Ch 34:- Just Desserts

'Yes, Ginny was asking where you were.' said Hermione, whilst Harry stood in the common room fuming. 'Professor McGonagall wouldn't let her hang on, though. She dragged her off to her study before any of us could even say goodbye!'

Harry had an empty feeling in his insides; a part of him had really wanted to see Ginny before she went. He was left thinking it was a shame that part of him hadn't been more vociferous when the angry and jealous parts of him had been having their say.

'McGonagall was in a foul mood.' added Ron

'Hardly surprising, is it? Dumbledore must have been furious, too.' Hermione turned to Harry again. 'Did you see the Headmaster, Harry? Did he set the punishment?'

'A month! Mum's going to kill me!' whimpered Ron, quietly.

Harry nodded. 'Yeah, I saw him. - He was more angry with me though, and Malfoy.'

'You?'

'But he gave her a month!' wailed Ron, oblivious to everything else.

Harry beckoned the two of them to move closer. There were others in the common room and the way they always seemed to be staring at anything else but the three friends, when Harry looked up, suggested that a lot of ears were straining to here what was being said. It hadn't helped that Ron and Neville had been telling everyone about the attack on the Modern Marauders and Harry and McGonagall finding Ginny in the dungeons.

Hermione pulled out her wand and muttered 'Privacio', immediately cutting off the sound of the murmured conversations from the rest of the room. A number of faces turned towards them, looking thoroughly disappointed.

'Go on, Harry.' she said, smugly. 'Why was he more angry with you?'

'A month!' muttered Ron.

'A month from now, Ron, and it keeps running during the holidays, so stop worrying.' grumbled Harry.'

Both Ron and Hermione looked sharply at him.

'That's cheating - isn't it?' queried Ron.

Hermione had a calculating look on her face. 'Maybe, but are you going to complain?' she asked, sarcastically.

'Who, me?' countered Ron, smiling slightly for the first time since Harry had returned. 'I reckon you're right Harry, Dumbledore's letting Ginny off lightly.'

'So what's he done about Malfoy and why was he cross with you?' persisted Hermione.

Harry sighed, 'I don't know about Malfoy, - but he was angry with me because amongst other things, I said I was leaving Hogwarts.'

'What?'

'Harry, you can't! I mean you just can't leave!' urged Hermione.

Harry smiled 'I'm not, it was just that I misunderstood; - I - I thought, for while, that he'd expelled Ginny.'

'You'd have left because of her?' asked Hermione. She was looking very strangely at Harry.

'Because of the injustice of it!' he retorted quickly. 'You know? - I'm kind of getting tired of the Slytherins always getting away with it and the Gryffindors getting the punishments.'

Hermione nodded, thoughtfully. 'And have the Slytherins got away with it?'

Harry sighed. 'I dunno. He was going to interview them after I left. He was going to see Snape too.'

'I bet Snape's pleased about Ginny.' muttered Ron.

Harry curled his lip. 'Yeah, probably, though he wasn't too pleased with Malfoy attacking Alison, that's for sure, and I don't think he was too pleased with me for immobilising him and the Slytherins either.'

Harry had been about to mention Malfoy threatening Snape, but suddenly decided that that maybe Dumbledore wouldn't want everyone to know about that. As it was, only the other four Slytherins, Ginny, him and McGonagall knew. The Slytherins wouldn't be talking and Ginny wasn't around to spread the word. His insides ached again at the thought of Ginny at home, facing the wrath of her parents. Perversely one of the more sensible parts of his brain now chipped in with the thought that maybe it was a good thing Ginny was out of sight, but the ache persisted.

'You did what? ' Hermione was saying.

'Way to go, Harry!' added Ron.

'No, Ron, it's not the Way to Go!' snarled Hermione. 'Snape's dangerous and Harry shouldn't antagonise him.'

'Whoa, you two. Snape was going to hex me and Malfoy was about to grab Ginny and I just had to stop them both quickly. Dumbledore mentioned it, but I don't think he was too worried.'

'Snape's still dangerous though, Harry.' said Hermione. He could hear the concern in her voice.

'Yeah, but it's done, and I'll just have to keep my eyes open. - Er - you don't want a job as my food taster do you?'

'Dream on, Harry.' scoffed Hermione, 'Dream on!'

The bell began to ring for dinner. They eased themselves off the chairs and started for the porthole.

'Er - how about you, Ron?' muttered Harry, trying to appear serious.

