A Need For Memories

by aviendha15

This story is shared with SailorMartin3 with express consent.

21. Elf Tails

Part 21

"So…So Voldemort came back in your fourth year?" Lily questioned, fighting hard to keep the quaver out of her voice, but failing. "And how?"

"That's what our entire fourth year was all about," said Harry, shrugging slightly. "I guess it all started with a dream that I had during the summer holidays. Wormtail had indeed found Voldemort and was nursing him back to health. At least, trying to."

"So the…the rat was responsible for Voldemort's return?" James questioned, his tone laced with venom. "He actually brought back the Darkest Wizard of all time?"

Hermione gave a reluctant nod. "You could say that. Primarily he was the reason that Voldemort came back so soon."

"That bloody…."Sirius started, but silenced abruptly on noting the glares of

Lily and McGonagall. However he continued to mutter curses under his breath.

Dumbledore glanced sympathetically at the group of Marauders. "Mr. Pettigrew did commit a grievous offence. However, I am inclined to believe that, even if he had not tried to nurse Voldemort back to health someone else would have done it. Maybe, it would have taken some more time, but it would have happened anyways. Please continue with your story, Harry."

"They, that is, Wormtail and Voldemort, were planning something in Hogwarts. That year, the Quidditch World cup was held in Britain. And whatever they were planning was to take place after that. Wormtail had also kidnapped Bertha Jorkins, a Ministry worker, who was on a holiday. And Voldemort had got whatever information he needed, from her."

"And they killed her," Remus muttered, darkly. "That's typical of Voldemort. But, what exactly takes place in Hogwarts during your fourth year?"

"Patience Remus," said Ron, smirking a little. "And, continue Harry. We can't assist you in any way during this dream part."

Harry grinned back. "Though, I don't think I remembered Bertha from the dream. I had forgotten about her. I got to know later. Well, whatever they were planning it had to do with killing me."

"You knew that?" Hermione exclaimed rounding on him. "And you said that Voldemort wanted to kill someone, never that he wanted to kill you."

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, grinning sheepishly. "You two were looking so tensed, that I couldn't bring myself to tell it. Anyways, Voldemort also said that a faithful servant of his had returned. And, also something about placing him in Hogwarts."

"Bloody Hell!" Frank swore softly. "So, they got a spy within Hogwarts too. Or maybe, they were trying to get one in."

"Yeah!" Harry confirmed, a dark look clouding his face as he was reminded of the incidents in their fourth year. Especially the end. "Well, the unfortunate thing that happened was, a muggle had overheard all these things. Frank, I think his name was. He was the gardener or something of the house that Voldemort had occupied, which was previously his Father's house. The Riddle Manor. However, he got caught and was murdered by Voldemort."

"Poor bloke!" Frank muttered.

"That's the end of Harry's dream sequence," Ron continued. "Dad had managed to get tickets for the Quidditch World Cup, and we went to fetch Harry from the Dursleys. Fred, George, Dad and me. We tried to Floo, but it turned out that the fireplace was blocked."

"What?" Minerva questioned seeming confused. "Why on earth, should a fireplace be blocked? Did your…ermm…relatives dislike keeping the house warm or something?"

Harry burst out laughing at his former Professor's words. "Not really. They have got an electric fire. It's a muggle thing, derives power from electricity. Arthur had to blast open the fireplace to enter the house."

"Wicked!" James and Sirius chorused, grinning evilly. "That must have taught those perfectly nice people a perfectly brilliant albeit small lesson."

Ron mirrored their grin. "It was brilliant. The expressions on their faces were worth a snap. While leaving with Harry, Fred accidentally dropped some of those trick toffees of his and conveniently left one behind. It was a Ton Tongue Toffee, to be precise. They cause your tongue lengthen considerably."

"Dear Merlin!" said Snape, his eyes sparkling with laughter. This sight was so surreal that many of the past and future teens were taken aback, though they took care not to show it. "Hopefully that teaches that bully a lesson or two. He sure deserves it!"

"It did take a considerable effort on Arthur's part to set him right," said Harry. "Though the Twins did get a tongue-lashing from Molly."

Molly grimaced slightly. "I would have done that. It is not really decent manners to prank a muggle kid, even though he may be a bully."

Hermione grinned impishly. "Arthur did not really wish to tell you, but you walked in on him, scolding the twins. The big thing after that was the Quidditch World Cup itself. We caught a Portkey there. The match was superb, and we met quite a few people too. The head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Mr. Crouch, was one of them."

"He is a stickler for rules," remarked Dumbledore passing a packet of Lemon Drops around.

"We also met Ludo Bagman, the..." started Ron.

"England's Beater!" James exclaimed, his eyes shining with excitement. "That's just great! He is a great beater."

"And also the Head of Department of Magical Games and Sports. And well, he was more excited on meeting, Harry," said Ron, chuckling. "Anyways, Fred and George had placed a bet with Bagman that, Ireland will win but the Bulgarian seeker, Viktor Krum will get the snitch."

"That doesn't sound probable, does it?" said Frank, frowning.

"That's what happened," supplied Harry, smirking at the shocked looks that were featuring on quite a few faces. "The Irish Chasers were brilliant, and Krum was an extraordinary Seeker." Ron scowled a bit at this point, while Hermione smothered a laugh.

"Well, the trouble started after the match. Late at night. Some ex Death Eaters had taken it upon themselves to cause mayhem and torturing the muggle family of the field's manager."

"You forgot about the scene in the Top Box, Harry," Hermione reminded him. "We met Lucius Malfoy and his family and also Winky, Bartimus Crouch's elf who was saving him a seat."

"Crouch didn't turn up?" Minerva questioned. "That's not really like him. He is one of the most punctual men around."

"No, he didn't turn up," replied Ron, not elaborating further. "Where were we...? Ya... Dad sent us; the three of us, the twins and Ginny, to hide in the forest. The others were going to stop the Death Eaters."

"You shouldn't have taken our sons, Arthur, or Hermione and Harry" said Molly worriedly. "They could have been hurt."

"They are adults, dear," said Arthur. "They have every right to fight, if they wish to. We can't and shouldn't stop them." Molly nodded reluctantly, conceding defeat.

"Dad didn't take us," said Ron, smiling reassuringly at his mother. "He sent us into the forest. Fred, George and Ginny as a group and the three of us as another."

What happened?" Alice questioned. "Did they manage to catch those Death Eaters? Were everyone okay?"

"No and yes," answered Harry, grinning at the impatient girl who was so unlike Neville, at least in this respect. "There was no luck with the Death Eaters. But, the three of us, managed to get into trouble. Nothing serious," He amended quickly, noting the panicked looks of their parents. "We got separated from the rest, thanks to Draco Malfoy who had to make some snide remarks."

"And then Harry discovered that he was missing his wand," said Ron, smirking at his friend, and ignoring the gasps that went around. "We had ventured into a darker part of the woods, when we heard someone saying an incantation. And, for the first time in our life we saw the Dark Mark blossom in the sky!"

"What?" chorused most of the people in the room, in a shocked voice.

"Must be one of his Death Eaters," speculated Sirius. "At least one of the more faithful ones."

"You three were so close to him!" Lily all, but shrieked. "You could have been killed."

"We were okay, Mum," said Harry. "We were not attacked by a Death Eater. It was the Ministry people who thought that we had conjured the Dark Mark, and tried to stun us. But, we were okay."

"And your wand?" prompted James. "And who conjured the mark."

Hermione smirked. "It seemed that Winky had conjured the Dark Mark with the aid of Harry's wand."

"What?" exclaimed Molly. "How could that elf…"

"It seemed," Hermione stressed again. "And as to who really did it…you will get to know later." This elicited numerous groans from the students. "We went back to the tent. Nobody was seriously injured, just minor scratches. I believe that's all that happened till we went back to Hogwarts. Except Molly hugging the twins to death…figuratively of course…after we returned to The Burrow, and Rita Skeeter, a extremely foul reporter, who twisted the story of the Dark Mark. And effectively blamed the Ministry of callousness and irresponsibility."

Hermione's voice had darkened considerably while taking about Skeeter, and this was not missed by the people from the past.

"The day that we reached Hogwarts," said Ron, continuing with the story. "Dumbledore announced that the Triwizard tournament would be held in Hogwarts, that year."

"But…but that tournament is dangerous!" Lily cried out, glaring a little accusingly at Dumbledore, even though she had already known that the tournament had taken place in Harry's fourth year. "That was why the tournament was stopped in the first place."

"They had placed an age limit," said Hermione. "No one below the age of 17 could participate. The schools of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were to compete against Hogwarts. And we were also introduced to our new Defense teacher, Mad Eye Moody."

"That's just great!" exclaimed Frank, ecstatic that his son would get a brilliant Auror as his teacher.

"He was...umm...good," said Harry, reluctant to let out the secret of imposter Moody so early. And to be fair, Crouch Jr did teach them well. Even though, he was a Death Eater.

"Moody put the Imperius curse on all of us, so that we can learn how to fight it." said Ron. "Harry was the only one of us who almost threw it off at the very first chance. He also demonstrated the Cruciatus curse and the Avada Kedavra, using spi…spiders."

"That's absolutely brilliant!" said James. "But, it might have been a little disturbing for Harry and Neville." He added thoughtfully, with significant glances at Frank and Alice.

"We were okay," Harry said. "And Professor Moody made use that Neville was and also presented him with a Herbology book; Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and Their Properties."

"Well, the next important event was the arrival of the teams from the foreign schools," Hermione continued with the story. "Well Viktor Krum was a student of Durmstrang. He was in his final year. The school teams were accompanied by their Heads; Madam Maxime for Beauxbatons and Igor Karkaroff for Drumstrang. After introductions and the feast, Professor Dumbledore announced that the selection of the participants for the tournament would take place by using the 'Goblet of fire'. The participants would require dropping slips of paper containing their names, in the goblet. The goblet would return the names of the three most worthy champions; one from each school."

"What about the age limit? Did anyone manage to overcome that?"

questioned Sirius eagerly. "The twins didn't try anything?"

Ron chuckled. "Professor Dumbledore had drawn an age line around the goblet. Well, the Twins did try to cross the line and came out sporting identical white beards. And this happened to everybody who tried to cross the Age Line, which were quite a few I think."

Harry grinned reminiscently. "Ya. It was great," he said. "The Goblet of fire was brought out on Halloween. Fleur was chosen from Beauxbatons, Viktor from Drumstrang, and Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff from Hogwarts and..."

"Harry Potter, also from Hogwarts," finished Hermione.

"You...you entered?" surprisingly...or maybe not, it was Molly who posed the question. "But you are just a fourth year…The age line…"

Lily let out a sigh, interrupting Molly. "It was bound to happen. I don't think he entered himself. But, it is Harry. These things happen to him."

"Potter streak!" sneered Snape. "That's bound to get you into trouble."

"Ha! Ha!" murmured James glaring at the boy.

"To say that everyone was shocked, is an understatement," continued Harry. "But, I had to participate in the tournament as it was binding. Even Professor Dumbledore could not get me out. They informed us that we had to complete three tasks, and the highest scorer wins the tournament. All that was still alright but, almost everyone in Hogwarts thought that I had entered myself. That earned me one of the worst mutterings that I have ever endured."

"Obviously Ron and Hermione believed you?" Arthur questioned, a little warily. Something told him that this was not the case.

Ron let out a sigh. "Hermione did," he murmured, his barely audible. "I did not! I accused him of wanting the fame and stuff."

"How could you, Ron?" said Sirius, a little accusingly. "Harry needed you. That tournament, while being exciting and everything, is dangerous. Your help and support was needed."

"I am sorry," said Ron, sinking lower in his chair. "I didn't believe him at first and when I did, the ego came in between."

Harry laid a hand on Ron's shoulders. "It was my fault too," he said. "I needed to seek him out, too. It wasn't just his responsibility. It was mine too. Anyways, Rita Skeeter struck again and made me look like some sort of a Tragic Hero, who still cries for his parents and everything. I mean, I miss you guys but…"

"We understand, Harry," Lily assured him. "And we wouldn't want you to be converted into some sort of a tragic boy, too." Her lips quirked into the smile at this.

"A few days later, Hagrid told me to meet him at night, around eleven, and to bring my Invisibility Cloak too," continued Harry, after returning his mother's smile. "He…He led me and Madam Maxime, he fancied her and she is as big as Hagrid too, he led us to an enclosure containing Dragons."

Remus' eyes grew wide. "So, Dragons was the First task?" he stammered out. "You had to fight them or something? But, that would be…stupid!"

