Title: Harry Potter and the Veneficus Quies (13/16)

Author: Atlantis Potter

E-mail: atlantispotter@yahoo.com

Category: Romance, Mystery

Keywords: Year 5, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Petunia

Rating: R

Spoilers: All Four Books.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

A/N: Please R/R! If you like it, let me know. If you hate it, let me know! Thank yous are at the bottom of each chapter.

Harry Potter and the Veneficus Quies

Chapter Thirteen- The Power of Three


Someone was banging around in the living room. Harry slowly opened his eyes, allowing them to adjust to the dim light in his room before he dared to venture into the living room. Much to his surprise, Hermione was sitting at the coffee table, going through book after book. She'd flip through a book, sigh in exasperation and slam it down onto the table. He watched her do this to about three books before he cleared his throat, "Um, Hermione?"

"What?" she snapped.

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes! The project for Professor Trelawney is due today and I don't have it done."

"What do you mean you don't have it done? You've been researching the Prophecy you found in the journal for weeks!"

"Yes, but I haven't been able to translate it, so I need to find another prophecy so that I can fulfil her little project and wash my hands of this Divination nonsense."

"So you're not going to work on the journal prophecy anymore?"

"Are you mad? Of course I'm going to work on it! I'd never sleep if I didn't. I just meant for school. Now, help me find something."

After about twenty minutes, Harry was looking through Hogwarts: A History and he found the Prophecy predicting the future of Hogwarts. He pointed it out to Hermione, who quickly snatched it away from him.

"Perfect, this should be good for this stupid project. Honestly, what a waste of time."

Harry watched as she set up getting to work on her paper. She laid the book out where the prophecy was written, followed by several pieces of parchment. She picked up her quill, bit the end and then dipped it into the well. Much to his surprise, Hermione stood the quill on her paper and began reciting a few lines of her report. Harry watched as the quill scratched across the page.

"Hermione! A Quick Quotes Quill?"

"Yes, well sometimes, you need to use whatever methods necessary. Professor Trelawney will never know and I'll get my high marks. Everyone benefits in the end."

"What have you done with Hermione?"

"Honestly, Harry, it's me. I've just realised a few things this year and one of the most important may be that sometimes you don't have to take everything so seriously."

"And you ask if I'm mad? What's gotten into you?"

"Like I said, I'm learning to prioritize."

"You mean school isn't a priority anymore?"

"Well, of course school is a priority, it's just the Professor Trelawney's stupid project isn't. And besides, this is just a backup. I've prepared a full status report on the other Prophecy. This is just in case that isn't good enough for her."

Harry stood up, shaking his head as he walked back into his bedroom. Hermione was the epitome of the saying 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' He changed into his school robes after showering and went to his desk, where his presentation materials were lying. He gathered his things and headed back into the living room, where Hermione was just finishing her paper. She grinned at him.

"Are you ready for the day?"

"Of course."

"Have you packed yet?"

"Erm-packed?"

"Yes, you know, packed. Remember, we're leaving tonight?"

Harry groaned, of course, he'd totally forgotten. Arabella had some surprise for them. Today was the last day of term, but the IMS students would not be enjoying traditional Easter holidays. They were being sequestered for the week, though no one save Arabella knew why.

He turned back to his room, followed closely by Hermione. She handed him the list of things that he would need for the week.

Muggle Clothes
Textbooks for History of Magic and Muggle Studies
Toiletries
Entertainment (deck of playing cards, chess set, etc. All must be Muggle-made)

The list continued on for a bit. "Why do we need Muggle clothes?" Harry asked, turning to face Hermione.

"I'm not sure, I wish I knew, but I don't."

Harry placed everything he would need onto his bed. When he had finished collecting the various items, he waved his hand quickly over everything, shrinking it all so that it would fit in a small duffle bag.

He set the bag by Hermione's, which was waiting by the door, and they walked to the classroom together.

The first thing Harry noticed was the peculiar smell wafting out of the classroom. They walked inside and Hermione was disgusted when she saw that the classroom had been transformed so that it was more like the Divination Tower. The sickeningly sweet smell of burning incense, the heat from the fire and the dim, smoky atmosphere mimicked that of Trelawney's classroom.

