Everyone was up early the next day and back to the grindstone. Harry decided to take Divination off, as the D.A. was due to meet that evening. He spent the free class in the Room of Requirement, looking through various books for different jinxes that they had not looked at. He paused at the top of a likely looking page, marked with a fold that Hermione must have put there the year before.
The door opened at that moment, and Harry looked up to find Remus standing there, looking worried.
"What's up?" Harry asked. "Why aren't you teaching?"
Remus closed the door behind him as he came in, brandishing a letter at Harry.
"What's this?"
"Sasha just sent it," Remus said as Harry unfolded the parchment. As his eyes travelled down the parchment, his expression changed dramatically, and he finally looked up at Remus, who was looking just as worried as Harry felt.
"So, they might kill her if they don't get me?" he asked, his voice shaking.
Remus nodded. "Unless Viktor can save her first, or –"
"Or I defeat him first." Remus nodded. "This is ridiculous," Harry scoffed. "How can you stand it?"
Remus sank down on a pillow. "I can't," he said simply. "I hate being in that house. I hate knowing that you're the last Potter. Hate knowing about those prophesies." He looked at Harry, who was standing, dumbstruck, still holding Sasha's letter in his hand. "How can you put up with knowing what is going to come?"
"I can't," Harry said blankly, not knowing how else to elaborate.
Remus coughed and got up, wiping his eyes. "I have to get back to class," he said, opening the door. "Is the meeting still on for tonight?" When Harry nodded, Remus finished with, "I'll be here."
As soon as the door closed, the letter fluttered from Harry's hand. Full of too many emotions to handle, Harry flung the book of jinxes at the door. He sat down on one of the cushions and clutched his head. This was it. The whole world was falling apart. Hermione might die because of Harry. He was not able to stand it anymore.
As he left the Room of Requirement, there was only one thing on his mind: Dumbledore. It wasn't until then that he remembered what the headmaster had told them that summer. "Hermione is safe right now and will be brought here in a few days." What a liar, Harry thought savagely as he strode down the corridor. Hermione never came to Grimmauld Place, and no one had told them why things had changed. But as he neared the stone gargoyle of the headmaster's office, he realized that he didn't know the password. Deciding on where to find the help he needed, he turned around and went to the Defence against Dark Arts classroom.
He knocked on the door and only had to wait half a minute for the door to be answered by no one other than Jonathon.
"Could I see Professor Lupin?" Harry asked, politely as he could.
Jonathon gave a quick nod, and shouted for the Professor. When Remus got to the door, he gave a questioning look to Harry.
"What is it?" he asked, coming out into the corridor and closing the door behind him.
"I need to see Dumbledore," Harry said in a rush, "but I need the password."
Remus gave him a swift look before saying, "Acid Pop, but will you tell me about it later?"
"For sure," Harry said. "Thanks."
He almost ran back down the corridors to the gargoyle, glad not meet any teachers on the way. As he stepped on the moving spiral staircase, he allowed himself to breathe and collect himself before he knocked on the door.
Almost at once the door was opened, and Harry was beckoned in.
Dumbledore was seated behind his desk, long fingers clasped upon it, looking as though he was expecting Harry all along.
"Ah, Mr. Potter," he said, looking up from his hands. "What can I do for you?"
"Tell me why you lied," Harry said, rather harshly, refusing to beat around the bush of a matter that was so important. When Dumbledore only gave him a confused look, Harry elaborated. "You told us at that Order meeting that Hermione was safe and that she would be at Number Twelve."
"Harry," Dumbledore began, but Harry cut him off in rage.
"And then you – all of the Order – didn't even tell us why she didn't come!"
"Harry," Dumbledore repeated with a note of urgency in his voice, "circumstances changed. Circumstances that we didn't plan on having change."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Harry yelled, losing control.
"Because we – the Order – decided against it," the headmaster said, looking Harry in the eyes.
"And I'm supposed to be satisfied with that?" Harry said impatiently.
"Most of the Order would want you to be," Dumbledore said calmly, not moving his gaze from Harry's face.
"But what about the letter Sasha just sent? Remus showed it to me, something you wouldn't do," he added savagely, causing a flicker of hurt to cross over Dumbledore's worn face.
