Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, I am writing this fanfiction for my own amusement and make no profit, all characters in this story are the property of J.K Rowling, Scholastic, Warner Brothers, ect.
AN: I have to agree with some of the other authors on this site when I say that the galleon being worth five pounds sterling makes no sense. So in this fic, a galleon equals twenty pounds which is still lowballing it if you consider a galleon is humongous and made of solid gold and the price of gold in 1997 was almost three hundred and fifty dollars an ounce.
AN: This chapter was a nightmare to write and I erased a good chunk of it and started over, I keep having to remind myself that Harry is not the hero in this fic.
AN: This chapter is mostly about tying up loose ends.
Hogwarts Head's Office, 2/25/1997, 23:48
"Albus we have a problem!" Severus Snape said in a worried tone as soon as he burst through the door of Dumbledore's office.
Albus looked up from his book in alarm, "What is it, Severus?" Albus asked urgently.
"He's done it! The bastard has done it and we're all in danger," Snape said borderline hysterically.
"Who's done what Severus, slow down and breathe my boy," Albus said soothingly trying to calm the usually unshakeable man in front of him.
Nodding Snape took a few deep breaths and began speaking much slower, " We were called tonight, all of his death eaters. He had us follow him to the grounds outside Malfoy manor where Greyback and Rookwood were waiting.
He told us to behold his next great weapon and then he gave Rookwood a nod. Rookwood placed a collar on Greyback's neck, Fenrir transformed right there under the new moon. Albus they don't need to wait for the full moon to attack anymore," Snape said fear etched into his features.
"This is very troubling, how long until Greyback's pack will be fitted with one of these collars?" Albus asked calmly though inside he was anything but.
"I'm not sure, but I would guess within a month or two," Snape said after some thought.
"I will alert Kingsley, the Aurors have weapons to fight them now, they just need to be warned about this new development," Albus said after thinking it over logically.
"Did you learn anything else tonight?" Albus asked looking over his half-moon spectacles at his spy.
"Just that he is getting impatient, Draco has shown no progress in six months," Severus answered tiredly.
"The boy is still refusing your help?" Albus asked already seeing the answer on Severus's face.
'He is, Draco doesn't trust me any longer. He accused me of trying to usurp his position with the dark lord," Snape said with a shake of the head.
"That's disappointing, though thanks to Mr. Potter. we at least know what young Draco's plan is, I admit I am tempted to destroy the cabinet rather than risk having any of those monsters running rampant through Hogwarts," Dumbledore admitted.
"Then why don't you?" Snape asked curiously.
"Because if I were to do that the boy would become even more desperate than he already is and other students could get caught in the crossfire," Albus said warily.
"In case you have forgotten one already has," Snape pointed out.
"Yes, and I fear if another does get hurt, Mr. Potter will disregard my wishes to let Draco be," Albus said with a grimace.
"Potter will wipe the floor with him, Black already disowned Draco so Potter can act without repercussions now," Snape said worriedly.
"Yes, the Potter boy has always been quick to violence, we might want to set up a contingency plan to get Mr. Malfoy out of the castle if something of the sort were to happen," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
"Very well, I will begin warding my mother's old house in Spinner's End just in case," Snape said after some thought.
"Did you find anything more about Dolohov trying to enter the shrieking shack?" Dumbledore asked curiously.
"Just that the dark lord is intrigued to learn there are two werewolves residing inside Hogwarts, I think he might be trying to figure out a way to use this to his advantage," Severus said after some thought.
"I feared that would be the case, please keep vigilant on the situation, the last thing we need is a mated pair of alpha's running rampage through the castle," Albus said with some worry in his tone.
"You think Potter is an alpha," Snape asked surprised.
"Oh I am sure of it, Ms. Brown looks to Harry as an equal, if he were not of equal standing to her their interactions would be much different. Furthermore, I do not believe she would accept him as a mate if he were not an alpha," Albus said confidently.
