Chapter 25: All's Fair in Love and War

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"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind."
-John Fitzgerald Kennedy

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Harry and Ron walked back from the Great Hall after dinner, taking their time. Hermione had rushed out of the meal nearly
half an hour before, saying that she had somewhere to be. When they finally reached Gryffindor Tower, Harry and Ron found
that 'somewhere' was in the Heads' Common Room, huddled on the floor with a wizarding radio.

"Hermione, what-" Ron began, but he was immediately cut off by a loud "Shh!" from Hermione. She gave him a reproving glance.

"I'm listening to the debates!" she hissed, turning the radio up louder.

"The what?" Ron mouthed silently to Harry. Harry just shrugged. The radio cracked and the speaker's voice rang throughout
the room.

"-well, that's all for tonight, thanks to everyone for being here-" Hermione turned the radio off.

"Er, Hermione, what exactly were you listening to?" Harry asked curiously. 

"The debates between the candidates for Minister of Magic. The election is coming up soon, you know," she said.

"Oh, right!" Ron exclaimed. "It's just Fudge and that Barnett guy, right?"

"Actually, someone else decided to run this morning," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. "Look at this." She threw a copy
of that morning's Daily Prophet in front of them.

Lockhart announces candidacy for Minister, the headline read.

"What?!" Harry and Ron said at the same time.

"I thought he was still in St. Mungo's with his entire memory erased! What's he doing trying to run a country?" Ron asked, 
examining the story.

"Apparently he's better," Hermione said dryly. Harry picked up the newspaper and began to read it aloud.

Gilderoy Lockhart, international celebrity and author, Order of Merlin 3rd class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense
League, and Five-Time Winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award- 

"Yeah, yeah," Ron muttered. "Skip that part!"

-has announced his candidacy for the position of Minister of Magic. Though he had been in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical
Maladies and Injuries for an extended period after a small injury from a spell-

"Small injury?! He forgot who he was!" Ron roared angrily.

-Lockhart has stated that he has recovered completely and is entirely able to take charge of the country. "If I was 
Minister, the problems with He-who-must-not-be-named would be over by now," he said. "I have experience with this type of
thing. I've banished banshees, captured werewolves, done away with trolls... I believe in a strong defense against dark arts
policy. For more information, see my published works." The two other candidates, incumbent Cornelius Fudge and member of the
Wizengamot Bronson Barnett, can be heard debating their positions on issues tonight on the Wizarding Wireless Network at
7 p.m. Harry laid down the paper.

"This is horrible," he lamented. Ron nodded mutely. "Who's this Bronson Barnett?" Harry asked Hermione.

"I really like him," she said earnestly. Ron stiffened at this. "He's a bit young though, I'm not sure if he'll get elected.
But when your other choices are Fudge or Lockhart..."

"Yeah," Harry laughed mirthlessly. 

"Well, I should really get back to reading that chapter for Herbology," Hermione said with a sigh. The trio split up to do
their homework for the night, leaving the Heads' Common Room deserted.


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Harry had been reading for hours, and now the words were swimming in front of his eyes. He slammed the book shut, and got
several angry glares from the people sitting around him in the library. He stood up hastily, grabbing his things.

"Bloody Potions homework," he muttered, strolling out of the library doors. He shivered as he entered the hallway; the cold
January air had seeped into the drafty castle. He wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck and began the long walk back up
to Gryffindor Tower. He hoped Ron or Hermione was there. Actually, I hope they're both there, he thought tiredly. 
We have some things to discuss... The plans for defeating Voldemort were far from being worked out, and this was causing
Harry lots of stress, in addition to the situation with Rachel being given Veritaserum by her father. He hadn't told Hermione
or Ron anything about that yet. 

When Harry finally did get upstairs, he couldn't find either of them. Feeling exhausted, he climbed into bed and thanked his
lucky stars that tomorrow would finally be Friday. He smiled to himself as he pulled the blankets up to keep out the cold
draft. Not only was tomorrow Friday, it was also the first Hogsmeade visit since break was over. I can't wait, Harry
thought before drifting off to sleep.


