Chapter 24: Unwelcome Return

First day back at Hogwarts and the Slytherins have been especially nervous around me. Lockhart, not so much. Caught him boasting to some of his fellow Ravenclaws that if he had only been there, Rosier wouldn't be in St. Mungo's. Hexing him was tempting, but I don't have anything to prove to anyone. Lockhart is beneath me, and thus not worth my time or effort.

The remainder of the Christmas holidays passed by uneventfully. Cas spent most of his time at St. Mungo's working on the Longbottoms, leaving the remainder of the Den residents free to stay at Grimmauld with their friends without feeling bad. Harry and Leo spent their days discussing what lessons they should teach at upcoming D.A. meetings until the latter got bored and decided to do some flying with Draco or training with Remus and Sirius. Draco spent almost all his time either studying books, practising with Castor – when he was around at least – and flying around either on his Firebolt or in his Animagus form.

All too soon, it was time to leave. They bid farewell to Castor at the Den before Apparating to Grimmauld where they would travel back to Hogwarts with everyone else. Sirius pulled Harry aside as everyone busied themselves putting on their scarves and jackets. Leo took great care making sure his tattoo was completely covered – he didn't fancy getting detention from Umbridge his first day back.

Harry came back with a package in his arms that Leo eyed quizzically before turning forward when he saw a flash of bright pink out of the corner of his eye. He grinned broadly at the sight of Remus talking to Tonks, a small smile on his face. Aww. Remy's got a girlfriend. He snickered quietly to himself before following the pair as they led the way outside, Sirius and a dark-haired woman named Hestia Jones bringing up the rear.

Without missing a beat, Remus threw out his right arm and with a loud bang, a violently purple, triple-decker bus had appeared out of thin air in front of them, narrowly avoiding the nearest lamppost, which jumped backwards out of its way.

A thin, pimply, jug-eared youth in a purple uniform leapt down onto the pavement and said, "Welcome to the —"

"Yes, yes, we know, thank you," said Tonks swiftly. "On, on, get on —"

Leo ushered Harry past the man quickly, wanting to garner as little attention as possible. As there weren't enough seats, the Weasleys – minus Ron – and Draco had to go upstairs with Remus and Tonks while Harry, Leo, and Ron stayed on the lower level with Sirius and Hestia. Leo immediately took a seat at the front of the bus next to his uncle, wiggling his eyebrows.

"So... who's your lady friend?" he inquired in an innocent tone.

Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"What's it to you?"

"Oh, just marvelling at all the romance in the air," Leo hummed. "Me and Luna, Harry and Cho, Remus and Tonks -"

"Ah, so you noticed that too?" Sirius chuckled.

"Duh. You'd have to be as blind as Harry not to see the fireworks," Leo rolled his eyes before grinning. "Are there any fireworks between you and Jones?"

Sirius was quiet for a moment, seeming to weigh the pros and cons of responding.

"There might be," he finally admitted. "But keep it to yourself, all right? We're trying to keep things quiet – don't want anyone to know just yet."

"Consider my lips sealed."

The Knight Bus stopped many times on their journey, often causing many people to fall out of their seats. Sirius laughed the first time Leo fell out of his seat but didn't the next time owing to the fact the blonde had dragged him down with him. About the fifth or sixth time this happened, the pimply man came toward them.

"Listen, it's 'Ogwarts stop after this," the man said brightly, swaying toward them. "That bossy woman up top 'oo got on with you, she's given us a little tip to move you up the queue. We're just gonna let Madam Marsh off first, though —" There was a retching sound not far from them followed by a horrible spattering sound. "She's not feeling 'er best."

Leo wrinkled his nose before covering it quickly as a putrid stench entered his nostrils, Sirius doing the same. A few minutes later the Knight Bus screeched to a halt outside a small pub, which squeezed itself out of the way to avoid a collision. An elderly, slightly rotund woman made her way past them, exiting down the stairs next to where Sirius and Leo sat.

The bus took off again with another loud bang and suddenly they were rolling through a snowy Hogsmeade. Wonder if the bus can Apparate or something? Leo frowned in wonder as he watched flecks of snow hit the large window at the front of the bus. At last, they rolled to a halt outside the gates to Hogwarts.