"Not fight," replied Hermione. "At least not directly. They had to recover the golden egg. Yes, the Dragons were nesting mothers, the worst kind really. Anyways, that very night Sirius fire-called Harry in the common room. But, before he could suggest a way past the Dragons, he had to leave as someone was coming down to the common rooms."

"That someone turned out to be me," said Ron, grinning sheepishly. "But, it was a good thing that I interrupted. Harry found out a better way, thanks to Moody. He suggested him to use his strengths…flying. All Harry needed was to learn the Summoning charm. Hermione made sure that Harry mastered the spell. By the way, Harry had informed Cedric about the first tasks, as Fleur and Krum already knew about it. Madam Maxime would have informed Fleur and Harry had seen Karkaroff in the forest that night. He didn't want Cedric to be the only one not knowing about the Dragons. Well, during the first task, Harry got landed with the Hungarian Horntail."

"That's the worst kind of goddamn Dragon" moaned Sirius. "That one burns you even with her tail! Oh, and that was a good thing you did with Cedric, Harry. It would have been unfair to him if he was the only one unprepared."

"Yes! But, Harry was brilliant," Hermione said, her eyes shining with remembered excitement. "Viktor had used the Conjunctivitis Curse; the same one that Sirius was about to suggest. But, he broke a number of eggs in the process. Fleur caused it to go into some sort of a trance, but it woke up halfway. Cedric transfigured a rock into a Labrador…"

"That is a good Transfiguration," Minerva praised, interrupting Hermione.

"It was," Hermione agreed. "But, halfway through, the Dragon lost interest in the dog and went after him. He got pretty bad burns. But, Harry got his egg in the shortest time. He summoned his Firebolt successfully and applied diversion tactics on the Dragon."

"I just assumed the Dragon to be a huge Bludger" said Harry, his face red owing to the appreciative glances that he was receiving. "But, its tail did catch me on the arm, but it was a Minor burn."

"Thank Goodness for that," chorused Lily, Alice and Molly. Even the boys looked relieved, though they did not express that in words.

"Harry had tied with Krum in the first place," said Ron. This caused the room to break out into appreciative applause and caused Harry's face to convert from faint pink to flaming red. After the sound came down, Ron continued. "The champions were informed that the clue for the next task was in the golden egg, which could be opened. But, all that came out of that egg was an ear-splitting shriek."

"We forgot about spew, Ron," Harry reminded his friend. "Oh sorry, Hermione! I meant SPEW. This was a society for the promotion of elves that Hermione had started. She wanted to free the elves of Hogwarts."

"But, they have a good life," Minerva commented.

"I didn't realize that," Hermione admitted. "But, I met Dobby in the kitchens and dragged Harry to meet him. That poor dear was ecstatic. And yes, even Winky had come to Hogwarts with Dobby, though she was a real mess. She missed her master really bad and was constantly drinking herself into a stupor.

"Crouch freed her?" Frank questioned, sounding confused, an emotion that was mirrored by many.

Harry smacked his forehead lightly. "We missed again," he said. "Well after Winky was found with my wand, Mr. Crouch freed her…more aptly, dismissed her. She was heart-broken and also led to the start of Hermione's obsession for elves. Anyway, Professor McGonagall informed us about the Yule Ball that would take place before the Second Task. And, the Champions had to open the ball."

"Who did you take?" asked James, his lips turning up into a smirk.

"Parvati Patil," replied Harry, in a dead panned voice. "And Ron went with Padma Patil."

"Why didn't you ask Hermione?" Sirius questioned Ron, looking incredulous. "You could have spared each other and Harry a lot of grief."

"I sort of didn't notice…I mean, I didn't think about it," said Ron, blushing slightly. "And by the time I did, she was already asked by someone else and she had accepted. Viktor Krum! We found out, at the Ball. To cut it short, we had a massive row after the Ball. And we, Harry and me, also came to know that Mr. Crouch was ill and that Percy was taking his place as one of the Tournament judges."

"That one was expected," Sirius smirked. "Your fight with Hermione."

"And yes," Ron continued, ignoring Sirius. "During the Ball, Harry and I overheard Hagrid talking to Madam Maxime. He told her that he is a half-giant. It was bit of a shock for us."

Snape frowned. "But isn't it obvious," he said. "No one can be that big-boned!"

"It was not obvious to us," said Harry, fuming a bit. "That is, to me and Ron. Hermione knew…guessed. Anyways, it happened so that Rita Skeeter also overheard Hagrid."

"Bloody hell!" quite a few cursed.

"Actually," Ron agreed. "It took the three of us and Professor Dumbledore to bring him out of his self-imposed imprisonment in his hut."

"Poor Hagrid!" Alice murmured. "He shouldn't let that evil, twisted woman get him down."

"It took some time," said Harry. "To go back to the second task, this time it was Cedric who helped me out. He told me to take a bath and take the egg with me. He also gave me the password to the Prefect's Bathroom. There I was helped by Moaning Myrtle…at least when she was not trying to be a peeping Tom."

This led to renewed laughter in the room.

"We did tease Harry about that for a long time," continued Hermione. "Actually, he had to put the egg in the water. What came out was a sort of a song, or you could say rhyme.

"Come seek us where our voices sound,

We cannot sing above the ground,

And while you're searching, ponder this:

We've taken what you'll sorely miss,

An hour long you'll have to look,

And to recover what we took,

But past an hour- the prospect's black,

Too late, it's gone, it won't come back"

Hermione recited the song from memory. "Harry had to retrieve the thing that he would miss the most from the Merpeople, in the Black Lake. In one hour."

"But, how would he breathe for an hour?" Frank questioned.

"That's what we researched for…but it didn't help," answered Ron. "Even till the night before the Second task, we hadn't found anything." Everyone in the room almost seemed to hold their breath in, as the Trio went on with the story.

Harry continued. "But that night, Hermione and Ron were called by Professor McGonagall and I fell asleep in the Library. I was woken up in the morning by Dobby, just 10 minutes before the start of the tasks. And he was the one who gave me Gillyweed."

"Of course," Alice cried out. "Gillyweed will help you to form gills. You will be able to breathe perfectly."

"And he did," said Hermione. "The thing that Harry would miss most was 'his wheezy'."

"What?"

"His Weasley," Remus translated, smiling broadly. "I guess, that even this was informed by Dobby."

"It was," Harry said. "Hmm…Oh there's something else. That night, when I was returning from the Prefect's bathroom after the bath, I saw the name 'Bartimus Crouch' on the map. In Snape's office."

"What was he doing in my office?" Snape barked out. He was a really private person and hated anyone snooping in his private stuff.

Harry shrugged. "That's what I was going to investigate, but got my foot stuck in one of those trick stairs and dropped the egg and the map. They were found by Snape and Filch. But, Moody turned up and saved me from being caught by Severus and also recovered the map and the egg. However, on hearing about Crouch being in Snape's office, he requested me to lend him the map."

"You did?" James questioned, a part (the larger one) wanted and wishing for Harry not to give it up.

Harry nodded. "I did. He was a teacher, and he had just saved me. I couldn't refuse."

Hermione smiled at her friend. "Coming back to the second task, I was Krum's hostage…don't dare to tease," she warned, glaring especially at the Marauders. And even they couldn't ignore the barely suppressed threat in her voice. "Cho Chang was Cedric's hostage and Fleur's was her little sister Gabrielle. Harry reached the hostages first, but the noble streak in him compelled him to wait till all of us were whisked to safety."

"He took the song seriously," Lily mumbled. "At least, he did the right thing."

"That he did," said Hermione. "He was the last to return and was well outside the time limit of one hour, but Professor Dumbledore was informed by the Mer-chieftainess that Harry was the first to reach the hostages. The judges, other than Karkaroff, thought that this deserved high marks and Harry got the second spot. He was tied with Cedric in the first place."

Once again the room broke out into applause. James was looking particularly happy and smug. "So, you were the youngest champion and were actually leading? This is just brilliant! Whoever put your name in that Goblet must not be feeling very elated right now."

However Snape let out a gasp, causing everybody to turn their attention to him. "But, didn't Harry dream that You-Know-Who was planning something in Hogwarts?" he questioned. "It must have something to do with the Triwizard tournament!"

"And how would he know about that, Sev?" asked Lily.

"Bertha Jorkins!" Sirius cried out, banging the table with his fist. "Voldemort killed her, right? I bet, he got whatever information he needed, from her."

"That he did," said Harry, confirming Sirius's remark. "To continue with the story…We met Sirius during our next Hogsmeade weekend. He was staying in a cave near the village."

"This is the time when he had to stay on rats?" Remus questioned softly, and at Harry's nod clasped a hand on his friend's shoulder. It might strike as funny to some people, but Sirius did love eating. And to think, that he survived on Azkaban food for 12 years and then on rats…it really didn't bode well.

"We took food for him," informed Ron. Sirius shot a thankful look at them. "And also made it a point to send some on regular basis. That day Sirius gave us a lot to think about. You all might know Bartimus Crouch is rather a favorite at the Ministry. After the downfall of Voldemort, he was tipped off to be the next Minister of Magic. But, then his own son Crouch Jr. was caught in a group of Death Eaters. He seemingly died in Azkaban, and the Crouch's were allowed a Death bed visit. Thus, Cornelius Fudge got the job."

"Dear Merlin!" Lily muttered softly. "What did the boy do? His son couldn't have been that old."

"He wasn't," Harry affirmed. "As to what he did, you will get to know a little later. Padfoot also told us that Crouch was the one who sentenced him to Azkaban…without a trial."

"I am going to kill him!" growled James, whose face had transformed from being interested to an angry red. His proclamation was supported by an equally fierce growl by Remus.

"It's okay, guys," Sirius spoke up and placed a calming hand on each of them. "We are changing the future, remember? And, I can't fully fault Crouch. Don't look at me like that, James. I really can't. It was a bad time, and mistakes do happen then. No need to get all hyper. And, do continue with your story, guys," he gestured to the Trio. "These two idiots will calm down."

"Padfoot was also worried about Mr. Crouch's illness and his supposed appearance in Severus's office," continued Hermione, with a concerned glance at the still fuming Remus and James. "He also said that Igor Karkaroff was apprehended as a Death Eater, but he escaped punishment."

"So, they actually leave the real Death Eaters, while they imprison innocent men for 12 years!" said Snape sneeringly. "Our Ministry is just so great."

Harry chuckled. "Around Easter, there was another Rita Skeeter article. And this time, she said that Hermione was playing around with both Krum and me!"

"Like any sane person could even think that!" Hermione scoffed, missing the reddening of Ron's ears and also the smirk that Harry directed at him. "Now, finally the third task! The champions were told to gather around the Quidditch pitch which was being formed into a maze. The target was to reach the Quidditch cup kept in the middle. The maze would be containing various creatures and spells to challenge the champions."

"This sounds much better," said Molly. "You can simply stock up with various jinxes. At least, you can be somewhat prepared for what's to come."

Out of the corner of her eyes, Hermione say Harry paling and saw Ron directing a concerned look at him.

"After the explanation was done, Krum said he wanted to speak to me and we went to the edge of the forest," continued Harry. It was getting a little difficult to maintain his composure. The buried feelings of guilt were surfacing a little too rapidly. Still, he continued speaking. At least that helped a bit, and Ron and Hermione didn't know all the parts. "He wanted to know whether Hermione was really my girlfriend. I assured him that she wasn't." Here he couldn't resist smirking at the duo, especially Hermione. "But, before we could chat any more we were interrupted by Mr. Crouch. He didn't seem to be in his right mind and seemed to be blabbering a load of nonsense. But, in brief moments of sanity he was asking for the Headmaster and lamenting about some mistake that he had committed. I went off to get Professor Dumbledore, but by the time I returned with him Crouch had disappeared and Viktor Krum was stunned!"

"Crouch stunned him?" asked Minerva, straightening her glasses. "That's unbelievable."

"It seemed so," said Harry shrugging. "Oh ya, Mum," he turned to Lily. "You might be pleased to know that I got a telling off from Sirius, via letter of course, for wandering off with Krum. He also made me promise that I won't do such stupid stuff again."

"Thanks, Sirius," said Lily, directing a surprised yet pleased look at him. "You shouldn't have gone, Harry. It was very dangerous. You could have been attacked too!" Harry nodded dolefully.

"We helped Harry to look up spells and practice them," continued Ron. "A few days before the task, Harry fell asleep during Divination, had a dream and woke up screaming."

"It was about Voldemort punishing Pettigrew, due to some mistake that he had committed," said Harry. "But this mistake was rectified thanks to 'his servant at Hogwarts'."