*****************


Harry stared at his watch, willing the minute hand to move faster. Professor Flitwick had begun to teach the class about
Color Changing Charms that day, and Harry had mastered the skill in a mere twenty minutes, Hermione just after him, and Ron
was still having trouble. Harry glanced at his watch again. The last class of the day... On a Friday... 

"Why isn't this working?" Ron grumbled, pointing his wand at the flowerpot in front of him. "Adfectioris!" The pot
remained brown. Harry leaned back in his chair.

"This reminds me of that time he tried to turn Scabbers yellow on the train during first year," Harry joked. Ron gave him a 
death glare.

"Mr. Weasley, I see you're still having problems. Your homework this weekend will be to practice this spell until you have
it perfected," Professor Flitwick said as he walked by. "The rest of you can go a little early. Have a good weekend, everyone!"
The students rushed out of the class, talking and laughing. Ron stayed stubbornly silent all the way back up to the dormitories.

"I can't wait to go to Hogsmeade," Hermione said dreamily. "I haven't been there in so long." The portrait swung open and the
trio entered the main Common Room. "I'm going to change quickly and put my backpack away, and then we can go, okay?" Hermione
asked. 

"Sounds fine to me-" Harry began, but was interrupted by a loud noise. All of the students in the room looked around nervously.

"What was that?" Dean Thomas asked quietly.

"It's an attack!" Parvati shrieked. "Oh, I just know it is!"

"Stop it," Hermione insisted. "You're being silly, and you're making the younger students upset." She gestured towards a group
of second years who looked terrified. They heard the noise again, followed by a voice over what seemed to be an invisible
loudspeaker.

"All students are to return to their dormitories immediately. Any student who does not do so will be punished. The Hogsmeade
trip for this afternoon has been cancelled. I repeat, all students please report to your dormitories right now." Harry recognized 
the voice as McGonagall's. He looked up at Ron and Hermione.

"Now what," he muttered, glancing around the room. Most of the students looked quite worried.

"Upstairs," Ron said in a low voice, leading the way. Ron, Harry, and Hermione managed to escape from the panicked-looking crowd.

"What do you think is going on?" Harry asked. Hermione shook her head.

"I know just as much as you," Ron said, collapsing into an armchair. "Parvati's probably right, it could be an attack."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" Hermione said, sounding exasperated. "Even if it is an attack, that noise was from the sonorus spell,
not from Death Eaters or something! Honestly," she sighed. A loud knock on the door startled them all. Harry answered it; 
Professor McGonagall was standing just outside, her normally stern expression seeming to carry more stress than usual.

"Could you all come downstairs, please? I would like to make an announcement," she said tersely, leaving without waiting for
an answer. Ron, Harry, and Hermione followed her. 

"Attention Gryffindors!" McGonagall called over the noise of the crowd. The room was immediately silenced and all eyes were
focused on the Transfiguration professor. "As you should have heard, the Hogsmeade trip this afternoon has been called off
because of a security threat. All students are to remain in their rooms until further notice. The portrait door will be locked
to prevent anyone from leaving." A few students groaned; someone mumbled, "But it's Friday!"

McGonagall gave the group a stern glare. "This is for your own safety," she said. "Please do not attempt to leave, or you will
face immediate expulsion." McGonagall left, the portrait door clicking shut behind her. The trio walked back upstairs together.

"This is stupid," Ron said, kicking the door of his bedroom. "We're always locked up here with nothing to do because of some
reason or another." 

"You should be upset," Hermione scolded him. "What if it's an attack?" Ron glared at her.

"You were just telling me it wasn't an attack!" he said defensively. 

"I said the NOISE wasn't part of the attack, it's a side effect of the sonorus spell," Hermione explained calmly. 

"Now what are we going to do?" Harry asked, trying to intervene in the fight. Ron shrugged. 

"Beats me," he muttered. "Definitely not homework, on a Friday."

"I think I'm going to read," Hermione announced, standing up and heading towards her bedroom.