"I will monitor the situation closely then," Snape said after what the headmaster said had sunk in.
"Very well, I believe that will be all Severus, get some rest you look exhausted," Albus said in dismissal.
"Good night Albus," Snape said before he swept from the room.
This whole fiasco with the Malfoy boy was turning into a massive headache for the aged headmaster. The fact that a student had been sent into his school with the express intention of killing him saddened Albus more than he could put into words.
Then there was the attack on Ms. Bell which seemed to spark a fire in Mr. Potter, the boy had figured Draco's plan out with apparent ease, much to Albus' chagrin.
Just after the students had returned to school Sirius brought up what Malfoy was up to in the middle of an order meeting and presented a transcript of the interrogation of Mr. Malfoy under the influence of veritaserum.
This had caused a rift within the order as many of its members wanted the boy dealt with rather than risking death eaters getting into the school.
Now with this latest bit of news about Voldemort's unspeakable creating a collar that could transform a werewolf without the full moon he was starting to reconsider letting Malfoy continue to fix that vanishing cabinet.
'This bears thinking on, for now, I will have to set a pair of elves to watch over the boy,' Albus decided after pondering the problem.
Great Hall, 2/26/1997, 17:02
Harry sat at the Ravenclaw table eating his dinner, he had been on edge since the last full moon.
The team Sirius put together observed the shack the night after the full moon, a death eater did return but it was not Dolohov.
When they captured and questioned the death eater who turned out to be Cassius Warrington, the order had learned Dolohov had been given another assignment and sent the low-level death eater in his place to scout out the tunnel into the school.
Harry was quite put out to learn this, but in a way he was glad, Dolohov had killed his parents it should be him who gets to finish the man.
Sirius had also informed him last night that the headmaster had agreed to Harry's request. They could use the Room of Requirement provided that Dumbledore was able to set the parameters of the room.
The way Sirius explained it was that whoever opened the room controlled it. If Dumbledore opened the room he could make it so the room would prevent Harry and Lavender from leaving while transformed. Harry couldn't fault that logic, the last thing he wanted was him and Lavender running amok through the school.
As a secondary layer of protection, containment wards would be set up at either end of the corridor the R.o.R was on in the unlikely event they did get out.
Harry had given his agreement and was looking forward to getting used to running in his werewolf form and testing his capabilities. He was also hoping the room provided a mirror so he could actually see what he looked like as a wolf.
"Hello Harry," Luna said as she took a seat beside him.
"Hey Luna, how are you?" Harry asked.
"Oh I am lovely, did you hear the announcement about the Easter ball?" Luna asked excitedly.
"I did and thankfully it's after the next full moon," Harry said with a grin.
"Colin asked me to go this morning," Luna gushed.
"Good, I'm sure you'll enjoy it," Harry said.
"Have you asked Lavender yet?" Luna asked as she piled her plate with food.
"No she has been pretty busy today, I haven't seen much of her," Harry admitted.
"Seen much of who," Lavender asked from behind him.
"My girlfriend," Harry said taking a bite of his steak.
"Yeah, sorry about being gone all day Parvati was struggling with her Transfiguration," Lavender said apologetically as she sat down beside him.
"It's fine, I was just looking for you to ask if you would be my date to the Easter ball?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Yes!" Lavender said loudly making people turn to look their way.
"That's a relief, do you have a dress?" Harry asked warily.
"I have dozens of dresses but no ball gowns," Lavender said sadly.
"Hmm, I think I know who to talk to about that," Harry said thoughtfully.
"What about me, I need a dress," Luna pouted.
"Your father will send you one shortly, Sirius already passed the message along," Harry said with a grin.
"Thank you, Harry," Luna chirped.
"So it must be a pretty good sign that your the one helping Parvati in transfiguration," Harry said looking at Lavender.
"She's having problems getting that hair spell right, you know the one you never taught me in tutoring," Lavender said pointedly.