"Who the hell is it?" James snapped out. "If I didn't know better, I would have hinted Moody. But, Karkaroff could be the 'servant' too."

Harry shared a significant look with his friends. His father had got the right man, only thing being that he wasn't Moody at all. "I went to report the incident to Professor Dumbledore," Harry continued, picking up pace. This year was taking just too much time. And time was limited. "The Minister for Magic was there with him. Professor told me to wait in his office while he escorted the Minister out. He hadn't shut the door of the cupboard containing his Pensive, properly. And my curiosity got the better of me."

"You shouldn't have, Harry," Lily scolded. "It could have been something private."

"I didn't know what it was," Harry defended himself. "I was just sucked in. It showed me three different court proceedings. One, of Karkaroff as he tried to get himself off by supplying the names of other Death Eaters. It was the first time I came to know that Severus was a Death Eater." He threw an apologetic glance at him. "But, the Headmaster testified that he had turned spy against Voldemort. The second one was of Ludo Bagman."

"What!" James exclaimed. "He was a Death Eater?"

"No," replied Hermione. "He didn't know that the people, to whom he was supplying information, were Death Eaters. He was let off. And the third proceeding was of the Lestranges and Mr. Crouch's son."

"So…So Crouch Jr. was involved in our torturing," Frank stated, tightening his arm around Alice. He didn't care about himself but he could even begin to imagine this fate for Alice.

Harry nodded. "Yes, that's why he was arrested. By this time, Professor Dumbledore had returned to his office and he pulled me from the Pensive. He wasn't angry or anything, but did tell me to keep Neville's secret to myself. No one knew that his parents were tortured, he didn't want the pity and all that."

"My brave boy!" Alice whispered, so that only Frank could hear her.

"What happened next?" James questioned.

"The day of the third task," Ron announced. "The families of the champions were invited to watch the last task; Mum and Bill came for Harry."

"Thank you so much, Molly," both James and Lily chorused. "And you too, Arthur," Lily added. The said couple grinned and waved aside their thanks.

Hermione moved a little towards Harry and whispered, "Do you want to tell about this task? Or do I? Or Ron?"

Harry was thankful that Hermione suggested it, but he knew that he would be able to explain the best. "I will," he whispered back. "Just take up…continue if…"

"We will," assured Hermione, interrupting him. "You didn't have to ask."

Harry grinned at her bother facing the others. "I want you all to please listen to this part of the story without interrupting. Just don't interrupt, please." Everybody nodded, though James and Lily were looking sick with worry. "As me and Cedric were the leaders, we were allowed to enter the maze first. I won't go into too many details about what went on in there. However, some time after entering the maze I heard Fleur scream out and then noticed red sparks being sent up. I got to know that she was out of the race. Even later, I heard Krum performing the Cruciatus curse on Cedric." He ignored the gasps that went around. He knew that he couldn't stop now, or he might not be able to complete the story. "I managed to get to him, and we were able to overpower Krum and sent up red sparks for him. After facing a couple of more obstacles, I caught sight of the Triwizard cup. And Cedric saw it at precisely the same time. We raced for the cup, but in his preoccupation Cedric failed to see the giant spider that had emerged from the hedge. I managed to warn Cedric against the spider and we stunned it. But, that acromantula had managed to injure my leg. I was in no shape to race for the cup. But, Cedric thought that I deserved the cup as I had saved him twice, without which he would have been out of the race, before long. I compromised a little, and told him to share the cup with me. We grabbed hold of the cup together…and…and…"

"The cup was a Portkey," finished Hermione, as Harry had buried his face in his hands, overcome by emotion. Lily got up from beside James, went to her son and pulled him into a hug. Even though she didn't know what was going on, it still fell right.

Harry took a moment to compose himself. He was thankful for his mother's support; he needed it. "That cup took us to a graveyard," he continued, desperately trying to steady his voice, which just wouldn't stop shaking. "We were totally shocked as we weren't expecting the cup to be a Portkey. Nevertheless, we took out our wands. And…and then I heard those words… 'Kill the spare', and a flash of green light and…and Cedric…He killed him!" Harry shuddered lightly and felt his mother tighten her arms around him, to the point that it was hurting. He also felt her tears on his cheek, but she did not comment.

"Cedric died?" Minerva stammered. "They killed a student? Voldemort?"

"Holy heaven!" Snape cursed softly. "A spare! That's what a life is all, to him! He was a kid, damnit!"

"That's Voldemort for you," said Harry, bitterly. "Peter Pettigrew was with Voldemort. He was…carrying him. He secured me to a tomb, to be precise Voldemort's father's tomb. Tom Riddle sr. Then they performed the ceremony to giving back Voldemort his body."

"Bone of father, Flesh of servant willingly given, and blood of enemy forcibly taken!" Dumbledore chanted.

"Absolutely," Harry murmured.

"Servant's flesh?" Remus queried. "What did that…that rat give?"

"His arm," said Harry. He blocked out the looks of sickening disgust that passed through the Marauder's faces. It was also visible on the other's faces but theirs was the worst. Only James was the one, whose expression Harry didn't have to overlook as he was wearing a blank look on his face. "He, Pettigrew then dropped Voldemort in the cauldron and Voldemort was resurrected. He…He could now touch me without getting burned, as he now held my mother's protection. He called his Death eaters. Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Macnair… Then he freed me and told me to duel. He put the Cruciatus curse on me before I could react. But when he tried the Imperius curse I could overcome it." Harry could hear mumbled 'Wow s' from around the room and directed a faint smile at them. "But then, a surprising thing happened. I shouted Expelliarmus as he shouted Avada Kedavra…and our wands connected. We had brother wands, they don't duel. Something told me to hold on to the connection. Echoes of the people whom Voldemort had killed came out. Cedric, Frank, Bertha, Dad, Mum…"

Both Sirius and Remus wrapped their arms around James who buried his face in Sirius' shoulder.

"They told me to hold on," Harry labored on with the story, somehow it was getting easier. Pretty much the same way as it had happened all those years ago, in Dumbledore's office. Only this time it was his Mum, and not Sirius who was supporting him. And the audience was way bigger. "And told me to run as soon as the connection was broken, they would stop Voldemort to give me time. And…and Cedric requested me to return his body to his parents. I ran as soon as the connection was broken, got hold of Cedric's body and accioed the cup." Harry broke off, unable to continue. He buried his face in his mother's arms and gave vent to the sobs that were whacking his body.

Hermione whipped the tears from her cheek and held on to Ron tighter. "It was horrible," she said. "WE didn't know where Harry and Cedric were and then he returned with Cedric's dead body. For a moment it seemed that Harry was dead too. I hated myself for the relief that I felt, when I saw that Harry was okay, that he was alive."

"Of course you were relieved," Molly said softly. "No one can blame you for feeling that way. He is your friend. You are allowed to care for him."

"Who was it?" James questioned, breaking his self-imposed silence at last. His face was also streaked with tears. "Who was that 'servant in Hogwarts'?"

"Moody," Harry replied, getting a hold on his emotions. "Only, it wasn't really Moody. It was Crouch Jr. polyjuiced as Moody."

"But, didn't he die in Azkaban?" Dumbledore questioned, frowning hard. "How did he escape?"

"His father helped," Harry said. "For his mother, who requested him to rescue her son. She was already on her death-bed. He left his wife in Azkaban and brought his son out and kept him under the Imperius curse, and handed over his care to Winky. But, Crouch Jr. started to fight it. It was he, who stole my wand in the Top Box, and raised the Dark Mark. And then, Voldemort came to fetch him. They overpowered Crouch Sr., put the Imperius curse on him and made him go about his regular duties. And then, he took the place of Mad eye Moody as the DADA professor. He kept the real Mad Eye locked in a trunk. As Moody always drank form his own goblet it wasn't difficult to drink Polyjuice potion regularly. He was the one who told Hagrid to let me know about the Dragons, who hinted Cedric about the egg and who made Dobby overhear that I had to use Gillyweed to complete the second task. He was the one who killed his father, transfigured him into a bone and buried him near Hagrid's hut. He was the one who put the Imperius curse on Krum, so that he could take out Fleur and Cedric. He wanted me to reach the Portkey first, only I brought Cedric with me too when I told him to take the cup with me." Harry trailed off again.

"It was not your fault, Harry," muttered James, getting up and joining Lily beside Harry. Hermione and Ron made their way to an adjoining armchair. "You didn't know that the cup was a Portkey. You did the right thing, son. You couldn't…shouldn't have denied him the cup."

Harry gave his parents a watery grin. "I am convinced myself of that…almost." He added on noticing the skeptical looks that were directed at him by his friends. "Moody took me from the Quidditch pitch to his office. Luckily for me, Professor Dumbledore followed. He stunned Crouch Jr. and forced him to confess under Veritaserum. And then he took me to his own office, where Padfoot was waiting." He gave the present Sirius a grateful smile. "He was a great support that night."

"Dumbledore had sent word to the Minister," Hermione continued. "But that idiot Fudge brought a Dementor along with him who administered the kiss on Crouch Jr. before he could confess or anything and then Fudge refused to believe that Voldemort had returned!"

"Is he stupid?" Remus snapped. Harry could almost see the wolf behind his amber eyes. It was a marvel that he had managed to control himself for so long. "How and why was Crouch Jr. there if not for Voldemort? Even a fool would know that Harry was speaking the truth. And just how dare he disbelieve Harry, after the boy had suffered so much?"

"It's okay, Remus," Harry said, dislodging himself from his mother's hug at last. "Things sort out, right? I just wish that Cedric didn't have to die. So…so uselessly."

"What a year!" Frank murmured. "You suffered too much, Harry."

"And made Ron and Hermione suffer too," Harry added. "I didn't tell them anything at first. I just couldn't. Mrs. Weasley was the one who steadied me the most." Harry grinned at Molly, who blushed slightly. "However I also made my friends stay around me always. And woke up Ron almost every night. And screamed at them for no reason at all. And…" Harry was interrupted as Ron and Hermione pulled him from the seat and into a hug. Both Lily and James smiled at them, before moving to be previous seats.

"Don't be a git, mate," Ron mumbled, pulling back from the hug. "It was no trouble at all. You needed the support, we gave it. That's what friends do."

"Thanks," Harry mumbled back. They sat back on the couch. "So, anyone has any questions?" No one raised any, though Harry saw his mother hugging Sirius and mumbling thanks to him and then saw her going and hugging Molly.

"So, can we read the next chapter?" questioned Hermione. Everyone nodded.

"I am reading it," said Lily, picking up the book and opening it to the right page. 'The title is 'Elf Tails'."

Sirius snorted. "Talk about funny titles! By the way, house-elves don't have tails?"

Remus smacked Sirius upside the head. "Tails here means following someone, idiot! Not a body appendage! Use your brains for once." Sirius pouted, causing the others to break out into laughter.

"That means that someone gets the House Elves to follow someone," Minerva murmured. "A great idea, indeed." Harry shot a triumphant look at Hermione, who stuck out her tongue at him. Lily leaned back onto her seat and started reading.

"So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" said Fred.

"That's an understatement!" said Snape, with a faint sneer. "Getting almost fatally poisoned cannot be a perfect birthday present by any stretch of imagination."

"Don't remind me, please!" said Molly in a high-pitched voice. "If it were not for Harry's prompt thinking he would have died!"

"I am sorry," Snape apologized, but Molly shook her head indicating that it was not required.

It was evening; the hospital wing was quiet, the windows curtained, the lamps lit. Ron's was the only occupied bed. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were sitting around him; they had spent all day waiting outside the double doors, trying to see inside whenever somebody went in or out.

"It was nerve wrecking," Hermione murmured to Ron in a low voice. She did not wish to upset Molly and Arthur. "For some time, they weren't sure that you would make it. It was a touch and go situation."

"That bad?" Ron enquired softly, raising his eyebrows. "But Harry got in the bezoar. I would have been okay."

Harry gave a derisive snort on hearing Ron's comment. "Madam Pomfrey didn't think so, and she was right. The Bezoar had indeed managed to curb the effects of the poison for the time being, but it was still spreading with alarming alacrity in your body. They only, just managed to save you."

"It was one of the very few times that I saw Harry so worried and distraught," Hermione confided, again in a low voice. Though, this time it was to keep Harry from overhearing. "I sincerely hoped that I wouldn't get to see that look again soon."

However it didn't help, as Harry turned to Hermione, his face tinged red. It was obvious that he had heard her. "You were more distraught than me, Mione," he reminded her, gently. "All you did was, maintain a stony silence and glare fixedly at the hospital door. I was half-afraid that you might do accidental magic and set it on fire or something." Harry had not bothered to maintain a low voice, partly to include the others and partly to stop his mother from reading further before they finished their conversation. Quite a few of them burst out laughing at Harry's comment, though Hermione had turned beet red.

