DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
The start of the new term came without much fanfare. The students returned to classes in better spirits than they had been when they left. No one asked any questions about where Harry had been over the holiday. Only the D.A. had any idea that Harry hadn't actually been at Hogwarts.
The most notable change in the overall mood at Hogwarts had nothing to do with Death Eaters or attacks, but something that many of the students found more immediately threatening. Now that the Christmas Holiday was past, there was just less than two months before the Ball planned during the I.C.W. assembly. Throughout the school, there was a feeling of nervous stress as everyone started looking for dates.
Ginny had already told Harry that they shouldn't go to the Ball together. It was just too risky. Instead, she'd promised to sit with him, and help him find some other date for the ball. Harry agreed despite the disappointment it caused him. She was right. Until they had a better idea of why the attacks were happening, he didn't want to put her at any more risk.
There was, of course, a chance that he'd be putting whoever he asked at risk. He and Ginny had spoken about it for some time the day they'd returned to Hogwarts. His best course of action would be to try and keep the fact that he'd asked the girl fairly quiet. The only other option was to wait for the last moment. The idea of going with a girl who hadn't been able to find a date in two months didn't seem all that appealing, however.
So, all he needed to do was find some other girl that didn't think he attacked other students or attracted Death Eaters, and wouldn't mind having their feet stepped on while they danced. Surely he could find someone. As long as Parvati hadn't told everyone how horrible he was on the dance floor, he should have no trouble finding someone.
Now all he needed was the courage to ask them.
The first Saturday after the start of the term was surprisingly sunny, with only a slight breeze. A new blanket of freshly fallen snow covered the ground, and left a dusting of crystals on the trees and shrubs to sparkle in the sunlight. It was as perfect as anyone could expect a winter day to be.
Harry spent his morning lounging around the common room with a number of other Gryffindors. Katie had spent the entire morning at one of the more secluded tables reading through an enormous Quidditch book and scribbling away at some piece of parchment.
After lunch, quite a few students headed outside to enjoy the beautiful day. Katie went back to her Quidditch book, but most of the other Gryffindors headed outside for sleigh rides and snowball fights. Harry had joined in for a short time, but ducked out when Ron and Hermione joined different teams. They were merciless with each other, and much to the surprise of everyone, Hermione proved to have excellent aim with snowballs.
"I can't tell if they're having fun, or if the fighting has just moved to a new battlefield," Ginny said as she flopped down next to him.
"I hope they're just releasing some pent up aggression toward each other," Harry replied as he stared off at the lake.
"Claire had a pretty miserable Christmas," Ginny said in a lower voice.
"I wish she could have come with us to Grimmauld Place," Harry replied as he watched a group of girls walking off to the lake with ice skates.
Ginny saw where he was looking. "You want to go ice skating?"
"No," Harry replied, "but I might be able to get a date to the ball."
Ginny looked at the group, then sat up and scanned the grounds, nodding. Harry had already looked. There were plenty of people around, yet no one was really paying much attention to each other. If he wanted to ask someone without it becoming a scene, this was a perfect opportunity. Ginny seemed to agree. She gave him a little smile and a nod toward the ice skaters.
Harry walked through the snow as quickly as he could. He'd recognized Susan Bones when she'd turned to watch the snowball fight. Her aunt was Madam Bones, who'd believed him at his trial the year before. She'd trusted him before. She was one of the original members of the D.A. He just had to catch her before she laced her skates up.
When he finally did catch up, she gave him an odd look as he asked if they could talk privately. Together, they walked back in the opposite direction she'd been going. They were still quite some distance from the lake, but Harry didn't want anyone else to be watching, so he led her to a group of trees that would make them a little less visible.
"What is it, Harry?" Susan asked when Harry stopped and faced her. "Did something happen over the holiday?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Oh. Did you see something, then?"
"No," Harry answered, wishing he'd thought this through a little more. "It's nothing like that. I wanted you to... er... I was hoping you would—no..."