Sirius, Hestia, Remus, and Tonks helped them off the bus with their luggage and then got off to say goodbye.

"You'll be safe once you're in the grounds," said Tonks, casting a careful eye around at the deserted road. "Have a good term, okay?"

"Look after yourselves," said Remus, shaking hands all round and finishing with Leo who gave him his usual hug. "If you must cause trouble, do try not to get caught, all right?"

"I can only promise to try," Leo grinned broadly, receiving a nod of approval from Sirius.

The seven of them struggled up the slippery drive toward the castle dragging their trunks behind them. Leo glanced back when they reached the oak front doors; the Knight Bus had already gone, and he half-wished, given who he'd have to deal with the following day, that he was still on board. He looked over and noticed Harry wearing the same sort of look and clapped him on his shoulder, giving a bracing smile before he led them all into the castle.

The next day seemed to pass by slowly yet irritably. People constantly came up to him or Harry, asking them when the next D.A. meeting was. Leo had decided for them that they shouldn't have it the first day back, wanting to give them all time to readjust to being back in the same abode as the toad. Harry agreed with this, and so they both had to tell everyone that came up to them that they'd let them know. Zacharias Smith seemed as though he was about to make some sort of snarky comment when they told him in the entrance hall after lunch but stopped abruptly when he noticed Leo's glower.

"Good, he's learning to fear me," Leo said, smiling in satisfaction as Smith strutted away.

His friends snorted.

"Fear isn't really what we're going for, Leo -" Harry began.

"Hi, Harry," said a voice behind them. They turned around and found Cho standing there.

"Oh," said Harry, blinking at her slowly. "Hi."

"Smooth," Leo snickered, receiving a sharp glare from the bespectacled teen.

"We'll be in the library, Harry," said Hermione firmly, and she seized Ron and Draco above the elbow and dragged them off toward the marble staircase, casting a pleading look at Leo when he didn't follow.

Leo folded his arms and stood his ground. If Cho wanted to make a go of dating Harry, she'd have to get used to the fact that all his friends wouldn't just leave him alone. She had to learn to socialize and get along with them eventually. Like Luna. Or Ginny. He nodded to himself, before making a shooing motion with his hand. Hermione gave Harry an apologetic look and took off with the other two boys.

"Leo, do you mind leaving Harry and me alone?" Cho asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"Well, A, you're in the middle of the entrance hall and surrounded by people, so you're not alone," Leo rolled his eyes. "And B, unless you're planning on making out with my cousin, I think I'll stay here. Have to get used to his friends being around eventually."

He grinned broadly as both of their faces turned red and Cho seemed to struggle to formulate a response. She turned away from him to look at Harry.

"Had a good Christmas?" she finally asked.

"Not bad," Harry shrugged. "It was eventful, to say the least."

"Mine was pretty quiet," said Cho. For some reason, she was looking rather embarrassed. "Erm... there's another Hogsmeade trip next month, did you see the notice?"

"What? Oh no, I haven't checked the notice board since I got back..."

"Yes, it's on Valentine's Day..."

The day after Luna's birthday... should invite her out on a date. Leo tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Right," said Harry, looking quite confused. "Well, I suppose you want to —?"

"Only if you do," she said eagerly.

Harry stared at her blankly in response and Leo suppressed a groan.

"I — er —" Harry said.

"Oh, it's okay if you don't," she said, looking mortified. "Don't worry. I-I'll see you around."

She walked away. Leo and Harry stared after her before the former turned to the latter.

"Two things: one, how do you expect to date her if you can't even hold a conversation with her? Two, she was expecting you to ask her on a date, you specky moron -"

Harry looked alarmed before he ran after her, shouting her name. Leo shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. He wondered blithely how the boy had survived this long given he lacked even the most basic of observation skills. And communication skills. Granted, that could just be because he has nothing in common with Cho other than the fact that they're both Seekers. Leo acknowledged, watching as Harry walked away from her with a pleasant smile on his face. I don't see that relationship ending well at all.

