A/N: This chapter is a bit disjointed, but important in it's own way. I hope it's not too confusing for you. (I apologise to all of those people who were waiting for me to tell all of the school secrets. Not much of it I happening here, but I hope it's enough!) I think that by the time I was writing this part, I was so eager for the end to tie in well, that I wasn't careful about keeping up the excitement of the story. I apologize.
Starving Artist Disclaimer: I'd write a story that could earn me something, but then I might lose the respect of the artistic community. We have to suffer for our art, you know!
Chapter Thirty-four –You-Know-Who's New Method
The knowledge that he was possibly Gryffindor's heir should have made Harry feel awkward and nervous, or at least excessively pompous, but it didn't. The way he thought about it was much the same way he saw the prophecy. If he was meant to be, then he was meant to be, and not much could change that.
Besides, it wasn't exactly like it was much of a surprise. He'd almost been expecting this sort of thing to come up and bash him on the head. It had become second nature to just try and accept himself as who he was, almost to the point of ignoring his family history and his own prophecized future. He had to be just Harry.
"So you've read the book?" Hermione asked them in charms the next afternoon. "You know its secret?"
"Yeah, we know its secret." Ron told her lazily.
When Ron didn't continue, and instead focused on his charms textbook, Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well?" she asked impatiently.
"Well what?"
Harry smirked at the exchange. Ron was going to hold the knowledge above Hermione's head. Harry knew he would just get in trouble from both Ron and Gryffindor himself if he gave it up either. Besides that, it could be a little fun to watch Hermione's reaction.
"The book! What sort of secret is it?"
"Huh?" said Ron, holding up his textbook and staring at it, as though Hermione's question were actually about it. "What do you mean?"
Hermione sighed. "Rowena Ravenclaw's book has a secret to getting it open. What is it?"
"Oh, that!" he said as though he had just understood. "No, I can't tell you. It's not my place." He emulated Ravenclaw.
"What do you mean, 'not your place'?" She narrowed her eyes dangerously, and Harry was amazed that Ron could stay strong after that sort of heat. He hadn't even flinched.
"Well, you see… It's different for everyone."
"Dumbledore already told us that, and I don't care! Harry!" She rounded on him. "What's Rowena Ravenclaw's secret?"
Harry grinned. "I shouldn't tell you."
"SHOULDN'T tell me? Or COULDN'T tell me?"
"Either, whichever one catches your fancy."
Hermione had gone slightly purple. It was a good thing that they hadn't told her that Neville had been present at the time, and that he knew the secret too. Neville would have cracked like a bad egg under this sort of pressure. They would have to pull him aside at some point and remind him of his loyalties. Maybe they would threaten him a bit too. They'd have to if Hermione was going to use all of her wits to get the secret out of him.
It was at that moment that a distressed-looking professor Dumbledore knocked lightly on the Charms room doorframe, interrupting tiny professor Flitwick's demonstration to Ernie of concealment charms. The dragon skin purse that he had concealed to look like a cabbage rolled offErnie'sdesk and became a purse again when it touched the floor.
Professor Dumbledore moved further into the class, and Harry could see a red-eyed professor Sprout also hovering beyond the door.
"Pardon me, Filius. Might I have a word with Miss Abbott?"
Hannah looked horrified. "What's happened?" She squeaked, then before professor Flitwick could say his yay or nay, she'd stood, and hurried out into the hall with the Headmaster.
"Oh dear." Hermione muttered.
"What?" Ron blurted out, seemingly unaware of the tension in the room.
"Can't you see?" Hermione whispered to them. "Something's happened, and someone in Hannah's family was affected. Maybe even someone died!"
Harry eyed the closed door with trepidation. "I hope it's not too serious."
Ron shook his head. "It'll be something horrible for sure. There's nothing really we can do about it."
"Ron!" Hermione said with a horrified expression on her face.
"Well, this is a war, Hermione!" Ron said angrily. "I know it's bad, and I'm sorry that people are getting hurt, but I'm not going to let it ruin my happiness. We'll find out what happened later."
Harry thought Ron had a very intelligent way of looking at this, but he said nothing, since Hermione looked like she wanted to strangle him.
