February came in with a blizzard, on the same day as the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match, and Dawn learned that Quidditch really was an all-weather sport. The game went ahead in conditions that approached a whiteout at times. Most of the school elected to watch it from inside the castle. The Great Hall was transformed into a theatre, with the game projected, in full 3-D over where the Professor's table usually was. Very few die-hard fans braved the conditions in the stands, even bundled up in enchanted warming cloaks, and mittens, and hats. A protection charm, like the one which had covered the Weasley's garden table, would have made the game completely invisible to anyone under the bubble.
Conditions were so bad that Ginny couldn't see half way across the pitch most of the time. She and Summerby, the Hufflepuff Seeker, had started out the game with an unspoken understanding between them. They stuck together, so that when the Snitch did turn up, they'd both have an equal chance of seeing it, and it would be a contest of skill to see who could catch it first, rather than just luck.
Four hours later—and after they had both gone tearing down to the other end of the pitch a few times after someone from one team or another had shouted out after spotting the Snitch themselves, only to have it vanish again before they got there—Ginny was starting to think that she just wanted the game over. "Screw this!" she told Summerby. "If we split up, we've got twice as much chance of seeing the damn thing!"
Summerby spent all of half a second thinking about that. Then he smiled, and saluted her. "Good luck!" he called, and disappeared into the blowing snow.
Half an hour later Ginny heard shouting from the other end of the pitch. She started to race toward the sound, but then she heard the blast from Madam Hootch's whistle signalling the end of the match before she got there. It was over, and she hadn't even seen the Snitch. She thought she should feel disappointed, but all she really felt was thankful that she could get in out of the snow now.
Madam Pomfrey had hot Pepperup Potion for all of the Quidditch players, and the few spectators who had stayed out in the blizzard, waiting in the entry hall of the castle. The rest of the students were being held in the Great Hall, to give the players a chance to warm up before being subjected to the congratulations, or consolations of their peers. After the steam had stopped coming out his ears, Harry went to congratulate the Hufflepuff team captain for a game well played.
The two teams went their separate ways after exchanging handshakes. The Hufflepuffs down the stairs toward their dorms, and the Gryffindors up the stairs toward their tower. Now that she was starting to feel warm again, Ginny started to feel sorry for losing the game. Gryffindor had been up forty points before Summerby caught the Snitch. She quickened her pace a bit to catch up with Harry. "Sorry I missed it," she said.
Harry smiled at her. "Hey, no big! I was happy to get out of the cold! We're still not in bad shape for winning the cup. Ravenclaw is the only undefeated team now. If we do well against them, we can still win on points."
"I didn't even see the Snitch!" said Ginny.
"Neither did I," said Harry. "Half the game, I couldn't even see the Quaffle! Conditions like that, it's luck more than skill that picks the winner. Lady Luck doesn't play favourites. Next game the luck could go your way."
Dawn moved through the stacks in the library with a list of books she wanted to get. They were all books that she had found before Christmas that had contained some sort of information about the Key. She wanted to have a second look at them, to see if they made more sense now that she had read the book Buffy had gotten from the Knights. She frowned at an empty slot on one of the shelves. That was the third time she had found that a book she wanted was missing. She went back to the library table at which Hermione was sitting, nearly hidden behind stacks of books of her own. Dawn placed her list on the open page of the book Hermione was reading at the moment, startling her. "You don't have any of these books do you?"
Hermione scanned the list. "I've got Ancient Mystical Artefacts here." She pulled a book out of the middle of one of her piles and gave it to Dawn along with her list. "I don't have the others."
Dawn crossed that book off her list. "You don't think Ron or Harry would have checked them out do you?" Dawn saw the expression on Hermione's face. "Okay. Silly idea. Forget I said it, and I'm pretty sure Ginny doesn't have them."
"Why don't you ask Madam Pince?" asked Hermione.
"I guess…" Dawn took her list and went looking for the Librarian. Normally she tried to avoid the old witch. (And this old witch was a witch in the old derogatory Muggle sense.) Madam Pince disliked students almost as much as Professor Snape did. She considered it her duty to protect the library's books from the students, not to help the students find information in the books.
Madam Pince was in her usual position: guarding the door to make sure that none of her precious books wandered out of the library under the arm of any student without a proper record being made of who had taken it. "Excuse me, Madam Pince? Could you help me?"
Madam Pince frowned at Dawn. "What do you want?"
Dawn handed over her list. "Um…I'm looking for these books, and they aren't in the stacks. I was wondering if you could tell me if someone has checked them out?"
Madam Pince glanced at the list, and then held it back out to Dawn. "Draco Malfoy."
"What?" asked Dawn.
"Draco Malfoy checked those books out yesterday," said Madam Pince. "They are due back in thirteen days."