He shook his head again before looking around the entrance hall and immediately finding Luna. He practically bounced over to her, thanking her for his present and asking her out to Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day – though they'd be celebrating her birthday more than anything else. Neither of them really saw the big deal with Valentine's Day – it was just another day. Albeit with a lot more public displays of affection.

Luna immediately agreed to go on the date with him, and Leo was even more pleased to see her wearing the necklace he had bought her. He saw a faint shape moving inside it and frowned, idly wondering once again what that shape was before shaking his head and escorting her to her next class before heading up to his own.

Leo's decent mood managed to survive Umbridge's steely glare throughout the double period he had with her. He spent most of his time working on his Ancient Runes and Potions essays behind a propped-up Defensive Magical Theory. He turned the page at regular intervals to give the appearance that he was actually reading the nonsense written inside it. The only other thing noteworthy that happened that day was Harry's scar hurting him again and him informing Leo and their friends that Voldemort was happy over something. They discovered why the next morning.

When Hermione and Draco's Daily Prophet arrived they smoothed them out, gazed for a moment at the front page, and then Hermione gave a yelp that caused everyone in the vicinity to stare at her. Draco merely scowled, his hands gripping the sides of the paper angrily. Leo immediately took the paper from him and didn't have to look far to see what had upset him.

Ten black-and-white photographs filled the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards' faces and the tenth, a witch's. Some of the people in the photographs were silently jeering; others were tapping their fingers on the frame of their pictures, looking insolent. Each picture was captioned with a name and the crime for which the person had been sent to Azkaban.

Leo's eyes immediately went to the witch's face, not even having to read the name to know who it was. Bellatrix Lestrange. He snarled. She had long, dark hair that looked unkempt and straggly in the picture, though he had seen it sleek, thick, and shining. She glared up at him through heavily lidded eyes, an arrogant, disdainful smile playing around her thin mouth. He glared down to see what she had been imprisoned for.

Convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom... Dad's healing them now – what if she goes after them to finish the job? Leo considered, a tingle of worry mixing in with his growing rage. The idea that a member of his own family – if only by blood since he would never truly consider her family – would torture his friend's parents into insanity made his very blood boil. The paper caught alight in his hands, disintegrating into nought but ash in seconds.

"Schedule a D.A. meeting tonight, Harry," Leo told him in a low voice. "We have to prepare."

Harry nodded mutely and they both turned their heads up at the staff table to see what Umbridge's reaction was to the news that Azkaban's most foul had escaped. Umbridge was tucking into a bowl of porridge. For once her pouchy toad's eyes were not sweeping the Great Hall looking for misbehaving students. She scowled as she gulped down her food and every now and then she shot a malevolent glance up the table to where Dumbledore and McGonagall were talking so intently.

"Oh my —" said Hermione wonderingly, still staring at the newspaper.

"You'll have to tell us what happened, Granger," Draco told her, throwing a half-hearted glare at Leo. "Black burned mine up."

Apparently, a Ministry worker named Broderick Bode had been strangled by a plant while he was in St. Mungo's. The plant turned out to be Devil's Snare... 'which, when touched by the convalescent Mr. Bode, throttled him instantly.' I may not know what 'convalescent' means, but why attack the man when he's already in the hospital? Leo frowned in confusion.

"Bode worked at the Ministry..." Leo said thoughtfully before turning to Ron. "Did your dad know him?"

"Yeah, he was an Unspeakable — he worked in the Department of Mysteries. Why?" the ginger questioned.

Leo and Harry both froze in their seats. That's where the prophecy was.

"Cas said the thing Voldemort's after is there," Harry hissed.

They all looked at one another for a moment, then Hermione pulled the newspaper back toward her, closed it, glared for a moment at the pictures of the ten escaped Death Eaters on the front, then leapt to her feet.

"Where are you going?" said Ron, startled.

"To send a letter," said Hermione, swinging her bag onto her shoulder. "It... well, I don't know whether... but it's worth trying... and I'm the only one who can..."

"I need to send one to Dad," Leo told them, hopping up from his own seat. "Ask him what he knows about Bellatrix."

"Wait, you're not thinking of going after her, are you?" Harry asked incredulously.