"Sasha is a spy for us, putting herself in great risk," Dumbledore said, his calm expression back in place. "All of the information she gives to us in written form is directly from Voldemort himself."
"So he really will kill her?"
Dumbledore nodded, and Harry turned away from him. As Harry reached for the doorknob, Dumbledore finally spoke.
"Don't go after her," he said, and Harry turned to look into the headmaster's worried eyes. "He'll kill you first, and you know the consequences of that."
Harry nodded, slamming the door behind him in frustration. He strode quickly back up to Gryffindor tower to grab his books for the next class. Halfway across the common room, however, he glanced into the fire and saw a sight that made his heart stand still.
"Krum?"
The figure in the fire nodded, a worried look plastered all over the famous Quidditch player's face. "I need to see Ron," he pressed.
"He's in class," Harry said, frozen to the spot, bewildered by Krum.
"Will you go get him?" Krum asked, Bulgarian accent stronger than ever, "it is about Hermy-own-ninny."
Harry gave a nod, and rushed back out the portrait hole, in search of Ron. Running up a corridor leading to North Tower, he saw his quarry coming towards him, head bent low.
"Ron!" Harry shouted, and Ron looked up.
"Harry," he said, rushing up to his best friend. "What's wrong?"
"It's Krum," Harry breathed, pulling Ron back down the corridor. "He wants to talk to you about Hermione."
Krum only had to wait a minute before the portrait hole opened again, and Ron was pushed into the room.
Harry, knowing that Krum wanted a private discussion, went down to the Great Hall for lunch. Kit joined him moments after, but Harry, whose mind was filled with his own thoughts, didn't engage in conversation with her. Kit took the hint, and they both sat in silence for the meal. Ron never came down from the common room, and Kit dragged Harry off to History of Magic, lending him a piece of parchment to "take notes" on.
However, the parchment was wasted on a note that traveled between the couple, communicating the reasons why Krum might need to see Ron.
"Maybe it has something to do with that prophesy," Kit wrote hastily, as one of the new prefects from Hufflepuff house gave them a dirty look.
"That's what I was thinking," Harry wrote back, "but Krum made it clear that it would be him (Krum) who would save Hermione."
"But what if he found out something else?" Kit wrote back, ignoring the prefect who was tapping her quill impatiently behind them.
"What would be so important that he needed to be in the fire?"
"I don't know," Kit wrote, scribbling an angry face beside her words. "But it must be if he's willing to get caught by the floo network."
Harry looked at her words before looking up at Kit, who was giving an evil glare to the girl behind them. Maybe she had a point, Harry thought, turning back around as the prefect scribbled "-5 points Gryffindor" on her parchment.
He barely paid any attention in Defence Against the Dark Arts, as Ron was still missing. After assigning the work to be done, Remus made his way to Harry's table.
"Where's Ron?" he asked in an undertone, careful not to let Malfoy, who was only sitting a few seats away, hear.
"Talking to Krum," Harry whispered. When Remus gave him a confused look, Harry elaborated. "Krum showed up in Gryffindor fire before lunch, and asked to talk to Ron … privately."
"That's odd," Remus said, sitting down next to Harry.
"You're telling me," Harry said. "Kit and I had a discussion about it in History of Magic – losing us five points – and we figure it has to be about … you know …"
"The prophesy," Remus breathed. "That makes sense."
"I suppose," Harry said, glancing at his watch.
Remus got up and went to his desk at the front of the room, taking questions from students who had them. Harry had no appetite, so as soon as the bell rang, he almost ran to Gryffindor tower, finding Krum gone, and Ron sitting, ashen faced, in front of the fire.
"What did he say?" Harry asked, sitting next to Ron.
"He's going to go save her," Ron whispered, obviously still shocked at the news.
"What? Are you serious? When is he going?"
"Yeah," Ron said slowly. "He's going tonight." Ron looked up at Harry. "I told him I loved her, and he still wouldn't tell me where he was going."
Harry shook his head just as the portrait hole swung open, Professor McGonagall coming into the room.
"Come with me, you two," she said, seeing both of them sitting on the couch.