'What's the pay like?'

'Double helpings at all meals, and the funeral arrangements of your choice.'

'Thanks but no thanks, mate,' chuckled Ron.

Harry shrugged. 'Yeah, I know, if the food didn't kill you, your mum would.'

- o -

The empty place beside Harry was another depressing reminder of the missing Ginny. More interesting was the missing Slytherins, the missing third and fifth year Gryffindors, and the presence of Dumbledore at the top table.

Snape was staring fixedly ahead when Harry first saw him but the moment Harry's eyes rested on Snape's pinched and greasy features, Snape's head snapped round and his eyes cut into Harry like an incendio spell into butter. The first syllable of a spell of some kind chimed in Harry's mind, but as he narrowed his eyes and prepared to retaliate, great hall or no, Snape suddenly looked away towards the Slytherins and the spell died uncast.

By the look on his face, Snape didn't seem much happier with the Slytherins; their house points bulb had no green gems in it at all, since about half an hour ago, and Harry was privately of the opinion that what appeared to be a scrap of parchment in the lower bulb was actually an IOU.

Harry glanced down the Gryffindor table once more, as if by looking again he could get the missing students back by sheer willpower alone. He did notice little Stephanie Linney, however. She had taken the attack on her sister hard and she was looking back at him with a truly solemn face. Harry didn't know any way of cheering her up.

His cogitation on the subject of Stephanie was disturbed by a loud clang from a struck goblet that indicated that the Headmaster wished to address the School.

Dumbledore rose to his feet and looked round. He coughed quietly and a sudden hush descended, possibly helped by a surreptitious silencing charm, as Harry found himself unable to make any sound at all.

'I have two items of news to impart this evening,' began Dumbledore, 'However I wish first to concentrate on the lamentable inter-house relations that have developed during the last few months at this school.'

He looked round at the silent students, most of whom were watching him carefully. Harry noticed the Slytherins were watching the headmaster more fearfully than carefully.

'This is, of course, a school for magically gifted children' continued Dumbledore, 'and I well understand that inter-house rivalry is encouraged and that it can occasionally get out of hand - leading to possibly amusing, possibly distressing, but rarely dangerous, effects on some of the unluckier students.'

Faces were now looking around at friends and enemies and one or two smiles were to be seen as the ability to talk, or at least whisper, returned.

Dumbledore hesitated and swept his gaze over the whole great hall once more. 'That is as maybe, and I am usually content to keep a light hand on the reins of power but - when sixteen members of one house, including sixth and seventh years, conspire to attack four third and fifth years from another house - and even more importantly, leave them to freeze, intentionally or not, I am compelled to act in the most forceful manner possible!'

'Wow!' muttered Ron, 'He's expelled them!'

'Shhhh!' urged Hermione, concentrating on Dumbledore's every word.

The Headmaster hesitated once more as a susurration of whispers swept the hall and faded away.

'I understand that a significant part of the antipathy engendered by Slytherin house was promulgated by one person. That does not excuse the rest of the house from blame, and it does not excuse the members of the other three houses for their retaliation.' The Headmaster paused again.

'He must have done!' muttered Ron.

'Ron!' hissed Hermione.

Dumbledore was speaking again.

'However, as a first step towards reconciling the four houses of this school,' he pronounced, 'it is with great regret that I have found myself forced to expel Draco Malfoy from Hogwarts.'

The whispering grew to a crescendo once more. Isolated words such as, - 'Yesss!' 'Stupendous!' and 'Only Malfoy?' were scattered through the white noise.

Harry just sat staring at Dumbledore. He'd actually done it! Then Harry saw the expression on Snape's face. The Potions master was trying not to show any emotion whatsoever, beyond a certain disdain, but he was having trouble; He couldn't even blame Harry for Malfoy's exit and he looked like he'd swallowed a wasp.

Harry didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but Ron certainly did.

'Merlin's bits! Stupendous! Yeeehah!' yelled Ron. At least he was trying to yell, but only a whisper was escaping his lips. Hermione watched him for a second or so then shook her head in disgust and smiled wryly at Harry. 'Idiot!' she mouthed, flicking her eyes towards her boyfriend.

'But you love him anyway,' Harry mouthed back. Hermione nodded ruefully.

Dumbledore waited until the commotion died away.