"What is it Harry?" she prompted.
"I don't have a date for the Ball. I was wondering if you'd go with me." He closed his eyes, waiting for her to laugh at him or run away screaming, but it never happened.
"Oh," he heard her say. Harry opened his eyes to see her looking at him as if he'd just grown horns.
"You don't have to," he explained quickly. "It's not like its an order or something. I just—"
"Yes," she blurted out, stopping Harry in the middle of his attempt to apologize to her. "Yes, I'll go to the Ball with you." A smile crept across her face. "I can't wait to tell the others."
Harry felt a chill run down his spine. He hadn't thought of that. She'd want to go and tell her friends, and by the end of the day, everyone in Hogwarts would be talking about it. It wouldn't be that much different than if everyone found out about him and Ginny.
"Er... Would you do me a favor?"
"Sure, Harry, what is it?"
"Could you keep this quiet?" he asked. "I'm not embarrassed or anything," he explained quickly, seeing the disappointment on her face. "I just— Everyone thinks I don't have a date, and no one's been attacked because of it. I... I just don't want anyone to get hurt. We'll tell everyone closer to the ball."
Susan reluctantly agreed. They worked out answers to all the questions people might ask. Harry was to say that he didn't have a date at all, and Susan would claim that she had a date, but that she was keeping it a secret, except to her friends who'd just seen her talking with Harry.
Susan smiled brightly at him as she turned to make her way back to the lake. Harry turned the opposite direction and walked back toward the castle, feeling relieved that he'd not have to spend any more time thinking about that problem. In the distance he could see the last few students throwing snowballs back and forth. He also saw someone walking toward him. A moment later, Harry recognized Ginny's red hair as the wind caught it.
As they walked toward each other, Harry heard a faint scream. He broke into a run without thinking and covered the distance to Ginny quickly.
"What did you see?" he shouted when he saw that she seemed okay. Ginny just paused and stared back at him.
"I didn't see anything. What did you see?"
"I didn't— Why did you scream?"
Ginny stared back at Harry and shook her head. "I didn't scream. I felt... odd. I was worried so I came looking for you."
Harry was beginning to feel odd as well. He closed his eyes, hoping to see nothing more than blackness. Instead he saw what he was expecting: dark shapes moving quickly. He took a moment to concentrate. There were two of them, and they were running through trees. One of them was much shorter than the other.
Harry turned and bolted back toward the clump of trees where he'd been talking to Susan. There weren't two of them, there was only one and he was chasing her. Ginny was running after him, but she had no hope of keeping up with him.
Harry reached the trees and weaved his way through them, following Susan's footsteps in the snow. He saw the place where a second, deeper set of prints crossed hers, and the spot where she'd seen her pursuer and ran off to Harry's right, deeper into the trees. As he turned to follow them, he heard a wailing scream inside his mind, and its louder echo only a fraction of a second later, coming from somewhere in front of him. Susan had fallen, and whoever Harry was seeing was standing over her.
He ran as quickly as he could, darting between trees and straining to see some sign of Susan. He didn't know if it was a vision or his own imagination, but he saw Susan lying in the snow, gasping and clutching her leg. The trees flashed red, and Harry slowed long enough to see red sparks hanging in the sky not far off to his left. There was another set to his right.
Harry heard Susan screaming again, this time he couldn't tell which he heard first, the scream in his mind or the one in his ears. He had to be close. There was a third scream, this one much quieter, as if she were being choked. Harry charged onward, ignoring the branches whipping against his face, until he came into a wide clearing. At the far end of it was a small dark heap.
Harry rushed over to where Susan lay gasping for breath. She was lying on her back, one hand on her stomach and the other reaching for her wand which lay in the snow some distance beyond her reach. The jeans she was wearing were torn badly, and Harry felt his stomach lurch as he saw the deep red pool of blood forming under her knees.
