Chapter 6 – Over Ice Cream

With her cauldron bought and safely stowed away in her trunk, Lydia thought it must be time to go home. Draco and her uncle had other plans.

"We reasoned that, after the terrible ordeal of having to go shopping all afternoon, we must owe you some respite," Ambrose joked.

"And as it turned out warm today," Draco added. "We thought an ice cream would be nice."

Lydia stopped where she was, one hand holding the handle of her trunk, the other balled into a fist on her hip. The two men walked another couple of paces before realising and turning to look at her.

"If you've had the same idea without talking to each other then you've had something planned," she noted. "What's going on?"

"Well, we have arranged to meet a couple of people at the ice cream parlour," Draco admitted. "Harry and…"

"Minerva," Ambrose said. "I did mention that we wanted to have a word with you. This is a good opportunity to do so."

Lydia scowled. "There won't be dancing, will there?"

"Not until we leave," Ambrose said. "After which I gather the bunting is to be hung out and there will be a street party and a conga line."

Draco snorted.

"Often the case whenever I leave any location," Ambrose quipped. "No. I promise you, no dancing."

"And if we carry on around the corner," Draco observed, "we'll be at the ice cream shop."

They rounded the next corner and there stood a shop with a huge sign proclaiming:

Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour

There were tables outside the front of the shop but Draco took them inside and led them through to a private garden in the rear. At the sole table there sat Harry and Professor McGonagall, talking to a lean, dark-haired man with a moustache.

"Ah, I think your guests are here, Harry, Minerva," said the man.

"Hi, everyone," said Harry jumping up. "This is Ferdinand Fortescue. He owns the ice cream parlour. Ferdi, these are Lydia and Ambrose. I think you know Draco, don't you?"

The owner stepped forward to shake hands with Ambrose and Lydia. He nodded to Draco. "Professor… Malfoy."

Draco stroked his left arm with his right hand and his stance stiffened. "Mr Fortescue."

"Draco is truly a reformed character, Ferdi," Harry intoned. "He and I have every reason to bear grudges. We have decided not to."

Ferdi nodded and held out his hand. Draco clasped it briefly, but warmly, with both hands.

"I will bring menus," Ferdi continued. "Please be seated."

"Ferdi has kindly let us borrow his garden," Harry explained. "It's quieter and a bit more private than in the shop or out the front."

"Is this all about me?" asked Lydia, putting her trunk out of the way and sitting opposite Harry.

"We wanted to explain a few things before you go to school," Harry told her. "So that we all have the same understanding."

"And so that you can be sure we are all on your side, Lydia," McGonagall added. "By the by, is that a Travelighter trunk you have there?"

"Yes," Lydia confirmed. "Draco bought it for me as a present."

McGonagall raised one eyebrow. "That was very generous of you, Professor Malfoy."

"Several of us owe Lydia our lives," Draco explained. "We all chipped in. The others asked me not to mention names."

Lydia looked at Harry. He shrugged and smiled. Lydia mouthed, "Thank you," and Harry winked.

"That was a wonderful and very practical idea for a gift," McGonagall pronounced. "It is very gratifying to see former students turn out well, at long last."

Draco and Harry looked at each other and sighed.

"From the tales you have related to me, Minerva," Ambrose chuckled, "Harry, in particular, has proven useful on a number of occasions."

"Those tales were told in confidence, Ambrose," she retorted, then quite unmistakably, she smiled.

At that moment Mr Fortescue returned with a handful of menus. "Sorry for the delay. It's getting busy now that the day has turned out sunnier than expected."

They looked through the menus and selected a variety of sundaes. Ferdi swept away to fulfil their order.

"You said you wanted to tell me things," Lydia reminded them, not wanting them to get away with empty promises.

"I'll give you the details when Ferdi gets back with the ice creams," Harry told her. "We can trust him. His brother was killed by Voldemort and he has no love for Death Eaters, original or 'reheated', as Ambrose calls them."

"As you may have noticed," Draco pointed out wryly.

Harry shrugged and continued. "I don't want to say too much in front of him, though. I have his and your safety in mind. There is good news and, er, not so good news."

"I also have some findings we should all share," Draco informed them.

"And I wish to assure you of the kind of support I, and others at Hogwarts, will be able to provide," McGonagall added. "I am not allowed to show favouritism, but if I could you would be the recipient."

And then Minerva McGonagall smiled again. In an encyclopaedia of smiles, it would be shown under the heading of 'Prim Smiles' but to those who knew her of old it was like watching a statue grin. An almost horrified look passed between Harry and Draco.

Mr Fortescue and one of the girls who worked in the shop came through carrying trays laden with bowls of ice cream concoctions. The served them onto the table and the girl hurried back into the shop with the empty trays.

"If there's anything else you want, or when you have finished, I will be in the shop," Ferdi said. "You won't be disturbed again."

He left them to their discussion.

"Oh, gorgeous!" said Harry of the ice cream, then he returned to being business-like. "We have found out who it is in the Improper Use office who has been leaking information from the Trace to the Death Eaters. For now, we are just monitoring them. The good news is that you haven't shown up on the Trace, Lydia. That means, if you really need to, you can perform magic outside school and neither the Ministry of Magic nor the Death Eaters will know. I trust you not to abuse the privilege, of course.

"On the other hand, it's bad news because we won't know if the Death Eaters turn any muggles magical. Well, not from the Trace, anyway. The Death Eaters have scattered after the capture of Alorea Rakissen and the arrests we made at the ritual earlier that night. They will be starting to band together again at some point so we are preparing undercover agents to try to infiltrate any groups that form. It's a worry, I have to admit. Draco?"