Harry and Hermione sat at their usual desks, right behind Ginny and Cadence. Ginny turned around and looked at Hermione, who rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. Like Hermione, Ginny had opted out of taking Divination in her third year, and she too felt that Divination was largely a waste of time.

"Good morning students. If you are all here, we may begin," Professor Trelawney said airily, as she turned to face them from her spot at the window. "Draco Malfoy, if you would please go first."

Draco walked to the front of the classroom and pulled a thick parchment from his robe. He began his presentation by reading an ancient sounding prophecy that predicted the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. He went into great details on the specific events mentioned by the prophecy.

Akilah was next. She gave a fascinating presentation of the events leading up to the American Revolution and a series of prophecies that predicted the entire war.

Ginny discussed World War II and the defeat of Grindelwald.

When it was Hermione's turn, she walked briskly to the front of the room and pulled from her pocket the folded parchment that they had discovered. Clearing her throat, she began reading from it aloud, the foreign words rolling off of her tongue in a symphony of sound that seemed to awaken something within Harry.

The melodious sounds of the language echoed in his mind as he felt himself being pulled through time, drawn to an ancient world of magic. He knew that within the deepest recesses of his mind, no, his soul, what the words meant, yet he was still unable to translate them.

A quick glance around the room revealed the Draco seemed to be experiencing the same sort of sensation. Hermione looked to be at the same level, though the surprised look on her face was obvious. She had not been expecting to be able to recite the Prophecy without so much as a stutter, that much was apparent.

She concluded the Prophecy and snuck a glance at Professor Trelawney, who had her eyebrows raised. "Ms. Granger, if I may ask, what did that mean?"

"I-I'm not entirely sure. I found this Prophecy and have been trying to translate it and puzzle it out since you assigned this project. I have been unsuccessful so far, but I've prepared a presentation about my progress on the research so far."

"Ms. Granger, this is not a progress report. The assignment called for a finished presentation today. Do you have a finished presentation on this Prophecy?"

"No, Professor Trelawney."

"Then you fail. Next please."

"But Professor Trelawney!"

"I said, 'Next please.'"

Hermione looked angry enough to perform some accidental magic; however, she resumed her seat as Harry walked towards the front of the classroom.

"Er, at the end of my, er, third year, Professor Trelawney gave what Professor Dumbledore and I believe was an accurate prediction. She foreshadowed the resurrection of Voldemort and the return of his servant," he said quickly. Realizing he was talking too fast, Harry took a deep shuddering breath and continued through his presentation, reading aloud Trelawney's words and analyzing the entire Prophecy.

When he had finished, he was greatly shocked by the applause from his fellow classmates. Even Trelawney looked pleased. By lunchtime, they had finished the presentations and everyone made their way towards the Great Hall, anxious to enjoy lunch with other friends for the first meal in a very long time.

"Oi, Harry! Hermione! Over here!" Ron waved to both of them. He and Lavender had broken up around Valentine's Day and since then, Ron and Hermione had at least been on speaking terms. Their friendship still remained fractured, but Harry considered it to be a good thing that Hermione wasn't ready to kill Ron at the slightest move.

Ginny and the other Gryffindors soon joined them and Harry ate his lunch contentedly, happy to be enjoying the company of his friends before everyone left on Easter Holidays. The conversation ranged from what the IMS students were going to be doing to how Mrs. Weasley was fairing with the company of Pip, Daryl and Crookshanks.

***

"I have one last thing I'd like to cover today before you all leave for your special Easter trip. Can anyone give me a brief history of the Triwizard Tournament?"

Hermione thrust her hand violently into the air.

"Other than the basics. I mean the early history, such as why the Tournament was started to begin with."

Hermione's hand dropped from the air and she leaned forward a bit, anxious to hear information that she had not previously come across in a book.

"As you all know, the Triwizard Tournament is a competition between the three best schools in the wizarding world. It is a bit outdated that we have Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons, as there is at least one American school that is better than Beauxbatons, but I digress. Anyway, the three schools did not start the competition as some sort of friendly contest. Before any of the schools were ever founded, there was an Ancient Prophecy that predicted the rise of the greatest evil the world will ever know and that it would be defeated by a Power made up of three people. Each of these three people would be strongest in the most vital areas: heart, mind and soul. As the schools were built and developed their own curriculum and personalities, it came to be that each school represented one of these three traits. Hogwarts was seen as largely representative of the soul, Beauxbatons the heart, and Durmstrang the mind."

