice, "All that remains of Rowena Ravenclaw. And you have walked into a trap."

"I knew it was a horcrux when I put it on," admitted Hermione, "I didn't expect it to be this strong, I thought I could defeat it and take it's knowledge."

"You sought to destroy a horcrux and acquire knowledge of it's maker?" asked Ravenclaw, "A bold strategy. Worthy of a Gryffindor, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Which are you?"

"A bit of all three to be honest," said Hermione, "though I was ultimately sorted into Slytherin."

"A muggleborn Slytherin?" wondered Ravenclaw, "Well, that is interesting. Listen, your danger is far greater than you know. The diadem was designed to amplify the knowledge I placed inside it, make it easy to access. The horcrux is using this to empower itself! It is far stronger than a regular horcrux would be."

"So you mean…" started Hermione.

"You must find the strength to drive it back, or it will take control of you almost immediately!" said Ravenclaw.

Hermione's stomach seemed to grow queasy as the horcrux assaulted her mind again.

XXXXX

"Where is Hermione?" Harry asked Ginny. They were both in the Entrance Hall as Harry headed downstairs from the library.

"What do you mean? Surely she's in the library at this hour," said Ginny.

Harry shook his head. "No, she isn't. I just checked. I guess she went somewhere to be alone, and figure out our problem."

Ginny grimaced a bit. "Do you think I was too hard on her? Sometimes I forget, she hasn't seen the true horror of what Voldemort can do. Both of us have, and we've informed our decisions based on how we've reacted to that, but lacking that, Hermione might not understand just how important it is to make decisive actions against him. One way or the other, getting lost in doubt is how things got bad the last time he tried to take power."

"I think maybe you pushed a bit too hard," said Harry, "But she does need to make a decision. One way or the other."

Ginny nodded, only to start smiling in the middle of that. Turning around, Harry wasn't surprised to see Justin.

"Well, we can talk more about this later," said Ginny, "there's only an hour until curfew, and it might take a while to find an unoccupied broom closet!"

Harry grinned, and made his way towards the dungeons. Maybe he missed her. Once he was downstairs, he saw Cedric, who waved him over..

"Hey Harry," said Cedric, "Rebecca just saw someone was using the Room of Requirement. Do you know who might be using it?"

"That's where Hermione has got to!" said Harry, relieved, "But why would she…"

Harry could suddenly feel the blood draining from his face as he realized exactly what Hermione was doing there. Without another word Harry broke out in a run. Pausing only long enough to make sure none of Malfoy's thugs were following him, Harry made his way to the entrance to the room. Sure enough, it was there, and when he went in, he saw the Room of Hidden Things.

"NOOO!" shouted Harry, desperately, "HERMIONE! HERMIONE!"

He ran straight towards where he knew Voldemort had hidden the horcrux. And there he found Hermione lying on the floor, barely conscious, the diadem on her head and her eyes fluttering as she came closer and closer to going under.

"No! Wake up! HERMIONE!" he screamed as he fell to his knees next to her. He pulled her into his arms. What could he do?

XXXXX

Each assault on her mind was stronger than the last. Hermione was buffeted again and again by the horcrux's power. Her Occlumency shield was long gone, now she barely managed to hold onto her own mind with each attack.

Suddenly she felt a presence around her, touching her. At first she feared an attack, but then she realized it was someone touching her real body. She heard Harry calling her name in the distance. He had found her! This time the attack slowed as it approached her. It still hit hard, but not as hard as it had before.

"The boy, his presence gives you strength!" roared Ravenclaw, "Use this to rally your will!"

Hermione gathered every ounce of strength she had left and struck back at the power of the horcrux. The power seemed to fall back a bit, but it still held against her.

"Hermione!" she heard Harry's voice more clearly, "Fight it! You can do it! I know you can. I believe in you! I love you!"

And with that last she struck back cleanly against the horcrux. Love. It was the power completely antithetical to a horcrux, the one thing it couldn't corrupt or destroy. And as that love filled her, it renewed her strength and power.

Hermione's eyes popped open. "I love you too, Harry," she said, "But first, I have to finish this monstrosity!"

And with that, she grabbed hold of the power which assailed her, and took all of it. And with that the Diadem began to scream as a black cloud came off of it.

"Very good," said the voice, "You are worthy. Just know, that like all magic, this diadem gives neither wisdom, nor truth. That can only come from you, Hermione. You came for the knowledge of your enemy, and you leave with not just that, but as master of the Diadem of Ravenclaw. Use my knowledge well."

And suddenly she saw. She saw the life of Voldemort, and the life of Ravenclaw. The life of a monster, and a life of regret from an extraordinary woman. And with that, her doubts vanished. Ravenclaw had been uncertain about her daughter as well, and it had estranged them. She could also see her daughter's memories. Her daughter was the Grey Lady, ghost of Ravenclaw House! She had failed whatever test the diadem had given her, but she had taken it anyway. How that had ended wasn't part of the memories she'd been given, but given that the daughter was now a ghost, she suspected it had ended badly.

"Wow," said Hermione.

"Never do that to me again!" said Harry, who was practically crying, "that was beyond dangerous!"

"Yeah," said Hermione, "it was. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it. But I survived, and I have the knowledge of Lord Voldemort and Rowena Ravenclaw."

She pulled Harry's head down to her mouth and gave him a passionate kiss. "Thank you for saving me dear," she said.

Harry grinned. "Anytime. Just, you know, try not to do this again. Please?"

"I won't," said Hermione, "I promise."