Leo was quiet and thoughtful for a moment before he shook his head.

"I reckon we'd have to go through her to finish the war, but she's not our main target," he told them. "But, if I happen to run into her... well, it would help to know a bit about her, wouldn't it?"

"You can tell everything from just looking at her," Draco rolled his eyes. "She's insane and sadistic."

"Oh, so a female Voldemort then? Except, you know, with a nose."

Draco rolled his eyes again as Harry and Ron snorted. Leo immediately rushed out of the hall, pulling out parchment, quill, and ink as he did so. With some difficulty, he managed to transcribe his message on the parchment by the time he reached the Owlery. He whistled for Apollo, who swooped down and took the letter from his hand before winging his way out. He stared after him for a moment before making his way back down the stairs towards Charms.

The only thing of note to happen that day was Harry and Ron telling him that Hagrid was apparently on probation. Leo had expected this, but it still did nothing to soothe his worsening mood. The news that the Death Eaters had escaped Azkaban did little to help. While everyone was now aware of their escape, they also learned of their victims. There were relatives of their victims among the Hogwarts students, who now found themselves the unwilling objects of a gruesome sort of reflected fame as they walked the corridors.

Leo himself was stopped many times in the corridors and questioned by people who knew that he was related to Bellatrix. Those people often found themselves scared away as the fire in the sconces flared or victims of the Langlock Jinx he had learned from Remus. Thankfully, they seemed to only run to McGonagall to report him and he only had to suffer through writing lines for detention.

A surprising benefit of the Death Eaters' escape came in the form of doubts. People were beginning to doubt the story the Ministry had peddled – the Death Eaters had used Dark magic or something like that. In their confusion and fear, these doubters now seemed to be turning to the only other explanation available to them, the one that Harry, Leo, and Dumbledore had been expounding since the previous year.

It was not only the students' mood that had changed. It was now quite common to come across two or three teachers conversing in low, urgent whispers in the corridors, breaking off their conversations the moment they saw students approaching. Leo scowled each time he saw this, reminded of the new Educational Decree that prevented teachers from talking to students about anything other than the subject they taught.

Fortunately, Leo had two things to distract him: D.A. meetings and Quidditch. The news that the Death Eaters' had escaped spurred everyone to work harder, but in nobody was this improvement more pronounced than in Neville. The news of his parents' attacker's escape had wrought a strange and even slightly alarming change in him. He worked relentlessly on every new jinx and countercurse Harry and Leo taught them, his plump face screwed up in concentration, apparently indifferent to injuries or accidents, working harder than anyone else in the room. Leo also felt having a wand of his own might've helped with his rapid improvement.

With so much to worry about and so much to do — startling amounts of homework that frequently kept the fifth years working until past midnight, secret D.A. meetings, and regular Quidditch training sessions — January seemed to be passing alarmingly fast. February arrived, bringing warmer and wetter weather with it and still no response from Castor. Leo was beginning to grow increasingly annoyed and worried at the same time by this lack of news. His worry only mounted when, the day before their Hogsmeade visit, Neville was noticeably absent from all the classes.

Maybe Dad healed his dad? Or something went wrong? Leo shook his head, trying to focus on planning his date with Luna the next day. He dressed that day in a black leather jacket Sirius had bought him and a dark red shirt, coupled with trainers and a pair of frayed trousers. He sat down at the table with Harry and Ron, watching as Hermione was pulling a letter out of a brown owl's beak.

"And about time! If it hadn't come today..." she said eagerly, tearing open the envelope and pulling out a small piece of parchment. Her eyes sped from left to right as she read through the message and a grimly pleased expression spread across her face.

"Listen, Harry, Leo," she said, looking up at them. "This is really important... Do you think you two could meet me in the Three Broomsticks around midday?"

"Sure," Leo replied with a small shrug.

"Well... I dunno," said Harry dubiously. "Cho might be expecting me to spend the whole day with her. We never said what we were going to do."

"Just wing it," Leo advised. "It's what Luna and I do – and it's worked great for us so far."

"Well, bring Cho along if you must," said Hermione urgently. "But will you come?"