"But, Arabella, I thought Durmstrang was a school based largely on the Dark Arts?" asked Ginny.

"It is, today. Back then, it was the school of the intelligentsia. Durmstrang turned out students that were cold, hard intellectuals who excelled in the powers of logic. Beauxbatons had a reputation of creating students who felt wholly with their hearts and based many of their actions purely on emotion. Hogwarts was the middle ground."

"Why didn't they teach them to work together instead of against each other?" asked Katie Bell.

"Ask Harry. The Triwizard Champions always end up working together; it's the way of the world. Though they are all competing for the same cup and the same honour, they are also competing for life, a bond that unites them in their quest."

"Oh my, look at the time!" Arabella interrupted herself, peering at the clock on the wall. "If you'd all meet back in the common room in fifteen minutes, we'll leave."

Everyone bustled around, getting their things together and leaving the classrooms. Hermione was clutching a piece of paper in her hand; she had obviously been taking notes.

Harry and Hermione headed into their room. Hermione went to her suitcase and opened it before dashing back into her bedroom. He heard her scurrying about, evidently gathering last minute things. She walked back into the living room a few minutes later carrying an armload of books.

"Are those the books on your Prophecy?"

"I think that the information that Arabella gave us about the Triwizard Tournament somehow relates to it. I'm sure we'll have plenty of free time this week, so there's no point in wasting valuable study time."

Harry rolled his eyes and after she had packed all of her books, he picked up her suitcase and carried everything out into the common room. A few others straggled in after them.

"Great, you're all here. Ok, first thing, everyone take out your wand," she waited as they all did so, "Ok, now, give them to me; you won't be using them this week."

No one moved an inch. "Arabella, why can't we just hold onto them, you know, just in case…" Ginny asked.

"Just in case or not, you will not be allowed to use your wands for the entire week. Should you be in danger, I'll be there. And besides you have three students in your midst that can perform wandless magic. I wouldn't be too worried, Ginny. Now, your wands," she commanded with a firmer tone than before, her hand outstretched.

Reluctantly, the ten students turned over their wands. Arabella directed them towards the entrance hall and outside. A few of the horseless carriages were waiting for them. Arabella helped them get into the carriages before sending them on their way.

"I'll see you all tomorrow morning!" she called out, waving as they departed.

Harry turned to look at Hermione, "Where do you suppose we're going?"

"I've no idea."

As the words came out of her mouth, a small click sounded in the carriage.

"Afternoon everyone! Just thought I'd fill you all in on what you'll be doing. Today, you're heading to Hogsmeade, where you'll take the Hogwarts Express to London. You'll be spending the night in Diagon Alley and tomorrow morning, you'll take another train to where you're going to be spending the rest of your holidays. I'll see you all in Diagon Alley tomorrow morning."

Another click and Harry was left with Hermione, Ginny and Cadence all looking at him questioningly.

"What?" he asked, looking back at all of them.

"Nothing," Cadence answered.

The carriage dipped back into silence as they approached Hogsmeade station. When the carriages pulled up, they all unloaded their things and walked to the platform. The Hogwarts Express was waiting for them, Harry noticed that several other carriages had pulled up behind them and he remembered that the train was taking all of the homebound Hogwarts students as well. Collectively, the group moved towards the front of the train, securing two compartments up front.

After about forty-five minutes, Harry felt the familiar motion of the train beginning to move. They were on their way.

***

The train ride to London was relatively uneventful. They were visited occasionally by other Hogwarts students, but they were left mostly alone. When they arrived in London, they exited the train with the masses of students, all looking for family members.

After carrying their things off of the train, they exited Platform 9 ¾. As they stood waiting, for what they knew not, the platform emptied, the numbers of students dwindling until the IMS students were alone. Harry turned to look down the platform as they heard footsteps approaching.

A tall, blond woman with a long face and an even longer neck was walking towards them. She held her head high, handbag clutched tightly under her arm. Her hair was coiffed perfectly and Harry couldn't help but notice that she turned her nose up at them. As she drew closer, his mind instantly placed her.

"Erm A-Aunt Petunia?"