The professor finished his mouthful, narrowly avoiding brain-freeze. "We, that is myself, Hermione and Ambrose, have continued researching the Old Magic and the first High Magic wizards. We have managed to find sources in the muggle libraries which have helped. I have to say, it has been a great help having Ambrose, with his interest in ancient history…"

"Nostalgia," Lydia chipped in, to the amusement of the others.

"To have Ambrose to lend a different perspective and to alert us to other possible sources," Draco continued. "We still have much to translate and to read but it looks promising. Anything which might help you, Lydia, I will tell you as soon as I can, if you are at school. Ambrose will be able to tell you during the holidays, I imagine."

"I shall, indeed," Ambrose confirmed. "Harry has provided Draco, Hermione and me with replicating scrolls, which are making it considerably more convenient to keep in touch. I hasten to add, however, that we must take care of the security aspects – it is possible for a scroll to be lost or stolen. We have taken to using code words for sensitive information, just in case."

"My concern, Lydia," McGonagall began, "is for your welfare and security at school. We have students who may be influenced by those with sympathy for the Death Eaters. We have witnessed an undercurrent of mistrust of muggles and muggle-born witches and wizards for many years. I want you to know there is a network of people you can trust at Hogwarts, not only myself. They are largely the people you already know. Professors Flitwick, Verdi, Longbottom and Hagrid have my full confidence, in theory at least. I would point out that Professor Longbottom and Professor Hagrid, have a tendency to be a little scatter-brained. Very occasionally, they have been known to leak information accidentally. They will be good friends to you, and know your true story, though not in great detail. They are probably the best to provide moral or emotional support. You would be wise to be careful with your most sensitive information, however."

"We kept Neville, Professor Longbottom, out of things before," Lydia noted.

"That was me being over-cautious," Harry admitted. "Professor McGonagall, quite rightly, persuaded me to give him the background. He knows the story of Throakley Mine and how you became a witch, so does Hagrid now. Neither of them know about the magic you performed when you captured Alorea Rakissen. They do know that your magic may be a bit different and are keen to help you, if they can. Sorry, Professor McGonagall, please carry on."

"Thank you, Head Auror," she nodded. "I would not mention anything to any of the other professors, if I were you. The fewer in the know, the fewer who can give anything away."

"What about Tessa? Tessa Gudgeon?" Lydia asked. "She knew I was a muggle pretending to be a muggle-born. Does she know anything about how I became magical?"

McGonagall frowned and pursed her lips. "Tessa is a concern. I believe her to be trustworthy. In inviting her to become Head Girl this year, I have asked her never to mention the little deception she was party to, last term. Still, I would not advise you to take her into your confidence. Be friendly, of course, but do not court her attention. And I would not mention that you have met me here nor that you know she is now Head Girl. But I believe she is no danger to us. I did, I must admit, consider obliviating her, but there were too many others who met you at that time. it would be suspicious if she had no memory of it."

Draco looked at Lydia. "I will keep an eye on Tessa, as much as I can. She is taking Defence and Potions at NEWT level. She comes to all my discussion groups. I could arrange to bump into her in the dungeons on her way to and from Potions classes.

"But there's one thing I would say, Lydia. I know there has always been an attitude amongst the students that you don't tell professors if you are being bullied or if you know someone is up to no good. You cannot afford to buy into that. This is not about someone getting a detention because you said something. The Death Eaters are involved and people could die. I hope we all learned that lesson from the war. I was… I was coerced, forced, into trying to kill Dumbledore. If I had told him he could have helped me and my family, and possibly many others."

Draco took a moment to compose himself. "I would rather you spent the whole of your time at Hogwarts telling us about trivial things that we decide to do nothing about. It would be better than you omitting to tell us something which seems trivial to you but fits a pattern we can see. If people pick on you, tell us. We won't step in if it's normal school disagreements. Nobody will get detention and nobody will have anything to blame you for. But a pattern of such behaviour might lead us to a Death Eater plot to destabilise the school or indoctrinate pupils. Please keep us informed. We need your help."

McGonagall spoke up. "Lydia, I am sorry if it sounds like we are putting a lot on you. It is not fair, at all. But your case is extremely unusual and there is a clear link to the plans we know the Death Eaters had."

Harry was next. "There is one more thing, Lydia. We are convinced that the Death Eaters we sent to Azkaban, after the ritual we broke up back in May, have managed to get messages out. We don't know what the messages were. It is possible there might be enough scraps of information for someone to piece together a link to you."

Ambrose turned his chair round to face Lydia and he leaned in towards her. "Normally at this point I would say something foolish and annoying. I shall not. We know we are placing a huge responsibility on you. You are already different from every other student, possibly ever. We know we are adding to that, almost placing barriers between you and your schoolmates. Try not to focus on that. Build a routine of telling Draco and myself all that is going on. Once it is a habit let it happen and carry on making friends, doing schoolwork, joining in with activities as normal. Live your best life.

"There is one last thing. Your magical powers are different. You will learn the High Magic that all the other students learn. Draco and I will try to tell you whatever we can find out about your magic. You may have to test it yourself to learn about it. Whatever you do, do not try it where others might see you. Never use it on another student. Certainly not in anger or frustration but not even with the best intentions, at least not without our prior knowledge. In short, let us know first."

Ambrose sat back and blew out his cheeks as if he had done something strenuous. "After that little break from being annoying and embarrassing perhaps Minerva and I should dance the Argentinian Tango until you are suitably mortified?"

"Tempting, but no thanks," Lydia assured him.

"Lydia, your position is not ideal," McGonagall confessed. "But you have the best team on your side. I should know, I taught most of them."

Lydia had an awful premonition and closed her eyes, in case the headteacher was about to wink at her uncle.

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