"Well... all right, but why?" Harry frowned.

"I haven't got time to tell you now, I've got to answer this quickly —"

And she hurried out of the Great Hall, the letter clutched in one hand and a piece of uneaten toast in the other.

"What's Granger's problem?" Draco questioned as he sat down.

"No clue. Apparently, Harry and I are supposed to attend some secret meeting with her later," Leo shrugged.

"Not D.A. related?"

"Don't think it is -"

"You can't go," Ron blurted out. "Angelina wants us at Quidditch practice all day today."

Leo stared at him before laughing.

"What'll she do if I don't go? Kick me off the team?" Leo rolled his eyes. "I'm the best Seeker she can get right now and she knows it. I can afford to miss a Quidditch practice here and there – tell her this is a perfect opportunity to train a reserve Seeker."

Ron scowled at him before turning back to his food. Leo turned to Draco and asked what he was doing to which the Slytherin prefect told him that he'd be practising some spells Castor had showed him in the D.A. meeting room. Leo couldn't decide if that was boring or fun and just shrugged in response before finishing his meal and rushing into the entrance hall to meet up with Luna.

She stood there waiting with Cho, who was staring at Luna like she was the strangest person she'd ever met. Which she probably was. It didn't bother Leo at all as he held out his arm for Luna to take before leading her up the queue of people being signed out by Filch. As they waited, Luna informed him that he'd be meeting Rita Skeeter at the Three Broomsticks to do an interview for The Quibbler. His face spasmed angrily at the thought of doing an interview with Skeeter before he forced himself to relax, telling himself he was doing it for Luna.

They made their way across the grounds without incident. Unless, of course, one counted Zabini stalking towards them with a sneer on his face before mysteriously face-planting into the ground. Leo stared around innocently after that but couldn't help but let loose a laugh when Luna told Zabini he should watch his step and that the grass was quite slippery. They arrived in Hogsmeade not long after and looked around the shops. Leo ended up buying Luna a flute that played different animal noises depending on where she put her fingers.

"Strange that they don't have any dementors looking for the Death Eaters," Luna commented. "They had them everywhere when it was just your uncle."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Leo frowned as they walked up the street hand-in-hand. "I wager Fudge learned his lesson from last time – doesn't want to risk them sucking out innocent peoples' souls."

"The dementors could have refused," she postulated. "You said they would join You-Know-Who, maybe they have?"

"Well, there's a cheery thought," Leo grumbled as they stopped in front of a tea shop.

It was a cramped, steamy little place where everything seemed to have been decorated with frills or bows. Leo eyed it with extreme distaste.

"It looks like Umbridge threw up all over it," he wrinkled his nose.

Luna laughed loudly and took quite some time to calm down.

"It does look quite popular though," she finally said, peering through the window. "Perhaps they have really good tea?"

"One way to find out."

He led the way inside and immediately regretted his decision. A number of golden cherubs were hovering over each of the small, circular tables, occasionally throwing pink confetti over the occupants. He stared at them with abject horror as Luna led him to a table near one of the windows. A stout woman with a shiny black bun immediately came up to them as soon as they sat down.

"What can I get you, m'dears?" she asked.

"Tea, please," Luna smiled.

"Got anything stronger?" Leo grumbled, receiving an unimpressed look from the lady. "Tea for me as well."

The lady bustled away to get their order, leaving the two by themselves.

"You don't like this place, do you?" Luna stated more than asked.

"Not really," he replied honestly. "Only came in here because you wanted to and I was curious. Those cherubs do give me an idea... need to find Fievel first though."

"Who?" Luna asked curiously.

He opened his mouth to answer but stopped when a couple sat at the table next to theirs. He was about to ignore them when he detected a faint hint of deer musk and sadness. He turned slowly to grin widely at Harry and Cho, both of whom looked at him uncomfortably. Thankfully, they were saved from further embarrassment by the arrival of Madam Pudifoot, who had returned with Leo and Luna's tea and had come to take Harry and Cho's order.