"Hello, children. My dear friend, Mrs. Arabella Figg has asked me to escort you to some restaurant on Charring Cross Road. My name is Petunia Dursely," she nodded at them as she said this, avoiding the stares from Harry and Hermione. As she turned to lead them from the platform, she caught Harry's gaze and winked, ever so slightly.

The group of witches and wizards followed her, looking out of place in their school robes as they walked behind the pristinely dressed Muggle. They all squeezed into three taxicabs and drove to the Leaky Cauldron.

'Petunia' left them at the entrance admonishing Harry to "Be on your best behaviour" as she climbed back into the waiting taxi.

***

Arabella woke them early the next morning, calling out that they needed to get ready to go. "Merlin knows we wouldn't want to miss the train, though heaven forbid that the British Rail ever run the trains on schedule."

Harry rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he dressed and grabbed his belongings. The group was standing around in the hallway, waiting for further instruction. Arabella directed them downstairs to more taxis.

An hour and a half later, they were still waiting for their train to Yatton.

"Once we get to Yatton, we'll take a taxi to the town of Clevedon."

"Arabella?"

"Yes, Draco?"

"Why are we going to Wales? Is it so Potter can get a girlfriend? I here they have lots of sheep there."

"Draco, shut it," Hermione said from Harry's side, as she grasped his arm to prevent his lunge at Draco.

Their train was finally called and everyone took out their rail passes.

Everyone except Harry, Hermione and Arabella seemed daunted by the Muggle rail. They created a small scene boarding the train and after Arabella had settled Draco down (He'd been close to throttling the gentleman directing the train passengers to their seats.), everyone settled in for the train ride.

"Why do you suppose we're going to Clevedon? Isn't it just some boring Muggle town? And why do we have to take the train to Yatton, couldn't we just apparate there straight from London?" Ginny pummelled Hermione with questions.

"Gin, do I look like Arabella? I honestly have no answer for any of those questions."

Ginny settled back into her seat with an annoyed sigh and stared out the window at the green hills rolling by.

About an hour and a half later, the train rolled into Yatton. Everyone stood and began preparing to disembark from the train. Harry pulled his bag down from the shelf above the seats and got into the line that had formed in the aisle. Hermione squeezed in behind him and they followed Arabella out onto the platform. Once the entire group had assembled, she led them out onto the street, where they hailed three taxi cabs to take them to their destination.

Harry didn't find anything particularly wonderful about the small town but Hermione fell in love with it on site.

"Harry, look at all the wonderful Victorian style houses!" She cried, pointing out the structures.

"Nice," Harry muttered. The taxi pulled into the driveway of a blue Victorian. Though he really wasn't into architecture, Harry had to admit that the house was pretty interesting and he did like the wrap-around porch. The other two taxis pulled up right behind them and Harry was grateful that this would be the last time he would be hauling his luggage around for the week.

Hermione and Ginny led the way inside while Arabella paid the drivers. They opened the creaky, ornately carved front door. Harry heard Ginny gasp as they entered and he understood why when he walked through the front door.

As far as entryways went, this one was incredible. It spanned the two stories of the house and displayed a grand curved staircase. All of the wood in the house was dark walnut and polished. Harry craned his neck to get a better view of the house. Eight doors led off the hallway upstairs. Off the main entryway, Harry noticed a dining room, a parlour, a music room and another hallway that led to the back of the house.

"Ok, here's the deal. From this point on, you are all officially Muggles. That means no magic-at all. You have to cook for yourselves, clean for yourselves, wear muggle clothes, all that. You can watch television and listen to the radio. You're pretty much free to do whatever you like. I've decided to pair you up, for a change from the usual. The person I pair you with will be your roommate. You'll sleep in the same room and share a bathroom, so I suggest you do your best to get along with one another. Harry and Draco. Your room is at the top of the stairs, third door on the left."

Draco groaned louder than Harry and led the way up the stairs.

"Oh, flowers. Honestly," Draco had reached the room before Harry and was rather upset to see that the entire room was done in an awful floral décor.

"Maybe they think we're old ladies."

"Right, you're an old lady, Potter. I'm going to go change," he declared as he took one of the bags into the bathroom.

Shaking his head, Harry used a bit of magic to unpack his suitcase. After all, he had shrunken everything. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and went back downstairs.