Ron shook his exasperatedly. "Both of you are stupid."

Hermione smirked. "Says the boy who almost snapped my hand in my half with his hold, when Harry disappeared from the maze," she said slyly. Ron made a face at her and motioned Lily to continue reading, taking care to keep his eyes averted from Harry's; who was currently mirroring Hermione's smirk.

Madam Pomfrey had only let them enter at eight o'clock. Fred and George had arrived at ten past.

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present," said George grimly, putting down a large wrapped gift on Ron's bedside cabinet and sitting beside Ginny.

"Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious," said Fred.

James and Sirius could not help but laugh, even though the situation was somewhat grim. Remus and Snape were the only one, apart from Dumbledore maybe, who noticed both Ron's and Harry's faces turning white. What actually struck them was that, this had occurred one time too many.

"Maybe something does happen to one or both of the twins," Remus whispered to Snape, who nodded. For once, they both felt emotion clogging their chests at the same time. They both knew extremely well that if something did happen to one of the twins, if would be extremely difficult, if not impossible for the other to live on.

"There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him —" said George.

"You were in Hogsmeade?" asked Ginny, looking up.

"We were thinking of buying Zonko's," said Fred gloomily. "A Hogsmeade branch, you know, but a fat lot of good it'll do us if you lot aren't allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore ... But never mind that now."

"So do they do that?" questioned Sirius, who had apparently not noticed anything out of ordinary. "Do they buy Zonko's? It would be good; Zonko's is getting somewhat old and boring."

"No," Ron replied shortly, not bothering to elaborate. Sirius did look a little surprised at the abrupt reply but did not pursue the matter.

He drew up a chair beside Harry and looked at Ron's pale face.

"How exactly did it happen, Harry?"

Harry retold the story he had already recounted, it felt like a hundred times to Dumbledore, to McGonagall, to Madam Pomfrey, to Hermione, and to Ginny.

"Poor baby!" Hermione teased, sniggering a little. Harry pulled a face at her and smacked her lightly on the arm.

". . . and then I got the bezoar down his throat and his breathing eased up a bit, Slughorn ran for help, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey turned up, and they brought Ron up here. They reckon he'll be all right. Madam Pomfrey says he'll have to stay here a week or so ... keep taking essence of rue . . ."

"Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar," said George in a low voice.

"Lucky there was one in the room," said Harry, who kept turning cold at the thought of what would have happened if he had not been able to lay hands on the little stone.

"You think too much," Ron admonished his friend a little. "Stop thinking the worse about every small thing."

"B…But he is right," said Molly, stammering a little. Arthur pulled her into a gentle embrace. "I don't know if I can bear losing any of my children…even though they haven't even been born yet." Ron exchanged a worried look with his friends, knowing pretty well that his mother will have to listen to and live through that too.

Hermione gave an almost inaudible sniff. She had been exceptionally quiet all day. Having hurtled, white-faced, up to Harry outside the hospital wing and demanded to know what had happened, she had taken almost no part in Harry and Ginny's obsessive discussion about how Ron had been poisoned, but merely stood beside them, clench-jawed and frightened-looking, until at last they had been allowed to see him.

"I was afraid that I would never be able to apologize to you," said Hermione, answering Ron's unasked question. "That I wouldn't get the time to say goodbye…or be your friend again."

"You never ceased to be my friend, Mi," Ron murmured, pulling Hermione to him and hugging her tightly. "And it's me who had to apologize, not you. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Are they always this lovey-dovey?" Frank questioned Harry, in a loud 'whisper'. Alice smacked her boyfriend while Hermione moved out of the hug blushing heavily. Nevertheless, Ron still kept his arm around her.

Harry rolled his eyes at his friends, though a hint of smile graced his lips. "They are usually fighting or snogging. Trust me, it does get irritating after a while." Hermione blushed even more and Ron's ears turned a tell-tale red, though he did send a death glare at Harry.

"Do Mum and Dad know?" Fred asked Ginny.

"They've already seen him, they arrived an hour ago — they're in Dumbledore's office now, but they'll be back soon. . . ."

There was a pause while they all watched Ron mumble a little in his sleep.

"So the poison was in the drink?" said Fred quietly.

"Yes," said Harry at once; he could think of nothing else and was glad for the opportunity to start discussing it again. "Slughorn poured it out —"

"Would he have been able to slip something into Ron's glass without you seeing?"

"Not Professor Slughorn!" said Lily, a little harshly. "He wouldn't poison…or try to kill anyone."

"We knew that," said Harry, shrugging. "But the Twins didn't know him all that well. And, even they let go of this notion pretty soon."

"Probably," said Harry, "but why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?"

"No idea," said Fred, frowning. "You don't think he could have mixed up the glasses by mistake? Meaning to get you?"

"Why would Slughorn want to poison Harry?" asked Ginny.

"I dunno," said Fred, "but there must be loads of people who'd like to poison Harry, mustn't there? The Chosen One and all that?"

"They have a point," said Remus, glancing at Lily. "And, there remains a chance that he was under the Imperius curse. Katie was under one too when he was trying to get that cursed necklace into the school."

"It doesn't seem that you are the target at all, Harry," said Snape, thinking hard. "At least, not this time. Someone else seems to be the target. But, if Slughorn had not opened the Mead bottle, the possible target…or victim would have been the Headmaster." This comment was greeted by several gasps from around the room, though none of them or the other contradicted it. A pensive look had settled on Dumbledore's face and almost absent-mindedly, he motioned for Lily to continue reading. But, no one noticed the almost fearful looks that were exchanged between the Trio.

"So you think Slughorn's a Death Eater?" said Ginny.

"Anything's possible," said Fred darkly.

"He could be under the Imperius Curse," said George.

"Or he could be innocent," said Ginny. "The poison could have been in the bottle, in which case it was probably meant for Slughorn himself."

"Who'd want to kill Slughorn?"

"Dumbledore reckons Voldemort wanted Slughorn on his side," said Harry. "Slughorn was in hiding for a year before he came to Hogwarts. And . . ." He thought of the memory Dumbledore had not yet been able to extract from Slughorn. "And maybe Voldemort wants him out of the way, maybe he thinks he could be valuable to Dumbledore."

"Maybe," said Frank, thoughtfully. "But I don't think Voldemort deems Professor Slughorn to be all that important. Or he would have tried to get him killed sooner."

Dumbledore roved an eye around his students, present and future. The latter had tensed looks on their faces, unknowingly proving his doubts. He took a deep breath and said, "I think, Voldemort is trying to get me killed. Most probably, by Mr. Malfoy…Draco." The absolute silence that greeted this proclamation was unanimously broken by Sirius breaking out into laughter, though the other two Marauders were able to detect the faintest bit of desperation lacing it.

"You are kidding surely, Professor!" Sirius said still chuckling, but this time everybody could note the barely suppressed desperation and fear evident in his voice. "I mean who in their right minds could try and kill you! Not even Voldemort would be stupid enough to try and pull off something like that."

Dumbledore directed a sad smile at dark haired boy, who was so different from his family. A boy who had defied his entire family; not just by being in Gryffindor but by changing his entire lifestyle. The boy who would spend the better part of his life in Azkaban, despite being innocent. The aged Headmaster cleared his throat and said, "As much as I wish to agree, I am afraid I am not joking, Sirius. Tom wants me dead, and it is my belief that he has actually ordered Draco Malfoy for its accomplishment."

Minerva was looking shocked. "You mean…he…he actually employed that sixteen year old to kill someone?"

"I am afraid so," Dumbledore murmured looking over at the Trio for confirmation. They nodded, reluctantly. Seeing that no one was in a state to comment, Lily resumed reading.

"But you said Slughorn had been planning to give the Mead to Dumbledore for Christmas," Ginny reminded him. "So the poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore."

"Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well," said Hermione, speaking for the first time in hours and sounding as though she had a bad head cold. "Anyone who knew Slughorn would have known there was a good chance he'd keep something that tasty for himself."

"It confirms the fact, that it was a student's doing," Remus muttered, his eyes flashing in anger. "None of the students know him well, including Malfoy."

"Er-my-nee," croaked Ron unexpectedly from between them.

Lily could not help her lips from quirking up as she read it. "That's so sweet!"

she said. "Ron's probably dreaming about Hermione."

The mentioned couple blushed crimson, while many others burst out into laughter. It was a welcome relief after the currently tensed situation.

They all fell silent, watching him anxiously, but after muttering incomprehensibly for a moment he merely started snoring.

The dormitory doors flew open, making them all jump: Hagrid came striding toward them, his hair rain-flecked, his bearskin coat flapping behind him, a crossbow in his hand, leaving a trail of muddy dolphin-sized footprints all over the floor. "Bin in the forest all day!" he panted. "Aragog's worse, I bin readin' to him — didn' get up ter dinner till jus' now an' then Professor Sprout told me abou' Ron! How is he?"

"Not bad," said Harry. "They say he'll be okay."

"No more than six visitors at a time!" said Madam Pomfrey, hurrying out of her office.

"Hagrid makes six!" Remus stated. "Though, he probably looks to be more."

"Hagrid makes six," George pointed out.

"Oh . . . yes." said Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to have been counting Hagrid as several people due to his vastness. To cover her confusion, she hurried off to clear up his muddy foot prints with her wand.

"I don' believe this," said Hagrid hoarsely, shaking his great shaggy head as he stared down at Ron. "Jus' don' believe it... Look at him lyin' there. . . . Who'd want ter hurt him, eh?"

"That makes me sound so…so…girly," Ron muttered, derisively. "As if, I were all delicate and everything."

"And what exactly do you mean?" said Hermione, her eyes narrowing threateningly. "Girls are not delicate. And if you value your health…and sanity, you will do well to remember that. Even more so in front of your sister." Ron gulped and nodded hastily. He didn't really want to feel the extent of Hermione's wrath.

"That's just what we were discussing," said Harry. "We don't know."

"Someone couldn' have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, could they?" said Hagrid anxiously, "Firs' Katie, now Ron…"

"I can't see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team," said George.

"Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it," said Fred fairly.

Well, I don't think it's Quidditch, but I think there's a connection between the attacks," said Hermione quietly

"How d'you work that out?" asked Fred.

"Well, for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren't, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed. Of course," she added broodingly, "that makes the person behind this even more dangerous in a way, because they don't seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim."

"She is right," said James. "This person, whoever is doing it, is extremely flippant. And desperate."

Lily was about to resume reading when Snape let out an unexpected gasp. His face had turned deathly pale. "D…do you guys really think that Draco has been ordered to kill the Headmaster," he questioned, his voice quavering.

"He could be," Frank murmured, his brows furrowing up. "But, he won't be successful…obviously. So, what's…"

"Oh Holy Merlin!" James cursed, interrupting Frank. He was looking at Snape with a mixture of fear and concern.

"What's the matter?" Sirius snapped, speaking up for the first time since Dumbledore's comment aka announcement. "What's got into you two?"

James turned a worried glance at his best friend. "Don't you get it, Siri?" he murmured. "Severus has taken the Unbreakable vow! And the last condition was that, if Draco fails to do the allotted task; he has to do it."

"What the hell!" said Lily, her voice lowering dangerously. "So, Sev either has to kill Professor Dumbledore…or die! This is rubbish! I am sure we are wrong. This just sounds much too…too…far stretched."

The look on everybody's faces could be best described as 'shell-shocked'. And this 'everybody' included the Professors. The Trio were the only ones who were looking worried, and not shocked.

"Why don't we just read the story?" Harry suggested when the silence had stretched for more than a few minutes.

"I will kill someone? Will I?" Snape questioned Harry, sounding desperate. "Does Draco really have to do that…kill the Headmaster? Just answer, damnit!"

Harry short an apologetic look at the boy. "I am sorry," he said. "I really can't give you an answer right now. You have to get it from the book."

"But…" Snape started to protest, but was cut in by Remus.

"It will be okay, Severus," he said. "We are not sure about Draco's task. It might well be something else too. Somehow, I can't see Voldemort giving over the task of killing the Greatest Wizard of the world, to a Sixteen year old boy." Almost everybody gave relieved chuckles, except for Sirius and Dumbledore himself. Sirius was still in his 'mood' and Dumbledore was absolutely sure about Draco's task. Though, he did not say it again. Already, he was feeling sorry for predicting it. He had completely forgotten about Severus's Unbreakable Vow, or else he would have not mentioned it.