She didn't say anything more to either of them throughout the class, and when Flitwick's dismissal came, she tromped out of the classroom, and headed straight for the Gryffindor common room. Hannah had not reappeared, but so many students were whispering about it that by time they reached the common room to dump their things, People were already going around saying that Hannah's whole family was dead. Harry didn't really know what to believe, so he tried hard to ignore the guilty weight that had settled in his stomach.
"C'mon Harry." Ron told him, tugging his sleeve. "Quiddich game starts in an hour. Ravenclaw against Hufflepuff! Got to get good seats!"
That was just what he needed to clear his mind. As far as Ron was concerned, Quidditch could cure everything. "Ron? Are you ever going to tell Hermione about the book?" Harry asked, carefully.
Ron smirked. "Of course! I just want to see her get all stewed up about it first. Trust me, she'll thank us when we finally tell her."
Harry grinned. No matter how depressed he sometimes felt, he surely knew how to go along with a good scheme.
0 0 0 0 0
"GO HUFFLEPUFF!" Ron screamed, apparently wanting to make a complete fool of himself in the Gryffindor box.
Some other Gryffindors who had come out to watch the game gave him nasty looks, but Harry knew why Ron was cheering so loudly.
Hufflepuff hadn't yet won a game, and Ron had a tendency to cheer for the underdogs. It wasn't as if Hufflepuff winning would put Gryffindor out of line for the house cup. Ravenclaw winning might. They'd be playing Ravenclaw anyhow in the cup final, whether Hufflepuff won or lost, so it didn't really matter which team Ron cheered for. Besides which, Ron had a sort of vested interest, now that he knew more of his family history.
The score was currently one hundred and eighty to ninety for Ravenclaw, and the Hufflepuffs were getting slaughtered. Hannah was a chaser on the team this year, and her apparent absence was being felt strongly. A third-year girl was filling in, but doing a horrible job of it. The only thing Hufflepuff had going for them right now was their seeker. Not that he was all that good, but Cho, who was the Ravenclaw seeker and Captain was looking a little off her game. She'd fallen for three wronski feints already, and had missed seeing the snitch dart past her at least twice that Harry knew of. Hufflepuff still had a chance.
Ginny Weasley joined them in the stands halfway through the game. "What's this I hear about you two being gits?" She asked, as she plunked herself down beside Harry.
"Ron started it." Harry explained, pointing his thumb toward his friend.
Ron turned indignantly from the game just as a Ravenclaw chaser collided painfully with a Hufflepuff beater. "Did not! Oh, well okay maybe I did, but can you blame me? Oooch, that must have hurt!"
"Hermione tells me you're keeping secrets."
"Sort of." Harry explained. "You should know it though. I'll have to show it to you." He analyzed her features, and realized that if Ginny were a little plumper, and had slightly lighter and longer hair she would look quite a bit like the picture of Hufflepuff.
The images were somewhat superimposed on each other for a second, and Harry smiled as he imagined Ginny as amedieval flower child. It was completely opposite from what he'd come to expect from her. Ginny was pure reheaded spunk.
"What?" Ginny asked, looking slightly offput at his amused stare.
"Oh, nothing. I should get you Ravenclaw's book. Then you'll understand."
Harry looked back at Ron, and noticed that he had quite happily gone back to yelling himself hoarse at some tremendous save by the Hufflepuff keeper. "Come on. He won't notice if we leave for a second."
They slipped away from the game, and walked back across the grounds into the castle.
"You have to promise that you won't tell Hermione. We're teasing her with it. Or rather, Ron's teasing her with it. You'll understand when you see the book." Harry told her while they walked.
They climbed through the fat lady portrait, and scrambled up the stairs leading into the boys dormitories.
"Here." Harry said, handing her the book. "You should read the whole thing eventually, but first…" He turned the pages as quickly as possible so that she could see the image of Hufflepuff staring up at her.
"Oh!" Hufflepuff jumped a little in surprise, and Ginny stared back.
"Oh!" Ginny said, in recognition. "She looks like me!"
Hufflepuff laughed. It was a bright fluttery sound, and she flipped her braid around to her front to show off the daisies. "You're an intelligent one!"
"Thank you." Ginny responded. "Am I related to you? Is that why I can read this book?"
