Chapter 32 – The Plot Coagulates

The twins retreated to their dormitory early into the evening, leaving the tense atmosphere of the common room behind. Harry watched from his window-well perch, splitting his attention between watching the snowy Hogwarts grounds and watching the other occupants of the common room.

Hermione was hunting through her bag for a misplaced book and quickly working herself into a state. Ginny and Ron were quietly playing chess in the corner and, apparently, even the chess pieces had caught on to the mood in the room. They weren't demolishing each other with their usual gusto.

Ger Myfanwy openly paced until Morgaine ordered him out, saying that if he was so keen to wear a hole in the stones he could do so on a patrol of the castle. He'd glared at his older sister's order, but quailed under the coolly unaffected look she'd turned on him and finally sighed and left quietly.

Morgaine herself seemed worried as well, though she did not pace. She sat in a large armchair instead, not touching her customary embroidery and instead opting to hide behind a large book. Orion crouched under her chair, watching everything. The only one that seemed immune to the sense of worry affecting the others was Professor Lupin.

Lupin lounged comfortably on one of the sofas with one foot propped up on the arm and the other dangling to the ground. He had a slender book propped open on his stomach and reached up every few minutes to turn a page. He, apparently, had perfect confidence in Sirius and Rowan's ability to keep themselves out of major trouble. Or get themselves out of it.

"Morgaine?" Remus raised his eyes to look at the younger Seeress. "Would you please help Hermione find her book before she spontaneously combusts or hexes someone?"

"Pardon?" Morgaine looked up from her book. "Help Hermione what, Moony?"

Lupin shot her an odd glance and repeated his request. Morgaine considered for a moment before nodding.

"I could try," she agreed.

"Try what?" Ron asked curiously. Hermione stopped her small demolition and looked up expectantly.

"I can use Divination to find the missing book," Morgaine explained offhandedly, reaching down to scratch Orion's ears as he undulated out from under her chair. "But I don't know Hermione that well yet, so I'm not completely sure it will work."

Hermione snorted in disbelief and Morgaine cocked her head in curiosity.

"Hermione doesn't believe in Divination of any sort," Harry explained quietly from his perch.

"It all seems very woolly to me," Hermione nodded primly. "I don't see how staring at a lump of soggy leaves will help me find my book."

"Tea leaves aren't used for dowsing, Hermione," Morgaine laughed lightly.

"Of course, dowsing uses a pair of rods or a forked stick." Hermione sounded sceptical. Harry watched Remus bite his lip to stop himself from laughing.

"I know it doesn't sound very reliable, Hermione," Lupin chuckled. "But Morgaine is a Seeress and actually very good at this. False modesty aside, of course." He shot the veela-girl a look, "She and Rowan seem to share that trait."

Morgaine reddened in response before she smiled smugly. "It's in Ron's bag."

Ron's jaw dropped and Hermione lunged for his bag. After a moment of rooting Hermione produced a book with a lurid pink cover and squiggling gold lettering. "Ron Weasley, what were you doing with my book?" she shrieked, tucking the pilfered item away in her own bulging school bag. Ron's ears went pink, Ginny started laughing, and Harry felt himself smile slightly. That book looked familiar somehow, but he couldn't place it.

Ginny contained her giggles and offered to run Hermione's books back up to her dormitory. Hermione thanked Ginny then turned her full curiosity on Morgaine. "How did you do that?"

"Divination," Morgaine answered simply.

"Divination doesn't work," Hermione protested. "Professor McGonagall even thinks so!"

"I believe that Professor McGonagall says that Divination is imprecise and that true seers are very rare," Morgaine corrected gently. "However, it's not all that imprecise if you know what you're doing and can admit when you don't see anything. Sometimes you don't," she shrugged. "Or it can be so misty it's nearly impossible to interpret. That doesn't make it less real. As far as real seers go, I can tell you that it's an inborn quality. Just like you can't teach someone to be a Parselmouth or a Vox Veritas Argentum, you can't really teach someone to be a seer."

"Then it really is possible to see the future?" Ron asked in amazement, his blue eyes very wide.

"Yes, of course," Morgaine nodded.

Harry narrowed his eyes as a memory flashed across his mind. "Morgaine?" he interrupted softly. "Is Professor Trelawney as Seer? Or Seeress, rather?"

"Seeress. And, no, Harry, she is not," Morgaine stated firmly.

"She predicted Wormtail would return to Voldemort and that Voldemort would return and both happened," Harry pointed out, ignoring the disapproving looks Hermione sent him.

Morgaine softened, but still shook her head. "That doesn't mean she's a seeress, Harry," she explained gently. "There are not enough seers available to train every hopeful or everyone with a small gift. A full Seer or Seeress must train their Eye for years before it comes under any sort of control. Even the Grandfather can't see clearly all of the time and he is undoubtedly the most powerful Seer alive."