Before anybody could respond to this ominous pronouncement, the dormitory doors opened again and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried up the ward. They had done no more than satisfy themselves that Ron would make a full recovery on their last visit to the ward; now Mrs. Weasley seized hold of Harry and hugged him very tightly.

"Dumbledore's told us how you saved him with the bezoar," she sobbed. "Oh, Harry, what can we say? You saved Ginny . . . you saved Arthur…now you've saved Ron"

"Arthur?" questioned Molly, nervously. "What happened to him?"

"He was injured on an Order business," replied Ron, vaguely. He didn't wish to give everything away before they recounted their Fifth year. "Harry had a…a vision of it, and managed to notify Dumbledore…sorry, Professor Dumbledore in time."

"But how….?" Molly curiosity was evidently not quenched. However, Ron

interrupted her question.

"Details when we tell you about our Fifth year!" he commented, grinning impishly. Molly huffed a little, but did not question further.

"Don't be ... I didn't. . ." muttered Harry awkwardly.

"Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it," Mr. Weasley said in a constricted voice. "Well, all I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry."

"The luck was on both sides," said Harry, grinning at his best friend. "I couldn't have gone through my Hogwarts years without Ron and Hermione. Hell! I couldn't have gone through my First Year, let along the others!"

"You would have!" said Ron, decisively. "But, our lives would have been really boring."

"Whatever," murmured Harry, not rising to the bait. This was one argument that he could never win; even though he was right.

Harry could not think of any reply to this and was almost glad when Madam Pomfrey reminded them that there were only supposed to be six visitors around Ron's bed; he and Hermione rose at once to leave and Hagrid decided to go with them, leaving Ron with his family.

"How many times do I have to tell you that…" started Ron exasperatedly.

"…that we two are family!' Harry and Hermione chorused, guessing and interrupting Ron's question.

"This seems to be a frequently discussed topic between the three of you," said James, sounding amused. "Same thing's with Sirius. He has to be reminded, on a really frequent basis, that he is a Potter in all but name and blood."

"Don't be a dolt, James!" said Sirius, grinning grudgingly. "I know pretty well that I am a part of your family. And your mother loves me more than you!" he added as an afterthought.

"Same with me," said Ron, dolefully. "Mum loves Harry more. And he takes full benefit of the situation." He dealt a glare at Harry.

Molly burst out into peals of laughter at her son's whining tone. "I think Harry does the right thing," she said. "and anyways, he seems to far more responsible than you. No wonder I prefer him."

"Bloody unfair!" Ron murmured under his breath, but his lips wore a trace of grin.

"It's terrible," growled Hagrid into his beard, as the three of them walked back along the corridor to the marble staircase. "All this new security and kids are still gettin' hurt. . . . Dumbledore's worried sick. . . . He don say much, but I can tell. . . ."

"Hasn't he got any ideas, Hagrid?" asked Hermione desperately.

"I spect he's got hundreds of ideas, brain like his," said Hagrid. "But he doesn' know who sent that necklace nor put poison in that wine, or they'd've been caught, wouldn' they? Wha' worries me," said Hagrid, lowering his voice and glancing over his shoulder (Harry, for good measure, checked the ceiling for Peeves),

"Moody would be pleased," remarked Frank. "Constant Vigilance!"

"Yeah, he would," agreed Arthur, grinning. "Though, he might even check the entire floor; just to be safe."

"More likely, the entire school!" added Harry, snorting.

"is how long Hogwarts can stay open if kids are bein' attacked. Chamber o' Secrets all over again, isn' it? There'll be panic, more parents takin' their kids outta school, an' nex' thing yeh know the board o' governors..."

Hagrid stopped talking as the ghost of a long-haired woman drifted serenely past, then resumed in a hoarse whisper, ". . . the board o' governors'll be talkin' about shuttin' us up fer good."

"Not likely!" remarked Minerva. "Even the parents know that Hogwarts is the safest place for their kids. There might have been a few attacks, but it is still far more secured that any place else. At least, as long as Albus is there."

"Absolutely," said James. "Those bloo…sorry…idiotic Death Eaters and that stupid Voldemort fear Albus Dumbledore the most. They won't even think of harming Hogwarts."

"That's why they wanted him out," Harry whispered to his friends. "And he made things easier for them, when he got himself infected with that curse. Though, it wasn't really his fault."

"I couldn't blame him for trying out that ring," Ron confessed, softly. "Since after the battle, I have felt an inexplicable urge to go and search for that stone in the Forbidden forest. Just to talk to Fred once! Or maybe give it to George, so that he could talk to his twin."

Hermione wrapped an arm tightly around Ron while Harry fixed his friend with mixture of concerned and shocked look. "Don't even think of that, Ron," he said, taking care to keep his voice low. "That…That stone is bad. A bit like the 'Mirror of Erised'. I know you miss Fred…but I don't think it's wise to…"

"I know that, Harry!" said Ron cutting into his tirade. "I know all that! Otherwise, I would have tried to find that stone already. I…I won't. I won't try to find it…ever. I don't think it's worth it."

"What are you looking guilty about?" Hermione questioned Harry sharply, noting and correctly guessing his look. "You can't still think that Fred's death was your fault."

"I got to meet my parents, Hermione," Harry confessed. "With the help of the stone. And Sirius and Remus too. It seems a bit hypocritical that I am lecturing Ron about not using it. And…Fred's death was my fault."

"It was not!" Ron said firmly. "You are the only one who thinks that. And about using the stone…you were about to die, Harry. You needed their strength for that sacrifice. And you deserved it."

Harry smiled gratefully at his friend and caught his mother's eye. Lily had stopped reading; giving the Trio time to finish their conversation. At Harry's gesture, she resumed reading.

"Surely not?" said Hermione, looking worried.

"Gotta see it from their point o' view," said Hagrid heavily. "I mean, it's always bin a bit of a risk sendin' a kid ter Hogwarts, hasn' it? Yer expect accidents, don' yeh, with hundreds of underage wizards all locked up together, but attempted murder, tha's diff'rent. 'S'no wonder Dumbledore's angry with Sn —"

"With Snape," Snape completed the sentence bitterly. "The Headmaster must know that I am up to nothing good. He should just chuck me out of the castle. Especially, if I am working for Voldemort."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Severus," said Dumbledore calmly. "Only time will tell the truth. There is no need to jump to conclusions."

"In other words, stop acting like a melodramatic pansy," said Sirius dryly, though his tone was laced with amusement.

"I am not…" started Snape heatedly but Lily interrupted him

"You are," she said firmly, causing Snape to flush red. "Getting angry at your future self does fall under being 'melodramatic'. Just imagine, what your 'future self' would say if he saw you like this. He would be horror-struck, to say the least. It seems as if you are hell-bent on making others hate you. Just…Just complete the books first, before forming an opinion."

Snape flinched at; both her tone and her words which, he knew were absolutely. All through his life, he was always so afraid of getting hurt that he never took the risk of letting someone come close to him. Lily was the first person that he had befriended willingly and somehow, he had never regretted it. Even after their friendship broke. He sighed deeply and concentrated on the chapter, trying to chase away the pangs of guilt that he was feeling on account of his future actions.

Hagrid stopped in his tracks, a familiar, guilty expression on what was visible of his face above his tangled black beard.

"What?" said Harry quickly. "Dumbledore's angry with Snape?"

"I never said tha'," said Hagrid, though his look of panic could not have been a bigger giveaway. "Look at the time, it's gettin' on fer midnight, I need ter —"

"That man can't lie to save his life," murmured Snape.

"Hagrid, why is Dumbledore angry with Snape?" Harry asked loudly.

"Shhhh!" said Hagrid, looking both nervous and angry. "Don' shout stuff like that, Harry, d'yeh wan' me ter lose me job? Mind, I don' suppose yeh'd care, would yeh, not now yeh've given up Care of Mag—"

"He really thought that guilt trip would work with you two?" said Alice incredulously. "Especially with Harry in his 'desperate for answers' mode?"

"Hey!" Harry protested. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Alice giggled. "Didn't you notice; every time you are desperate for answers you get all snarky and everything. I don't think excuses will work with you."

"Whatever," Harry muttered, glaring daggers at his smirking friends.

"Don't try and make me feel guilty, it won't work!" said Harry forcefully. "What's Snape done?"

"Told you!" said Alice, smiling smugly.

"I dunno, Harry, I shouldn'ta heard it at all! I — well, I was comin' outta the forest the other evenin' an' I overheard 'em talking— well, arguin'. Didn't like ter draw attention to meself, so I sorta skulked an' tried not ter listen, but it was a — well, a heated discussion an' it wasn' easy ter block it out."

"Well?" Harry urged him, as Hagrid shuffled his enormous feet uneasily.

"Well — I jus' heard Snape sayin' Dumbledore took too much fer granted an maybe he — Snape — didn' wan' ter do it any more —

"Now that is funny," Remus murmured to himself. "It seems as if Professor wants to get something done by Severus and he doesn't want to do it." He traded significant glances with his fellow Marauders. Something was amiss…hugely amiss. It seemed as if both Severus and Dumbledore were up to something. Something very important and grave.

"Do what?"

"I dunno, Harry, it sounded like Snape was feelin' a bit overworked, tha's all — anyway, Dumbledore told him flat out he'd agreed ter do it an' that was all there was to it. Pretty firm with him. An' then he said summat abou' Snape makin' investigations in his House, in Slytherin. Well, there's nothin' strange abou' that!" Hagrid added hastily, as Harry and Hermione exchanged looks full of meaning. "All the Heads o' Houses were asked ter look inter that necklace business —"

"Professor Dumbledore knows that it was Draco," said Remus. "At least, he thinks so."

Molly furrowed up her brows, "But doesn't that mean that he does not want Harry to involve himself in this? That, he pretty well aware of whatever's happening and is perfectly taking care of it?"

"I should have told that to Harry," said Dumbledore. "I think it is another one of my many mistakes."

"Mistakes?" Sirius questioned, in an indignant voice. "You don't make mistakes, Professor. I mean sir; you usually have a plan for everything don't you?"

Dumbledore smiled at his student. "I can assure you, Sirius, I make mistakes like any other human being. Sometimes, even more than some. And some mistakes…were terrible!" Dumbledore let out a long-suffering sigh. "I don't know if you will get to know about them…"

"They will, Professor," Hermione supplied softly. "We got to know about them in our Seventh year." Or what was supposed to be, Hermione though to herself.

Dumbledore grimaced slightly. "Then I can just hope that you all won't think too badly of me…and at least find it in you to forgive me." Most of the students looked rather pensive but did not question further.

"Yeah, but Dumbledore's not having rows with the rest of them, is he?" said Harry.

"Look," Hagrid twisted his crossbow uncomfortably in his hands; there was a loud splintering sound and it snapped in two. "I know what yeh're like abou' Snape, Harry, an' I don' want yeh ter go readin' more inter this than there is."

"Look out," said Hermione tersely.

They turned just in time to see the shadow of Argus Filch looming over the wall behind them before the man himself turned the corner, hunchbacked, his jowls aquiver. "Oho!" he wheezed. "Out of bed so late, this'll mean detention!"

"They are with a teacher," snapped Minerva. "Though probably, Filch won't think Hagrid is one."

"He is a bloody idiotic moronic git!" said Snape, instantly coloring up on noticing the amused and slightly reproving look on the Professor's faces.

Sirius crying out, "Well said, Sevvie!" didn't help much either.

"No it won', Filch," said Hagrid shortly. "They're with me, aren' they?"

"And what difference does that make?" asked Filch obnoxiously.

"I'm a ruddy teacher, aren' I, yeh sneakin' Squib!" said Hagrid, firing up at once.

There was a nasty hissing noise as Filch swelled with fury; Mrs. Norris had arrived, unseen, and was twisting herself sinuously around Filch's skinny ankles.

"Get goin," said Hagrid out of the corner of his mouth.

Harry did not need telling twice; he and Hermione both hurried off; Hagrid's and Filch's raised voices echoed behind them as they ran. They passed Peeves near the turning into Gryffindor Tower, but he was streaking happily toward the source of the yelling, cackling and calling,

WHEN THERE'S STRIFE AND WHEN THERE'S TROUBLE

CALL ON PEEVSIE, HE'LL MAKE DOUBLE!

"We have some people to thank for half of these songs," said Minerva glaring at the smirking Marauders.

"How on earth did you get Peeves to learn these songs?" questioned Ron, sounding flabbergasted.

Remus chuckled out. "We are The Marauders. And, Peeves just loves to cause Mayhem. He is dead helpful when you want him to prank someone. He will easily follow someone, throwing books or ink pellets at them all day long. Or cause them to go in different directions or get trapped on the staircases."