"You mean the one that made him look like Malfoy's brother," Luna asked curiously.
Lavender snorted at that and then said, "It looked awful on you."
"Like I said before you can thank Granger for that," Harry huffed.
"Didn't you change her hair to look like Ginny's?" Lavender asked curiously.
"Yep," Harry said with a smirk.
"Then you two are even, Ginny is one creepy little girl," Lavender said matter of factly.
Thirty minutes later Harry was standing in the usual meeting place waiting patiently, he had used a switching spell to switch the air beside Daphne's plate with the note he had written asking her to meet him after dinner.
"How did you do that?" Daphne asked when she entered the room and shut the door.
"You mean the note?" Harry asked and at her nod, he continued, "I switched the air around your plate for the note, the pop you heard was the air being displaced" Harry answered proudly.
"You have got to teach me that trick," Daphne said impressed.
"It's easy, just imagine the air where you want something to go is replaced with the item you wish to send," Harry explained.
"Hm, I will be practicing that it will make me seem more mysterious," Daphne said a rare smile tugging at her lips.
"Yeah, I 'm pretty sure that's how house-elves snap their fingers and make something appear," Harry said thoughtfully.
"So what can I do for you?" Daphne asked getting back to the point of this meeting.
"Well first I wanted to apologize for our last meeting, I should have at least given you some warning I was bringing someone with me," Harry said seriously.
"I'll let it go, but don't pull something like that again," Daphne said just as seriously.
"Thank you, now to business, Lavender needs to get a ball gown and I know you have a cousin that runs 'Twilfitt and Tattings', so I was wondering if you could get her a dress made?" Harry asked hopefully.
"You realize it usually takes a month to custom make a dress and that it will be quite expensive to cut to the front of the line?" Daphne asked.
"Plus ten percent," Harry added with a nod.
"Yes, you're looking at easily sixty galleons maybe more," Daphne said after processing the numbers in her head.
"That's fine, I have quite a bit saved up," Harry said dismissively.
"Okay give me until next week and then you can bring her with you so she can pick out the style and I can get her measurements," Daphne said making a note in her book.
"Thank you for this," Harry said earnestly.
"You owe me one Potter, this is one market I usually try and avoid," Daphne said with a scowl.
"You got it, as long as It's within reason," Harry said.
I know Potter, you have those damn morals of yours," Daphne said with a smirk before pocketing her planner and heading to the door.
"Thanks again," Harry said.
"Yes, well don't think me yet you have to help her pick out her dress, I certainly won't do it," Daphne said as she exited the room.
'How bad could helping Lavender pick out a dress be?' Harry thought dismissively.
Gryffindor Dormitories, 3/1/1997
"Happy Birthday mate," Neville said as he sat up in his bed watching Ron rip open through his presents.
"Thanks, mate, and thanks for the keeper's gloves," Ron said happily.
"Don't mention it," Neville said digging through his trunk to find the 'Marauder's Map' whoever these blokes had been there was no doubt they were brilliant.
Neville had been using the map to try and track Malfoy's movements but there were times the ponce vanished entirely from the nap. Neville dug deeper in his trunk setting some clothes and tossing out a box of chocolate cauldrons.
Finding the map he activated it with the passphrase "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," and scanned it looking for Malfoy, he saw once again that Potter and Lavender were practically on top of each other on the second floor. They were either sharing a dorm or...
Neville shook those thoughts from his mind, it was none of his business anyway and Potter had helped him and Hermione out tremendously a few months ago.
Seeing Hermione was already in the library studying with Terry Boot, those two had been spending a lot of time together as well, he kept scanning the map until he found Malfoy sitting alone at the Slytherin table.
"Mischief managed," Neville said clearing the map and turned to Ron who was eating a chocolate cauldron.
"You about ready to get some breakfast before apparition lessons?" Neville asked as he started pulling on his robes.