"I can't do it. I can only see the present, not the future. Which means I can accurately predict where something or someone is at this very moment, but not where they will be next week or even in an hour."

"It still seems like a lot of guesswork," Hermione insisted, but her tone suggested that her determined abhorrence was wavering. "Professor Trelawney's predicted Harry's violent death scores of times, in more ways than I can count."

Harry's green eyes darkened, and he turned away at the mention of his violent death, but felt Morgaine's eyes flicker to him briefly in concern. "Harry's fate isn't decided yet, the future isn't fixed," she said firmly, a distinctly steel hint to her voice. "And neither Voldemort, nor Professor Trelawney will be the one to decide it."

Ginny came up behind him. "They'll be all right, you know," she said, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder in concern. Harry jumped slightly, but otherwise didn't respond and continued to stare out at the frosted grounds. Ginny sighed in frustration or determination, he couldn't tell which, and tried again. "Harry, you're scaring us!"

"I'm fine," he answered finally and turned, shifting into her touch as he reached up to cover her hand with his own.

Ginny moved a bit closer. "They'll be all right," she insisted. "Sirius has survived Azkaban and dementors. And Professor Myfanwy," Ginny paused not really sure how to continue. "Well, she's not one to be outsmarted by Malfoy. She's handled werewolves, vampires, and who knows what else trying to kill her. The Death Eaters and Ministry officials are nothing. They can't possibly be more devious than the twins or the Marauders."

Harry ignored her and drew even deeper into his quiet solitude. He knew she was probably right, but that didn't stop the worry gnawing at his stomach. He heard a peculiar growl-sigh from Ginny and she stretched up suddenly, captured Harry's face in her hands and kissed him.

Harry's eyes widened. Ginny was kissing him! He had only just begun to respond to the sudden sensations bubbling through him before the pleasant pressure of Ginny's lips disappeared and so did Ginny! She fled, eyes wide and face crimson at her actions, and retreated to the stairs and the abandoned girls' dormitory beyond that, safely beyond reach.

Harry heard Hermione mutter something that sounded suspiciously like "Took you long enough," before she stood, pulling a shell-shocked Ron along with her, and informed him that they were going for a walk around the lake.

Morgaine and Lupin shared a knowing smile and Lupin unfolded himself from his seat. "I think I'll visit the twins and see what other surprises they plan to spring on my classes," Lupin commented, heading for the dormitory stairs.

"They don't actually try anymore, do they?" Morgaine laughed.

"Oh, they try," he grinned, his greying brown hair falling boyishly over his eyes for a brief moment, allowing Moony to peak through.

Morgaine laughed again and turned back to her book. "Don't get in too much trouble, Harry dear," she commented, idly turning a page. "But you should be a gentleman and check on Miss Weasley. She seemed upset."

Harry's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before he found his voice and squeaked, "But she's in the girls' dormitory!"

"Yes, I noticed," Morgaine said, still reading. "However, if Ginny had wanted to escape she would have run out, rather than up. She doesn't know about the hidden passages in the dormitory, so she's waiting for you."

Harry started thinking was one of the strangest conversations he'd ever participated in. He wasn't sure what to say, so he said the first thing that came to his mind. "Um . . . where are the others?"

"Dumbledore is on an errand with Grandfather, Ger is most likely patrolling the castle and grounds. Hermione and Ron are most certainly busy and everyone else is probably in their rooms or offices," she responded, then finally raised her eyes. "Stop stalling, Harry. Now."

~*~

Harry paused for a moment outside the wooden door labelled "Fourth-Years" before knocking softly. "Come in, Hermione," Ginny's voice answered. Harry stifled a chuckle and pushed open the door.

"Um, I'm not Hermione," he said. Ginny's head shot up. The chocolate frog cards she held in her hands scattered across the bed.

"Harry," she breathed, her face draining of colour. Ginny sprang to her feet and tried to rush past him, escape out the open door. Harry reached out and caught her arm, pulling her back from the door and closer to him. Quidditch reflexes, he thought dryly. Ginny let out a strangled squeak at the sudden capture and looked up at him, her brown eyes dark in the dim light.

"Harry Potter, let me go! I am not a Snitch!" she bristled, glaring up at him and forcefully shaking his hand off her arm. Harry blinked in surprise at her sudden change of attitude and backed away a few steps.

"Ginny, what has got into you tonight?"

Ginny advanced on him, and Harry backed up another step. She now stood in the entrance of her dormitory, hands gripping the wood door mercilessly. "You really don't know, do you?" Ginny laughed mirthlessly. "Harry, you and my brother really are alike, do you know that?"