XXXXX

March 15th, 1996

The next day, Hermione invited Ginny into the room she shared with Harry.

"I heard you had an adventure yesterday," said Ginny, "It was very foolish, Hermione. I'm surprised that you would be so reckless."

"Yes, well, someone was putting a lot of pressure on me to decide," retorted Hermione, "And I have."

"Oh?" replied Ginny.

"She's being very mysterious," said Harry, "though most of that I think is that she needed to get her head straight after absorbing all that new information."

"I can't imagine," said Ginny, "Just taking on the knowledge of one person was disorienting, two would be very frustrating."

"It isn't so bad actually," replied Hermione, "With two people's memories in my head, I haven't had any problems keeping myself separate from them. It's like Rowena is distracting me just enough from Voldemort that I don't ever get immersed in his thoughts."

"In any case, you said you decided?" asked Harry.

"Yes," said Hermione, before taking a deep breath, "I agree with Ginny. I wouldn't have before the escape from Azkaban, but as the Ministry is incapable of keeping anyone we capture from being broken out by Voldemort, we have no real choice. Even if Fudge were to remove the dementors from Azkaban, they could always come right back and get whoever they wanted out."

"Ok, I understand," said Harry, not really trying to hide his disappointment, "I will say one thing to try to change your mind, and if it doesn't, well, I agreed to support the decisions we come to, so I will."

Harry turned to Ginny and Hermione. "Neither of you has ever killed anyone. I know Voldemort did, but you didn't. It is not the same. Despite the fact that you see Voldemort's murders from his perspective, it is not the same, because you know you didn't do it. You don't really feel the guilt of it."

"I have killed someone," said Harry deliberately, "And I feel the guilt of it, even though I know what I did was right. Even though I hated the person I killed. Voldemort never felt guilt for killing anyone, so you've never felt the regret that comes when good people are forced to take a life. I am telling you, you will regret this. We will all regret this. I am willing to do it, because I honestly believe that the Death Eaters represent an existential threat to us, but we will regret this."

"So what is the alternative?" asked Ginny.

"I wish I knew," said Harry, "Listen this isn't the same as killing someone in self-defense, we will literally be luring these people to their deaths."

"And if there was any other way to deal with them, we would Harry. Believe me, I am not looking forward to this," said Hermione, "But I feel it is necessary."

"All right then," said Harry, "Then we need to figure out how to get our people ready for it."

XXXXX

Later that same day, Harry was walking to Charms, when he heard yelling.

"I didn't, I didn't!" cried a young girl, who Harry knew was a muggleborn first year from Ravenclaw. She was facing a group from the Inquisitorial Squad, with Draco at the front of the group.

"You tripped me!" shouted Draco angrily.

"No, you just tripped over your own robes!" insisted the girl.

"I did not! That's a detention with Umbridge!" shouted Draco. Harry saw Nott in the back of the group. He saw Harry and averted his eyes. He knew that this was wrong.

"What's this about?" asked Harry.

"This mu… girl, just cast a tripping jinx on me Potter." said Draco, his face suddenly smug with confidence.

"No, I didn't!" said the girl, "That was a lie!"

"You want to accuse me of lying?" demanded Draco, "That's another detention."

"You can't give her detention for that Draco," said Harry calmly, "That's an abuse of your power, and I'll be reporting it. Now, if you're quite done, would you please leave this poor girl alone? I remind you, I still have the authority to take points from you. And recommend you for a detention."

"Fine, I just wanted to walk by anyway," said Malfoy. He and the rest of the squad began to move on.

"Are you all right…?" asked Harry as he knelt down by the girl, trying to remember her name.

"Olivia," said the girl.

"Are you all right Olivia?" said Harry.

The girl nodded.

"I'm going to bring you to Professor Flitwick," said Harry.

"You don't believe that I tripped him, do you?" asked Olivia.

"Of course not," said Harry, "But Flitwick needs to know what happened, doesn't he?"

Olivia nodded.

After taking Flitwick aside, the deputy headmaster was sympathetic. "I want you to know Olivia, that I do believe you," said Flitwick, "unfortunately, Mr. Potter here did not witness what happened, so Draco has the right to give you a detention, but I will make sure that it is served with myself instead of Umbridge. Now head to your next class Olivia," said Flitwick.

"I'll escort her there," said Harry immediately.

"Potter," said Flitwick, "Thank you."

Harry managed to keep calm for the next several hours, but the moment he had a chance he took Hermione aside and told her what had happened.

"Umbridge needs to go," said Harry after he'd finished telling his story.

Hermione nodded. "You know, I think I might have just the plan to do it too," she said with a smile.

Author's Note: And this is the chapter where I finally decided to make Narcissa the primary window into the Death Eater camp. I knew I needed someone for that role, but it being Narcissa came to me a bit late. I knew Narcissa was going to have a small but important role in year 7, but after I wrote this chapter I completely reworked her character.

Hermione was always going to get Voldemort's memories; it was necessary so certain inequalities didn't pop up in her relationship with Harry. Her getting Rowena's memories was just a thing I did here on a whimsy. But it really ended up helping me out on several occasions in later chapters, including at the battle of Hogwarts.

Also I finally got around to giving Ginny and Justin a moment! I honestly do think I could have done more with Justin, but the truth is that the story is probably overcrowded as it is. Though to be fair, Rowling never developed Ginny very much in canon, so maybe I don't have to be all that sorry that I'm not developing characters I am primarily using as romantic interests.

Next Time: Fifth year reaches it's climax!