Severus threw a dirty look at the Marauders. "So, it was you lot who got him to follow me for a week? The only place that he didn't follow me to was the Common Rooms. It was irritating, to say the least."

James grinned. "Sorry, I guess," he said. "But, you gotta admit it was funny. And from what I remember, it was in retribution for hexing Remus."

"And that was, because you guys caused him to burst out singing in the great hall," countered Remus, through he was grinning.

"Can we continue reading?" Lily cut in Sirius's resort. "We need to finish the chapter and the book fast. You will have all the time in the world to discuss pranks." The Marauders and Snape nodded sheepishly at her, as they allheld her…actually hers and Molly's temper in great esteem.

The Fat Lady was snoozing and not pleased to be woken, but swung forward grumpily to allow them to clamber into the mercifully peaceful and empty common room. It did not seem that people knew about Ron yet; Harry was very relieved: He had been interrogated enough that day. Hermione bade him good night and set off for the girls' dormitory. Harry, however, remained behind, taking a seat beside the fire and looking down into the dying embers.

"I could have used your company," said Harry, accusingly. "There were too many things on my mind."

Hermione blushed slightly. "Sorry," she said. "I just needed some time to collect myself. All the things have proven to be a bit of a shocker!"

So Dumbledore had argued with Snape. In spite of all he had told Harry, in spite of his insistence that he trusted Snape completely, he had lost his temper with him. . . . He did not think that Snape had tried hard enough to investigate the Slytherins ... or, perhaps, to investigate a single Slytherin: Malfoy?

Was it because Dumbledore did not want Harry to do anything foolish, to take matters into his own hands, that he had pretended there was nothing in Harry's suspicions? That seemed likely. It might even be that Dumbledore did not want anything to distract Harry from their lessons, or from procuring that memory from Slughorn. Perhaps Dumbledore did not think it right to confide suspicions about his staff to sixteen-year-olds. ...

"There you are, Potter!"

Harry jumped to his feet in shock, his wand at the ready. He had been quite convinced that the common room was empty; he had not been at all prepared for a hulking figure to rise suddenly out of a distant chair. A closer look showed him that it was Cormac McLaggen.

"What did that idiot want from you?" questioned Sirius, sounding a little annoyed.

"Quidditch," replied Harry, shrugging. "He would be taking Ron's place as the Keeper. After all, he the second best in the try-outs."

James frowned at his son. "Somehow, I don't think it is a very good thing," he said. "He is not the kind of player who merges well with the team; at least he doesn't sound like one."

"I've been waiting for you to come back," said McLaggen, disregarding Harry's drawn wand. "Must've fallen asleep. Look, I saw them taking Weasley up to the hospital wing earlier. Didn't look like he'll be fit for next week's match."

It took Harry a few moments to realize what McLaggen was talking about.

"Oh . . . right. . . Quidditch," he said, putting his wand back into the belt of his jeans and running a hand wearily through his hair. "Yeah ... he might not make it."

"Well then, I'll be playing Keeper, won't I?" said McLaggen.

"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah, I suppose so. ..."

He could not think of an argument against it; after all, McLaggen had certainly performed second-best in the trials.

"Excellent," said McLaggen in a satisfied voice. "So when's practice?"

"What? Oh . . . there's one tomorrow evening."

"Good. Listen, Potter, we should have a talk beforehand. I've got some ideas on strategy you might find useful."

"I told you," said James, frowning.

"What's wrong with giving a strategy to the captain?" asked Lily.

Alice chuckled out loud. "There is nothing wrong with that, Lily," she said. "But, you should wait for the captain to present his own strategy before putting your ideas out. The way this McLaggen fellow is behaving, he might just try to take the game in his own hands. And that's a dangerous thing in Quidditch."

"Absolutely," agreed Sirius. "Quidditch is essentially a team game. And trying to personalize or dictate it, can only end in disaster."

"Right," said Harry unenthusiastically. "Well, I'll hear them tomorrow, then. I'm pretty tired now ... see you . . ."

The news that Ron had been poisoned spread quickly next day, but it did not cause the sensation that Katie's attack had done. People seemed to think that it might have been an accident, given that he had been in the Potions master's room at the time, and that as he had been given an antidote immediately there was no real harm done. In fact, the Gryffindors were generally much more interested in the upcoming Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, for many of them wanted to see Zacharias Smith, who played Chaser on the Hufflepuff team, punished soundly for his commentary during the opening match against Slytherin.

"That would be great to see…I mean, read about," aid James, a triumphant look on his features." Make sure you beat them bad, son. At least that Smith." James had either forgotten or did not care that he was speaking to a book.

Harry shared a quick look with Ron, who nodded slightly. It would not do to get his father's and everybody's hopes up, just to dash it again. Especially, as both his father and Sirius are Quidditch fanatics. "Um…Dad, we…we lost this match," said Harry, stuttering a bit.

James's face visibly felled, causing Harry to grimace slightly. "But, how?"

James questioned. "Don't tell me it was…"

"Due to McLaggen? Yeas, I am afraid it was." said Harry. "As much as I don't like to blame anyone, he was responsible for this defeat."

"That git!" murmured Sirius, gesturing Lily to continue reading. It was better to get the defeat out of the way, as fast as possible.

Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy. Still checking the Marauder's Map whenever he got a chance, he sometimes made detours to wherever Malfoy happened to be, but had not yet detected him doing anything out of the ordinary. And still there were those inexplicable times when Malfoy simply vanished from the map. . . . But Harry did not get a lot of time to consider the problem, what with Quidditch practice, homework, and the fact that he was now being dogged wherever he went by Cormac McLaggen and Lavender Brown.

"Why were you stalked by her?" asked Molly, scrunching up her face. "Was she trying to get you to break off friendship with Ron too or something?"

"Why should she do anything like that, Mum?" questioned Ron sounding genuinely and mightily confused.

Molly shrugged slightly. "I don't really know," she said. "I just thought that she might try such a thing."

"She's not that bad," said Hermione, a little defensively; smacking a smirking Harry on the arm. "There is no need to look so surprised, Ronald," she snapped on noticing the gaping Ron. "She is not my enemy. We were dorm-mates, throughout our school life. She is alright, if a little snippy."

He could not decide which of them was more annoying. McLaggen kept up a constant stream of hints that he would make a better permanent Keeper for the team than Ron, and that now that Harry was seeing him play regularly he would surely come around to this way of thinking too; he was also keen to criticize the other players and provide Harry with detailed training schemes, so that more than once Harry was forced to remind him who was Captain.

"Why didn't you just chuck his off?" said James ill-temperedly. He was still fuming that they…Gryffindor…would lose a match because of this idiotic guy.

"They were no better keepers," said Harry, his voice a little subdued. He could tell that his father was disappointed in him…albeit slightly. "I didn't think that it would make too big a difference in just one game."

Meanwhile, Lavender kept sidling up to Harry to discuss Ron, which Harry found almost more wearing than McLaggen's Quidditch lectures. At first, Lavender had been very annoyed that nobody had thought to tell her that Ron was in the hospital wing — "I mean, I am his girlfriend!" — but unfortunately she had now decided to forgive Harry this lapse of memory and was keen to have lots of in-depth chats with him about Ron's feelings, a most uncomfortable experience that Harry would have happily forgone.

"Don't tell me that you actually took pains to discuss this with her!"

exclaimed Snape. "Why didn't you just tell her to get lost?"

"Didn't think about it," said Harry, sheepishly.

Hermione snorted. "He most probably thought that it would be rude," she said. "Though, I think he protested a bit at the end."

"Stupid Gryffindors," muttered Snape, rolling his eyes at the lot.

"Look, why don't you talk to Ron about all this?" Harry asked, after a particularly long interrogation from Lavender that took in everything from precisely what Ron had said about her new dress robes to whether or not Harry thought that Ron considered his relationship with Lavender to be "serious."

"Well, I would, but he's always asleep when I go and see him!" said Lavender fretfully.

"Is he?" said Harry, surprised, for he had found Ron perfectly alert every time he had been up to the hospital wing, both highly interested in the news of Dumbledore and Snape's row and keen to abuse McLaggen as much as possible.

"Is Hermione Granger still visiting him?" Lavender demanded suddenly.

"Yeah, I think so. Well, they're friends, aren't they?" said Harry uncomfortably.

"What's there to be uncomfortable about?" snapped Hermione, rounding on Harry.

Harry shot a startled look at her. "It was just uncomfortable speaking to her, Hermione," he said. "I mean, I didn't even know her all that well and to talk about you… I don't know, it was just very stupid."

"It sounded as if…I mean, that even you thought that I didn't have a right to renew my friendship with Ron," Hermione confessed softly. "I guess, I always felt a little guilty that Ron broke up with Lavender. I am responsible for that, if only partly."

"You were not!" said Ron almost forcefully and pulled Hermione into a fierce hug. "I was in the wrong. Totally. I hurt both you, and Lavender. Don't you dare to ever blame yourself for this incident." Hermione returned the hug, feeling as if a weight has lifted from her chest.

"Friends, don't make me laugh," said Lavender scornfully. "She didn't talk to him for weeks after he started going out with me! But I suppose she wants to make up with him now he's all interesting. ..."

"Interesting!" exclaimed Ron. "What does she mean by interesting? For heavens sake, I got poisoned…almost killed!"

"That's what I told her," said Harry. "She really needed to get her priorities straight."

"Would you call getting poisoned being interesting?" asked Harry. "Anyway — sorry, got to go — there's McLaggen coming for a talk about Quidditch," said Harry hurriedly, and he dashed sideways through a door pretending to be solid wall and sprinted down the shortcut that would take him off to Potions where, thankfully, neither Lavender nor McLaggen could follow him.

On the morning of the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, Harry dropped in on the hospital wing before heading down to the pitch. Ron was very agitated; Madam Pomfrey would not let him go down to watch the match, feeling it would overexcite him.

"That's bad," said Sirius sympathetically. "Now you have to wait till the next Quidditch match."

James, however let out a long-suffering sigh. "But anyways, they lost the game. You didn't miss much. I don't think you would have fancied watching Gryffindor losing."

Lily leaned close to James. "It is just a match," she said, throwing a significant look at their son who was clearly taking James's disapproval to heart. "It is really okay to lose a game sometime."

James's was terribly surprised, to say the least, on catching a look of his son's face and noting his subdued expression. Harry obviously thought that James was disappointed in him or in his Quidditch skills. "Of course! It is just a game," he hastened to reassure his son. He tried to school his features into a convincing grin. After all, he was angry at that McLaggen, not his son! "And Gryffindors still has the best Quidditch team. A little defeat isn't going to change that, pr the fact that my son is a superb seeker. The best." Harry shot a relieved and grateful look at his parents.

"So how's McLaggen shaping up?" he asked Harry nervously, apparently forgetting that he had already asked the same question twice.

"I've told you," said Harry patiently, "he could be world-class and I wouldn't want to keep him. He keeps trying to tell everyone what to do, he thinks he could play every position better than the rest of us. I can't wait to be shot of him. And speaking of getting shot of people," Harry added, getting to his feet and picking up his Firebolt, "will you stop pretending to be asleep when Lavender comes to see you? She's driving me mad as well."

"Sorry mate," Ron murmured to Harry. "I just needed a break from her, for a while. She was driving me bonkers."

Harry smirked at his best mate. "I can totally sympathize with you," he said. "Though, it was your own doing as you were silly enough to get involved with her, in the first place." Ron shot him a glare but did not contradict his words.

"Oh," said Ron, looking sheepish. "Yeah. All right."

"If you don't want to go out with her anymore, just tell her," said Harry.

"Yeah . . . well. . . it's not that easy, is it?" said Ron. He paused.

"Hermione going to look in before the match?" he added casually.

"No, she's already gone down to the pitch with Ginny."

"Oh," said Ron, looking rather glum. "Right. Well, good luck. Hope you hammer McLag — I mean, Smith."

"Sorry for not dropping in before the match," Hermione whispered to Ron as Lily paused a bit to drink some water. "I was already running late and Ginny dragged me along with her. Said, she needed moral strength."

"That's alright love," said Ron, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "I was just feeling a little lonely."

"Oh, stop it you two," moaned Harry, making a face at his face. "This entire lovey-doveyness is getting too much." Hermione smiled, blushing slightly and turned her attention to Lily, who had resumed reading.

"I'll try," said Harry, shouldering his broom. "See you after the match."

He hurried down through the deserted corridors; the whole school was outside, either already seated in the stadium or heading down toward it. He was looking out of the windows he passed, trying to gauge how much wind they were facing, when a noise ahead made him glance up and he saw Malfoy walking toward him, accompanied by two girls, both of whom looked sulky and resentful.