Luna took that moment to ask him about Fievel again, and Leo delightedly told her the short story of how he had rescued the little mouse from being Vanished. He then told her where he had gotten the name from and from there had to explain movies and the cinema, answering various questions as he did so. In the small, intermittent lulls in their conversation, he listened to Harry and Cho's awkward conversation, suppressing a cringe as he did so.

While Leo felt that Harry and Cho's date wasn't going very well, he felt that Harry made it considerably worse when he mentioned he was supposed to be meeting Hermione at lunchtime. Leo pinched the bridge of his nose in mild frustration before he placed his teacup to his lips, about to take a sip.

"He asked me out, you know," Cho suddenly said in a quiet voice. "A couple of weeks ago. Roger. I turned him down, though."

Leo almost spat out his tea and stared at her incredulously. Is she... trying to make him jealous? He wondered, idly noting that Luna was busy making conversation with the cherub above their table. His suspicion was confirmed when she mentioned Cedric Diggory had brought her there last year. Bloody hell. He groaned, eyeing Harry in case he needed rescuing.

"I've been meaning to ask you for ages... Did Cedric — did he m-m-mention me at all before he died?" Cho asked in a rather high voice.

And there goes the date. It's completely unsalvageable now. Leo shook his head, unable to tear his gaze away from the catastrophe occurring before him.

"Well — no —" Harry said quietly. "There — there wasn't time for him to say anything. Erm... so... d'you... d'you get to see a lot of Quidditch in the holidays? You support the Tornados, right?"

Cho's eyes began to tear up.

"Look," Harry said desperately, casting Leo a slightly pleading look, "let's not talk about Cedric right now... Let's talk about something else..."

"I thought," Cho said, tears spattering down onto the table. "I thought you'd u-u-understand! I need to talk about it! Surely you n-need to talk about it t-too! I mean, you saw it happen, d-didn't you?"

"If you want to talk about it, talk to a grief counsellor or something," Leo interrupted them, receiving a look of mingled relief and nervousness from Harry. "We saw Cedric die, yes. It was horrible and tragic and not something we really like to talk about – especially not over a date."

Cho stared at him, sniffling as tears continued to fall from her eyes. Now even Luna had abandoned her conversation to watch them in mild fascination. Leo stared at Cho a moment longer, and something suddenly clicked into place.

"You're going out with Harry because he's your last link to Cedric," he whispered. "You like him, sure, but you were in love with Cedric. You think that since he saw Cedric die you can connect over your grief... but that's not how you should form a relationship. You need to take time to work through your grief. Jumping into a relationship with the last person who saw him alive isn't healthy.

"You need to work through your feelings, Cho. If you find you still like Harry and still want to date him then great, I'm happy for you. But going out with him while you're still mourning Cedric isn't fair. Not to you and not to Harry."

He turned away from the two and sipped his tea before nonchalantly asking Luna for the time. She informed him that they still had some time left and he nodded, wondering what else they could do to pass the time. He heard more sobbing coming from Cho and felt her brush past him as she ran out. He turned to look at Harry, who looked dumbstruck as he stared back at him.

"I'm not sure whether I should yell at you or be thankful," Harry finally admitted.

"You could compromise and yell 'thank you'," Luna suggested, receiving chuckles from the two cousins.

"Do you think she'll be all right?" Harry asked when he had stopped laughing.

"No, not for a while," Leo shook his head and sipped his tea. "But it's not your fault or mine."

"Her soul is hurt and she needs time to heal," Luna nodded. "Leo told her the truth – something she didn't want to hear. She needs to accept that before she can truly heal."

"I guess so," Harry frowned, looking between the two. "D'you think we'll ever get together?"

"Not in this universe," Leo said bluntly. "The only thing you have in common is Quidditch – that's not enough to form a lasting, stable relationship on."

"You two don't have anything in common," Harry pointed out in a harsh tone.

"Not true," Leo frowned at him, mildly offended. "We both like animals, neither of us are afraid to be ourselves, we believe in things no one else does, we like The Quibbler, we're both incredibly honest – we have loads in common. And what we don't have in common balances us out. I'm easily angered, and she keeps me calm. I also think more deeply about things now. I think."

"I've become more outspoken since I met Leo," Luna added. "And I've made so many friends because of it."

