Madam Pomfrey let them out the next day, under Dumbledore's orders. The next day, however, was a long time ago.

Their daily lives continued. Classes went on as usual, the teachers already discussing N.E.W.T.s as though they were coming the next day. The D.A. lessons went on, new spells being taught, the members learning with ease. The hardest thing they had yet to learn was saying 'Voldemort' instead of 'You-Know-Who', a habit they were hard to break from. Hermione was still missing, Ron's moans at night starting to creep into Harry's dreams like water on tile. They were out of ideas and had no leads on where she might be, now that Voldemort had undoubtedly moved from Malfoy Manor.

Another area of specific concern, though no one spoke it out loud, was Kelly's continued possessions by Voldemort. It took place so frequently that by now, if Voldemort was whispering taunts in his ear, Harry could easily just tell Voldemort to bug off without a second thought.

But Voldemort wasn't one to play that game. He wasn't going to give up until Harry was no longer living to taunt. It was on a chilly February night, with stars everywhere, lighting up the night sky; when everyone else had gone to bed except he, Kelly, and Ron, he decided to spice things up a bit.

"So I see you haven't discovered where Miss Granger is," Kelly suddenly said.

Harry wasn't fooled. "Hello, Voldemort."

"Potter, I'm bored. Please come try and find her. It would make things so much more interesting," Voldemort said, looking at Harry accusingly.

Harry set down his quill. "Where? I have no idea where she is."

"Ah, I knew you would say that," Voldemort said, "so I prepared."

"Did you now?" Harry asked, turning back to his work.

"I did," he repeated. "And here is your clue…"

He grabbed a spare piece of parchment and snatched the quill out of Harry's hand as he started writing:

Where she is, you'll never find

Though you see it all the time.

She watches as you go to class

She knows whether you fail or pass.

She sees you when you go and eat

She sits there, crying; she bawls, she weeps

For if she gets a crumb of food,

Lunch time caught me when I was in a good mood.

So hurry, Potter, find her now

She's only got 'till the sun goes down.

Harry looked up from reading the page, vaguely registering that Voldemort could use some help on his poetry. Voldemort was smirking, waiting for Harry's reaction. Harry purposely kept his face blank, but his voice gave away his anger.

"What do you mean, 'she's only got till the sun goes down'?"

Voldemort smirked even wider. "What do you think?"

"The sun isn't up," Harry said. "Do you mean after the next sun sets, you'll kill her?"

Voldemort repeated himself. "What do you think?"

Kelly went into a daze again, to Harry's anger. He had a few more things to say to Goldilocks.

When Kelly looked around at them all, and saw them glaring, she asked, "What did he say?"

Harry handed the paper to her. She read it with worry. "She's watching. As in she can see us now? And she's only got until the next sun goes down?"

"All Voldemort would say was 'What do you think?'," Harry said.

"So… so at least it's not definite," Kelly tried to encourage.

"But… if she can see us now…" Ron started.

"Where she is, you'll never find, though you see it all the time," Kelly recited.

Harry thought. "Where do we see all the time, but we'd never think about as a hiding place?"

"Well, if we don't think of it, that's a stupid question," said Ron.

"Maybe not…" Kelly said. "It makes me think that she's here in Hogwarts." Kelly looked at the paper again. "She watches as you go to class, she knows whether you fail or pass. That sounds like she's close enough to see the grade on your paper. Like she's…"

"In a classroom?" Harry asked. "No way. The Marauder's Map would've showed her."

"Have you even checked the Marauder's Map, Harry?" Ron asked suddenly. "If you did, I wasn't there."

Harry thought again. "Good point."

He raced upstairs and stopped in front of his trunk, hoping that in his rush he wouldn't wake the others. He quickly grabbed the Marauder's Map and brought it back down to the common room. Kelly and Ron gathered around him.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," Harry said, tapping the map with his wand. The introduction came up, and then the map appeared. Harry, Kelly, and Ron searched the map, but they couldn't find Hermione, Voldemort, or any Death Eaters. In fact, the only suspicious thing was that Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Theodore Nott were nowhere to be seen on the map.

"But… then how can she know what grade we got? How can she be watching if she's not even in Hogwarts?" Ron asked.

"Well… this is Voldemort we're talking about," Harry reminded them.

"Yes, but to fool the Marauder's Map, made by three excellent wizards?" Kelly asked.

"Four," Harry reminded her bitterly.

"Three good ones. I never said Wormtail was good," Kelly said.

"So where else could she be? She's not at Hogwarts. Could she be in the Forbidden Forest?" Harry asked.

"Well…" Kelly thought, "she could be, but that was the first place we thought when we realized she wasn't in Hogwarts or on the grounds."

Ron nodded. "True. This could be something Voldemort's done just to get us going, though."
Kelly nodded. "A possibility, and a likely one, if she's not in Hogwarts."

Harry thought. "Yes… he said he was bored… he wanted to make things more interesting… us going on a hopeless search for her might keep him entertained."

"True…" Ron agreed.

They were quiet for a minute, thinking of what they might do. Harry couldn't think of anything, and was about to speak, when Ron's eyes widened, almost in understanding.

"Ron?" Harry suddenly asked instead.

"Harry…" Ron whispered. "The lake!"

Harry was quiet, thinking of this. It could be…

"Yes…" Kelly agreed, "the lake would be an excellent spot to hide. No one goes in there, at least not very deep…."

Harry slowly nodded. "Yes, but you can't breathe underwater. We can't perform bubblehead charms or transfigure ourselves. They, and we, would need…"

"…gillyweed," Kelly finished. "And loads of it."

"But where will we find any gillyweed?" Ron asked, bewildered.

Harry slowly looked at him. "In Snape's private storeroom."