"Will Romilda be there," Ron asked in a dreamy voice that frankly gave him the creeps.
"I bloody well hope not, that little bint has been driving me mad," Neville exclaimed finally lining up his arms on his pullover robe.
'Whack'
A fist collided with the side of his head knocking him sideways over his trunk, he smacked the other side of his head into his bedframe making his head swim.
Neville looked up and saw an enraged Ron standing over him, his fist balled up and it looked as if he was going to hit him again.
Neville drew his wand and hit Ron with a banishing charm tossing him across the room and knocking him on his ass.
This gave Neville enough time to get to his feet though just barely as Ron was already back on his feet and charging towards him again.
Neville flicked his wand and thought levicorpus, Ron was hoisted five feet into the air by his ankle.
"What the bloody hell is the matter with you Weasley?" Neville demanded angrily.
"You insulted Romilda, how could you? She's absolutely wonderful," Ron said shifting back into that stalkery dreamy voice he used earlier.
Looking around the room for his boots, more to give himself time to think than anything else Neville saw an empty box of cauldron cakes on Ron's bed and the tumblers clicked into place.
He remembered tossing that box of candy Romilda had spiked with love potion onto the floor beside his trunk, he knew how Ron treated unattended food so he was pretty sure he knew what was going on now.
"Well this bloody awful," Neville sighed out in frustration.
"I want to see Romilda, please take me to see her," Ron begged him, his face reddening from the blood rushing to his head.
Neville thought for a minute before an idea came to him. Feeling rather vindictive he flicked his wand ending the spell and dropping Ron five feet onto the floor hard floor of the dormitory.
"Alright mate get dressed, I'll take you to see Romilda," Neville said with a fake smile on his face.
Ron scrambled to his feet paying no mind to the pump knot forming on his head from the fall and got dressed faster than Neville expected.
Five minutes later they exited the common room and started making their way to the sixth floor where Professor Slughorn's office was located.
"Why are we going to see Slughorn, I thought you were taking me to meet Romilda," Ron demanded.
"She has remedial potions with him after breakfast, if you get there early enough Professor Slughorn will let you tutor her instead of Potter," Neville said hating himself for how much he was enjoying messing with Ron right now.
"Not again! Come on mate we have to hurry," Ron demanded picking up his pace so he was nearly running towards Slughorn's office.
"Let me do the talking, I'm famous he'll listen to me," Neville said smoothly when they arrived in the corridor outside Slughorn's office.
"Right I'll just wait here," Ron said agreeing immediately.
Neville knocked on the door repeatedly until a groggy and slightly irritable Professor Slughorn threw the door open.
"What the devil do you want," Slughorn demanded indignantly before he recognized who was there.
"Please sir my friend has been dosed with a love potion and I need your help, sir," Neville asked speaking very quickly.
"Well it's probably for the best you brought him here, of your many talents brewing is not one of them. Bring him inside," Slughorn said jovially before heading back into his office.
"Alright Ron he's agreed come inside," Neville called to Ron who was standing down the hallway staring dreamily into space.
Ron bounded over pushing past Neville to get inside the potion master's office.
When Neville entered the office Slughorn was adding ingredients to a glass of clear liquid and Ron was bouncing on the balls of his feet in front of Slughorn's desk waiting impatiently for Romilda.
After about five minutes Slughorn tapped the glass with his wand making the liquid swirl and bubble before it settled back to looking like plain water again.
"Here you go young man," Slughorn said handing Ron the glass.
"What is it?" Ron asked dreamily.
"A wit sharpening potion, it will help you be smooth when the young lady arrives," Slughorn lied easily.
Ron nodded before throwing the glass back and drinking it down in one large swig.
Neville watched as Ron's face seemed to slowly change from showing dreamy excitement to showing his dawning horror as the antidote took effect.
"Oh, so those cauldron cakes were yours," Ron said in a calm voice, his face said something else entirely though.
"Yeah, we thought they might have been spiked with a love potion," Neville said in a deadpan voice.