"I always said I wanted a large family." She told her. "I can safely say that we have multiplied over the years. You must be Ronald's sister." Harry frowned a little. He hadn't remembered telling the book their names.
"Yes, that's right. Well, there are six boys and myself in my immediate family, but I couldn't tell you how many other true Hufflepuffs there are elsewhere."
"Exactly four hundred and twenty two." Hufflepuff answered promptly.
"You keep track?"
"Of course! How do you think we know who to let into the book?"
Harry saw a light go on in Ginny's eyes. She lifted them to stare into Harry's. "And which one are you related to?" she asked bluntly.
Harry didn't even have to answer. His confident smile said it all.
"It's Gryffindor isn't it?"
"Yup." Harry answered. "Neville and I are cousins!"
"It figures." She sighed contentedly, and went back to the image of Hufflepuff.
"I'll be able to tell you all of the secrets of this castle that I know."
"Really? Can you tell me one now?"
Harry was pleased that she'd asked this. He'd meant to find out something interesting from the book, but simply hadn't had the time.
Hufflepuff beamed. "Of course! I shalltell you of my favourite. If you go to greenhouse two, face west and tap your wand on the glass windows three times, it will show you a thing of beauty."
"All right, should we give it a try?" She asked Harry.
"Why not?"
After a quick thank-you to Helga Hufflepuff, they left the book locked in Harry's trunk, and made their way down to the greenhouses.
They crept into greenhouse two, and thankfully it was empty. All of the students were off watching the quidditch game, as was professor Sprout. Ginny stood at the west windows, flicking her gaze from side to side to make sure no one was coming, and rapped her wand against the glass three times.
A voluminous rainbow slid across the sky, closing in over the entire greenhouse.
It was superimposed, Harry realised, on the windowed ceiling. Ginny put her hands to her mouth and giggled. "Helga Hufflepuff was really very overemotional." She said. "It's beautiful, and completely, absolutely typical cheesy Hufflepuff."
"We'll leave it in honour of Hannah's family." Harry said sincerely.
"Do you know what happened there?"
"No, but we can assume it wasn't very good, whatever it was. I'm sure if we visit with Hagrid, we'll have a better understanding,howeverI think it might be better if we wait for Hannah to come back, and ask her. It might be a little more polite than just going behind her back and gossiping."
Ginny nodded. "I hope she's all right."
Harry smiled in agreement, and they watched the rainbow in silence for another minute. Harry sighed loudly. "Shall we return to the quidditch game?" he asked, offering Ginny a gallant elbow.
She took it, hooking her hand into his arm. Leaving the huge rainbow behind in the greenhouse, they left for the quidditch pitch arm in arm.
0 0 0 0 0
It was two days later, on the thirtieth of March, when Harry and the rest of the Pack found themselves sneaking down the passage to the Shrieking Shack on their way to visit with Remus. It was only the third time they had done this since Christmas, but the thrill never seemed to leave them. Remus now looked healthier than he ever had since Harry had met him.
Harry carried his letter from Gringotts in his pocket, and hoped he'd be able to talk with Remus about it. There was still plenty of time between now and when the moon would rise, even though it was already dark.
"Hey Remus." Ron called, stepping out of the passage and greeting the wizard, who sat waiting and reading a book on the torn chaise-longue. Hermione deposited Crookshanks on the floor, and the cat wandered around, sniffingat every corner of the living room.
Neville took Luna's hand almost immediately, and they headed for the basement to begin their ongoing search for Sabertooth's hiding spot.
"Hello everyone." Remus put the book down and turned to face them, nodding to Luna and Neville as they passed. He looked at Harry in particular, since this was the first he'd seen of Harry since Sirius' official pardon.
Harry had told all of the pack about Sirius' will, and the request that Remus be made his wizarding guardian. They were all very excited for him about that, but Harry sort of had the fear that it was only another reason for the Death-Eaters to target someone he cared about. He was also afraid that something might get in the way of it actually happening. He seemed tobe doomed a parentless life.
"Hi Moony." Harry said eagerly, handing him the letter he'd extricated from an inside pocket of his robe. "I'll assume you got a letter too."
"I did." Remus nodded. "So are you going to let me be your wizarding guardian?"
"Only if you want to." Harry answered noncommittally, trying not to show how eager he was for it to be true.
