Chapter 8

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Desdemona followed Albus out onto the grounds. She clutched the letter in her hands, though he found herself unable to stop reading it. Her eyes scanned the page for some kind of error that would prove the letter to be false. She stared at the signature, maybe it was fake. Yes, yes that was it. The letter was fake, and this was just a cruel joke. Then again, it had been personally delivered by the minister of magic so it had to be real, didn't it?

"Is there anyone I can contact for you?" Dumbledore asked, stopping to sit on a bench.

Desdemona reread the letter. Grandmother dead, grandfather dead. Her step-siblings, dead! Their families, dead! Killed. Murdered. Slaughtered! She had… no one. No one would take her in! Her eyes watered and grew wide as she realized that there was no one to call.

"N-n-n-n-no…" she stuttered.

Albus watched empathetically. Desdemona looked defeated, as if she was moments away from tuning into snowflakes of frozen tears and blowing away. Dumbledore's base reason for fighting Voldemort was because Tom was a mistake he'd made. Though the reason he kept fighting was to get vengeance for the victims like Desdemona, who had no crime yet paid the ultimate price.

"It's all my fault," Desdemona whispered, tears streaming down her eyes as she collapsed into the bench and hugged her backpack tightly.

"No, Voldemort kills because he is evil," said Dumbledore, shaking his head. "He kills anyone he thinks is below him or that makes him mad. He kills because long ago he chose the Dark Side."

"But why?" whimpered Desdemona. "Why would he do this?" she stared up at Dumbledore with wide, tear filled eyes that begged for an explanation.

"I suppose we cannot expect much else of one so full of hatred," sighed Dumbledore, his face weakening and seeming older. "He could be a worthy fighter, a legend. Yet he chose a different path and became the vile snake that brought about this horrible tragedy."

"I should have been there!" Desdemona cried, turning away from him suddenly and fiercely. "I could have been with them… Oh my Gosh! I could have been with them!"

"It's not your fault!" said Albus, grasping her shoulders and turning her back towards him. "You did nothing wrong!"

"But what do I do now?" Desdemona shuddered, her voice breaking with the sound of the deepest kind of regret. "They're gone. I don't understand it! Why them? And… And what do I do? I don't have any money and…"

"Don't worry, it'll be alright," claimed Dumbledore, petting her hair.

Desdemona only whimpered in response and her hands clasped her backpack, the top slipping down to reveal her sketchbook. Dumbledore smiled gently.

"Minerva tells me you're quite the artist," he spoke softly. Knowing from experience that the best thing to do was get her mind focused on something good. He knew she probably felt alone, scared, angry, guilty and confused. "I'm sure we can set up a scholarship for you if you'll help out with the art around the school, repair some of the paintings and such."

Desdemona looked up at him; her eyes said, 'it won't bring them back.' He nodded that he understood that and let a silence filter around them before speaking again.

"It's not your fault, Desdemona. It is not your fault. Voldemort is an evil man with a twisted soul not worthy of this earth. But your grandparents must have been proud of you. You have exceptional talent. Might I see your book? Minerva has been raving about it."

Desdemona stared at the book. "Proud of what?" she asked. "Drawings can't save people."

"You're going to tell?" Ron asked for the hundredth time. "We'll get in trouble!"

"It doesn't matter," snapped Harry. "We can tell someone in the order that we found a book on it or something. The point is that he's killed someone, probably using the knowledge he's gained from the teachers as why else would he be gathering it. And it's time we told someone what we know."

"Let's tell Eric," prompted Sara.

"What's the order?" asked Mike.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron (sounds like a law office, no? Call Harry, Hermione, and Ron, attorney at law.) stared at them for a while.

"Tell," Chase commanded, his shocking blue eyes piercing though them.

'Err," Hermione side-glanced Harry, who shrugged and said,

"An illegal defense group against Voldemort, run by Albus Dumbledore and operated in secret in Sirius Black's old manor."

"Wow, I woulda lied or something," grinned Mike, nodding his head and laughing.

"Me too," nodded Sara, turning to look at Mike.

"Okay, who's in it?" Chase asked, not easing up on his stare.