"Harry..." she said between breaths, "I can't— I can't get up... If he comes back... "
Harry felt his body tense, and he pulled his wand from his pocket. Someone, hidden in the trees off to his right, was slowly stalking toward him. Harry saw the fear in Susan's eyes as she looked in the direction of the crunching snow. Their eyes met for a second, and Harry tried to let her know that he was going to protect her. She gave a slight nod, and closed her eyes.
Please let her open her eyes again, Harry said to himself as he waited for the attack to come. The footsteps stopped, and Harry readied himself.
"Stupefy!"
Harry reacted almost instantly, putting up a shield protecting him and Susan. He felt the spell deflect off his back, and dove away from her. He hit the snow softly, and twisted as quickly as a snake to find his attacker. Harry found him immediately: a dark shape huddled behind a large tree."
"Reducto!" he shouted, and a large section of the trunk disappeared in a cloud of dust and splinters. The tree cracked, shuddered and slowly tumbled away from Harry, making the figure run out into the clearing. Harry took aim again.
"Stupefy!" The Death Eater crumpled onto the ground immediately. Harry turned to go back to Susan, but another voice rang out.
"Expelliarmus!"
Harry instinctively dropped to the ground as the spell zipped past him. He turned and sprung toward the next attacker.
"Harry, STOP!" someone shouted. Harry recognized the voice, and paused long enough to realize that he was surrounded by Aurors, including Magnus Montnor, who was walking toward him. "What's going on here?"
Harry looked around the clearing. There were now six Aurors standing in a rough semi-circle around him. He searched the trees for any sign of another Death Eater, and finding none, turned to look at Susan. Her eyes were closed, but her chest was still rising and falling in the same irregular gasping breaths she'd been taking before.
Harry pointed to the Death Eater. "He attacked her," he announced as he walked back toward Susan.
"STOP!" one of the Aurors ordered. Harry turned and glared at him. "Stay where you are. I can assure you he did not attack her."
"I saw it!" Harry shouted. He turned and continued walking toward Susan, causing many of the Aurors to yell at him again. "She's hurt!" he shouted at them and kept walking.
"Stop where you are, or I'll stun you," the Auror threatened. "I don't care who you are, you'll not move another—"
"Put your wand down, Pierce."
Harry turned to see Kingsley Shacklebolt stepping out of the trees closest to Susan. He stopped for a moment to look at Susan.
"She needs bandages!" he called out. "And someone find me one of those sleighs!"
"He was the only one here when Alfred got here, sir," the Auror Shacklebolt had called Pierce said. "Potter attacked him, and then turned on me."
"Well Dalton deserved as much," Kingsley replied as he gingerly moved Susan's legs. "They both should have checked their opponents, but at least Harry won. I don't suppose Dalton expected him to destroy that tree." Kingsley laughed to himself as he waved his wand back and forth, causing a long bandage to appear and wrap itself around Susan's leg.
"I'm not joking," Pierce growled, "She screamed three times, and after the third I saw him leaning over her. If he didn't do it, he was helping them."
"That's enough!" Kingsley yelled. He jumped up and strode over to where Pierce stood, and grabbed him by his robes and pulled him into the trees. Harry tried to ignore them. He looked down at Susan. She opened her eyes to look back at him.
"It hurts..." she whispered, "...he... my legs. They're broken... I could feel it..." Her breathing had become a little more regular. The pool of blood gathering under her legs seemed to have stopped growing, and was forming crimson pits in the snow. She was looking very pale.
"Harry, he... used some curse... on my leg."
Her eyes fluttered and closed. Harry knew what the expect. He looked down her leg and found the bottom of her jeans ripped to her knee. There was a single dark line of burnt skin, running the length of her calf, and in the unmistakable pattern of a lightning bolt.
Harry covered it up instinctively and stumbled back. She'd been marked. She was just like the others. But how? He'd just left her. She couldn't have been attacked more than a minute after he left. Someone had been watching and waiting.
