Chapter Six: Why Invisibility Cloaks Should Be Used With Caution

Half an hour later, we were gathered in Hermione's dormitory, discussing our plan. Hermione and I sat on her bed, Ron and Harry sat on Lavender's, Remus sat on Parvati's, and Hagrid, probably afraid of flattening a bed, stood by the door.

"I've already sent an owl to Sirius," said Harry. "He should be here in about half an hour. I told him that Remus and I wanted to talk to him. We'll talk in my dorm, I think."

"What's wrong with the common room?" asked Ron.

"Well," said Harry, giving Ron a pointed look, "I thought that after Remus and Sirius reconcile, they might want to be, you know, alone...."

"Look, Harry, we aren't so sex-crazed that the minute you leave us alone we'll be on each other," Remus said, glaring. "Besides, we wouldn't ever use someone else's room."

"Well, I give you permission," said Harry, but a look from Hermione told him to shut up.

"I think what we ought to do," said Hermione, "is try to settle out of court. Voldemort won't object, or else it would make him look too suspicious. And if we settle out of court, he can't send Joanne to Azkaban."

"He's got to have some sort of plan," said Remus, "some reason he wants to keep her and the rest of us alive for a while. Or else he'd have killed Dumbledore, us, and anyone else who isn't a Death Eater."

"We oughta get yer brother Percy on our side too, Ron," said Hagrid. "He's fully trained now, and he was Head Boy and everythin'."

"We should let McGonagall in on what we know, too," said Ron. "Oh, I wish we had some way to spy on Voldemort."

"There's the Invisibility Cloak," said Harry, "but that's too risky."

A large smile came over Hermione's face, and she began to dig under the bed.

"What're yeh lookin' for?" asked Hagrid.

"Probably some library book that details the ways to spy on and outwit a Dark Lord, something she picked up for light reading," said Ron, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up," came Hermione's voice from under the bed. She emerged a second later with a jar.

"If that's one of your fires in a jar, I don't think setting Voldemort on fire is going to work," said Ron.

"Ron, shut your mouth and use your brain for once," snapped Hermione. She pointed at the large brown beetle in the jar and raised one eyebrow.

"Hermione," said Harry, "you are a genius."

"I know."

"Could someone fill me in?" asked Remus.

"Hermione found out that Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus, and is keeping her in that jar," I expalined. "She's perfect to use as a spy."

"Can we trust her, though?" asked Ron. "I mean, we don't know anything about whether she was ever a Death Eater or not."

"Good point," said Hermione, "but we'll keep her on hand."

"We should contact Alastor Moody too," said Remus. "An Auror like that should be a great help."

There was a knock on the door. "It's Sirius," said a voice from the other side. "Sorry I'm early."

"That's all right," said Harry. He turned to Hermione and me.

"Joanne, you and Hermione can put together a list of all the witches and wizards we should contact about this. And Ron, you can send them owls saying to meet us somewhere or another.....Diagon Alley, maybe, they can Apparate and we can use Floo Powder. Not Hogsmeade, where Voldemort will be. Don't tell them what it's about, in case the letter's intercepted."

He and Remus stood up and went out the door. Hagrid and Ron followed a second later, Hagrid saying he wanted to give Fang the new collar and Ron wanting to get Pigwidgeon from the owlry. Hemione and I were left alone.

Hermione turned to me. "Oh, sure, we get the paperwork. Let's see....McGonagall, Moody, probably Ron's dad...not Fudge, he's had enough opportunities to prove he isn't a stupid git and failed every one of them. Probably all the Hogwarts professors. Can you think of anyone else?"

"No."

We stopped talking for a second. We could hear voices coming from Harry's dormitory.

"I wonder what they're talking about," said Hermione. "Just out of curiosity..." She stopped and stared.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I think Harry left his Invisibility Cloak in the common room last night," she said. A devilish smile moved across her face. "Let's go and spy on them."

Giggling like two little girls, we tiptoed down to the common room and saw that Hermione was right. Our hands clamped over our smiles, we slipped on the cloak and went back upstairs.

"This is so childish," whispered Hermione.

"Do you think we shouldn't?"

"Of course not!"

Inside Harry's dormitory, Sirius was looking very grave. "We'll need as much help as we can get," he said. "But I agree with you, Harry, the best thing to do now is to pretend we know nothing."

Harry nodded. "I'll go find Ron and tell him you're back on our side," he said. He walked right past us and shut the door.

Hermione mouthed something to me. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought she mouthed, "Oh SHIT!"