"Why are you reporting it?" Ron asked, glaring at him.

"…Nah," said Chase, pretending to toss a quill and paper over his shoulder.

"Good, cause they'd hafta kill us if we told," smiled Sara, obviously enjoying this. "I swear to secrecy."

"I swear to secrecy," chorused Chase and Mike, raising their right hands like boy scouts.

"Good, now let's find Minerva and tell her what we've found out," said Harry, already hurrying down the hall.

"Few, I was worried you were going to say the bitter old cod, Snape, was a member," smiled Mike as if the idea was stupid and laughed.

Harry, Ron and Hermione attorney at law stared at him uncomfortably, before rushing down the hall in search of Minerva.

"Crap," sighed Mike, running after them with Chase and Sara at his heels. They ran into Minerva, literally, and began telling everything. Each member had their say until the whole seven chapter story was confessed. Well… some of it. A better half of it was… tweaked a bit to save them from getting expelled.

"How do you know all this?" Minerva asked.

"What Llama!" yelled Ron, on the defensive.

All the other teenagers cringed and groaned.

Minerva raised an eyebrow, but then just shook her head. "Can't this be discussed later? The headmaster has his full attention on a different matter at the moment."

"I'm not saying we should ignore Embers," clarified Harry, thickly. "I just think it's odd that a pure blood family was attacked."

"How do you know they're pure blood?" asked Minerva, furrowing her brow as she pondered if Harry had been rude enough to start asking people.

"The chart on Sirius's wall shows the Draco family, the Weasley family, and the Embers family," explained Harry without patience. "For all we know, Voldemort's spy will go after her next."

"But she is with Dumbledore," Minerva reminded them, though that wasn't necessary as they already knew that.

Hermione lost the last of her patience. She felt that what they had revealed should be acted upon immediately. Her mind raced with thoughts of what might have happened if they discovered all those things from previous years sooner. They probably would have been ignored. She shoved Mike out of her way and spoke in an important and annoyed tone.

"The spy could be in the school right now! You said Dumbledore had all his attention consumed, so wouldn't that be the perfect chance to strike? And if he doesn't know about the book then he is in danger as well!"

"What do you want me to do?" Minerva snapped. "Run down to the grounds and burst into a speech? I don't think you are all grasping what has happened to day? That poor little girl just lost everything! She's an orphan with nowhere to go. The minister will be back in a few days to discuss her even being allowed to continue school here!"

"We know that!" Hermione proclaimed. "She's an extremely nice girl who didn't deserve what happened, but at least she wasn't killed! If we don't handle this spy thing before the rest of the school comes back then we loose our only opportunity. Professor, we need to search the school. Now."

Minerva sighed and stared at the group. "I see you've involved our American guests."

"Funny story actually, we've been working on this just as long as they have and we've only recently teamed up," smiled Mike, pushing his way past Hermione again.

"Just what we needed," mumbled Minerva. "Another group of three that can't let things be."

"Hehe, rhymed," snickered Mike.

"In all respect, Ma'am," began Sara. "As the first victim, I assumed you'd really want to catch whoever attacked you and keep it from happening to anyone else."

Minerva sighed, "Fine. You can search, but if you split into your separate groups you must have a professor with you, okay?"

"Fine-"

"Not fine, one group has to get Snape," interrupted Sara. "Either him or Trelawney."

"Where is Trelawney?' asked Harry, receiving a smack up the back of his head by Minerva.

"I can't use any good spells yet so you have Eric and Severus to help you and that's that," she stated.

The teens watched her march down the hall and then looked towards each other. They knew they were thinking the same thing, who gets stuck with Snape? Though they doubted he would help even if they did ask. Through furious games of rock paper scissors, endless loads of treachery, bribery, and actual fights, they came out equal and no one could think of a way to solve the problem.

Ron was the first to speak. "Well now w-"

"Don't!" chorused everyone in a paranoid fashion.

Mike threw up his arms in frustration, "Who gets stuck with him?"

"Stuck with who?" hissed a very greasy voice, loaded with ego and dominance.