"It's a safe bet they were," Ron agreed before asking, "why did you drop me so hard?" while rubbing his head tenderly.
"You punched me," Neville said with a shrug.
"A pick me up, that's what you both need," Slughorn said as he dug around in the cabinet behind his desk.
"Yes sir, it's Ron's birthday and it's already off to a bit of a rough start," Neville agreed with a shake of his head.
"Then I have just the thing, Madam Rosmerta's finest oak matured mead. I had intended to give this to the headmaster for Christmas but changed my mind," Slughorn said as he poured three glasses halfway full and handed them each a glass.
"Here's to a very happy birthday to Rupert," Slughorn said raising his glass.
"It's Ronald sir," Neville hastily corrected.
Before Slughorn could say anymore there was a violent cough, followed by the sound of glass shattering on the office floor.
Ron had paid no mind to the toast and just drank the glass down in one, when they turned it was to see Ron foaming at the mouth as his hands were around his throat and he was leaning over in his seat coughing for air.
"Do something!" Neville demanded looking at Slughorn who was frozen in place.
Realizing Slughorn was going to be of no help, Neville dug through the potions kit that was still open on the desk, not really knowing what he was looking for. In one of the side pockets, he found a cardboard matchbox with the words bezoars written on it.
Bezoars, that name rang a bell. Neville struggled to think where he had heard it before when the memory hit him.
'A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat that will counteract most poisons', Snape had said that in his first ever potions lesson.
Opening the box Neville fished out one of the little black stones and ran over to Ron, the boy was lying face down on the floor now and barely drawing breath. Neville rolled him over and pried Ron's jaw open, then dropped the bezoar down his throat.
The bezoar seemed to clear his airway as soon as it touched Ron's trachea because Neville saw Ron involuntarily swallow the stone.
Instantly Ron's breath calmed and the boy seemed to relax before he rolled over and vomited up a black tarlike substance with a copious amount of blood mixed in.
"Professor, get Madam Pomfrey, now!" Neville ordered.
Slughorn nodded slowly at first but then seemed to get control of himself as he nodded and raced from the room.
Ron had passed out again but he seemed to be sleeping peacefully, Neville sighed as he raised his wand and levitated his best mate away from the pool of vomit he had passed out in.
'This has got to be the worst birthday I have ever seen,' Neville thought as he waited for the matron to arrive.
Sixth Floor Corridor, 3/1/1997, 20:13
Neville was walking with Hermione back from the hospital wing, Ron was going to be okay. He would have to stay in the infirmary for at least a week due to the corrosive nature of the poison. The potion had burned holes in the lining of Ron's stomach and severely damaged his trachea when he had vomited up the poison.
All things considered, his friend was lucky to be alive, the poison he ingested was very deadly, and had he been any slower in administering the bezoar Ron's heart would have stopped.
Neville turned a corridor on the second floor and was jerked by his robes into an abandoned classroom. Hermione saw him and chased after him, as soon as she entered the classroom the door slammed shut behind her.
Neville drew his wand, but an invisible force snatched it out of thin air.
"That won't be necessary," came a voice to his right.
Neville looked in the direction he heard the voice and saw Harry Potter materialize out of thin air holding a silvery invisibility cloak smirking at him.
"Potter, what is the meaning of this?" Hermione demanded before Neville could speak.
"I heard about the Weasel and I think we need to talk," Harry said tossing Neville his wand.
"Couldn't you have just asked?" Neville demanded irritably.
"I could have but this way was more fun," Harry said with a shrug.
"Fine, what do you want?" Neville asked irritably.
"The short of it is you've been right all along, Malfoy is a death eater," Harry said getting both of the Gryffindor's attention.
"Impossible," Hermione exclaimed.
"Granger I figured out what he was up to in October and passed it along to the order," Harry said patiently.
"What is he up to?" Neville asked cutting off Hermione's rebuttal.