Kingsley Shacklebolt returned to the clearing with one of the sleighs. He quickly picked up Susan, and lifted her into the sleigh with him. The sleigh turned and sped off through the trees, which jumped aside to create a path.
Harry looked at the Aurors, and they all stared back at him. The patch of blood in the snow was much larger that it had looked before. He was feeling ill again. Why was she attacked? She hadn't done anything to upset him like the rest of the victims. And no one knew that she'd agreed to go to the ball with him.
It didn't matter at the moment. Harry admitted to himself that she'd looked really bad when Shacklebolt had taken her. He didn't want to be in the clearing any more. He needed to make sure she was okay. As he followed the path the sleigh had taken, he found Ginny standing a short distance into the trees where he guessed she'd watched everything that happened.
"Was she marked?" Ginny asked quietly.
"On her leg," Harry answered as she turned and walked next to him. "She'd just agreed to go to the ball with me, and they broke both of her legs."
They didn't say anything more to each other on the way back to the castle. Harry noticed there were no students enjoying themselves outside the castle, anymore. In their place were roving pairs of Aurors who eyed them warily.
Ron and Hermione were waiting for them at the door. Instead of bombarding him with questions, they both silently followed him. He headed directly for the Hospital Wing. As they got close to the door, Harry heard the voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt echoing down the hallway.
"...don't care if they try to burn the castle down out of boredom, Albus! We had patrols everywhere, and they still got through... Hogsmeade? Are you mad? You saw what happened last time— No, it's not that..."
They turned the last corner and saw the open door leading to the room where the patients normally stayed. The voices became much clearer, and Harry stopped and simply listened.
"No, I don't think that's even possible. There aren't enough Aurors to watch the grounds, the castle and every one of them. But there is something we've considered."
"By all means, please share it with us," Harry heard Dumbledore say.
"Well, we don't really have to watch all of them, do we? Everything follows Harry. We don't need to keep them all in the castle, just Harry."
"If you would remember, Harry was inside the castle when Mr. Crabbe was attacked."
"But the situation could have been avoided if he'd never left. We can keep the castle safe for him. But all of the grounds..."
"So, you'd have us turn Hogwarts into a prison for Harry?" Dumbledore replied. "Why Hogwarts, then? Hasn't the Ministry finished staffing Azkaban? Why not lock him there?"
"I'm not joking, Albus. The grounds aren't safe. Can't you do something?"
"I won't do Voldemort's work for him," Dumbledore responded. "And that shall have to be the end of it, for the time being. Harry's heard quite enough."
Kingsley Shacklebolt turned to look at the door and Harry just beyond it. He swore and walked away. Dumbledore walked toward Harry, closing the doors to the ward behind him.
"She will recover," Dumbledore said seriously, "though it will be some time before will be able to use her legs. She will be transferred to St. Mungo's sometime tomorrow morning." He paused and looked intently at Harry. "You saw her leg, did you not?"
Harry nodded. Dumbledore said nothing else, and simply walked away, leaving Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny to wonder what they weren't being told. They slowly made their way back to a somber Gryffindor common room. A few of them who knew Harry better than the rest tried to ask some questions, but Harry didn't feel like explaining. He went to his dormitory instead, and studied the next week's Potions chapter.
He left only briefly to eat dinner. He didn't say much to anyone else, and few people even tried to talk to him. Students from the other houses generally kept their distance, with only two exceptions: a Ravenclaw fourth year who had been convinced to join the D.A. and wanted to know who to ask, and a Hufflepuff girl who claimed someone had told her to ask if Harry had a date to the ball.
He thought about how to answer, and decided that his previous plan would work best. "No, I don't," he told her, "but I'm not really looking for one either. Sorry." The girl had seemed a little surprised by his answer, but she'd walked away without any more questions.
After dinner, he'd retreated back to his room. He couldn't get Kingsley Shacklebolt's words out of his head. They were all too similar to thoughts he'd already entertained. The rest of the students would be safer if he'd just lock himself up in the castle. And yet, he couldn't help feeling selfish and wishing that he would be able to do all the things that the rest of the students could. Loads of other students got dates to the ball without breaking their date's legs.