No one was really surprised to hear it as they'd learned to expect it, though you couldn't have cut the annoyance with a knife. You would need a chainsaw or something, like the thing that cuts through concrete. Slowly they turned towards him, making it perfectly obvious that they were annoyed.

"What?" Harry asked, sounding tired.

"Stuck with who?" Snape repeated, making it clear that he knew they were talking about him, but then-

"Mortimer," they all chorused, wanting greatly to congratulate each other as they realized the replies matched.

Snape froze mid-snob. The look on his face was one of someone about to mock and ridicule as they were so superior, though it twitched with discomfort. The look was frozen, like it was waiting for a reason to be used. This was the happiest moment of the year in Harry's opinion. Snape was speechless, he satisfied himself with giving them a suspicious glare and trudging past them.

"Now wh-"

"Stop that!"

Dumbledore coaxed Desdemona into handing over her sketch book and opened it. The drawings he saw expressed a lot of time and effort. He could just see her sitting alone all the time with no one to talk to and nothing to do except envelope herself in an imaginary world of the pictures she drew. There were even pictures of the students, not exactly how they looked in real life, more of how Desdemona saw them. Dumbledore reached the one of Severus sticking out a very snake-like tongue and Desdemona cringed so he decided to chuckle softly and continue on. She saw the world through eyes that did not seem to judge anyone by the color of their skin, the religion the practiced, their political viewpoint, sexual preference, but rather by the content of their character.

Albus began feeling dizzy as he looked through the pages, an odd weightlessness in his forehead. He watched a tear fall from Desdemona's eyes and splatter against the marble bench as he looked to her, yet it made a loud sound as it hit. He saw her lips twitch and a sob erupted from her, but he couldn't hear it. He continued through the book, hoping that compliments would help to ease her suffering. He was aware of a tranquil emotion burning within him so that he no longer reacted to the crying student. There was a calming voice whispering for him to tell all he knew. Albus shook his head and jumped back into his usual alert self. He threw the book down, knowing something was wrong.

His gaze shot to Desdemona, whose sobs had turned to distinct laughter. She looked up, sneering wickedly, and dove for the book. Her greedy hands snatched it before Dumbledore could and they both drew their wands. Dumbledore meant to fire the book away, but as the girl faced him, he knew there would be a fight. The fight should have been simple, but he found himself feeling ill and having a hard time just staying up. Eventually he couldn't even do that and dropped to the ground, feeling weak and old. Desdemona stalked closer, the book glowing and whispering of spells to use.

Dumbledore pointed his wand to fire, but the book shone brighter and pulled his wand away. Wandless, Dumbledore could only watch and wait as the girl raised her hand into the air for a final strike. Yet no spell ever came as Hagrid charged from his cabin and snatched the girl's wrist. She twisted and squirmed to get free, but he held her tight.

"Rigitigimor- ahhh!" she tried to cast a spell and Hagrid tightened his grip.

He could hear the bones in her wrist groaning in protest, ready to snap. Yet still she held on, teeth clenched tightly. He squeezed tighter, and with a scream of pain she was forced to release her wand. Hagrid grabbed it and threw the girl to the ground to whimper and clutch her hand. Hagrid knelt next to Dumbledore, and pulled him to his feet.

"Hagrid, get the book away from her!" instructed Dumbledore urgently.

Desdemona jumped to her feet as Hagrid reached for her, and transfigured into a fierce snow leopard… … kitten. An oddly small, tinny, minute snow leopard kitten with Desdemona's eyes, a long poofy tail, and a crescent shaped spot on its forehead that matched the charm on the tiara that Desdemona always wore, though it was usually covered by hair. The kitten stood protectively over the book, which began to glow. Albus seized Hagrid's umbrella and blasted the cat off before she could draw the wands back. Desdemona landed behind the book and lay motionless and unconscious.

"What wers tha' abou'?" asked Hagrid, staring at the kitten.

"To be honest I'm not entirely sure," admitted Dumbledore. "Don't touch the book, I'll levitate it."

Hagrid crouched down and grabbed the kitten by the scruff of the neck before turning and following Dumbledore into the castle.