"Read?! C'mon, Hermione, take a break!" Ron exclaimed. "It's the bloody weekend!"

"I'm going to read for fun, thank you very much. Not Potions or anything like that," she sniffed. She walked back out of her
room clutching a book titled Selected Works from Shakespeare. 

"Hey, isn't he a muggle?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrows. "Shakespeare, I mean. I had to read that when I was in muggle
school."

"Oh, no, of course not. Well, all the muggles think he is, but really he was a brilliant wizard." With that, she stuck her
nose into the book and began to read.

"Hey Harry, wanna play a game of chess?" Ron asked hopefully. Harry shrugged.

"Sure, why not."


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Two hours later, after several games of wizarding chess, Ron and Harry sat in the Heads' Common Room with looks of extreme
boredom on their faces. Hermione was still reading her book. Harry had just finished writing a note to Rachel about how sorry
he was that they couldn't go out for a butterbeer in Hogsmeade like they were supposed to have done.

"Now what," Ron asked, swinging his feet off the edge of the sofa. Hermione closed her book with a sigh.

"I'm even getting bored," she said softly. 

"We could go to Hogsmeade if we really wanted to," Harry commented, a glint of mischief in his eye.

"Absolutely not!" Hermoine stated firmly. "We are NOT going, it's clearly dangerous, McGonagall said-"

"Fine, fine," Ron answered, clearly annoyed. "What do you think we should do then, Hermione?"

"Maybe we should discuss our plan," she said, as if it was the most logical thing in the world. Harry sighed.

"I was thinking about that yesterday," he said. "I don't know what we're going to do..."

"Plan for what?" Ron asked, looking up from playing with the chess pieces.

"The plan for defeating Voldemort," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, Ron, sometimes I wonder about you..."

"Anyway," Harry said quickly, trying to intervene again. "I found out some, er, interesting information a few days ago. You
remember how Rachel fainted the day we came back?" Ron and Hermione were listening intently now; they both nodded. "Well,
after I visited her I talked with Dumbledore and we went down to Snape's office and he was doing this test on her blood. I
guess she had a lot of Veritaserum in her system... They think it was her father trying to get information out of her..."
Harry looked downcast, but cleared his throat. "Anyways, I just thought you guys should know. So you can try to keep me from
telling her any important information." He gave a half smile. 

"Harry, that's horrible," Hermione said softly. "I'm so sorry... she doesn't know about it?"

"No," he replied firmly, shaking his head. "And she can't find out about it either. They don't know what would happen to her
if her father found out."

Hermione let out a small gasp. "Harry, I have an idea... Well, you really might not like it, but I think it would work just
brilliantly..." He nodded.

"Go on," he said slowly.

"Well... when we DO plan out exactly what we're going to do, we are going to need some way to lure in Voldemort. What if you
just told Rachel about the whole thing, and made it seem like we didn't want him there? Then, the next time she's home, she
would leak the information to her father-"

"Hermione," Ron exclaimed, looking sick. "We can't just USE her like that, without her even knowing..."

"We have to!" she insisted. "There's no other way. What do you think, Harry?" Harry felt his stomach sink. It sounded like a
logical plan, all right... but it would be like lying to his girlfriend. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"I'll think about it."


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The students were allowed out of their dormitories the next day. Dumbledore had announced at breakfast that there had been
rumors of an attack on Hogsmeade, but that no such thing had actually happened. Dean and Ginny were arguing over whether the
trip really should have been cancelled, but Harry's mind was on Rachel. Could he do that to her? Use her known weaknesses to
try to create Voldemort's downfall? All's fair in love and war. The phrase rang through his mind again and again. This
was about love AND war, intertwined in a way he didn't even want to think about. He pushed his eggs around listlessly with his
fork, his eyes clouded over with concern. Finally, he made his decision. I'll do it, he told himself.


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Again - I know I'm getting terrible about time in between updates. School is stressful and hectic and super busy! I have finals
next week, which probably means I'll still update, because all that time with nothing to do but study will be boring. Hope
you're all enjoying the story!!

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