Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter books.

A/N: Yeah.


FFF

15. – Persuasion

Professor McGonagall hurried up the flight of stairs, towards Dumbledore's office. She hadn't been there for weeks. There just hadn't been a reason for her to visit him.

Well, of course she could have just dropped by his office and played a game of Exploding Snap with him like they had always used to do, but she had been busy, and so, apparently, had he. She hadn't seen him out and about for a month. And now this… this was getting alarming.

She reached the stone gargoyle that guarded his office.

"T-treacle tart," she gasped, out of breath from having run all the way from her classroom.

She entered his office, and looked around the room. She spotted the headmaster immediately. He was sitting tranquilly behind his desk, twiddling the quill in his hand. Although he had a humungous pile of papers in front of him, he seemed as happy as ever.

"Albus?" said professor McGonagall.

"Hm?" said Dumbledore. "What is it, Minerva?"

"Well," said McGonagall, "The Fat Friar told me you have been screaming all morning about wanting to get out, and I thought I'd better come and check…"

"Screaming?" said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "Now, why would I be doing that?"

"I don't know. He said you were shouting that the walls were closing in on you, and that you couldn't breathe, and something about the door being stuck."

"The door isn't stuck," said Dumbledore. "You just came in."

"I'm just repeating what he said."

"I can't recall saying any such things," said Dumbledore. "I can assure you, I am quite well. Now, I'm afraid I have a lot of paperwork to do, so if you would be so kind…"

"Yes, of course," said McGonagall. "I'm sorry for disturbing you. Once I get my hands on that Friar," she muttered, as she closed the door behind her. "I'll make him grateful he's already dead…"

Since she was too preoccupied with these vengeful ruminations, the professor didn't hear the sound of someone banging his head against a desk.


Ron was sitting outside the classroom. Charms wasn't going to start for another quarter of an hour, but he could stomach only so much time in the company of Kya and her minions, and besides, he needed a few minutes to complete his homework. He had noticed a definitive upswing in his academic results, since Kya had come. As he could no longer spend so much time with his friends, he had taken to studying a lot more.

After a while, Ginny came over and sat down beside him.

"Hello," she said.

"Hi," said Ron. "Why aren't you in class?"

"Oh, I'm supposed to have Divination, but professor Trelawney predicted that lots of accidents would happen during this lesson, so it has been cancelled."

"Good for you," said Ron. He didn't really want to talk to her either.

"Why aren't you with the others?" Ginny asked. "I noticed you've been drifting away from them a bit."

"Well," said Ron. "Yeah…"

"Well, that's a pity," said Ginny. "You've been friends for so many years. You're not getting split up about Kya, are you?"

Ron avoided her eyes.

"Well, maybe."

"Yeah," said Ginny. "I know how you feel. I mean, I really like her. She's wonderful, and all that. It's just that I wish Harry didn't like her so much, you know?"

"Do you know if he likes her, or if he just likes her?" Ron wondered. He was beginning to feel a bit concerned for his friend.

"I'd like to think he just likes her, but I don't know," said Ginny. She bit her lip. "You know, she made him form a truce with Malfoy. I know he'd never do something like that for me. Not that I'd ever think of asking him to, of course. Honestly, why would someone want him to do that?"

"Yes, don't you think it's a bit strange?" said Ron, without thinking. "Why would someone want to go out with Malfoy anyway? She must be really dense to think-"

"Ron!" Ginny hissed. "Really, what is your problem?" Then she bit her tongue. She was clearly very upset. "I mean, don't say that. She's absolutely perfect. She hasn't got a single flaw…"

Was that a note of regret in her voice?

Ron hoped so, because now he had to make her see the truth. He had blown his cover. If word reached Kya that he was less than thrilled with her, she would get suspicious of him, and perhaps he too would be made to take a midnight stroll in the forest.

"Ginny," he said. "Please hear me out. Don't you realize she is too perfect? She looks Harry in the eyes, squeezes out a few tears, and he'll do whatever she says."

"Are you going on about that again?"

"I'm telling you, she's been brainwashing all of you," said Ron. "You remember when we played Quidditch, and no-one in the other team was focusing on the game? You just flew up to the hoops and chucked the ball through five times in a row without anyone trying to stop you."

"Oh, please," Ginny scoffed. "That was-"

"And Hermione," Ron continued. "She's turned into a complete idiot."

"You're exaggerating," said Ginny.

"Well, maybe not a complete idiot, but when was the last time we heard her mention Hogwarts, a History? And Harry wouldn't form a truce with Malfoy to save his life, unless he'd gone insane."

Ginny was about to stalk off in a huff, but his last sentence stopped her.

"You know, that is very odd. I was wondering about that," she admitted. "But maybe he has gone insane. That still doesn't prove anything about Kya."

"Ginny, you can't believe what you're saying."

"Yes, I do. I think," she said.

"Look," said Ron, patiently. "You said he'd never form a truce with Malfoy for you. I'm willing to swear he wouldn't do it for me or Hermione either, and we've been friends for years. The way he acts around Kya… it's like he waits for her lead, and then says what he thinks she wants to hear. You must have noticed this."

"Well," said Ginny, struggling. "If he's in love…"

"Ginny, come on," Ron shouted. "How can he fall in love with someone who is going out with Malfoy?"

Ginny had nothing to say against this.

"Besides you know he liked you better. You can't deny that."

"But Ron," said Ginny, in a small voice.

"I'm not the only one who suspects her," said Ron, throwing all caution to the winds in his effort to convince her. "I met Snape and professor Jacobson last night, and Neville too. They all agree with me, and we're going to test an antidote to the muddling potion on Harry or Hermione. If there's no effect, then we've been wrong about it. But in the mean time, please just don't tell anyone about this, please? Kya can't find out about it."