Hermione was sitting in the kitchen, dressed in a grey skirt and a white button down shirt. She smiled at him from her spot at the kitchen table, where she was watching some television. Ginny and Katie Bell came shortly after Harry and Cadence and Akilah were right behind them. The others eventually showed up and gathered around to watch "that thing that muggles are always going on about".

Harry was explaining to Katie about British daytime talk shows when they heard a clunk, followed by a rattle, punctuated by a jangle. The odd combination of sounds repeated itself a few times before Harry realised it was someone walking down the stairs. They all rushed into the entryway just as Draco was making his way down the stairs. Hermione burst out laughing first.

It was a chain reaction. Within moments, nine out of the ten best and brightest witches and wizards in all of the UK were in a heap in the entryway, laughing fit to die. Harry was the first to gather himself enough to speak.

"Erm, Draco?"

"What?"

"I don't think auditions for Butch Cassidy are until next week."

This brought around more laughter. Draco was standing at the bottom of the stairs in full cowboy regalia. A blue button down shirt, with red embroidery on the chest, jeans, brown leather chaps, complete with fringe, cowboy boots, spurs, and of course, a white hat, completed his cowboy ensemble. Arabella came in a few moments later, looking rather startled. She saw Draco and started shaking her head.

"Honestly Draco! Leather chaps! A Stetson! Where did you find those clothes?"

"One of the house elves sent them to me! I sent an owl home about a week ago for muggle clothes and this is what I got, is there something wrong with this outfit?" he asked, his voice full of indignation.

"Nothing at all, if we were playing 'Draco Goes West', which we aren't."

"This is all I have with me!"

"So borrow some clothes from Harry," Arabella suggested.

"I most certainly will not!" Draco sputtered at the same time that Harry cried out "No way! Those are my clothes; it's not my fault he's dressed like a cowboy!"

"Alright, then it's settled. Draco, you're just going to have to wear the cowboy clothes."

"But Arabella-"

"Nope, sorry, nothing to do about it. Perhaps you should have done your homework a little better, this is just a lesson to be learned."

Draco stared at her retreating back. He turned to Hermione, "Granger! Is there anyway to make me presentable?"

"I don't know, Draco, I rather like those leather chaps. You should stick with them." She giggled and turned back towards the kitchen. Harry sniggered at Draco one last time before following her out. No sooner had the door closed behind them that Hermione burst into laughter.

"Did you see those chaps? With the fringe? Oh, how priceless!"

"I liked the embroidered shirt myself. And the boots."

"Oh the boots! Honestly, do you think that house elves were playing a joke on him?"

"Could be."

"Oi! Did you see the handkerchief tied around his neck?" said Ginny as she came into the kitchen, clutching her sides.

"The spurs were definitely my favourite!" responded Cadence.

"Really, Draco trusts me far too much," Akilah said with a giggle.

"What did you do?" Harry asked.

"Well, about a week ago, he asked if I would owl the house elves to send him some muggle clothes. I was in a, ahem, playful mood, so I sent an owl asking for cowboy clothes."

"Oh Akilah! Really, how are you a Gryffindor? You think like a Slytherin," said Hermione through her giggles.

"I know, I know," replied Akilah with a smile.

Draco walked into the kitchen, fixing everyone with glares. "Not a word, any of you. Now, where can I find tea?"

"Well, if I could take a guess, there's probably tea in the cupboard, a kettle on the stove, milk in the refrigerator and sugar on the table," Hermione answered.

Draco nodded and walked towards the stove, where he picked up the kettle and carried it to the sink.

Everyone turned their attention to the television as Draco stood staring at the sink. A few moments passed.

"Hermione?" came Draco's voice from the sink.

"What?" she said, not turning from the television.

"I have the kettle."

"Yes?"

"Now what?"

"Turn on the tap."

"Erm-"

"Oh, hold on," she stood up and walked over to the sink, taking the kettle from Draco. "Turn on the tap. Like this. Put water in the kettle. Then walk this kettle over to the stove and turn the knob onto medium. When this whistles," she held up the kettle, "pour the water into that mug. Then put a tea bag in it. Simple enough?"

He gave her a dirty look as he nodded, snatching the kettle away from her.

"Draco, do you need some help? I was going to make some tea for myself as well," Ginny said as she stood up from the table.