'In addition,' he continued 'I have found it necessary to suspend three other members of Slytherin house for their part in the attack, and one member of Gryffindor for making a foolish but brave attempt at extracting revenge.' Another hesitation, 'You will also have noticed that the house points situation has changed quite drastically - and Mr. Filch will have plenty of helping hands for his chores in the next week - and well into next term.'

Harry looked across at the Slytherin table. Most of them were glowering at the Headmaster, or at the rest of the School, but a few were concentrating their scowls on the likes of Baddock and the other members of Malfoy's gang. Bryant and Pritchard were amongst those few. The overwhelming majority of the rest of the school were frequently glancing at the Slytherins, or just simply staring at them.

All however returned their gazes to the Headmaster on hearing his next words.

'I sincerely hope that these punishments will have a sufficiently salutary effect on you all. There is no place in this school for vendettas between houses, or between students, particularly in the present situation! Any further transgressions will be dealt with severely - including the temporary closure and dispersal of any house that fails to fully apply itself to the smooth running of this school!'

This time a single gasp could be heard, together with a few muttered oaths, as the implications sank in. This time the Slytherins looked quite panic stricken, as did Professor Snape! He was obviously trying to hide it, but Harry could tell the headmaster hadn't given Snape prior warning of that little threat.

Ron was beside himself with excitement and Hermione was trying to calm him down. Harry sat still, turning over in his mind the possibilities suggested by the idea of dispersing the Slytherins through the rest of the school. He didn't hear Hermione for several seconds.

'Did the Headmaster tell you any of this, Harry?' She sounded as if she was accusing him of holding out on her.

'No!' he whispered vehemently. 'Nothing at all.'

'So why are you looking so guilty?'

'Guilty? I'm not looking guilty! - I'm trying to work out how Dumbledore could disperse Slytherin into the other houses.'

Hermione left Ron alone to calm down with the other members of the house, who were obviously delighted with the suggestion that their arch enemies might be forced to live in civilised houses. They obviously hadn't noticed the catch, but Hermione had.

'There's just not enough beds, Harry.' she said finally. 'And the common rooms are full up sometimes already.'

'Yeah. So how would he make good the threat? Because it's not much good as a threat if he can't enforce it.'

Hermione was about to say something, but the Headmaster was speaking again, now the hall had calmed somewhat.

'My second announcement involves the Ministry of Magic.' The students turned once more to look at their Headmaster.

'I am pleased to report that the Minister is now well enough to fully take up his duties once more. He will obviously be advised by a number of eminent wizards – and witches. I myself will be involved in some small way and so will Madam Bones, who's niece is sitting over there on the Hufflepuff table.'

'I'll bet Susan just loves that little snippet of information becoming general knowledge.' murmured Harry.

'Yes,' replied Hermione, 'She might as well have a big arrow pointing to her, saying Ministry Sneak!'

'I will be continuing to provide a certain amount of help to the Minister,' said Dumbledore, 'however I will be returning to this school after the Christmas Holiday.'

'About time.' muttered Ron.

'Yeah, we've really been missing McGonagall since she's been busy as deputy head – not!' sniggered Parvati, from just down the table.

Dean gave her a sideways look. 'You reckon?' he asked sceptically.

'Well, with her back, we won't find it so easy to – erm – ' She faltered. Dean gave her another look, this time of panic, but no one seemed in the least bit surprised, so he just blushed instead.

Dumbledore was still speaking.

'Lastly,' he finished, 'There will be an addition to the teaching staff next year. The person will be assisting Professor Moody with the teaching of Defence against the Dark Arts. I am not yet prepared to identify the person concerned however she is known to one or two of you. Now, please get started on your meal.'

Dumbledore waved his hands, and suddenly the hall rang with the students' voices at full volume.

Several people looked at Harry, as the serving dishes filled with food and the pumpkin juice jugs gurgled.

'Are you giving up then?' asked Neville.

Harry shook his head.

'They'll be helping me too.'

'You heard all about this then, Harry?' asked Ron.

'Yeah.' He muttered.

'You didn't tell us!'

'Moody didn't want me telling anyone else.' He kept his head down.

'Except Ginny?' suggested Hermione.

Harry shot a glance at her.

'She knew something. She wouldn't tell me though.' she added.

'Thanks a bunch, Harry.' grumbled Ron.

'Sorry, mate,' Harry said, with a sigh.