"Well… okay," said Ginny, reluctantly. "But that doesn't mean I believe you."

"You won't say anything?"

"I won't say anything," Ginny assured him. "I have to go now."

And she left.


Holding up the root between her elegant thumb and forefinger, Kya examined the little green dots on it.

"Oh, professor," she cried out, urgently. "This one's sick!"

"Oh dear," said Professor Sprout, abandoning Dean Thomas in mid conversation and hurrying over. The entire class stopped what they had been doing and gathered around.

"See, professor, these dots are supposed to be purple," said Kya, dramatically.

"Well spotted, dear," said Sprout. "Ten points to Gryffindor. Now, lets see if we can save it…"

"Maybe we should check the other roots and see if they're infected too," Neville suggested.

"Good idea, Neville," said Sprout. "You, Dean, Kya, and Lavender, do that. I'll go and get a bottle of pesticide from the shed. The rest of you, get back to what you were doing."

With that, she hurried of.

"Alright," Kya said, distributing smiles around the group, knowing exactly what kind of an effect it had on them. "Let's get to work. Neville, get me a trowel, size five."

Neville was staring determinately at his feet. He muttered an "okay," and shuffled off.

Kya threw a scornful glance at his retreating back, tossing her perfect hair as she did so. Honestly, if you looked up "Lapdog" in the dictionary, you'd find a picture of him, she thought. Well, him and Creevey, and Ron.

Of course, Ron might be under "Sidekick". Either way.

Oh, this was fun. Hm, she thought. Dean. What would he be? Or that weird girl, Luna?

Spiderfood. That was it.

Kya frowned for a moment. Then she smoothed her expression quickly, realizing that it could cause wrinkles.

She was still annoyed about that. Not the wrinkles, but Luna. And there was no way of getting to her now. The same person experiencing three near fatalities in one week would be too suspicious. She would have to leave her alone for a while. Someone was going to pay for what had happened, though…

Her musings were interrupted by Lavender.

"This one has yellow dots, is that alright?" she asked.

"No, I'm afraid not," said Kya.

"I love your new hairstyle," said Lavender. "It just lends itself to that Herbology hat!"

That one would definitely fall under the category of "Simpering Idiot," Kya thought. She and Pansy Parkinson. Or maybe not anymore. Ah, well.

None of Kya's reflections showed on her face, however, as she gave out instructions and supervised the examination of the roots. Her classmates' minds were so deeply saturated with her presence that they were nearly incapable of independent action. They needed her approval for everything. As long as they followed her instructions, they were happy.

Everyone but one…

Ron was standing by his flowerpot, looking terribly downcast. Kya knew that she had to keep up the good spirits of the group, to maintain appearances, so she decided to go over and cheer him up.

"Why so sad?" She asked him.

Ron jumped and looked fearfully up at her. Then he quickly averted his eyes. Kya saw this, but she thought he was doing it because he felt awkward, getting caught moping around.

"Did you and Mya have a fight?" she asked, raising her delicate eyebrows and cocking her head to the side, inquisitively. This made her hair fall over her shoulder in a brilliant cascade, catching the light from the sun. She smiled disarmingly.

"Well," said Ron, looking edgy. "Yes. Yes, we did."

"Oh no, you haven't broken up, have you?" said Kya, feigning alarm. Or perhaps it wasn't feigned. It wouldn't do to have Ron get jealous of Harry or Draco because of the attention she was giving them. She liked having him safely attached to Hermione, her "best friend". Who would she fix Hermione up with otherwise? Who would have her? If she was single, the double dates Kya had planned wouldn't work at all…

"Oh, no," Ron hurriedly assured her, too startled by this assumption to realize that Kya had simply supposed he and Hermione were going out. Which they weren't - not yet, anyway.

"Well, perk up," said Kya. "No-one likes a mope, least of all Herm!"

Seeing that all the activity had come to a complete standstill without her supervision, she quickly got up and started to order people around. That made her feel better. It had not escaped her notice that Ron had not once looked her in the eyes during their talk. He shouldn't be able to resist her crystal clear, compelling gaze… but, no matter. Even if he wasn't as deeply infatuated with her as she had supposed at first, it was hardly likely that he suspected her of anything. He had no reason to.

So she convinced herself that she had nothing to worry about. She would just have to be a bit more watchful. If he turned into a problem, she could handle it. Wasn't he afraid of spiders?


In truth, Ron was not so much moping, as he was scared half to death. This was the quite natural result of a conversation he had had with Hermione earlier that day.

Before Herbology, he had taken a quick stroll around the grounds with her. They didn't get much time alone together anymore, and without Kya present, Hermione was nearly herself.

Or so Ron had thought.

"Did you know that Kya sleeps with her eyes open?"

They had been discussing the talent, or lack thereof, of Celestina Warbeck. Why this? Why now?

"Does she?" he said, through gritted teeth.

"Oh, yes," said Hermione. "And she barely breathes. If I didn't know better, I'd have called Madam Pomfrey the other night, but she says it preserves her energy. I don't know if that makes sense, but it seems to work for her. She said she'd teach me how to do it some time."

Ron stopped in his tracks. Kya teach Hermione to sleep with her eyes open?

The image came to him, of Luna's empty gaze that night. That couldn't happen to Hermione. That was too horrible to even think about.

On an impulse, Ron made up his mind. He was going to drag Harry and Hermione to the dungeons after Herbology, and they weren't leaving until they had been cured


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