"They have to Crabbe and Goyle," muttered Frank. "It is a really good plan; you have to give them that. No one will suspect a pair of girls; especially a pair of first year girls."

"Yup. They'll mingle well with the crowds," added Remus. "But he must be requiring a rather large supply of Polyjuice Potion."

Snape frowned. "I think they took a leaf out of their book," he said, gesturing at the Trio. "He must be making the potion; or probably has already made a large supply."

Malfoy stopped short at the sight of Harry, then gave a short, humorless laugh and continued walking.

"Where're you going?" Harry demanded.

"Yeah, I'm really going to tell you, because it's your business, Potter," sneered Malfoy. "You'd better hurry up, they'll be waiting for 'the Chosen Captain' — 'the Boy Who Scored' — whatever they call you these days."

One of the girls gave an unwilling giggle. Harry stared at her. She blushed. Malfoy pushed past Harry and she and her friend followed at a trot, turning the corner and vanishing from view.

Harry stood rooted on the spot and watched them disappear. This was infuriating; he was already cutting it fine to get to the match on time and yet there was Malfoy, skulking off while the rest of the school was absent: Harry's best chance yet of discovering what Malfoy was up to. The silent seconds trickled past, and Harry remained where he was, frozen, gazing at the place where Malfoy had vanished. . . .

"I can understand your uncertainty," said James. "This is obviously more necessary than a Quidditch game. But, the Headmaster told you to let it go…" James trailed off looking conflicted.

Harry let out a chuckle. "I have to admit that, it was one of the reasons that made me go to the match, instead of following Draco," he confessed. "And also the fact that I was the captain. It won't do if the captain doesn't turn up for the match; without any prior information."

"Where have you been?" demanded Ginny, as Harry sprinted into the changing rooms. The whole team was changed and ready; Coote and Peakes, the Beaters, were both hitting their clubs nervously against their legs.

"I met Malfoy," Harry told her quietly, as he pulled his scarlet robes over his head. "So I wanted to know how come he's up at the castle with a couple of girlfriends while everyone else is down here. ..."

"Does it matter right now?"

"Well, I'm not likely to find out, am I?" said Harry, seizing his Firebolt and pushing his glasses straight. "Come on then!" And without another word, he marched out onto the pitch to deafening cheers and boos.

There was little wind; the clouds were patchy; every now and then there were dazzling flashes of bright sunlight.

"Tricky conditions!" McLaggen said bracingly to the team. "Coote, Peakes, you'll want to fly out of the sun, so they don't see you coming —"

"Shut up, idiot," snarled Sirius.

Remus grinned at the boy. "But he is right, Padfoot," he said. "It is important to fly out of the sun; you have said it so many times yourself."

"But he is not the captain," Sirius pointed out. "And, I hate that know-it-all tone of his!"

"Says someone, whose friend acts like the biggest know-it-all," said Lily, smirking at James, who scowled and pouted.

"I'm the Captain, McLaggen, shut up giving them instructions," said Harry angrily. "Just get up by the goal posts!" Once McLaggen had marched off, Harry turned to Coote and Peakes. "Make sure you do fly out of the sun," he told them grudgingly.

He shook hands with the Hufflepuff Captain, and then, on Madam Hooch's whistle, kicked off and rose into the air, higher than the rest of his team, streaking around the pitch in search of the Snitch. If he could catch it good and early, there might be a chance he could get back up to the castle, seize the Marauder's Map, and find out what Malfoy was doing. . . .

"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle," said a dreamy voice, echoing over the grounds.

"It must be Luna!" exclaimed Alice. "Only she could be described as having a dreamy voice."

Arthur smiled. "The commentary should be interesting," he remarked. "That girl is innovative, to say the least."

"He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them — oh, look, he's lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice. ..."

Harry stared down at the commentator's podium. Surely nobody in their right mind would have let Luna Lovegood commentary? But even from above there was no mistaking that long, dirty-blonde hair, nor the necklace of butterbeer corks. . . . Beside Luna, Professor McGonagall was looking slightly uncomfortable, as though she was indeed having second thoughts about this appointment.

"It was your best decision," said Ron, chuckling hard as he remembered the commentary. "She was brilliant, in her own funny way."

". . . but now that big Hufflepuff player's got the Quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Bibble — no, Buggins — "

"It's Cadwallader!" said Professor McGonagall loudly from beside Luna. The crowd laughed.

The reaction was mirrored by the people in the room.

Harry stared around for the Snitch; there was no sign of it. Moments later, Cadwallader scored. McLaggen had been shouting criticism at Ginny for allowing the Quaffle out of her possession, with the result that he had not noticed the large red ball soaring past his right ear.

"McLaggen, will you pay attention to what you're supposed to be doing and leave everyone else alone!" bellowed Harry, wheeling around to face his Keeper.

"You're not setting a great example!" McLaggen shouted back, red-faced and furious.

"Don't talk like that to Harry," shrieked Lily, surprising everyone including herself. "He is the one who butting into other people's businesses…or rather positions." She added a little defensively.

"Absolutely," agreed James, partly to stop others from smirking at Lily. "That idiot had no business to talk like that with Harry or to berate Ginny. She is a far better player than he could ever hope to be."

"And Harry Potter's now having an argument with his Keeper," said Luna serenely, while both Hufflepuffs and Slytherins below in the crowd cheered and jeered. "I don't think that'll help him find the Snitch, but maybe it's a clever ruse…"

Swearing angrily, Harry spun round and set off around the pitch again, scanning the skies for some sign of the tiny, winged golden ball.

Ginny and Demelza scored a goal apiece, giving the red-and-gold-clad supporters below something to cheer about. Then Cadwallader scored again, making things level, but Luna did not seem to have noticed; she appeared singularly uninterested in such mundane things as the score, and kept attempting to draw the crowd's attention to such things as interestingly shaped clouds and the possibility that Zacharias Smith, who had so far failed to maintain possession of the Quaffle for longer than a minute, was suffering from something called "Loser's Lurgy."

"Loser's Lurgy!" Sirius gasped out, between fits of laughter. "Merlin, this girl is brilliant. I don't think I have ever enjoyed myself more, during a commentary."

"I second you, mate," said James, almost rolling about in laughter. "That's probably the most singularly funny thing that I have ever heard in a Quidditch commentary.

"Seventy-forty to Hufflepuff!" barked Professor McGonagall into Luna's megaphone.

"Is it, already?" said Luna vaguely. "Oh, look! The Gryffindor Keeper's got hold of one of the Beater's bats."

Harry spun around in midair. Sure enough, McLaggen, for reasons best known to himself, had pulled Peakes's bat from him and appeared to be demonstrating how to hit a Bludger toward an oncoming Cadwallader.

"Will you give him back his bat and get back to the goal posts!" roared Harry, pelting toward McLaggen

"Don't Harry," said James, the laughter leaving him in an instant. "That boy isn't in control. He might as well whack you."

"He did," said Harry, sourly. "I woke up in the hospital bed."

Lily groaned. "Were you alright?" she couldn't keep the question in, even though it was glaringly obvious that Harry would be alright.

Hermione snickered. "Except for losing a bit more of his barely existent brains…he was alright." Harry glared at her and pushed her hard, but that only caused her to fall against Ron, still laughing hard.

just as McLaggen took a ferocious swipe at the Bludger and mishit it.

A blinding, sickening pain ... a flash of light . . . distant screams . . . and the sensation of falling down a long tunnel…

And the next thing Harry knew, he was lying in a remarkably warm and comfortable bed and looking up at a lamp that was throwing a circle of golden light onto a shadowy ceiling. He raised his head awkwardly. There on his left was a familiar-looking, freckly, red-haired person.

"Nice of you to drop in," said Ron, grinning.

"You are so…so…" started Hermione, scowling hard at her boyfriend.

"…lovable?" suggested Ron, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Insensate," she snapped. "That not how you greet your friend when he has just been injured…and that too horribly."

Harry blinked and looked around. Of course: He was in the hospital wing. The sky outside was indigo streaked with crimson. The match must have finished hours ago ... as had any hope of cornering Malfoy. Harry's head felt strangely heavy; he raised a hand and felt a stiff turban of bandages. "What happened?"

"Cracked skull," said Madam Pomfrey, bustling up and pushing him back against his pillows. "Nothing to worry about, I mended it at once, but I'm keeping you in overnight. You shouldn't over exert yourself for a few hours."

"I don't want to stay here overnight," said Harry angrily, sitting up and throwing back his covers. "I want to find McLaggen and kill him."

"Just sneak out and do it," muttered James harshly. "Or bribe Madam Pomfrey."

"Like Poppy could be bribed," said Minerva, with a hint of amusement in her voice. "I would like anyone to try."

"We did," Sirius announced. "Successfully."

"And what on earth did you bribe her with?" questioned Molly, sounding amazed. "And why?"

"A bit of flattery will get you anywhere," announced James, smirking. "And, we had to see Moony, after the full moon. We were worried."

"By flattery he means that, they held on to Madam Pomfrey and refused to let her go till she allowed them in," said Remus, rolling his eyes at his eyes, though as usual their willingness to care for him did not cease to amaze him. "they were literally on their knees before they were allowed in."

"I'm afraid that would come under the heading of 'overexertion,'" said Madam Pomfrey, pushing him firmly back onto the bed and raising her wand in a threatening manner. "You will stay here until I discharge you, Potter, or I shall call the headmaster."

She bustled back into her office, and Harry sank back into his pillows, fuming. "D'you know how much we lost by?" he asked Ron through clenched teeth.

"Well, yeah I do," said Ron apologetically. "Final score was three hundred and twenty to sixty."

"That's just…." James trailed off, almost overcome by the appalling score.

Harry nodded glumly. "I know," he said. "It was just terrible."

"Brilliant," said Harry savagely. "Really brilliant! When I get hold of McLaggen —"

"You don't want to get hold of him, he's the size of a troll," said Ron reasonably. "Personally, I think there's a lot to be said for hexing him with that toenail thing of the Prince's. Anyway, the rest of the team might've dealt with him before you get out of here, they're not happy. ..."

"They hexed and jinxed him to next millennium," Hermione supplied. "And they were also joined in by half of Gryffindor."

"What about you?" questioned Sirius, eager to know if Hermione had thought the incident worthy of breaking rules.

Hermione threw a disdainful look at him. "Of course, I did too," she said. "He almost managed to kill off my friend. I also included a few long-lasting jinxes." Sirius threw an appreciative smile at her.

There was a note of badly suppressed glee in Ron's voice; Harry could tell he was nothing short of thrilled that McLaggen had messed up so badly. Harry lay there, staring up at the patch of light on the ceiling, his recently mended skull not hurting, precisely, but feeling slightly tender underneath all the bandaging.

"I could hear the match commentary from here," said Ron, his voice now shaking with laughter. "I hope Luna always commentates from now on. . . . Loser's Lurgy ..."

But Harry was still too angry to see much humor in the situation, and after a while Ron's snorts subsided. "Ginny came in to visit while you were unconscious," he said, after a long pause, and Harry's imagination zoomed into overdrive, rapidly constructing a scene in which Ginny, weeping over his lifeless form, confessed her feelings of deep attraction to him while Ron gave them his blessing. . . .

"Don't say anything," Harry muttered from between his clenched teeth, on noting Ron's lips twitching. "Don't you dare say anything."

"Chill down, mate," Ron replied. "I just never thought that you would heed so much for my acceptance. But, mate…

"Yeah?"

"What an imagination!" he added and promptly burst out laughing causing the others to break out into laughter too. It was quite a while before Lily could start reading, while Harry grumbled and sulked the entire time.

"She reckons you only just arrived on time for the match. How come? You left here early enough."

"Oh . . ." said Harry, as the scene in his mind's eye imploded. "Yeah .

. well, I saw Malfoy sneaking off with a couple of girls who didn't look like they wanted to be with him, and that's the second time he's made sure he isn't down on the Quidditch pitch with the rest of the school; he skipped the last match too, remember?" Harry sighed. "Wish I'd followed him now, the match was such a fiasco. . . ."

"Don't be stupid," said Ron sharply. "You couldn't have missed a Quidditch match just to follow Malfoy, you're the Captain!"

"I want to know what he's up to," said Harry. "And don't tell me it's all in my head, not after what I overheard between him and Snape— "

"I never said it was all in your head," said Ron, hoisting himself up on an elbow in turn and frowning at Harry, "but there's no rule saying only one person at a time can be plotting anything in this place! You're getting a bit obsessed with Malfoy, Harry. I mean, thinking about missing a match just to follow him ..."