Harry went to sleep very early, mostly out of a desire to simply end the day and escape his memories. It didn't really work. His dreams were laced with the image of Susan lying on a growing pool of blood and calling out for him to help her. Despite the nightmares, he slept late, not wanting to face the rest of the school.
When it got closer to noon, he forced himself to wash up and go to lunch. Most of the students had already left, including Ron, Hermione and Ginny. He found them sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. When Hermione saw him approaching, her eyes widened and she put down her drink and motioned for him to hurry up.
"Why were you talking with Susan?" Hermione asked quietly.
"I... er... I was—"
"Tell her the truth, Harry," Ginny interrupted, making everyone turn from Harry to stare at her.
Harry frowned. "I was asking her to be my date for the ball."
"And she turned you down?" Hermione prompted.
"No," Harry said with a bewildered expression, "No, she said yes. I asked her to keep it a secret."
"Well then, there is a little bit of a problem," Ron explained. "See, a bunch of girls in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff saw the two of you walking off, and figured that you were going to ask her to the ball. So they asked her last night when Pomfrey let her have visitors, and she said that she was already going with someone else, but wouldn't tell them who it was."
Harry gave Ron a funny look, then turned to Hermione and Ginny who was trying to listen to Ron and Neville, who was speaking about something else entirely.
"Don't you see, Harry?" Hermione told him, "It looks like you asked her to the ball and when she told you about her other date, you made sure she didn't go to the dance with anyone."
"But... the Aurors, they were there. They know that it wasn't me," Harry argued.
"Well, I don't think very many students spend much time talking to Aurors, do they?" Hermione replied. "I'm just telling you. A lot of them think you did this. There was a D.A. council meeting last night because a number of students wrote home to tell their parents that you should be expelled."
Harry lost every bit of his appetite. That had been the purpose of the attack. It was no different than the summer attacks. So long as Harry was here, Voldemort couldn't get to him. If he were expelled, there would be little anyone could do to protect him.
As he walked back to his dormitory, he tried to convince himself that it would blow over in a few days, but he knew that it would take quite a bit longer for people to forget that he was the one who might have attacked a girl for not going to the ball with him. He sat on his bed, and forced every last thought from his mind. After students started returning from the Great Hall, he fetched his Potions text and read over the next chapter yet again.
He didn't leave his room for the rest of the day. Let the rumors spread and grow. He couldn't hide forever, but he could hide for today, and that seemed like a good idea to him. That night, Ginny sent food up to Harry with Colin and Denis. They said nothing. They merely dropped the food off, and walked casually out of the room.
As weekends went, his had been amazingly wretched.
Harry slept in the next day, well past breakfast. The nightmares had come last night, and he'd slept horribly. He'd known what to expect. It had only been a matter of time before it was Ginny lying on the ground, bleeding, and trying to tell him that she didn't blame him. He'd woken up for an hour following that, but after spending some time trying to push all his thoughts and memories from his mind, he was able to get back to the restless sleep he'd become accustomed to.
The only good news was that it was a Sunday. There were no classes, and he had no essays to write or potions to prepare for. There was just a school of people who thought he'd attacked a girl for turning him down.
The very thought made him feel ill. Voldemort was trying to get everyone to turn against him. It was obvious now. More troubling than that thought was the fact that Harry was certain it wouldn't work. There would always be some students (and professors) who would believe him capable of such things, but they would never outnumber the number of people who had learned to trust him, or at least believe him. Would Voldemort keep trying? Would people keep getting hurt for no reason?
He wanted to curl up and sleep until the next morning, but just as he thought he might be drifting back to sleep, the door to the dormitory opened and then closed roughly. Harry knew what would be coming. He could already hear the sharp taps of shoes approaching his bed. Closing his eyes to the inevitable, he waited for the sounds of his curtains being pulled open.