Albus explained everything to the order members, including Eric who'd joined the order when he signed up to teach at Hogwarts. He also explained it to the seven teenagers, who were still very confused and spent the entire time staring blankly at the kitten. The entire thing was laid out and discussed.

"Was Voldemort controlling her somehow?" asked Ginny, not ready to believe that Desdemona had been the one terrorizing the school.

"I doubt it," said Snape. "Why kill her parents if she's his spy? Such an emotional thing can break through a long distance possession."

"Please," squeaked out Hermione. "The legends and rumors we could gather about the book say that it draws its power from its user and victims. It has its own power, but none of the legends mention much about that."

"So she found the book and learned what it did and decided it would be useful," said Minerva, clearly irritated. "Makes sense, a failing student will do stupid things to raise their grades."

"But Ms. Embers was a bright girl," said Eric. "Got top marks in my class and I never touched that book."

"Well that would have a lot to do with the way you teach your class," hissed Snape.

"What's that, love?" asked Eric, turning towards Snape as if he hadn't heard him.

Snape twitched in response and looked to be trying to make Eric blow up with his mind.

"Um… it's really uncomfortable in here," stated Mike, who was smashed in between the two teachers. "Couldn't we move to a bigger room?"

"Please," added Sara, who was crunched up near Snape, but recoiling enough so that she didn't have to touch him, as was Mike on Snape's other side.

It was true; the tinny nurse's office was nowhere near the perfect place for twelve people to argue. Yet there they were, all cramped around a desk which had the sleeping kitty on one end and the book on the other.

"Maybe she is a Death Eater's kid," proposed Ron.

"No, Malfoy hates her," said Hermione. "If anything she tried to join Voldemort, and he gave her the book. She makes a perfect spy- I mean who'd suspect her?"

"Then why kill her parents?" asked Harry.

"Well I don't know. She was willing to attack Dumbledore, maybe it was part of the deal."

"She didn' seem really tha' depressed abou' it," nodded Hagrid. "She were laughin'"

"Then she should be expelled, maybe even sent to Azkaban!" ranted Minerva. "The girl is evil!"

With a soft mew, the kitten opened her eyes, which became very wide as she looked around and tried to hide behind a flower vase.

"Ah, finally awake," greeted Minerva, moving the vase.

"Harry, maybe you and your friends could step out as the punishment is really not your decision," requested Dumbledore.

Harry nodded, and then looked at the door. No one could get out the doorway as there wasn't any room.

"Errr… how are we supposed to leave?"

"Hagrid, can't you move a bit?" asked Hermione.

Hagrid leaned left and right, though as he did, Sara and Albus were pressed tightly the wall. "Nope."

"Well then how do we-?"

Eric poofed out of the room and Mike crashed through the empty space and into Chase, who fell towards Harry, who dodged, but tripped over Ron's foot and went down. Ron fell, though no one was sure why, into Hermione, now they know why, who wasn't very pleased with where he grabbed her and backed into Minerva, who stepped on Ginny's foot, who let out a wail and knocked into Albus, who pushed Sara, who clawed the walls in an attempt not to touch Snape and thus knocked Hagrid down, who fell onto Snape.

"Ouch," moaned Chase from beneath Mike and Harry.

"Somebody's touching me!" yelled Ginny.

"Somebody's crushing me!" groaned Minerva.

"Get your hand off my butt!" demanded Sara, slapping at the hand. "Whose hand is that!"

"Don't hit me!" snarled Snape.

Sara whimpered audibly and her spine shuddered.

"I can't feel my spleen," whimpered Mike.

"Don't worry, I can," sighed Chase, drumming his fingers on the floor and hoping his back didn't snap. He was stuck in a position he felt he needed a cigarette for and was balancing between extreme embarrassment and overwhelming irony.

"Can anyone get up?" asked Dumbledore, pinned against the wall.

"Ron, move your hand!"

"Why? We're dating."

"We're going to be married if you don't move!"

"I'd like to say the same thing to you two," groaned Chase to Mike and Harry.

"What do you want me to do, I can barely move?" said Mike.

"Stop rocking, that'll help a lot!" snapped Chase.

"Well now wh-"

"SHUT UP!" screamed the teenagers.

"Eric!'