"His mission is to kill Albus Dumbledore, that's what the necklace was about in Hogsmeade and that's what the poison your friend drank was intended for," Harry said tossing Granger a copy of the interrogation.
"What's this?" Hermione asked as she unrolled the scroll of parchment.
"Back in January me and a friend of mine ambushed the Ferret, we dosed him with veritaserum and made him spillvhis guts. This is a copy of the interrogation we recorded with a dictaquill, the order has already seen this," Harry said looking at Neville pointedly.
Hermione read the paper and paled the more she read, "this can't be true," she said in a small voice.
"I can take a vow right now that it's true," Harry said seriously.
"What does it say?" Neville asked accepting the parchment from Hermione's shaky hand.
Neville began reading and became angrier the farther down the page he read. Dumbledore knew about all of this and had done nothing, had let Malfoy continue to plot and plan, and nearly got Ron killed in the process.
The worst part was he had been confiding his suspicions that Malfoy was up to something to Dumbledore, and the headmaster just kept telling him not to worry about it.
"Does Dumbledore know about this?" Neville asked hoping that by some miracle the headmaster did not.
"Yes, he is in charge of the order, he instructed everyone to let Malfoy be," Harry said seriously
"So why are you telling us?" Hermione asked.
"I have enough problems to deal with right now, this is your type of thing anyway. Do with this information what you will," Harry said before throwing his cloak over himself.
Neville watched the door open and close seemingly on its own before turning to Hermione.
"I told you Malfoy was up to something," Neville said tiredly.
"You did, but did you honestly think it was something like this?" Hermione asked gesturing to the parchment.
"No, I didn't. So what should we do now?" Neville asked looking completely lost.
"I don't know, but Dumbledore seems determined to protect Malfoy if he can ignore this," Hermione said barely above a whisper.
"I don't know what to do either, come on let's get to the common room, I need time to process all of this" Neville said shaking his head.
Hermione took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly before leading him from the room, Neville let himself be led toward Gryffindor Tower completely lost in his thoughts. His best friend almost died because the man he trusted more than anyone was protecting a death eater.
'What can I do about this?' Neville thought to himself as they arrived at the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.
"Where have you been?" Lavender asked when Harry entered their room.
"I had a word with Longbottom, hello Luna," Harry said as he noticed Luna sitting at the foot of the bed painting Lavender's toenails.
"Hey Harry, how is Ron?" Luna asked not looking up.
"He'll be fine, Longbottom saved him," Harry said taking a seat in his desk chair.
"Do they know who did it?" Lavender asked.
"No, but it was most likely Malfoy, there isn't any proof of that though," Harry said tiredly.
"Something needs to be done about him," Lavender said.
"I agree, I just don't want to get caught and risk having to transform in the dungeons because I hurt the little twit," Harry admitted.
"Do you think Dumbledore would do something that petty?" Lavender asked worriedly.
"He's protecting Malfoy, Dumbledore knows exactly what he's been up to. Plus, I don't think he really likes me all that much. So yeah he probably would," Harry said with a shrug.
"I can see why you don't like the man," Lavender said thoughtfully.
"He is not the kindly grandfather he likes us to believe," Luna piped up her work finished.
"No, he is not, I think he's trying to save the Ferret but he doesn't seem to be concerned about the innocent bystanders," Harry said disgustedly.
"Alright enough of this talk, can we find something more pleasant to talk about?" Lavender asked.
"Well I had a dream that we lived in a place that doesn't consider chocolate pudding to be pudding, I went to the great hall looking for pudding and they tried to give me a spotted dick," Luna said with a shudder.
"That's awful Luna," Harry said sympathetically.
"It was," Luna said sadly.
"It was just a dream Luna," Harry consoled her gently.
"Yes well daddy sent me my dress for the ball this morning, that cheered me right up," Luna said happily.