Harry was quiet for a moment, and Leo thought he could detect a faint hint of jealousy and envy in his scent. He screwed his nose up at the bitter smell. He stared at Harry a moment longer and felt a stab of sympathy for the bloke. He's so oblivious to everything... should I tell him? He frowned, staring at him in consideration before shaking his head. If he doesn't figure it out by the end of the year, I'll tell him. Unless I get frustrated. Whichever comes first.

The three finished their tea and coffee before paying for their drinks and walking into the deluge outside the shop. Leo conjured his transparent blue umbrella and held it above all their heads as they made their way to the Three Broomsticks. They entered it, looking around before spotting Hermione and Rita Skeeter, the former of whom was calling their names. They approached the two, Leo stopping a few feet away from Skeeter and entering an intense glaring match.

"You're early!" said Hermione, moving along to give them room to sit down. "I thought you were with Cho, I wasn't expecting you for another hour at least!"

"Cho?" said Skeeter at once, abandoning her glaring contest and twisting around in her seat to stare avidly at Harry. "A girl?"

Leo growled lowly at her, stopping only when Luna put her hand on his arm. Instead, he glowered at her as he sat down, watching in satisfaction as she withdrew her hand from her crocodile-skin handbag.

"What are you up to?" Harry asked, staring between Skeeter and Hermione.

"Little Miss Perfect was just about to tell me when you arrived," said Rita, taking a large slurp of her drink. "I suppose I'm allowed to talk to them, am I?" she shot at Hermione.

"Yes, I suppose you are," said Hermione coldly. "Though, I suggest you watch what you say. Leo's been in a rather foul mood lately."

Unemployment did not suit Rita, much to Leo's pleasure. The hair that had once been set in elaborate curls now hung lank and unkempt around her face. The scarlet paint on her two-inch talons was chipped and there were a couple of false jewels missing from her winged glasses. She took another great gulp of her drink and said out of the corner of her mouth, "Pretty girl, is she, Harry?"

"One more word about Harry's love life and the deal's off and that's a promise," said Hermione irritably.

"What deal?" said Rita, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "You haven't mentioned a deal yet, Miss Prissy, you just told me to turn up. Oh, one of these days..." She took a deep shuddering breath.

"Is that a threat, Skeeter?" Leo snarled. "Because I don't respond very well to threats. Not to me and not to my friends."

Far from being terrified like Leo was hoping, she instead looked intrigued.

"My, my, my, Miss Priss was right," Skeeter said, looking him up and down. "Rather more volatile than I remember – and you were quite volatile to begin with. What's the matter, Leo? Daily Prophet wearing you down? Making you angry with all the stories they're telling?"

"Of course he's angry – they're both angry!" said Hermione in a hard, clear voice. "Because they've told the Minister of Magic the truth and the Minister's too much of an idiot to believe them."

"So you actually stick to it, do you, that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?" said Rita, lowering her glass and subjecting Harry and Leo to a piercing stare while her finger strayed longingly to the clasp of the crocodile bag. "You stand by all this garbage Dumbledore's been telling everybody about You-Know-Who returning and you two being the sole witnesses —?"

"We weren't the only ones," Leo grumbled, tightly grabbing Luna's hand under the table and reminding himself to control his anger.

"There were a dozen-odd Death Eaters there as well. Want their names?" Harry spat.

"I'd love them," breathed Skeeter, now fumbling in her bag once more and gazing at him as though he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. "A great bold headline: 'Brothers Accuse...' A subheading: 'Harry Potter and Leo Black Name Death Eaters Still Among Us.' And then, beneath a nice big photograph of you two: 'Disturbed teenage survivors of You-Know-Who's attack, Harry Potter and Leo Black, 15, caused outrage yesterday by accusing respectable and prominent members of the Wizarding community of being Death Eaters...'"

The Quick-Quotes Quill was actually in her hand and halfway to her mouth when the rapturous expression died out of her face.

"But of course," she said, lowering the quill and looking daggers at Hermione, "Little Miss Perfect wouldn't want that story out there, would she?"

"As a matter of fact," said Hermione sweetly, "that's exactly what Little Miss Perfect does want."