"I think I'd appreciate the job." Remus nodded at him, looking uncharacteristically nervous. "Is that what you would like?"
"I've never really had a proper guardian." Harry explained. "Not a legal one at any rate. Even the Dursleyswere sort of a back up plan, and they had to be given all sorts of fake muggle identification for me when I was a baby." Harry scuffed his shoes a bit, then realised that Remus was going to make him say it. "Of course I'd like you to be my guardian. It says here that you need to sign my letter to make it permanent."
Remus sighed and smiled enthusiastically, but Harry could also see a weary resolve that made him do a double take. Maybe Remus didn't really want to take him in? He carefully kept his expression neutral as Remus' smile slipped perceptibly. "There's just one problem."
Harry's heart now began to pound with alarm. Whatnow? He thought. "A problem?"
"Werewolves aren't legally allowed to have children. Not allowed to be legal guardians either." He gulped nervously as he said this. "That's one of the reasons that James never put me on his will as a secondary guardian should something have happened to Sirius. I might have been there, but for a few lines in the lawbooks."
Harry gaped. "You mean if it weren't for some stupid law about Werewolves, then you would have been my guardian all those years that Sirius was in Azkaban?"
"Well, there was the fact that you were much safer at your aunts, and also the matter that James probably suspected me of beinga Death-Eater spy when he died. He wouldn't have wanted to let me know that though, so he might have used the werewolf law as an excuse. But that was the reasoning he gave me, and I'd prefer to go by it if you don't mind. Don't forget though, that it's just plain dangerous for most children to be perpetually around a werewolf." Remus explained.
"That's bollocks." Ron interjected. "You've taken care of the danger pretty well over the years. There's no reason to believe that."
"Thank you Ron, but not every werewolf is like me. Not every werewolf takes responsibility for his actions as the wolf." He shook his head. "They need the law there to keep the others in line."
"There are plenty of muggles whobeat and abuse their children. Should they all then be told that they can't have any?" Harry asked quietly.
"Not every wizard is like you either. Just look at Voldemort." Hermione cut in. "I shudder to think of him being responsible fora child. Maybe I should start up another foundation." She looked very intense as she said this, causing Ron's face to crack into a grin. "No, really. Something like; the 'Werewolf Oppression Lifting Force, or W.O.L.F." She frowned at Ron when he rolled his eyes. "Laws should be fair, and this one is just plain dumb. There's no reason for it whatsoever, and from what I've heard there aren't many witches or wizards willing to stick up for werewolves. Remus needs our support."
"Thank you Hermione." Remus said, grinning. "But unfortunately, this doesn't get rid of our current predicament."
"Isn't there some part of that law that says 'unless certain restrictions are met?'" Ginny piped up, looking thoughtful. Hermione gaped at her. Ginny shrugged. "Hagrid told me that part. I only just remembered it now."
"Indeed it does say that, Ginny, and that was my next subject. The official stipulations are 'As long as the werewolf in question is provided with regular Wolfsbane potion, and the youth in question is sent away from the residence of the werewolf for a period of four days; two before the full moon, and two following the full moon. If the youth in question were to return for any period during that time, the werewolf must be monitored by a trained physician, and shackled at both wrists and ankles to a solidly grounded silver post."
"That's horrible!" Hermione burst out. "They can't expect that rule to be followed-"
"Yes, they can." Remus explained. "It's why I've never bothered to have children of my own. They also ask that any werewolf responsible for a youth, get themselves and the youth assessed medically once a month just after each full moon."
"I'm not going to let you sign this letter then." Harry said angrily, waving the parchment in theair."That way I can stay with you on a full moon without you breaking the stupid law. I don't want you to sign it if all you'd get from it is more flack."
"There's one more stipulation." Remus said, his eyes glinting eerily yellow in a precursor to his imminent transformation.
"What, more?" Hermione gasped. "This is absolutely insane!"
"The former stipulations must be met, unless the youth in question becomes a registered animagus, and the werewolf in question is regularily given the Wolfsbane potion, at which point the youth may be present without escort in animagus form during transformations. It's rarely used, since Animagus training is very difficult and there are so few adults even, who are capable."