The rustle of his curtains was followed by a flash of sunlight. Harry squinted into the light at the small silhouette standing by his bed.
"Does it ever bother you that this is a boys dormitory?"
"No," Hermione replied defiantly. "Is there some reason why you think it's alright to hide in your room?"
"Yes," Harry replied just as defiantly.
"Well, I think you're being stupid."
"What do Ron and Ginny think?"
"Ron wouldn't care if you slept through the next week, and Ginny would gladly bring you food every day if you'd smile at her."
"Maybe you should listen to them more often," Harry replied sourly.
"Maybe you should learn to realize when you're being selfish," Hermione shouted back as she tugged on the bedclothes.
Harry tugged back, knowing he wouldn't be falling back to sleep, but not wanting to get out of bed just yet. "What's your problem, Hermione? Are you and Ron fighting again?" As soon as he said it, he knew that he shouldn't have. His eyes opened fully, just in time to see Hermione's wand.
An instant later, the bedclothes were gone, and Hermione had grabbed Harry by the ankle. With a surprising tug, she pulled Harry out of bed, letting him drop to the stone floor with a thud.
"Bloody hell!" Harry shouted as he rubbed his hip. "What is going on? Why do you care if I spend the day in bed?"
"There's a council meeting immediately after lunch," she answered coldly. She was glaring at him now, with her arms folded across her chest, her wand poking out beneath her left arm.
"Well that's great for you," Harry remarked as he reached for his wand, "but if you'd read the charter like you read everything else in this castle, you'd realize that I'm not on the Council. I only showed up at the other meetings because I chose to."
"Rule Thirty-Three states that the Council can order a meeting and require the presence of the Leader," Hermione recited. She added with a smile, "Failure to appear before the Council is grounds for removal."
Harry stared back rebelliously. "Fine. Remove me. Ron can be the new leader."
Hermione eyes narrowed and her lips pressed into a tight smile. "Alright. I'll just let Ginny know, then."
"Fine!" Harry shouted. "I'll go."
"Excellent," Hermione said with a sickly sweet voice. "I'll see you there, then. I'm so glad you want to join us." She toward the door and stopped when she saw Ron standing there. "That," she said pointing back at Harry, "is how you are supposed to wake Harry up."
Ron closed the door after she left and walked over to where Harry was picking himself up and dusting off his pajamas.
"I don't suppose you can explain any of that to me," Harry asked.
"Sorry, mate," Ron answered. "She was talking with Ginny and Cho during breakfast. They said it was Council business. I didn't think she was going to do all that."
"When did they schedule a Council meeting?"
"No idea," Ron replied immediately. "They don't really bother me with that stuff."
Harry groaned as he searched for clothes. "How much time do I have before lunch?"
"Not as much as Hermione will need to cool off," Ron answered flatly. "I find it works best if you just keep quiet. At least you won't say anything that will get her even more hacked off at you."
Harry took Ron's advice, and it seemed to work. He sat as far from Hermione as he could, while still sitting in the same group of students. He tried to say as little as possible and didn't say anything to Hermione, even when she asked him if he wanted more water.
Ron left early, claiming that there was something he had to do. Harry guessed there was a better chance that he simply wanted to keep away from Hermione until she'd calmed down a bit more. For once, she didn't seem to be argumentative toward Ron, but he wasn't taking any chances and Harry didn't mind him leaving and saving him from the possibility of making Hermione more upset.
When they were all finished with lunch, Ginny and Hermione walked to the Room of Requirement with Harry trudging along behind them. Daphne Greengrass was already there, sitting against the door and waiting for them.
"Morning, Potter," she greeted him without looking up. "I hear it took both Ron and Hermione to get you out of bed this morning. Are you just a heavy sleeper or were you hoping for someone else?" Harry glared at her but didn't answer. "Maybe Hermione should be more careful, or she'll be the next one who can't walk."
"I didn't do it," Harry growled.