"I want to catch him at it!" said Harry in frustration. "I mean, where's he going when he disappears off the map?"

"I dunno . . . Hogsmeade?" suggested Ron, yawning.

"I've never seen him going along any of the secret passageway on the map. I thought they were being watched now anyway?"

"Why didn't I think of this room by myself?" Harry muttered to himself. He was still not speaking to Ron. He shouldn't have teased him about his imagination.

"You might have had you got to discuss it with someone," said Hermione. "But, we refused to trust your…umm…instincts, I guess."

"That's alright," said Harry. "Not your fault; and don't make me say it again. We have gone through it too many times already."

"Well then, I dunno," said Ron. Silence fell between them. Harry stared up at the circle of lamp light above him, thinking. . . .

If only he had Rufus Scrimgeour's power, he would have been able to set a tail upon Malfoy, but unfortunately Harry did not have an office full of Aurors at his command. . . . He thought fleetingly of trying to set something up with the D.A., but there again was the problem that people would be missed from lessons; most of them, after all, still had full schedules. . . .

There was a low, rumbling snore from Ron's bed. After a while Madam Pomfrey came out of her office, this time wearing a thick dressing gown. It was easiest to feign sleep; Harry rolled over onto his side and listened to all the curtains closing themselves as she waved her wand. The lamps dimmed, and she returned to her office; he heard the door click behind her and knew that she was off to bed.

This was, Harry reflected in the darkness, the third time that he had been brought to the hospital wing because of a Quidditch injury. Last time he had fallen off his broom due to the presence of dementors around the pitch, and the time before that, all the bones had been removed from his arm by the incurably inept Professor Lockhart. . . .

That had been his most painful injury by far ... he remembered the agony of regrowing an armful of bones in one night, a discomfort not eased by the arrival of an unexpected visitor in the middle of the —

"And you think of Dobby," Sirius exclaimed. "That's brilliant. I was half afraid that you would appoint the job to Kreacher."

Harry grinned sheepishly at his Godfather. "I did," he confessed. "I gave the job to both of them. I had just asked for Kreacher but Dobby sort of, tagged along."

"At least, it wasn't just Kreacher doing the job," sighed Sirius.

Harry sat bolt upright, his heart pounding, his bandage turban askew. He had the solution at last: There was a way to have Malfoy followed — how could he have forgotten, why he hadn't thought of it before? But the question was how to call him? What did you do? Quietly, tentatively, Harry spoke into the darkness. "Kreacher?"

There was a very loud crack, and the sounds of scuffling and squeaks filled the silent room. Ron awoke with a yelp.

"What the hell happened?" Alice murmured. "House-elves fighting?"

"What's going —?"

Harry pointed his wand hastily at the door of Madam Pomfrey's office and muttered, "Muffliato!" so that she would not come running. Then he scrambled to the end of his bed for a better look at what was going on.

Two house-elves were rolling around on the floor in the middle of the dormitory, one wearing a shrunken maroon jumper and several woolly hats, the other, a filthy old rag strung over his hips like a loincloth. Then there was another loud bang, and Peeves the Poltergeist appeared in midair above the wrestling elves.

"I was watching that, Potty!" he told Harry indignantly, pointing at the fight below, before letting out a loud cackle. "Look at the ickle creatures squabbling, bitey bitey, punchy punchy —"

"Kreacher will not insult Harry Potter in front of Dobby, no he won't, or Dobby will shut Kreacher's mouth for him!" cried Dobby in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh, so that's what happened," said Minerva, a little shakily. House-elves seldom fought amongst themselves, and more often than not their fight turns nasty. "Hopefully, they stop before causing too much damage."

"I don't think Dobby would do anything to hurt, Harry," said Dumbledore. "And Kreacher belongs to Harry. It won't be possible for him to harm Harry, at least on purpose."

"— kicky, scratchy!" cried Peeves happily, now pelting bits of' chalk at the elves to enrage them further. "Tweaky!"

"Kreacher will say what he likes about his master, oh yes, and what a master he is, filthy friend of Mudbloods, oh, what would poor Kreacher's mistress say — ?"

Exactly what Kreacher's mistress would have said they did not find out, for at that moment Dobby sank his knobbly little fist into Kreacher's mouth and knocked out half of his teeth. Harry and Ron both leapt out of their beds and wrenched the two elves apart, though they continued to try and kick and punch each other, egged on by Peeves, who swooped around the lamp squealing, "Stick your fingers up his nosey, draw his cork and pull his earsies —"

Harry aimed his wand at Peeves and said, "Langlock!" Peeves clutched at his throat, gulped, then swooped from the room making obscene gestures but unable to speak, owing to the fact that his tongue had just glued itself to the roof of his mouth.

"Good thinking. Useful spell, Severus. I am guessing that it is another invention of the Prince?" said Arthur. Snape flushed a bit and nodded. "Well, even with Muffliato on, the racket could wake up the whole school. Especially if Peeves chooses to move it outside the Hospital wing."

"Yeah, that can turn out to be bad," murmured Sirius. "I don't think we're exactly allowed to summon our elves in Hogwarts."

Minerva nodded. "You're not," she said. "It would be unfair on the other students, if a few kids, who can afford them, are allowed their elves. Not to mention, that most of them would probably use the elves to get their homework done."

"Now that's an idea," said Sirius happily, before noticing Minerva's glare. That effectively managed to curb his glee and put a halt to his half-formed ideas of trying to buy an elf.

"Nice one," said Ron appreciatively, lifting Dobby into the air so that his flailing limbs no longer made contact with Kreacher. "That was another Prince hex, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," said Harry, twisting Kreacher's wizened arm into a half nelson. "Right — I'm forbidding you to fight each other! Well, Kreacher, you're forbidden to fight Dobby. Dobby, I know I'm not allowed to give you orders…"

"Dobby is a free house-elf and he can obey anyone he likes and Dobby will do whatever Harry Potter wants him to do!" said Dobby, tears now streaming down his shriveled little face onto his jumper.

"He is a really nice guy…umm elf," said Lily, with a fond smile on her face. Harry smiled back at her, trying to trap the wave of grief welling within him. He really missed Dobby a lot. And, he couldn't even begin to think about Colin, Remus, Tonks, Fred, Dumbledore…Hermione took his hand and squeezed it softly, snapping his mind back to the present. He swallowed against the lump that had formed in his throat, and concentrated on the chapter…or tried to, at least.

"Okay then," said Harry, and he and Ron both released the elves, who fell to the floor but did not continue fighting.

"Master called me?" croaked Kreacher, sinking into a bow even as he gave Harry a look that plainly wished him a painful death.

"Yeah, I did," said Harry, glancing toward Madam Pomfrey's office door to check that the Muffliato spell was still working; there was no sign that she had heard any of the commotion. "I've got a job for you."

"Kreacher will do whatever Master wants," said Kreacher, sinking so low that his lips almost touched his gnarled toes, "because Kreacher has no choice, but Kreacher is ashamed to have such a master, yes —"

"That's exactly what he says to me," said Sirius, his face twisting into a harsh smile. "Or at least he did."

"And thank goodness for that!" said James bracingly and wrapped an arm around his friend. "You are well rid of the house, Sirius. They didn't deserve you."

"James!" Lily snapped.

"What?"

"You are not being sensitive…in the least," she explained in an exasperated voice. "They are his family…even if they are a little off."

Sirius let out a mirthless laughter. "Little? Little? There is nothing little about how they treat me, Lily."

"But, they are your parents," Lily stammered out, with a great deal of bravery.

Sirius's face looked positively dangerous, though it was obvious that he wasn't mad at Lily. Nevertheless, Remus kept a restraining hand on his shoulders. Sirius took a deep breath, "My parents are…are not what parents should be Lily. And it is not just limited to feeding us pure-blood nonsense and avoiding us, unless there is a necessity."

"Then what…? They don't…don't abuse you…I mean, you are their heir…" Lily tailed off. Out of the corner of his eyes, Harry noted the almost pained expressions on both the Professors face, and shared one of his own with his friends.

Sirius smiled gently at Lily, making it look almost as bad as his desperate laughter. "That was just what I was for them, Lily. Just an heir. And you talk about parents…Lily; parents don't use Crucio on their own children." The silence that met this statement was one of the most prolonged and the most acute that Harry had ever dealt with. And the expressions on everybody's faces…Harry doubted that he had ever come across such a naked display of raw pain and shock.

"You are not serious, Black," Severus questioned. "And don't dare to use that overused pun."

"He is not lying," James spoke up, firmly. "His family is barbaric, in that way. The use of blood quills and stuff like that is fairly common. They started using Crucio after Siri refused to leave Gryffindor…or his friends."

"Of course I wouldn't have left you guys," said Sirius, who seemed to have recovered a little. "It was you all who stayed with me every time I became depressed or suicidal, not my parents. After all, they didn't drag me back from the Astronomy tower when I tried to kill myself." Though this was said in a joking manner, it did not stop the other Marauders from wrapping their arms around their friend and pulling him into a three-way hug. Harry could resist no more, and went and joined the hug where he was welcomed eagerly.

"But you always seemed so confident," said Molly, almost in tears. "It never seemed that you were suffering." Sirius just shrugged a bit. He had always been a good actor…

"I am sorry, Sirius," said Dumbledore, his eyes betraying the hurt he felt.

The twinkling was completely non-existent.

"What are you sorry for, Sir?" questioned Sirius, genuinely confused.

"For overlooking the abuse, Sirius," he said. "I never thought that the Blacks would descend to this level, but I should have made sure or at least double-checked. It seems as if I have failed many of my students including you, Harry and Severus." Minerva laid a comforting hand on the aging Headmaster's shoulder.

"All this is not your fault, Professor," said Hermione firmly. "You can't be responsible for all the students, sir."

Snape fixed Dumbledore with a speculative look. "You are a human being, sir," he said. "Though, many of us love to pretend that you have supernatural powers. But, we can't blame you for everything and nor should you." Dumbledore threw a thankful look at him, though he could not avoid a grin at his student's unexpected maturity.

Lily caught James's eye who gestured her to continue reading.

"Dobby will do it, Harry Potter!" squeaked Dobby, his tennis-ball-sized eyes still swimming in tears. "Dobby would be honored to help Harry Potter!"

"Come to think of it, it would be good to have both of you," said Harry. "Okay then ... I want you to tail Draco Malfoy." Ignoring the look of mingled surprise and exasperation on Ron's face, Harry went on, "I want to know where he's going, who he's meeting, and what he's doing. I want you to follow him around the clock."

"Yes, Harry Potter!" said Dobby at once, his great eyes shining with excitement. "And if Dobby does it wrong, Dobby will throw himself off the topmost tower, Harry Potter!"

"Order him against doing it, Harry!" Lily shrieked, almost dropping the book. "That one really sounds like he could do it."

"Of course, I do!" said Harry, indignantly causing Lily to blush.

"It was a really good plan," said Sirius, grinning broadly at his Godson. He seemed to have cheered up considerably…or was just hiding behind a façade again. However, Harry grinned back.

"There won't be any need for that," said Harry hastily.

"Master wants me to follow the youngest of the Malfoys?" croaked Kreacher. "Master wants me to spy upon the pure-blood great-nephew of my old mistress?"

"That's the one," said Harry, foreseeing a great danger and determining to prevent it immediately. "And you're forbidden to tip him off, Kreacher, or to show him what you're up to, or to talk to him at all, or to write him messages or ... or to contact him in any way. Got it?"

"Wow," said James. "You actually covered all the loop holes."

Harry shrugged. "I tried to," he said. "I couldn't afford to let Malfoy know that I am having him followed."

He thought he could see Kreacher struggling to see a loophole in the instructions he had just been given and waited. After a moment or two, and to Harry's great satisfaction, Kreacher bowed deeply again and said, with bitter resentment, "Master thinks of everything, and Kreacher must obey him even though Kreacher would much rather be the servant of the Malfoy boy, oh yes…"

"Stupid elf!" said Sirius, glaring at the book in Lily's hands. "Why couldn't he be more like Dobby?"

Harry did not comment at this, knowing that he wouldn't be able to change Sirius's opinion, without giving in all the details.

"That's settled, then," said Harry. "I'll want regular reports, but make sure I'm not surrounded by people when you turn up. Ron and Hermione are okay. And don't tell anyone what you're doing. Just stick to Malfoy like a couple of wart plasters."

"That's the end of the chapter," said Lily. "So, do we stop for lunch now?"

"Yes!" said Sirius, Ron and James in unison causing many to burst out laughing and following them to the dining room for their lunch.