Dawn was feeling a little stunned. It took her a moment to notice the piece of parchment Madam Pince was holding out toward her. "Oh, um, thank you." She took her list of books and started back toward the table at which Hermione was working. Why would Draco Malfoy be reading books about the Key?
Hermione looked up as Dawn sat down beside her. "Why are you looking for those books anyway? Haven't you read them already?"
"I just wanted to give them a second look." Dawn tried not to sound guilty. She hadn't told Hermione or the others about the book she had gotten from Buffy. "See if they make more sense on another read through."
"Hmm." Hermione seemed to believe her. She went back to reading her book while Dawn picked up Ancient Mystical Artefacts and flipped to the section that discussed the Key.
Harry and Ron came down the steps into the entry hall together. They saw a gaggle of girls all crowded around the notice board, giggling and talking excitedly with each other. "What do you think that's about?" asked Harry.
"I don't know mate, but I doubt if it's good news." Ron saw Ginny break away from the group, and start toward the entrance to the Great Hall. "Oi! Ginn! What's up?" He pointed his thumb toward the notice board when she turned to look at him.
"Valentine's Day is a week from Saturday," said Ginny. "We're having a dance."
Ron grinned at Harry. "See…I told you it couldn't be good news."
"It's going to be a formal," said Ginny. "Dress robes are required."
"Better and better," said Ron.
"At least you've got a decent set of robes now," said Harry. "Finally going to get the chance to wear 'em."
"Hey…I wonder if anyone's going to be sending you any singing Valentines this year?" asked Ron. He saw both Harry and Ginny blush. No one had ever gotten her to admit it, but everyone suspected that she'd been the one to send the singing Valentine to Harry in his second year.
"No one had better be sending Harry Valentines…singing or otherwise," said Dawn from behind them. "Other than me, that is."
Harry spun around and saw Dawn smiling at him. "So…er…dance…Valentine's Day…You wanna go?"
"How could I refuse such a debonaire invitation?" asked Dawn.
Harry looked back at Ron. "She's making fun of me, isn't she?"
"Just go with it," said Ron. "It's not the sort of thing you can win." He smiled at Hermione. "So, are we going to the dance?"
She smiled back. "We're going to the dance."
Dawn stood in front of her wardrobe, looking at its contents in dismay. "I have nothing to wear!"
Hermione found that hard to believe. Dawn had more clothes than anyone she knew. She was worse than Lavender in that department. Hermione generally didn't worry much about what she wore. Her school robes were fine for her. She wore them pretty much all the time, but Dawn wore a different outfit every day, even if she did cover it with her robes during classes. Sometimes she wore more than one outfit a day. "What do you mean you have nothing to wear?"
"The Valentine's Dance!" said Dawn. "I don't have any dress robes!"
"Oh!" said Hermione. "All the regular students are told to get them in their fourth year. I guess with you starting late, they forgot to tell you."
"I guess there's no help for it," said Dawn. "I'll have to go shopping."
"You make it sound like such a hardship."
"Well, yeah! I mean I'm going to have to do it on Saturday, right before the dance, and what if I can't find anything I like in so little time? I might end up having to wear something horrid!"
"I'm afraid that time isn't going to be your biggest constraint," said Hermione. "The only place in Hogsmeade where you can buy dress robes is Gladrags."
"We should see if we can find you new robes too, while we're there," said Dawn.
"What's wrong with the ones I've got?"
"You're going shopping for robes?" asked Harry.
"Yeah," said Dawn. "Wanna come with us?"
Harry exchanged a look with Ron, and saw the desperate shake of his head. "Er…there's a new model of the Firebolt coming out…I want to check it out…how about we do that while you go shopping for your robes…that way you can surprise me tonight." Harry smiled weakly, hoping that that last line would get him off the hook. "Er…we can meet later at Madam Puddifoot's for tea?"
Dawn smiled. She really hadn't expected Harry to want to come with her. She'd seen Xander's panicked expression enough times when Buffy or Willow had suggested he come shopping with them. She did admire his dodge though. "It's okay. I won't make you watch me turn into the dreaded shopping demon. We'll meet you at about three?"
"Sounds like a plan," said Harry.
The three couples set out for Hogsmeade right after lunch. They walked together until they came to Gladrags Wizardwear, at which point they stopped, and Dawn gave Harry a goodbye kiss. "See you in a couple of hours."
Harry, Ron and Dean headed off toward the Quidditch shop. Ginny watched them go a little wistfully: she wanted to see the new Firebolt too, but she had promised to help Dawn and Hermione with their robe selection. She was much more familiar with wizard fashions than either of them. She regretted that she couldn't afford new robes of her own.
They came out of Gladrags a couple of hours later, with Dawn and Hermione carrying bags with their new robes inside them. They moved down street toward Madam Puddifoot's.