Harry's hope lifted for a moment, before reality set in. "I can't register. I didn't go through the proper channels to learn, and someone in the ministry is likely to notice."
Remus gave Harry a little one-armed hug. "Don't worry, We'll figure something else out."
Harry nodded, feeling quite disappointed. "Don't sign it until we know for sure," he added, taking the letter from Remus' fingers, and slipping it back into his pocket.
At that moment, Luna and Neville returned from down in the basement, followed by the flapping of owl wings at the uncovered window. Hedwig and Pigwidgeon alighted on the ledge.
"Who wants to play hide-and seek?" Luna asked excitedly. "We think we know where Sabertooth has been hiding!"
0 0 0 0 0
The evening of the full moon went by without a hitch, even though they were all very tired the next morning. The moon had been up later in the morning than ever before, and it had stayed up a little even while the sun was rising.
Nobody had bothered to get any sleep except Wrinkles, who found it quite pleasant to just doze off in the middle of the living room of the shrieking shack. Indeed, he had been lying directly above Sabertooth's legendary hiding spot, which they had found, was a space between the ceiling of the basement and the floorboards of the living room. She had been crawling in through a deceptively large hole in the wall halfway down the stairwell to the basement.
Ginny was only a little disappointed that her secret spot had been discovered, because it meant they could stop playing hide-and-seek, of which she had become frustratingly bored.
They all returned to the school that morning in buoyant spirits, Harry's letter from Gringotts almost entirely forgotten.
0 0 0 0 0
The rainbow in greenhouse two was something of a legend over the next month while professor Sprout went crazy trying to figure out where it had come from, and also how to get rid of it. She complained that while the rainbow was very pretty, it was cutting out the full effect of the sun on the plants.
Harry and Ginny snuck back in one evening, a week after putting it up, and quietly took it down. Professor Sprout was mystified.
She was especially so, since the rainbow popped its colourful self back up every once in awhile with seemingly no warning or sense. It even came up once right in the middle of the fifth year Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Herbology class as they absently planted dragonlily seeds. She didn't see Ginny smiling to herself near the west window, nor did she think it might have been a person responsible.
Ron and Neville were also given the necessary information to tease the professor, and greenhouse two became something of a colour and light spectacle.
They all had to stop three weeks later, because Harry noticed that professor Sprout had put up an area monitoring charm. He was able to tell, since he had been reading up on detecting and was practising the 'room charm revealer' spell in every room he walked into. It madea ghostlyimage of a wand pop up, and a squeak ofa voicerevealed what charms the person had cast. It wasn't that good a spell, since it couldn't tell you whohad performed the charm, but it was useful nonetheless. The greenhouses all hadfreshmonitoring charms and three other charms that looked like different sorts of fertilisation charms.
After that, Ron took to using the spell too, and found out that the dungeons in which Snape taught potions were protected with both a stench depressing charm and a strong mind mellowing charm. Doubtless the latter was due to Harry's persistent use of legilimency in Snape's presence. It certainly explained why Neville had fallen asleep during potions class the week before.
Harry, Ron, Neville and Ginny spent an envigorating evening two weeks after the full moon, toiletpapering the Slytherin common room. With the help of Godric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff, they were able to do the whole thing without even setting foot into the affected area. Hermione obviously had her suspicions of who had gotten the Slytherins so riled, but she was unable to prove her theories, since her four suspects were adamantly not talking, and she was certain that they had all been present in the Gryffindor tower the evening of the offence. Despite her suspicions, Hermione tried very hard to pretend that she was not angry at Ron and Harry. Harry was grateful for her efforts.
The Detectives didn't let up on finding the culprit who was leaking Order information to the Prophet, and Hermione even went so far as to send a note with Hedwig to Rita Skeeter, asking if she had seen anything suspicious around the prophet publishing centre these days. It was a mark of how desperate they were that she was writing to the woman, and they weren't surprised not to hear back from her.
They were surprised to find a letter from the Hogmeade Historical Society fall into Hermione's cereal early one morning, near the end of April.