"It's not my fault," said Eric, looking at them through the doorway.

He seized Ginny and began pulling her out. Desdemona, however, looked about the room and made a decision. The book shone, rose into the air and drifted towards the door. Desdemona jumped down onto Minerva, who tried to grab her, but was pinned. Desdemona crawled over, through, and under the mess of bodies, finally climbing onto Ginny and jumping out the doorway. Eric moved to grab her and missed as she shot by, the book following; he poofed to the other end of the room and dove down just in time to grab her.

"You're a fast little shit, aren't you?" grinned Eric, holding the kitten up like a trophy to the mass of people too tangled up to applaud… or care.

"No, I'm constipated," mumbled Flitch, who had inhaled a bit too many cleaning fumes recently. "I'm a slow shit."

"… Okay… ew," said Eric. "That was… special in its own disgusting way, I'm sure."

He shook his head and dodged as the book came hurdling towards him. Looking to the kitten, he poofed away then poofed back a few seconds later, one kitten lighter, and pulled Ginny out. Once everyone was free, Sara ran up to the common room yelling "Ew, ew, eww, eeww!" desperate for a shower.

"Let's never speak of that," said Harry to Chase and Mike, who both nodded and decided that Sara's shower idea was a great one.

"Speak of what?" Ron called after them.

Hermione giggled maliciously and smiled at Ron, who was all ears as, being in such a large family he knew when good information was about to be revealed.

"Do we have a plan?" Minerva asked.

"We need to turn her back in order to question her," stated Snape, peering in on the kitten, who was currently residing in Mortimer's travel cage.

Minerva sighed. "That's a problem."

"Why?"

"Because she knows how to transfigure, but it takes months of physical conditioning, emotional training, and slow practice to be able to change," explained Minerva. "Especially when no one in your family has ever done it and you're not being trained by a professional. If we force change her then her muscles will be torn apart."

"So what do we do?" Hagrid asked, watching Mortimer, who was on the ceiling dancing with his teddy bat.

"We must find out how to destroy that book," stated Dumbledore, his gaze on the book strapped to the desk. "Try one theory at a time. If she's possessed, destroying the book will take away her weapon and purpose so she'll probably be released. Then we'll concentrate on changing her back."

"Why change her back? It's Azkaban or a bat cage," Minerva grumbled, glaring in at the kitten. "I'd choose the bat cage."

"Ye thin' they'd senda minor ta Azkaban?" asked Hagrid, finally directing his gaze away from Mortimer.

"No of course not, they'll just slap her on the wrist and let her go," slimed Snape, shooting Hagrid a look.

"Well, they can't just take her wand and exile her from the wizarding community, not if she's Voldemort's little spy," reasoned Minerva. "So I assume it'll be off to Azkaban."

Inside the cage, Desdemona shivered and cried. A twisty tie wrapped around the door of the cage was all that confined her, yet it was enough. She could only cower and listen to their threats. She wondered what the outcome would be. If she was to spend the rest of her life in a cramped little iron cage that smelt of bat and lemon cleaner, or if Dementors would be coming to throw her into Azkaban where she wasn't sure what would happen or what she would face.

They argued and talked, brought books from the library and consulted previous headmasters for hours on end. Finally giving into arguing which is really the only way to solve anything. Yet a conclusion was hard to reach. One thing, though, they could all agree on. The book had to be destroyed, and Desdemona had to be questioned.

"Eric," Dumbledore spoke, ending a vicious argument between Minerva and Severus. "You have been silent all this time. Might I inquire your opinion?"

"I don't believe it," Eric replied softly from his place beside the window, nearly hidden in the shadows. "You say this girl is evil, and while I agree that her innocence would be a perfect cover, it was too real to fake. She had moments, though few and far between, where she showed herself to be strong, but I cannot agree with Severus that they were her act slipping. Minerva, look back to that day, was there malicious intent?"

"Of course," Minerva replied, exchanging a look with Severus. "She… well she… she dropped that book right in front of me."

"Yes, but isn't she always dropping books?"

"A cover," hissed Severus, as if trying to make them understand how stupid this was. The girl was guilty.