"Oh, before I forget, Daphne said she can get you a dress before the ball, we need to meet with her tomorrow after dinner," Harry told Lavender as he suddenly remembered the note and catalog that appeared beside his plate at dinner.
"Really," Lavender asked excitedly.
"Yes, she needs to get your measurements and you need to decide what dress you want," Harry said with a smile.
"That's wonderful, did she give you the catalog?" Lavender asked hopefully.
"Yeah, Harry went to his school bag and dug out a very thick glossy catalog.
" This is from 'Twilfit and Tattings' Lavender said in amazement.
"Yeah, I heard they make some of the finest dresses in Britain," Harry said with a shrug.
"But they're insanely expensive," Lavender said.
"Don't worry about that, just pick the one you like," Harry said with a smile.
"Are you sure? some of these are over twenty galleons," Lavender asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, I have money saved up in my trunk and hardly ever use it," Harry assured her.
"Thank you this is so sweet of you," Lavender said throwing her arms around him.
"Somebodies getting lucky tonight," Luna said with a grin.
"Shut it, Luna," Harry said when Lavender had released him to look through the catalog.
"Fine, I need to meet Colin before curfew anyway," Luna said standing up and looking grumpy.
"Be careful," Harry said.
"I will, goodnight Lavender," Luna said.
Lavender waved absentmindedly not looking up from the catalog making Harry snicker.
"How rude," Luna said before stepping out into the hallway.
Seventh Floor Corridor, 3/1/1997, 21:17
Draco was panicking, his second attempt had been an utter failure. When he had heard what happened to Weasley, he had made his way here to work on the cabinet, this really was his last shot at completing his mission.
His mother had sent him a letter through his house-elf Knobby letting him know that she had fled the manor and was currently staying in one of their properties in Europe. This was a huge weight off of his mind, his father was the one that got them in this mess but his mother was innocent, her only crime was looking the other way.
At least now if he failed he knew his mother was safe, for now at least.
Draco froze as he heard the door slide open, it should be impossible for anyone to get in here unless they knew exactly what he asked the room to become.
"Draco, it's time to get you out of the castle," Came the cold voice of his godfather.
"What, why?" Draco demanded.
"You have been discovered," Snape answered simply before raising his wand and casting a blasting curse over Draco's head, he watched the spell as if in slow motion as it traveled the distance to the cabinet when it made contact the cabinet exploded into thousands of tiny pieces and destroyed Draco's last hope of completing his mission.
"What have you done?" Draco screamed hysterically.
"Destroyed the evidence, now hurry the Aurors are on their way", Snape ordered.
Draco felt numb as he was led through the school to the third floor where snape led him to a statue of a one-eyed witch. All the work he had put into fixing that cabinet had been destroyed with one spell.
The statue opened to reveal a secret passage, the trip through the small tunnel seemed to take no time as he was in a daze and when they passed the school ward line Snape grabbed his shoulder and spun them into the constricting feeling of apparition.
Hogwarts Head's Office, 3/1/1997, 23:46
Albus sat behind his desk pondering the day, another student was nearly killed in an attempt to assassinate him. Severus had removed the boy from the school but this wasn't over yet, the next order meeting was not going to be pleasant.
Molly and Arthur had supported his decision to let the Malfoy boy be, they had done this more out of loyalty to him than actually believing he was making the right decision.
Now that their son had been caught in one of Draco's failed attempts Albus imagined their outlook would change dramatically.
Sirius had been pushing to have the Malfoy boy dealt with since he received the transcript of the interrogation, he had gained quite a bit of support on the matter and now things would get worse.
The order was going to overrule his decision and demand the boy be turned over to the ministry.
Albus wasn't ready to condemn the boy to prison, Draco was still young enough to be saved and after tonight he was an enemy of both sides of the war, so turning him over would only get him killed when Voldemort sacked the prison.
Albus' thoughts were interrupted as Severus walked into the room and took a seat across from him.