Harry started to ask what she meant by that, but a pained yelp followed by a muffled curse interrupted him. Harry looked back toward the common room. "That sounded like Hermione!"

Ginny didn't reply, but she shot past him toward the common room. Harry followed, and Fred, George, and Professor Lupin joined them only moments later.

Hermione stumbled across the common room looking bedraggled and beaten. Blood oozed from several small welts on her face and hands and bruises were beginning to blossom on her exposed skin. She moved carefully, supported by Morgaine, and winced frequently.

"Hermione, what happened?" Morgaine asked, leading Hermione to one of the couches. "Where's Ron?" Hermione began crying softly, and Harry felt his stomach plummet. Morgaine quickly pulled out her wand and conjured a table and an array of medical supplies and potion bottles. She uncorked one bottle and filled a waiting goblet, waiting until the clouds of glowing, golden, smoke cleared before handing it to Hermione. "Here, drink this, calm down, and tell us what happened," Morgaine ordered gently. The others moved closer as Hermione submitted to having her wounds tended and told them what happened.

"After we left the common room, we intended to walk to the far side of the lake. There's a small ridge there with an excellent view of the castle and lake and it's very beautiful at night." Hermione blushed slightly as she admitted their destination. It was a poplar place for Hogwarts couples, but slightly out of bounds. It could only be reached by entering the fringes of the Forbidden Forest.

Hermione cleared her voice and continued. "We were ambushed before we even reached the trees. Several wizards in dark, hooded robes raced out of the trees. Ron," her voice broke. "Ron went down almost immediately, but I'm sure it was only a Stunning spell. I heard them shout it. It only clipped me, but I tumbled down a small hill to the lakeshore. I think I hit my head and blacked out for a few minutes. By the time I woke up, the Death Eaters were gone and so was Ron." Fresh tears ran down Hermione's face as the rest of them absorbed the information.

The Death Eaters had Ron.

Shocked silence descended for several long moments. Harry finally broke it.

"We have to rescue Ron."

"Harry, mate, we don't even know where he is!" Fred pointed out.

"And we don't have any way to find where they took him," George added.

"We can't just abandon him!" Harry snapped back, fear and rage vying for control along with a barrage of questions echoing through his mind. Why did they leave Hermione? Why take Ron? "Voldemort wants me to follow," he concluded heavily. "There must be a way to find him."

"Morgaine can," Ginny whispered. "You found Hermione's book. Can't you do the same with Ron?"

"Finding a young wizard captured by Voldemort is quite a bit different from finding a book, Hermione," Professor Lupin spoke quietly, stepping forward from his place near the dormitory stairs and drawing his wand from his robes. "Morgaine could do it, but I'm willing to bet you can't." Morgaine's face remained impassive as Lupin levelled his wand at her. "You're not Morgaine."

She nodded slowly, a dangerous smile touching her lips. "You're right. I'm not."

~*~*~*~

Three cliff-hangers in as many chapters. I'm doing well! *evil smile* Okay. Review time.

Acy: Nope. She's not. Rowan is simply older and more experienced than Harry is. Now, if she could do all this at 15, she would be a Mary Sue. However, experience does speak for something. It's not that far-fetched that a 30-something witch can know more than about magic than a 15-year-old Harry Potter and be an animagus.

GinS: Thanks Gin! I rather like her. I will also be developing the Harry/Ginny relationship more. Can you tell yet?

Sonata: Tune in next chapter and find out!

SparkySparkles: You'll see.

Cory: *bows* Thank you.

Harriet Potter: ^_^ that is such a wonderful complement! Imogen (my beta) would probably fall over laughing at that since this chapter had so many Americanisms it's funny! I've lived in Utah all my life, actually, but would love to visit the UK. My mother's family is Welsh and English.

WolfMoon: gorgeous name! I'm having fun with the cliffies!

Devil Child: No worries about the downloading at all! I don't mind in the least. I love Sirius, (no, really? We couldn't tell, Kat!) And you may want to try a brand new one by Goldberry called "Left of Orion". I really enjoyed that one.

Lana Riddle: I do try. ^_~

Nataly Ravenlock: ROFL! Oh my! Thanks! I can't really stand Angelic!Narcissa either, but I see it so much, I thought this would be a nice change. Your comment had me earning weird looks from my family.

Fishead: Not a chance! I'm definitely finishing this story. And we all LOVE cliffhangers, don't we?

Plutostar: James was a Chaser in the books. He is only a Seeker in the movie. I don't count the movie as canon. However, even if James was the Seeker initially, he probably wouldn't necessarily stay the Seeker. In my back-story he started out as Seeker, but grew and was replaced by Rowan. She's a year younger, far smaller and didn't join the team until his fourth year.