"How sure are you?" Eric asked. "I mean, seriously. The least we can do is attempt to find a safe way to change her back and then question her about it… before condemning her."

"There is no excuse for the other ATTACKS," Snape growled lowly, his eyes narrowing into triangles as his eyebrows arched.

Dumbledore listened with his fingers linked and a deeply contemplative look upon his face. There was a lot to consider. There was the death of Desdemona's parents, the attacks; the ferocity in Desdemona's attack against Albus, the llama's playing chess on the north stairwell. Severus, Minerva, Eric, and Hagrid continued their bickering, ignoring the bat that was swooping low and lower above their heads. When the arguing finally stopped, though mostly because the combatants had sore throats, Dumbledore spoke,

"First things first, let's just change the girl back, shall we?"

"How?" McGonagall asked; her voice frog-like and horse… and llama-ish.

Albus looked to Severus with half-lidded eyes and a patient stare. Snape crossed his arms and pouted, refusing to offer any help. Albus waited for what he thought was an appropriate time limit, before turning to Eric.

"Maybe you, as our Defense instructor, can team up with our potions master and devise a way to change Ms. Embers back into herself," his gaze traveled to Severus. "I warn you, it may take several days."

Eric caught on and grinned boldly at Severus. "That'll be oodles of fun!" he chirped. "Come Mortimer, Sevy, to the library!"

Severus Snape glared at the vampire, in a way that nearly forced him to burst into flames and die a very unpleasant death. Though his position in the argument was to inform the ministry at once and let them deal with the kitten, and he wasn't ready to budge, no, he was sick of every single year involving them all to get caught up in something that was someone else's job.

Guarding the Sorcerer's Stone, dealing with possessed students and their pet snakes, catching Severus Black, hosting the Tri-Wizard tournament, fighting solely alone against Voldemort and his death eaters. Well enough was enough! The ministry could handle Embers! They'd change her back, question her, and then throw her in Azkaban like good little ministers, all without messing up the Hogwarts school year or wasting his time. So, if he delayed them changing her back, it gave him time to urge Albus into listening.

"Fine," he said in a greasy, bored tone of voice before walking past them all.

Everyone was stunned into silence. Even Mortimer had trouble staying in the air. Albus knew Snape was playing the game, Minerva hoped he was playing the game… for Eric's sake, Hagrid was disturbed, Desdemona didn't give a damn, and the llama just wasn't expecting that at all and nearly choked on his lollipop. Pop. He proceeded to cry and ran out the door.

"Come on, Eric, we can go to my office," Snape added, setting his hand on Eric's shoulder.

Eric shivered as soon as the hand left him and tried very hard not to vomit. Two could play this game, he decided. So, with Albus and Minerva, and Hagrid all cheering him on supportively like demented cheerleaders or mother's of 35-year-old daughters who still weren't married, Eric used his most suggestive voice and said,

"You light some candles, I'll grab a bottle of wine and meet you down there," he then added a coy giggle and told Mortimer that it would be best for him to stay with Hagrid for the night.

"W-why?" Severus asked; several shades paler than what was thought to be humanly possible.

Eric did the laugh again and rushed past him looking giddy and muttering about what to wear. Snape stayed where he was. He had thought that he'd cracked the code and the homosexual vampire was merely toying with him, but now he wasn't willing to risk it. Albus pretended to have no opinion about what had just happened, leaving Minerva and Hagrid to whisper about how they thought Eric could find someone better.

"There is a potion we can use," Snape grumbled out through clenched teeth.

"Well, dear I think it would have been better to mention that before Eric got so excited about…" Albus stopped as if just then realizing that it was odd for a person to get excited about research. He smiled a small smile and his eyes twinkled in his usual expression of 'I'm ignoring it… all of it.'

"I'll go get started on it," Snape purred murderously.

Snape confined himself to his office after bolting the door shut and a very strong garlic fragrance billowed out through the key hole. Hermione figured he's made an enhancing potion and dumped every piece of garlic he could find into it. The teenagers were able to bribe their favorite teacher into an act that skimmed off the top of their boiling pot of the lust for revenge. Eric put on a poet's top, (which is the shirt you see Fabio wearing on most grocery store Romance novel covers) tight black leather pants, his usual cape, and grabbed up a bottle of champagne.