" It's done, I destroyed the cabinet and moved him to my mother's house in Cokesworth," Severus said tiredly.
"Good, any problems?" Albus asked popping a lemon drop in his mouth.
"Yes, he was obliviated. Whoever interrogated him erased the memory from his mind," Snape said angrily.
"So he had no idea that we knew his entire plan?" Albus asked.
"No," Snape said flatly.
"That was well done, Mr. Potter covered his tracks well," Albus commented.
"I believe he had help with this," Severus said candidly.
"Who, the Lovegood girl would not participate in something like this," Albus said confidently.
"There are rumors that Potter has an ally in my house, the Greengrass girl," Severus explained with a frown.
"That makes a lot of sense, her father was very influential during his time at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
"So is she, everyone knows the Greengrass girls are untouchable, well everyone with sense," Snape corrected remembering the attack back in September.
"Well it doesn't matter now, the boy is safe and neither Mr. Potter nor Ms. Greengrass can be connected to the interrogation of Mr. Malfoy," Albus said tiredly.
"So that's it," Snape asked angrily.
"I'm afraid so, when are you moving young Draco to Switzerland?" Albus asked changing the subject.
"Over Easter, Narcissa has arranged to meet me at the Malfoy property over there," Severus answered curtly.
"Good, I think that will be all for tonight," Dumbledore said in dismissal.
Nodding Snape got up and swept from the room without a word.
'Well that's one problem solved,' Albus thought tiredly.
Harry and Daphne's Usually meeting Place, 3/2/1997, 17:38
Harry was exhausted, there was a spell under every dress in that catalog that would create a thirty-second illusion over a person so they could see what they would look like in a particular dress.
All you had to do was say the incantation, tap the picture with your wand then tap the person who wishes to wear the illusion, simple enough. Except there were four hundred and ninety-one dresses in that catalog and Lavender wanted to see what each one looked like on her (some more than once).
Now Harry understood why Daphne refused to help her pick out a dress. Harry suffered in silence knowing that it would be worth it to make her happy but silently vowing never to get tricked into going shopping with her.
"Alright you're all done," Daphne said writing down Lavender's final measurement.
"I will have the dress mailed directly to you in the next two weeks or so," Daphne said after putting the measurements in an envelope with the picture of the dress Lavender had chosen.
"Thank you for doing this, let me know when she sends you a bill and we'll settle up," Harry said in appreciation.
"Oh don't worry I will," Daphne said smirking.
"Thank you for this Daphne," Lavender said softly.
"Your welcome, have a good time at the ball," Daphne said much softer than Harry had heard her speak before.
"Have you seen Malfoy anywhere?" Harry asked curiously.
"No, he never came back last night and he didn't show up to any of his classes today.
" Strange," Harry said thoughtfully.
"It is, I am afraid that I have another appointment in a few minutes, so I will need the room," Daphne said checking her watch.
"Right, I'll see you later," Harry said as he led Lavender out of the room.
"This really does mean a lot to me, Harry," Lavender said taking his hand.
"I can tell," Harry said smiling at her.
"So do you have a proper dress robe?" Lavender asked.
"I don't wear dress robes, they look ridiculous. I am ordering a tuxedo from London," Harry said matter of factly.
"You mean like what you wore at the Christmas party?" Lavender asked.
"Similar," Harty admitted.
"Oh, that looked pretty sexy," Lavender said.
"Thanks," Harty said blushing slightly.
"I guess that will be acceptable, but you have to promise to dance with me, I don't want to sit on the side and watch," Lavender said firmly.
"Of course, I would be an awful date if I didn't dance with you," Harry said with a warm smile.
"I'll hold you to that," Lavender said before pushing him roughly against the wall and claiming his lips with hers.
'Yeah, it was totally worth it,' Harry thought happily as Lavender's tongue touched his and his mind went blank.
AN: I was tempted to have those chocolate cauldrons keyed to Ginny, but I'm not that cruel.