- o -

After the meal, Harry returned to the hospital wing with Stephanie Linney, and escorted her back to Gryffindor when she had seen her sister. The four Marauders were improving, although Colin remained stubbornly green and reptilian. Madam Pomfrey was adamant that it was just a matter of time. The other three had opted to remain with Colin when given the option of returning to their dormitories that evening. Harry was quietly impressed with their esprit de corps, and he said as much to Hermione when he returned.

Back in the common Room, Hermione had abandoned her homework and was sitting staring into space, occasionally noting down numbers on a piece of parchment. Ron had attempted to talk to her, unsuccessfully, and had given up to play wizard chess with Seamus.

Hermione ignored Harry for several minutes, before exclaiming "Of course!" to herself in a disgusted voice.

'Of course, what?' queried Harry, wondering what Hermione was up to.

'Of course I'm an idiot, Harry.' retorted Hermione with more than a touch of disgust in her voice.

'Hardly, Herms.' Harry chuckled wryly. 'So what's brought on the self loathing?'

Hermione flourished the parchment in Harry's face, rendering it completely illegible.

'Here look at this, it's house numbers. There's an obvious way round the numbers, Harry!'

'Go on then, astound me,' he urged.

'It's so simple; you put a quarter of the Slytherins in each of the other houses and put the displace students in Slytherin house, with the final quarter of the Slytherins.'

Harry considered this.

'I hope to Merlin I'm not included in that little experiment!' he muttered at last, 'That is a truly frightening idea, Hermione.'

'Yeah!' breathed Ron, who had caught Hermione's explanation whilst Seamus was resetting the board. 'You don't fancy living in Slytherin's dorms then?'

'They say the seventh year dorm has a rack along one wall for punishing stroppy first years.' added Seamus.

Hermione scoffed at this last idea. 'That's just Malfoy's propaganda, Seamus, but I'll bet it's a real dump.'

'Spiders!' whispered Harry.

'I'm not going in there ever again!' whimpered Ron

'Oh for Merlin's sake Ron.' exploded Hermione.

'So who do you reckon should stay from Slytherin and who should go into the dungeons from the other houses?' asked Seamus, once Hermione had calmed down.

'Crabbe.'

'Goyle.'

'Zacharias Smith.'

'Michael Corner'

'Cho Chang'. added Hermione.

Harry laughed. 'Parvati?' he whispered.

'That means Dean as well, then' muttered Ron.

'Nah, leave him in Gryffindor and bring old Parkinson over for him.'

That was Seamus.

'She'd blow him out in bubbles.'

That was Ron, with a snigger.

'Ron!' exclaimed Hermione. 'Shhh!'

'Ha! He's not around, anyway. Send them both over there, Parvati and Parkinson can fight over him.'

'Sounds like the new lot in Slytherin could be worse than the original students!' chuckled Harry.

'So?'

- o -

Just before they went to bed, Hermione brought up another disturbing thought.

'Who would be housemaster? Surely Snape wouldn't still be in charge?'

Harry thought for a second.

'How about Moody?'

'What does he know about being a housemaster?'

'Nothing, but he hates Snape, and Slytherin.

'Merlin save the Slytherins who stay on, then.'

'Nah. – Let 'em suffer.'

- o -

The last week of term ran down like a badly maintained clock. One day might seem to crawl, whilst the next flew, as teachers and students alike kept realising that this essay was imminent or that bit of curriculum needed to be taught before the holidays. Harry was also working flat out on his own work, essays for McGonagall, Moody and Flitwick as well as an end of term resume of his Care of Magical Creatures lessons for Hagrid. In addition, he had to prepare end of term reports on his DADA students for Moody.

The weather didn't help, as the crisp snow rapidly turned to slush under the onslaught of two solid days of rain and the Castle steamed gently from the combination of damp walls and damp students. The Daily Prophet reported flooding in the muggle towns down the valley, whilst the snow melt and rain filled the lake with cold muddy water and threatened to wash away the old dam at the downstream end, beside the station.

The four Gryffindors returned to their Tower early on in the week, though Colin was slightly later than the rest. Fortunately the girls were no longer in the hospital wing when Colin awoke suddenly on Tuesday morning to find himself lying stark naked on the crushed and soggy remains of a lily pad, with a bowl of dead flies at his elbow. Fortunately his memory wasn't affected, so he knew why he was there, but that did little to lessen the embarrassment he felt when Madam Pomfrey had arrived at the sound of his shout and promptly collapsed with laughter. Colin's ego was severely bruised; fortunately nothing else was.

