Chapter Fifteen

As he followed Professor McGonagall into Dumbledore's office, Harry was supremely confident that the Headmaster would have a plan for dealing with Lucius Malfoy. Not that he hadn't seen Dumbledore at a loss before; the Headmaster's discomfiture on the night of Sirius's death still nibbled uncomfortably at the back of Harry's mind. But he couldn't bring himself to believe that Dumbledore would be pre-empted by the likes of Lucius Malfoy.

Dumbledore, seated behind his cluttered desk, appeared unsurprised by Harry's visit. "It's all right, Minerva," he assured Professor McGonagall, who had opened her mouth to apologize for Harry's insistence on seeing the Headmaster immediately (he had threatened to camp out in her office until she took him to Dumbledore). "Please sit down, Harry."

Dropping into a chair across from the Headmaster, Harry suddenly found himself at a loss for words. He couldn't just directly demand to know Dumbledore's plans, could he?

With a knowing smile, Dumbledore ventured, "Something tells me you're here about Draco Malfoy, aren't you?" Harry nodded, grateful for the rescue. "I see Miss Weasley has inherited her older brothers' penchant for eavesdropping."

Harry blushed. "She didn't mean anything, Professor – "

Dumbledore waved him off. "Quite all right, Harry, quite all right. I should know by now not to discuss sensitive matters in the hallways."

Resting his elbows on the desk, Dumbledore leaned forward, suddenly intense. "I wish I had better news for you, Harry," he began gravely. The sparkle in his wise blue eyes dimmed. "I've already spoken with the Board of Governors, and it seems neither I nor any other member of the Hogwarts faculty may prevent a parent from removing their child from this institution."

"But that's ridiculous!" Harry protested. Behind him, Professor McGonagall clucked disapprovingly; ignoring her, he rushed on, "Lucius Malfoy isn't taking Draco on a holiday. He's sending him to his death!"

"I don't disagree with you. But I must say, as long as the Wyr Estate remains open, I can't prevent Mr. Malfoy – or anyone else, for that matter – from sending his son there." Dumbledore looked away, obviously troubled. "I'm afraid, Harry, that some members of our Board see nothing wrong with the Wyr Estate. I don't expect them to take any desperate measures on Draco's behalf."

Rage born of frustration rose up inside of Harry. How could the world be so unfair? How could people be so ignorantly bigoted? Not that he had much compassion for Malfoy – well, prior to this whole werewolf debacle, that was – but, villain or not, Malfoy was still a person. Werewolf or not, he was still a person. Why couldn't the rest of the world see that?

"So what do we do?" he managed to calm himself enough to ask Dumbledore. "Can we hide Malfoy or something?"

"I'm sure Lucius intends to press this matter to the furthest extent of the law," the Headmaster replied. "If I, or any other member of the Hogwarts faculty, were to hide his son, he would insist that the Ministry send in a team of Aurors to find him out. And not even Hogwarts can hide someone forever – especially not an ill boy in need of daily care."

Something struck Harry as odd: That was twice now Dumbledore had used the phrase "any other member of the Hogwarts faculty". Was it just because the Headmaster was tired and worried, or was something more behind the professor's words?

Is he trying to tell me something?

Harry searched Dumbledore's eyes. Sure enough, he was certain he detected a hint of something there. He couldn't put his finger on what the something was, exactly, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that the Headmaster was trying to communicate a point to him without actually saying it out loud.

Slowly, choosing his words with care, Harry asked, "Do you know of anything at all that can be done, Professor?"

Dumbledore smiled the kind of pleased smile that reminded Harry of a Cheshire cat. "Well, Harry, in these troubling times, I always tell students to look to our history. We can learn a lot from our past."

With that, the Headmaster rose. "Now, you'll have to excuse me, but I need to go speak with Mr. Malfoy before his father arrives. I expect," he added, leveling a meaningful gaze on Harry, "that Lucius will arrive around seven o'clock this morning. If anyone is interested."

The moment Dumbledore disappeared from the office, Harry dashed past Professor McGonagall and made a beeline for Gryffindor Tower. Bursting into the common room, he found Ginny trying unsuccessfully to console a sobbing Hermione, while Neville hovered nearby looking miserable and nervous.

"What is it?" Harry demanded of Ginny, alarmed by Hermione's hysterical state.

"She tried to go see Draco," Ginny explained quietly, "and Snape told her they weren't allowing him any visitors."

"It's not fair!" Hermione burst out. Her tear-streaked cheeks flamed with sudden fury. "Draco's going to think we've all abandoned him! What was I going to do, turn us both invisible and sneak out under Snape's nose?"