"Sure," Draco mumbled as she took the kettle from him and put water into it. She told him to grab mugs for everyone that wanted tea. He did so and she walked over to the refrigerator to get milk.

"Ah!"

"Ginny! Is something wrong?" Harry jumped up from the table.

"What on earth was that?" she said, pointing at the refrigerator.

"What was what?" Harry walked over and opened the door, expecting something to jump out at him.

"The light! Where did it come from?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, "Do you guys have any idea about anything muggle?"

Eight heads shook silently, as everyone had now turned to watch the drama near the refrigerator. Harry sighed.

"Mione, I suppose we ought to explain some basic things to everyone so that they don't accidentally blow the house up trying to use the microwave."

"Good idea. I guess this is as good a place to start as any," she stood up and pointed at the television. Briefly, she explained the television and what it was ("No, there aren't tiny people in the box."). Harry explained about the kitchen appliances as everyone began drinking their tea. When they had finished, they moved onto the living room, going over electricity and other things that were widely used by muggles, most of which the group had never seen the likes of.

In the corner of the living room, a computer was tucked into a cabinet. Hermione opened the cabinet, pulling out the desk and switching the machine on. As Windows booted, Draco watched in amazement.

"That's bloody fantastic! What can you do on that?"

"I'm actually surprised that they have one here, they're pretty rare to have. Dead useful, really, you can play games, type-"

"What's type?" Katie asked.

"Oh, it's, well, you use the keyboard and you can write, like on parchment, only, well--different."

They all nodded. Ginny jumped as the computer made a noise that announced it had fully loaded. Hermione clicked on the desktop, bringing up different games and the word processing program. Even Harry watched in interest, for he had only seen Dudley use his computer a few times, and he'd never had a go on it.

Within minutes, a card game had loaded and Hermione was showing them all how to play.

"That was a great nap. There's a nice breeze coming in from outside, it smells lovely. Perhaps we could all walk down to the beach later and do a little site seeing." Arabella strolled into the room and peeked over Hermione's shoulder at the computer screen.

They nodded their agreement and turned back to the computer, where Hermione had just started another game.

After about half an hour or so, a few of the students bored of the computer and went to other parts of the house in search of entertainment. Ginny returned with a game of Scrabble and complained about the lack of moving parts for about ten minutes. Draco had found some videos and was attempting to put them in the video machine. Katie, Akilah and Cadence were building a house out of playing cards. Cadence whooped at their success, "Would you look at that? They don't explode! That's brilliant!"

Cho was watching a game of football on the television and during commercials, threatened to kill Draco if he so much as touched the video machine again (he had unplugged something on the television that had caused Cho to miss a part of her game).

***

The week wore on in a very relaxed fashion. The first part of their trip had been spent enjoying muggle activities and the unusually nice weather. They had gone shopping in the small village, taken walks along the beaches, played outdoor games, and spent a lot of time in the library reading muggle books.

During the second half of the week, the group devoted much of their time to reading about muggle and magical history and making comparisons. Hermione had been fascinated by the cause and effect relationship between the two worlds and had made correlations between more obscure events that they were reading about.

"Arabella, there really isn't much information on the Founding, so how exactly are we supposed to take a test on it?" Hermione asked. They were sitting on the front porch, going through some materials on History of Magic.

"Well, actually, we don't really have much information on the Founding of Hogwarts. It's somewhat of a mystery. Obviously, we know about the four Founders and how they each sponsored a house that was based on the characteristics that they prized most in themselves and their students, but as far as how the school was built, it's very vague."

"What do you mean, how it was built?"

"Well, ask Draco, for example. Malfoy Manor is a magical building, that's what makes it Unplottable. I, obviously, don't know the details on how it was built, as its centuries old. Hogwarts was built by some magical means. There's magic ingrained in every stone in that castle."

Hermione nodded and went back to her reading.

"I think I'm going for a walk, does anyone want to come?" Arabella asked.

"I'll go," Harry said, standing up.

"Ginny, Cadence, Cho and I are going to play Scrabble," said Padma.

"I've got some more work to do for the Curses and Hexes paper," Akilah said.

"I'm helping her," said Katie.

"I'm going back on the computer, I found this fabulous game where you fly around some sort of muggle contraption," spoke up Susan.

"I guess I'll go, I think I'm getting a bit of a headache from all this reading," Hermione said quietly. Everyone turned to her in shock, "What?" she asked sceptically.