"'Course you didn't," Daphne said with a smile. "Why would you attack her even if she did turn you down? She wasn't the one you really wanted to go to the ball with."
Harry glanced over at Ginny and she gave him a scolding look. Harry looked away as quickly as he could, but Daphne was already smiling. She didn't say anything more and seemed completely occupied by something she was holding in her hand.
Cho and Luna showed up next, followed by Ernie and Hannah. They waited a few more minutes until Blaise showed up, and slowly walked into the room. They each grabbed a chair and sat in a rough circle in the center of the room. Harry didn't feel much like joining in and instead took a seat against the wall and ignored the annoyed looks he got from Ginny and Hermione.
When no one else started talking, Harry started for them. "Right then. So what did the lot of you want to punish me for? Sleeping in?"
"We're not here to punish you, Harry," Hermione said.
"Right. What was I thinking? Just because Hermione threatened to have me removed as the Leader doesn't mean you were upset with me."
"She what?" Cho asked.
"It got him here, didn't it?" Hermione said defensively.
"Maybe we should send Ginny next time," Ernie suggested.
Daphne's mouth twitched. "Yes, I doubt Harry would mind." Ginny shot her a glance that Harry could only describe as both pleading and violently threatening. Daphne took the hint, and covered her mouth with her hand.
"Someone needed to wake him up," Hannah finally spoke up. "Zacharias Smith was asking where he'd gone and wondering if that meant something horrible was about to happen. He was just talking, but a lot of the younger students were almost panicking."
"Well maybe someone should have told Zacharias to shut up and let Harry sleep."
Everyone in the room turned to find the source of the comment, and found Ron standing in the doorway.
"This is a Council meeting, Ron," Ernie said stiffly. "You're not on the Council."
"Neither is Harry, but Rule Thirty-Three states that he can be forced to attend for a vote of removal. However, Rule Thirty-Three also states that if he is, he can bring a member to act as an observer and report to the supervising professors."
"Yes, well Harry wasn't forced to come, was he?"
"Actually I was," Harry interjected with a smile. Ron nodded to Harry. "See. I was there. Hermione used Rule Thirty-Three to make him show up, and I'm here as the observer." Harry flashed him a bright smile, and summoned a chair over next to him for Ron to sit in.
"Is that why you left lunch so early?" Luna asked Ron.
"Hermione isn't the only one who knows how to use a library. I think now would be a good time for everyone to list their reasons for wanting Harry removed. Why don't you start, Hermione?"
With a scowl, she turned to Ron and spoke very slowly. "He hasn't been eating enough proper meals." Daphne and Blaise goggled at each other.
"Is that all it takes to be removed?" Blaise asked. "I mean, I stay up pretty late. Am I going to be removed for bad sleep habits?"
Hermione just stared at the ceiling and sighed. "That's my reason. What's yours Ginny?"
"My reason?" Ginny asked. "I never said I wanted him removed."
Hermione slumped forward in her chair, resting her forehead on one arm. "Well, then he gets to leave," she said with a frustrated wave of her other arm.
"But we need to talk to him," Cho complained. "I never wanted him removed, I just wanted to make sure he was doing alright."
"Yeah, well we can't force him to talk with us." Hermione growled. "And no one else had any better ideas, did they?" Her head was resting in both of her hands now, and she was shaking her head at the floor. "Fine. Tell him to leave. We'll just wait around next time until either the Magnificent Harry Potter decides to talk to us or someone lets us know that we won't be seeing him again."
"I don't want him to go," Cho argued. "I thought you were going to convince him to show up, not threaten him. Merlin's Beard, Hermione! I just wanted to make sure he wasn't blaming himself. Can we just ignore all of this and get on with the meeting?"
"So I can go?" Harry asked.
Cho groaned and and buried her face in her hands much like Hermione had. "Stay, Harry. Please?"
"Alright, but Ron stays."
Ernie spoke up again. "No one's accusing you of anything, Harry, and he's not on the Council," As if they had planned it, Ron and Harry both stood up.