A man wearing dark robes, with a hood pulled up that made his face hard to see was leaning against the wall. Dawn eyed him a little suspiciously as they passed him. He might have just been wearing the hood for protection from the cold while he waited there for someone, but he seemed to turn his head away, to keep his face hidden as she looked at him. She had thought that all the time she'd spent away from Sunnydale would lower her paranoia levels about strangers who acted furtively, but five months of keeping an eye out for ambushes from Draco Malfoy and his friends had had the opposite effect. She continued down the street, but kept sneaking looks at him, while she pretended to be turning her head to speak with Ginny and Hermione. A few seconds after they passed he stopped leaning against the wall, and followed them down the street.
Hermione noticed that something was bothering Dawn. "What is it?"
"Guy in dark robes following us," said Ginny.
"You noticed him too, eh?" said Dawn.
"Oh, yeah."
Dawn glanced around. The street was nearly empty. The only other people near them were a couple more men in dark, hooded robes that were approaching from the opposite direction. If everyone kept moving at the same rate, they'd pass them at the entrance to a narrow alleyway.
"I think they mean to attack us when we get to the alley," said Dawn. "Three of them, three of us. Think they know what they're up against?"
"Might be more in the alley," said Hermione. She didn't like what Dawn seemed to be thinking. "We could just avoid them all, by crossing the street."
"But then we wouldn't know what they were after," said Dawn.
"And I don't think there's anyone in the alley," said Ginny. She saw Hermione's raised eyebrows. "I can feel magic now. I can feel it from you and Dawn, and from the people around us. I don't feel anything in the alley."
"We've got about ten more seconds to make up our minds," said Dawn quietly. The man behind them was starting to speed up, to catch up with them when they reached the alley.
"Let's do it," said Ginny.
Dawn could see that Hermione still wasn't thrilled with the idea, but she nodded her assent.
"Okay, Hermione, you're our best magic user," said Dawn. "Leave the physical stuff to Ginny and me." The man behind was getting close enough to overhear her. "And wasn't that red silk robe to die for!"
They had reached the entrance to the alley. Dawn saw that the two men in front of her seemed to be targeting Hermione and Ginny. She turned her head and saw the man behind them break into a run out of the corner of her eye. He reached out toward her.
Dawn caught his arm, and twisted; forcing him to spin with her if he didn't want it broken. He was taken completely by surprise as she propelled him into the alley that he had been planning to drag her into. She was mostly paying attention to her assailant, but she heard what sounded like a breaking bone, and a cry of pain from one of the other men, and a hurried "Expeliarmus!" followed by a "Stupefy!" from Hermione.
Dawn slammed her guy face first against the wall, and held him there in an arm bar. She took a quick look around. Ginny had hers down on the ground, and his leg was bent at an unnatural angle that told Dawn what she had heard breaking. Hermione was floating an unconscious man into the alley, with a wand in each hand.
"Hermione, knock out these guys too!" said Dawn.
Hermione didn't waste any time. She first bent down and placed her wand against the head of the man that Ginny was holding, and hit him with a light Stupefy at point blank range. Then she did the same to the one Dawn was holding. Dawn let his unconscious body fall to the ground.
"Now what do we do?" asked Ginny.
"Get Dumbledore," said Hermione.
"Tie them up, take their wands, and then get Dumbledore," said Dawn.
"Right." Hermione pointed her wand at the man she'd knocked out. There was a loud bang and ropes snaked from her wand and wound tightly around him. She repeated the spell on both of the other unconscious bodies.
Dawn started to search the robes of her guy for his wand. "Well, that's a useful spell. Where'd you learn it?"
"I saw Snape use it on Professor Lupin one time," said Hermione. "Seemed like it would be a good one to learn." She watched Dawn feel inside one of the man's pockets. "Careful! We don't know how they planned to get out of here after they did…whatever they were planning to do. You wouldn't want to grab a portkey by mistake."
Dawn pulled her hand out quickly. "Right." She switched over to patting down the outsides of his robes, until she felt something that felt like a wand. She pointed at the pocket with her own wand. "Accio wand!" There was a ripping of fabric, and the wand flew up into the air. Dawn caught it. She saw that Ginny had retrieved the wand from her guy too. "Okay, how do we get Dumbledore?"
"Easy," said Hermione. She took a small notebook out of a robe pocket, and her quill. She wrote a quick note in it, ripped the page from the book, and folded it into a paper airplane. She pointed her wand at it. "Advolatus Dumbledore!" The paper airplane took off, arching up out of the alley, and disappearing in the direction of the castle.
"Now what do we do?" asked Ginny.
"Um, the guys are still expecting us for tea," said Dawn.
Hermione pointed to the bodies on the ground. "What? Just leave them here?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of you sending them one of your paper airplanes too," said Dawn.
"Oh. Right." Hermione started to write a second note.