He poofed into Snape's office and out again a few minutes later only to burst into laughter. Along with the garlic smell, a very strong light shone up from the dungeon after that and they all recognized it as UV light. That made everyone's day. The potion master seemed convinced that at any moment a horny vampire was going to assault him. He stayed locked in his office all of that day and the next. The teenagers were beginning to enjoy life without Snape and marveled at their ability to talk without worry that he was just around the corner.

They ate meals without being glared at. Lounged around with no one barking out insults. They even played Quidditch through the halls with no one stopping them, except Eric who demanded they let him play too. Yes, things were good, life was sweet, and Harry was sure that Sirius was somewhere laughing his ass off. Desdemona was moved into the infirmary, still in her little cage, but as it was the one place where a person was stationed 24 hours a day, it was the only place to put her.

Minerva was a bit worried about putting her in a room where her victims were trying to recover, but Albus simply said that all evil must face its crime. Malfoy was there biggest problem. He was up and back to his usual snobbish self again, but seemed too out of it to demand that they call his father, who was too busy with Death Eater meetings to notice that his son was missing without a letter telling him so.

Yet, Harry and crew had no need to concern themselves with the Slytherin brat, they had more important things to do like stare at a wall and think of what spiders did all day, or chill with the llamas having a party in the room of requirements. Yes, they did baking at 4:20. Though Hermione showed up with brownies, actual brownies, and ruined the mood. Then came dinner.

"…Is it just me or does everything suddenly taste like garlic?" Mike asked suspiciously. Chewing his food very slowly and examining his fork.

"Crap," groaned Harry, though it was masked by everyone else inserting their own curse.

Snape opened the doors and everyone nearly fell over from the odor. Eric poofed away; being extremely lucky to have that ability. Everyone else was left to try and breathe through their mouths, though that doesn't help with garlic. Poor Ginny collapsed first and Chase carried her out of the hall with Ron at his heels. Those still determined to hear the news were breathing through their cloaks. Snape glowered at the teenagers, who were using their plates to fan the air away, and then spoke to Albus.

"The potion is ready," he stated.

Albus nodded once, then fell to the floor unconscious. Minerva would have aided him, had she not been sneaking towards the door at that very moment. Harry gave up and bolted for the door with everyone else right behind him. They ran all the way up to the roof where they breathed in the oxygen.

"My God, I thought he was smelly before the garlic!" Sara shrieked, spraying her perfume all around.

Harry, who now smelt like jasmine and roses, looked out over the school grounds. He couldn't really explain how he felt. On the one hand he was happy they'd solved the problem so quickly… but at the same time he felt… well he couldn't explain it. As they settled down, everyone joined him, staring up at the canopy of stars. They were all thinking the same thing it turned out, as Ginny spoke.

"It's still hard to believe it was her," she stated lightly, as if mentioning the weather.

"Yeah!" Sara burst out, making it obvious that she'd been hoping to discus it. "I mean, she was just so sweet!"

"When?" Ron asked. "In between scampering off to do who know what by herself and apologizing for other people's faults?"

"So you're telling me you think she's evil?" Sara demanded.

"Yes," Hermione stated.

"You're just sour because she got better grades than you," Mike insisted.

"Hello, she was CHEATING!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Mike rolled his eyes.

"… so… I wonder what happens now," said Chase. "I mean, what happens to her and all."

"She'll get what she deserves no doubt," Hermione stated as if that was that.

"…Maybe it wasn't her…" Harry pondered. "The book can change form, we know that from it changing into the secret journal of Salazar Slytherin. Maybe she found the book and just never knew… then she attacked Dumbledore because she was upset about her family."

"Harry, you have too much hope for her," Hermione cooed sympathetically. "But that's quite a stretch."

"Go bugger a llama, he could be right," growled Mike.

Hermione just stared at him for a few minutes before yelling out a resounding, "Eww!"

"So… now wha-"

"Stop-"

"-I'm warning you-"

"-Knock it off!-"

"-Enough!-"

"-Argh!"