"Hardly. It's a pretty big nose," Neville offered.

Harry suppressed a grin. From the look on Hermione's face, he could tell this was not the time to smile – he didn't want her fury at Snape being transferred onto him, especially at this close of range. Sitting down beside her, he reluctantly relayed the bad news that Dumbledore couldn't protect Draco from his father, but he added hastily, "I think he was trying to tell me something, though. He kept saying that the teachers couldn't do anything, and then he told me to look to 'our history.' Any ideas what he meant?"

Three blank stares met his hopeful gaze. After a long silence, Ginny countered, "Maybe he meant something like this has happened before here?"

"But how would we find out about it?" Neville rejoined. "You think one of the professors could tell us something? Or Hagrid, maybe?"

Suddenly, Hermione jumped to her feet. "Of course! 'Our history'! It makes perfect sense!"

"What does?" Harry demanded, bewildered, but he was speaking to Hermione's back as she abruptly ran up the dormitory stairs. Turning to Ginny, he wondered aloud, "Is she touched in the head?"

Ginny shrugged. "The boy she loves is in danger," she replied, with so much meaning in the words that Harry couldn't fight down a blush. "Tends to make even the sanest girls into nutters."

Oh boy, this is gonna get complicated…

Before Harry could dwell too long on the implications of Ginny's response, though, Hermione dashed back into the room and deposited her well-used copy of Hogwarts: A History on the table in front of Harry. "There," she cried triumphantly. "Dumbledore said to look in 'our history,' right?"

Neville groaned. "You mean we have to go through that whole book looking for something that'll help us?"

"No," Hermione assured him, already flipping pages. "I'm sure I know what he means. Harry, you said he kept referring to the teachers not being able to intervene, right?"

"Right," Harry answered. "He kept saying 'any other member of the Hogwarts faculty'. It was strange."

"Here it is." Hermione stopped with her finger on a page. She read aloud: "In 1321, Imogene Hall, a fifth-year student at Hogwarts, was summoned home by her mother, the infamous Cleopatra Hall, who was suspected (but never convicted) of killing her husband and two young sons. The Board of Governors was powerless to prevent Cleopatra from removing her daughter from the school, even though everyone suspected that she meant to murder her young daughter as she had the rest of her family. But when Cleopatra arrived to collect her daughter, she was prevented by the entirety of the student body, who invoked the Charter of Protection to keep Imogene safely at Hogwarts."

"What the bloody hell is the Charter of Protection?" Neville muttered, echoing Harry's thoughts exactly.

Impatient as always with their ignorance, Hermione explained testily, "The Charter of Protection states that if all of the students in three of the four Houses agree that one or more other students are in danger, they can join together and use whatever magical means necessary to protect that student or students. The only condition is that they cannot be incited to invoke the Charter by an member of the Hogwarts faculty, including the Headmaster. You see, that's why Dumbledore couldn't tell you what to do directly, Harry, he just had to lead you to it!"

"Good thing we had you here," Neville muttered, "or I don't think we'd have gotten it."

She glared at him. "Honestly, Neville, don't you pay any attention to the school handbook?"

Harry decided not to mention that he hadn't even been aware a handbook existed until now. Instead, he clarified, "So what you're saying is, if we get three of the four Houses to agree that Lucius Malfoy means to harm Draco, we can keep him from taking Draco out of Hogwarts?"

"Exactly." Hermione's red-rimmed eyes shone with hope. "Oh, Harry, do you think we can pull this off?"

Harry glanced at the clock. By now, it was after ten; that meant they had a little more than eight hours to convince every single student in at least three Houses to stand up for the protection of Draco Malfoy – not an easy sell, given Malfoy's track record of bullying.

But they had to try. He couldn't be responsible for Malfoy's death on top of everything else.

Mustering his courage, Harry announced decisively, "Here's what we're going to do. Hermione, you get out your handbook and get ready to spout that Protection-rule-thingie to anyone who challenges us. Ginny, you and Neville will take the Invisibility Cloak and go to Ravenclaw – you go there, Ginny, you know a lot of them – and to Hufflepuff – you go there, Neville – and get them to agree to stopping Malfoy. Tell everyone to meet down in the Great Hall by six-thirty. Okay?"

"What are you going to do?" Hermione asked, as Neville darted upstairs to get the Invisibility Cloak out of Harry's trunk.

Grimly, Harry replied, "I'm going to recruit Gryffindor."

And that, of course, meant recruiting Ron.

Author's Note: I promise Draco will be back next chapter!