"Nothing, nothing at all," Harry jumped in.

"Draco?" Arabella asked, turning towards the boy who was perched on the edge of the porch, staring moodily out into the yard. He was wearing another embroidered shirt, except in black, and ever since the first day he had forgone the hat, chaps and handkerchief.

"Ha, as if I'd be caught out in these clothes."

"The other days we've gone out, you've worn your Bonanza costumes,"

"Yes, well, that was different."

"Alrighty, are you two ready?" Arabella asked Harry and Hermione, giving Draco a strange look at the same time.

They stood and walked towards the street. Strolling for a bit and taking in the sea air, they walked in silence for some time.

"Arabella, why did Ami pick us up in London?" Hermione asked suddenly.

"Oh, she was on a mission for Dumbledore, it seems that the Petunia disguise has been more useful than we ever thought."

"Yes, but she's under Fidelius. How were we able to see her?"

"Ami is under Fidelius. Petunia Dursely is not. Her guise allows her to go out. Your parents can do the same thing."

"How are my parents?"

"They're doing wonderfully. They've been in charge of research since they came back to work for us. The years that your parents and Ami were in hiding, their activities were very limited, for obvious reasons, but lately, they've been priceless. We think we're getting closer. Dumbledore suspects that in a few months, we'll know exactly Voldemort's place in things and whether or not we're in a war."

Hermione considered this. "I don't know if you suspect something, but I wondered whether or not something seemed fishy about Minister Connelly."

"Dumbledore doesn't think we have any reason to suspect him of anything related to the Death Eaters. He doesn't like some of the things that have been going on in the Ministry, but there isn't much he can do about it."

"What about Sirius and Remus?"

"Hermione, you're just full of questions today."

"Well, we haven't heard anything. I figured that after our meeting with Dumbledore, we'd at least get updates on everyone, but I haven't heard anything in months. In fact, I haven't even talked to my parents in a few weeks."

"You have that mind link too?" Harry asked, coming out of his silence.

"Of course, it's a by product of the spell."

Arabella updated them a bit on what was going on with the Order. They eventually circled back to the house. The others were sitting in the kitchen watching Ginny and Draco attempt to make dinner.

"No! We don't put the pasta in yet! The water isn't even boiling!" cried Ginny.

"Well, the pot has been on the stove for twenty minutes!" Draco said pointedly.

"Did you turn the fire on?"

He considered this before tingeing slightly pink. "No. I'll do that," he mumbled.

Ginny shook her head as she stirred the sauce. Padma and Susan were slicing vegetables for a salad as they watched Ginny and Draco bicker. The group listened intently as Ginny explained to Draco that they couldn't just run the noodles under hot water to cook them. Draco tried to argue but was cut off by Arabella.

"The pair of you fight like you're married."

All conversation came to a dead stop. Ginny was staring at Arabella with her jaw hanging open and her face bright red as Draco sputtered soundlessly.

"Her! Me? Never!" he stuttered, regaining his power of speech.

"Oh, Draco, don't get all in a tizzy, it's not that big of a deal."

"I would never date Ginny!"

"And why wouldn't you?" blurted out Ginny, getting rather huffy.

He didn't answer and the silence in the kitchen was very tense. After a minute or so, Katie abruptly stood up from the table.

"I think the water is boiling, perhaps you should put the pasta in."

This galvanized everyone into action. Draco went about getting the pasta, Ginny stirred the sauce, and a few others went around gathering plates, napkins and flatware.

As it was their last night in Clevedon, dinner was a big affair. They sat at the table for hours, talking and laughing and enjoying the good food. Ginny and Draco had pulled off a magnificent meal that filled everyone. The large, summery kitchen was filled with good smells and laughter until late into the night.

"Arabella, when we go back tomorrow, what are we going to be doing?" asked Susan through a yawn.

"We'll be reviewing for the OWLs. I've got plenty of work and research for you to do."

"What are the OWLs going to be like?"

"It'll be a surprise. You'll just have to wait and see."

***


Sorry these have taken so long to get up! I was on vacation and when I came back, FF.Net wasn't up. Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter eight. Also, thanks to my Beta Reader Elliott. For updates, art, and ficlets visit The Power of Three! at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/powerthree .