When they saw the envelope, Harry and Ron told her they were feeling left out of her plans again. She gave them an intense glare as an answer, and Ron and Harry exchanged knowing looks. Theywere all thinkingabout their Slytherin coup two weeks before. The hypocritical nature of the conversation made them suddenly forgive Hermione very quickly, and they both gave her innocent looks. They were still not prepared to giveup the secret ofRavenclaw's book
Hermione looked at them haughtily. "I thought that if we could find out what sorts of people the HHS admit, then we might be able to ask them each a few questions. I told them I was interested in becoming a member, and I wanted to know what sorts of references they had so I could ask around."
Harry and Ron raised their eyebrows at her as she wiped milk from the parchment envelope. She opened the letter and started to read.
"Hey, this is better than I'd hoped!" she said excitedly, staring wide-eyed at the envelope's contents.
"What does it say?" Ron asked, trying toread over her shoulder.
"It's a list of all the benefactors of the HHS. All of the people who do research for them, and another list of people who give them donations. I just thought they would send a few names or something so I could interview them. Instead we could just check here to see if there are any familiar names, and if we need to we can contact one or two that we know we can trust!"
"Good idea!" Harry said, wishing he'd thought of it.
"Recognise anyone?" Hermione asked, scanning the page quickly and passing it over to him. "Excluding Malfoy and Nott, of course. Although it says that they donate funds, they're currently wanted by the law, so they would likely have no chance to contact anyone on that list at the moment, unless there's someone else helping them."
"Of course." Harry mumbled, as he perused the parchment. "Oh, my-!" He mumbled, noticing a particularly awful name that he vaguely remembered hearing. He felt a bit feverish just thinking about the memory that had been tweaked. "You're not going to believe this, Hermione."
"What." She asked, completely oblivious to the intensity of Harry's expression.
"Thaddeus Platt." Harry pointed the name out to Hermione, but she only looked vaguely mystified, as if she remembered something, but couldn't figure out why. She obviously didn't see the connection Harry had made. "It says here, he's one of the top researchers for the HHS, and that explains why the people there seem to have information they shouldn't. I've only heard the full name once, but I remember it now."
"Where did you hear it?" Ron asked, looking curious.
"Percy's attack."
"Way back then?"
Harry lowered his voice. "Voldemort sent him on another errand after Percy's kidnapping, and called him once by his first name, and once by his second.."
"What sort of errand?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowing.
Harry looked over at Hermione, and it was then that she knew, and she paled considerably. "It was him, wasn't it." It was not a question.
Ron's face went red very quickly, but he was able to stay calm enough to keep his voice frighteningly low and even. "Why didn't you tell us who he was before? He's been out of Azkaban for this long, and he's a menace. So what kept you from telling us?"
Harry heard the angry undertone in Ron's voice that asked, 'why didn't you tell me?' He tried to ignore it.
Hermione for her part, had gone silent, and was looking down at her hands.
"I'm sorry." Harry said, knowing it was insubstantial. "I didn't remember until just now what his name was. I thought it might have been something like 'Flat' I didn't want to say anything until I was certain."
"He's still out there?" Hermione squeaked. "He's still hurting people?"
"Dumbledore needs to know." Ron said, his face slowly returning to a more human colour.
"As usual." Harry said, nodding. "Let me just make sure I don't recognise anyone else." He scanned the parchment thoroughly once more, but no other names prickled the back of his neck the way Thaddeus Platt's just had.
"That's it." Harry said. "Just him."
"We're skipping defense." Ron said angrily, as though there was no other option.
Harry nodded, and was surprised when Hermione didn't say anything to counter Ron's declaration. Ron simply grabbed her hand, pulling her up from the bench, and the three of them left breakfast early. Harry gave Hagrid, who was sitting at the teacher's table, an intense stare, and once he had the giant's attention, beckoned him silently to follow.
Harry followed Ron and Hermione a little further back and read the list again.
He noticed with some amusement, that Ron had not let go of Hermione's hand. She seemed not to have noticed that hers was still locked with his, and looked quite content to be dragged down the hill to Hagrid's hut by an irate redhead. Her anger at the two of them completely forgotten.
They arrived at the cabin, and Hagrid pulled up only seconds later, looking very concerned.
"What's all this then?" He asked, gesturing to Hermione, who seemed to be shaking again, and had subconsciously burrowed herself into Ron's shoulder.
"Inside." Harry said quickly.