For Harry however, the return of the four Gryffindors made little impression on his sadness as he regarded the empty space beside him at mealtimes and the empty chair beside their small table in the common room. The other Gryffindors seemed unwilling to trespass on what they appeared to see as Ginny's place, maybe out of respect for her sacrifice in taking on the whole of Slytherin.

Harry might have preferred it to be otherwise, however. He might have had grave misgivings about Ginny joining the group, but there was no doubt he missed her, now she was gone. Just to rub salt into his wounds, there was no guarantee he would even see her before the start of next term.

Harry wondered what Mrs. Weasley had said. Ron hadn't received a howler, so maybe Molly wasn't as wound up as Ron had expected. That was why Harry had been so surprised when Hermes had landed in front of him at Wednesday's breakfast and deposited a letter beside his plate then hooted mournfully and looked round at the abundant food.

Harry had given Hermes a slice of bacon, which the owl was regarding with a look of deep suspicion, before Ron looked up and realised the bird was from The Burrow.

'Hey, that's Hermes. What's he doing here? Why hasn't he given me the letter?'

'Because Ron, the letter is for Harry!' said Hermione, patiently.

'For Harry? Who from?' queried Ron. His eyes lit up, 'Hey, is that Mum saying you're invited, Harry?'

Harry shook his head.

'Who then?' asked Ron impatiently.

Harry quickly folded the letter and put it in his pocket. 'Ginny.' he mumbled.

'Well read it out then! What's she got to say for herself?'

Hermione covered her face with one hand. 'For Merlin's sake, Ron, does the word privacy mean any more to you than empathy?'

Ron looked confused.

'Okay, it doesn't' sighed Hermione. 'I give up. Harry, you're on your own.'

She got up, and stormed off to the common room.'

'What did I say?' asked Ron. 'I mean, - Ginny's my sister!'

Harry just sighed and continued with his breakfast. The sooner he was in classroom fourteen, the sooner he could read the letter.

- o -

Dear Harry,

I'm not sure what to say, now I've started this. Mum only just let me use Hermes today because I begged to be able to find out how my little spies and their boyfriends are doing. (I didn't call them that though. Hehe)

Harry rolled his eyes at this description of Linney, MacDonald and the Creeveys

McG told me they would be okay, before she sent me back, and I've heard nothing in the paper about deaths at Hogwarts, so I guess she's right. If you could let me know for sure though, I'd be really grateful.

Harry immediately grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill, but then decided to read the rest of the letter first.

You can guess how mad Mum was when I gave her McGonagall's note. She absolutely roasted me! She just went on an on for ages. She was composing a howler to send to Ron when Dad finally came in from the garage.

Mum raged at him for a whole five minutes before he finally got a chance to read the note. I don't know what McG wrote, but he just smiled and ripped up the howler. Mum was almost as mad at him as she was at me, but she didn't write another one; and she stopped shouting at me too.

The last part of the note was written in a shakier hand.

Harry, I'm really, really sorry I let you all down. I just couldn't help myself. McG took one hundred points off me too, so please forgive me for ruining such a good run. Gryffindor was doing so well.

I'll have to get this sent, or you won't get it for breakfast.

Best Wishes,

Ginny.

There was a clear round mark on the corner of the note; the paper seemed to have got wet, or something.

'Best Wishes' he thought, not 'love'

Yeah - that figured.

Harry managed to get a reply written and sent that day.

Dear Ginny he wished he could say it for real.

Thanks for the letter.

The Modern Marauders are doing fine. (that's what I call them now). Even Colin is human again.

I'm really glad your Dad backed you up. Ron was dreading a howler.

I wonder what McG put in the note too.

Don't worry too much about the points. Slytherin doesn't have any at all, now.

By the way, Malfoy's been expelled, and the other three are suspended!

That's about it, really. Take care of yourself.

Best Wishes,

Harry.

Somehow, Harry felt his reply seemed to be lacking in something, but he didn't know quite what, so he put it in an envelope, found Hedwig, and gave her strict instructions about locating The Burrow. Hedwig gave him what could only be described as a look of scorn, before stepping to the edge of the Owlery portal and launching herself into space.

Hedwig returned that evening, messageless. Harry watched expectantly for Hermes the following morning, but the only owl that came near them was the news owl, which delivered Hermione's copy of the Daily Prophet. It looked as though Mrs Weasley hadn't actually forgiven Ginny, after all.