"Sit down, both of you," Ginny ordered. "Cho, Hermione. Can we just get on with this?" Harry watched Cho and Hermione exchanged frustrated looks. It hadn't taken long for the Council members to adopt roles, and though there was no official parchment declaring it, Hermione and Cho were the leaders of the Council. They both nodded, and the rest of the Council nodded their agreement as well.
Just as Cho and Hermione led the Council, Ernie was in charge of seeing that everything got done. Luna came up with solutions to any problem they might have. Daphne and Blaise seemed to know more about what happened around the castle than anyone else, and it was becoming more and more apparent that Ginny had some special ability to get Harry to do whatever was needed.
"Harry, tell them," she said.
"Wait, you mean that you already know?" Ernie interjected. "How did you—"
He was cut of by a number of tired, annoyed and impatient glares. The silent pleading in Ginny's eyes was enough to convince Harry to stay, but he tried to hide it. With a frustrated sigh he started slowly explaining what had happened the day before. For once he told them everything he could remember. Even Ron and Hermione seemed surprised by how much he told everyone.
In a way, it felt good to tell them about everything. It was a relief. He was no longer the only one who had to live with the image of Susan lying crippled and bleeding in the snow. There really wasn't any reason why sharing that particular horror with nine other people should make him feel better, but somehow it did.
The Council stayed silent through all of his explanation, either because of the seriousness of the situation, or simple fear that they'd upset him enough to make him walk out. Only once he got to his explanation of why he'd slept in that morning did they start talking.
In contrast to the earlier arguing, everyone was now acting like a team, and for the first time, Harry realized that it was a team without him. They weren't worrying about the things he worried about. They were handling all sorts of things he either hadn't thought of, or didn't have the time to consider doing.
Was that supposed to be the purpose of the D.A.? Were they supposed to make things easier on Harry? Sometimes it had seemed that it was more trouble than it was worth, considering the little success they'd had. Yet, Harry watched in silence as they created a number of plans for convincing people that Harry hadn't been responsible for what happened to Susan.
He had very little input, and eventually, he and Ron began quietly discussing the Council itself and wondering how much had been going on behind their backs.
Eventually they called an end to the meeting though they hadn't really finished talking. Harry resolved to try and remember to pay more attention to Hermione and Ginny and how often they talked privately to the other Council members. When they returned to the common room it was much later than he realized, and many of the students were watching the four of them suspiciously, obviously knowing they'd disappeared for a few hours without any explanation and had guessed at the explanation.
Harry found that he didn't really care. The entire weekend had been draining, both physically and emotionally. When it came time for dinner, he joined everyone else, and returned along with everyone else. He even stayed in the common room and forced himself to play a pair of games of chess (resulting in two dismal losses for Harry). He was very tired, yet he didn't want to slip off to bed early for yet another night.
When he did finally make it to his bed, he was exhausted. He knew falling asleep would be easy, but he didn't know how much rest he would get. He could tell the nightmares were still there, in the back of his mind, waiting to come forward as soon as he drifted off. Still, it was something that couldn't be avoided, and if he was lucky, they would simply be the old nightmares about the Department of Mysteries, or even the Graveyard.
As he felt the world fading away around him, he tried to force himself to not think of Ginny. He didn't know how many more times he could bare to see her comforting face, and hear her voice forgiving him for letting her die like the others.
Author's Note:
A bit of side information: This chapter originally included an account of the student's return to Gryffindor Tower with a rather boring section about Harry and Ginny spending time together. It might have made the Harry/Ginny fans happy, but it might have also upset them, because...well, it was boring. The other implication, was that the chapter became much shorter and got lumped in with the trailing chapter (which was un-named at the time). The original name of this chapter was: "Broken Bones".
I guess it's up to you guys to say whether that was too cheesy or not.
Finally, for those of you hoping for more Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione interaction, be sure to hit that next chapter link.