They moved in the door, and H arry cast a silencing charm. He spun to face Hagrid. "Thaddeus Platt." He said very clearly. "Is a Death-Eater, and he needs to be stopped."
"Wha?" Hagrid looked stunned. "How d'you get that name? Isn't he a member of the Mayor's council of Hogsmeade or sommat?"
"He's on the list of benefactors to the Hogsmeade Historical Society, and I recognised his name from something Voldemort said during Percy's attack. He's the one who's been giving information to the rest of the society, and also, in effect to Angela Downfish and the Prophet."
"Do you have proof?" Hagrid asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"No." Harry said harshly, knowing it was true. At the edge of his vision, Hermione put her hand up to her mouth, holding in a gasp. "They would never let someone my age testify, and I'm the only one probably who remembers his name being mentioned. I wouldn't really want many people to know how it happened either, seeing as I was only a spectator in Voldemort's mind at the time. Perhaps Percy would remember, but it's more than likely that his statement would be voided because of the stress he was under at the time."
Hagrid sat down very heavily on his massive armchair.
"However, I'm sure Mr. Weasley or Professor McGonagall will remember his voice and face from when he was at the Grangers. Hermione certainly would, and I remember that he had a rather nasty cut on his cheek that's likely turned into a scar. Percy would probably remember that."
Hagrid, gasped in alarm, and looked back over at Hermione. "It's not him?!"
"It is." Hermione answered, sounding a bit calmer. "I remember someone calling him Platt."
"You remember too?" Harry asked her, astonished.
"I had no first name to go by." She said, half-smiling weakly at Harry. She slowly pushed herself away from Ron, and took a few deep confident breaths. Ron stuck his hands in his pockets, as if he couldn't figure out what to do with them now.
"Hermione," Hagrid said slowly, "I don't know what will happen, but I promise that if he's not convicted by the ministry, then the Order'll find some other way of dealing with it."
Hermione nodded, and searched out Ron's hand again.
"If Dumbledore needs me to come in to his office and give him a memory for his pensieve, he knows where I am." Harry said solemnly. "Here's the list of benefactors. I would recommend that each person on this list be checked for possible Death-Eater connections. You'll notice at least two other names that pertain to Voldemort in some way; Malfoy and Nott, so it's possible that there are others."
"I'll do what I can." Hagrid answered solemnly, taking the list.
Ron and Hermione led the way out of the cabin, but Harry turned back to Hagrid just before the door. "By the way, what happened to Hannah's family? She hasn't been back for the past month, and we're getting really worried."
Hagrid's eyes flicked over to Hermione again, and Harry wondered what she had to do with Hannah's family.
"Well, erm… Miss Abbott's a muggleborn, see?"
"Yes…" Harry said, not quite understanding the half-giant's comment.
"Well, 'er mother is in hospital. Miss Abbott's sitting at her bedside, because it doesn't sound like the lady's got much longer to go."
"Oh, No!" Hermione gasped. "That's horrible! What does she have?"
"No, er… It's nothing like that. Her family was attacked by Death-Eaters. Her father and younger brother were killed in the attack."
A keening moan escaped Hermione's mouth. "But…They're muggles!" was all she was able to say. Harry's heart had skipped a beat, and he felt horrible.
"Yeah… Well, that's probably why they attacked them. It's You-Know-Who's new method of attack. He's going after the Muggles what are related to witches and Wizards. I guess he thinks they don't have the right to exist, or to make little wizards an witches."
Harry growled in anger. "By that token, he should kill himself. He's half muggleborn."
"It's just the families 'e's killing. Not the muggleborns 'emselves so far. They can't protect themselves, see? To him, they're just like pets or sommat." Hagrid shook his head.
Harry nodded, eying Hermione, who was shivering a bit and looking frantic.
Ron took hold of Hermione, wrapping his arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze, looking as if he didn't know what else to do.
"That means Hermione's parents are in danger." Harry noddedat Hagrid. "And theDursleys too.Please make sure they're properly protected if you can." Harry insisted.
"We've already gone through and given the proper warding to all of the muggleborn students' parents and families." Hagrid said, nodding to Hermione. "You just take care o' yourself, now."
"Thanks Hagrid." Harry said, again feeling an intense stab of guilt that people were dying because he wasn't ready.