Skeeter and Harry both stared at her while Leo continued to glare irritably at Skeeter. Luna just hummed quietly to herself as she ran her thumb over the back of Leo's hand in soothing circles.

"You want me to report what they say about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Rita asked Hermione in a hushed voice.

"Yes, I do," said Hermione. "The true story. All the facts. Exactly as Harry and Leo report them. They'll give you all the details, they'll tell you the names of the undiscovered Death Eaters they saw there, they'll tell you what Voldemort looks like now — oh, get a grip on yourself," she added contemptuously, throwing a napkin across the table, for at the sound of Voldemort's name, Skeeter had jumped so badly that she had slopped half her glass of firewhisky down herself and prompted Leo to let loose a rather nasty laugh.

Skeeter blotted the front of her grubby raincoat, still staring at Hermione. Then she said baldly, "The Prophet wouldn't print it. In case you haven't noticed, nobody believes their cock-and-bull story. Everyone thinks they're delusional. Now, if you let me write the story from that angle —"

"Try it, and see what happens," Leo snapped at her. "You put the unaltered truth or we walk."

"There's no market for a story like that," said Skeeter coldly.

"Only because the Prophet is only posting what Fudge wants it to," Leo fired back. "He won't let them post the truth – not this late in the game. If the world finds out Moldy's back and Fudge's been hiding it all this time, he'd be out of the office before you can say 'incompetent'."

"I'm surprised you can say it," Skeeter said in a scathing tone.

"Keep testing me, you roach, see what happens -"

"Is that a threat?"

"It's a warning. And a promise. Congratulations, you get the two-for-one special."

"This isn't getting us anywhere," Hermione interrupted them in an exasperated tone. "The point is that the story needs to be put out there, but we can't use the Prophet to do it. That's why we're asking Luna's father to do it."

Skeeter looked disparagingly at Luna.

"I'm guessing your father runs some stupid little village newsletter?" she said. "'Twenty-five Ways to Mingle with Muggles' and the dates of the next Bring-and-Fly Sale?"

"No," said Luna, her pleasant tone a stark contrast to Leo's angry one, "he's the editor of The Quibbler."

"I could manure my garden with the contents of that rag," Skeeter snorted derisively, almost causing Leo to leap over the table toward her.

"Well, this is your chance to raise the tone of it a bit, isn't it?" said Hermione pleasantly. "Luna says her father's quite happy to take Leo and Harry's interview. That's who'll be publishing it."

Skeeter stared at them both for a moment and then let out a great whoop of laughter.

"The Quibbler!" she said, cackling. "You think people will take them seriously if they're published in The Quibbler?"

"We don't need them to take us seriously, we just need them to doubt," Leo snapped at her. "Regardless of where it's published, not everyone will believe us. But, with the rubbish explanation the Prophet gave for the Death Eaters' escape, they'll be looking for answers – answers we can give them. We tell our story, we let it spread, and we allow people to doubt what Fudge has been telling them."

Skeeter eyed him for a moment, perhaps surprised at how well-thought-out his explanation was.

"All right, let's say for a moment I'll do it," she said abruptly. "What kind of fee am I going to get?"

"I don't think Daddy exactly pays people to write for the magazine," said Luna dreamily. "They do it because it's an honour, and, of course, to see their names in print."

Skeeter looked like she was about to argue this but stopped abruptly when Leo glared at her more harshly than he had been this whole time – and that was saying something. Her drink caught alight and she gave a loud yelp and almost fell out of her seat. Leo allowed the fire to die down, satisfied that he had effectively scared her.

"I don't suppose I've got any choice, have I?" said Skeeter, her voice shaking slightly. She opened her crocodile bag once more, withdrew a piece of parchment, and raised her Quick-Quotes Quill.

"Nope," Leo grinned evilly.

"Daddy will be pleased," said Luna brightly. A muscle twitched in Skeeter's jaw.

"Okay, you two?" said Hermione, looking at both Harry and Leo. "Ready to tell the public the truth?"

"I suppose," said Harry as Leo gave a curt nod.

"Fire away, then, Rita," said Hermione serenely.