They obeyed, following her to Remus' office, which was full of Order members.
"Krum is going after her tonight," Remus said, as soon as McGonagall had placed a silencing charm on the door. "Neither of you are to mention anything about it to anyone. It's too dangerous. If any word gets out that Krum has gone, Hermione will be killed; Voldemort has said so himself. Essentially, he wants you, Harry, but as he doesn't know about Viktor, that's the better plan right now."
As Remus finished, both Harry and Ron nodded. Just then, the door burst open and Sasha was to be found standing there, panting as though she had run all the way up to the office.
"I hope you sent him," she panted, "because no one suspects anything."
"Perfect," Tonks said. "It's perfect."
"Alright," Remus finished, "that's it then. We just have to wait." He turned to Harry and Ron and added, "If he contacts you two first, tell one of us immediately."
Harry and Ron nodded and left the office as the adults took Floo powder back to the Ministry or to the Burrow.
As soon as the boys got back to Gryffindor tower, they went up to their dormitory, not answering the girls' questions of their whereabouts.
Ron got into bed and pulled the hangings without getting undressed. Harry took his time, still comprehending everything that had happened that day.
A knock came at the door, and Kit poked her head in, looking concerned and carrying a plate of food from dinner.
"Are you hungry?" she asked, ignoring Ron (exactly what he wanted them to do).
"Not really," Harry said, but patting the bed beside him all the same. "How was dinner?"
"Good," Kit said, taking the hint that Harry didn't want to answer any questions. "You really should eat something, Harry," she said.
"Yeah," he said vaguely, picking up the fork and aimlessly poking at the food on the plate.
"Tell me about it," she said, tired of him not talking to her.
"We're waiting," Harry said quietly, "and not supposed to talk about it," he said looking up into her golden eyes which were full of concern. "I'm sorry."
Kit shrugged. "Just making sure I can't help with anything."
"No," Harry said, putting the fork back down. "I'm sorry, I'm just not hungry."
"That's alright," she said, standing up and picking up the plate. "I didn't expect you to eat anything. Does Ron want to eat?"
"No," muffled answer came from behind the curtains of Ron's bed.
"Okay," Kit said. "Both of you should try showers or something … just stand under the water and think." She shrugged. "It works for me," she mumbled, closing the door behind her.
Harry, restless to the point that he could not even lie still, decided to take her advice and headed off to the bathroom. He lost track as he stood under the jet of hot water. Emerging what felt like hours later, he made his way back to the dormitory. He quietly closed the door, and made his way over to his four poster bed.
Halfway across the room, however, he heard sobbing coming from Ron's bed. As quietly as he could, he slid into bed and pulled the curtains. He didn't notice until he lit the tip of his wand that Kit was huddled at the end of his bed, tears pouring silently down her cheeks. He pulled her into a hug, and she sobbed into his shoulder.
"Shh," he whispered, rubbing her back as the sobs turned into quiet hiccups. "What's wrong?"
"Everything," she hiccupped into his shoulder, soaking his shirt with her tears.
"What do you mean?" he asked, hoping she wasn't going to say what he thought she was going to say.
"This thing with Hermione, and Ginny chasing after you, and then Malfoy came up to me today …"
"He came up to you today? What did he say?"
"He said that you were – were – going to die –" Her sobs redoubled. "So it was a – a – waste of m– my time to sh– shag you."
Harry held her tightly. "I'm not going to die," he told her, willing himself to believe what he was saying.
"I know!" she wailed, clinging onto him for dear life. "But I couldn't help thinking the worst when Malfoy said that!"
He gave her a little squeeze and began to rock her back and forth, kissing her on top of the head. "It'll be alright," he whispered over and over to her. Eventually her sobs slowed, and she sat up.
"Yeah," she whispered, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. "It will be okay."
He kissed her on the cheek and she smiled. "Now you should go to bed," he told her as she pulled the curtains open.
"Yeah, I will," she said, walking over to the door.
"And Kit," Harry said, sliding underneath the covers, "I love you."
She smiled a watery smile, closing the door behind her. Harry listened to her retreating footsteps and Ron's quiet sobs, both of which lulled him into an uneasy sleep.