With a Little Help from My Friends ~ by Lucy Lupin

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Author's Note: Alright, now that we've all read Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, there are obviously a few minors things that I've have to change about this fic. My perceptions of a main character's home life have changed a lot after finishing the book. At thought I thought this was a problem, but later on I realised what a great opportunity it was to explain the way this character has been behaving. So now I've really embraced it, and parts of this fic will be a little darker than I was planning. It also makes a game in this chapter I'd thrown in this chapter more necessary to balance out the darkness in the next few.

Disclaimer: The Assassins game is based off the fic "Assassins and Lovers" by Evie Black, which is extremely well-written with some obscure pairings that become believable in her hands. In other words, go read it. And I still own nothing.

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Chapter Five: Scheming and Dreaming

Veronica blinked. "Did you just say you were named, um, I'm sorry, but Will Yablowme?"

"Yes, that's right, I'm Mr Will Zjablomej," William said, some bitterness creeping into his voice. Seeing Veronica struggling to bite down on a smile, he added, "Go ahead and laugh right now if you want to. I know you do. Just get it over with."

Veronica had wanted to laugh, but now that he had put it so bluntly and she could see how hurt he was by people's reactions, the urge was gone. "I'm sorry," she said, and saw some of the ill humour fade from William's eyes. "Is that, uh, Russian in origin?"

"Czech," William shrugged. "I think. And unfortunately as the Zjablomej's tend to produce a lot of male offspring, it's still around. How there manages to be so many of us, I'll never know. I didn't think any girl in her right mind would want to marry someone with a surname like mine. I know I wouldn't."

"You could always marry someone and take her last name," Veronica suggested. Listening to Lucille did pay off sometimes. "There's a lot of talk going around about how sexist it is, the woman talking the man's name, and some Muggle couples these days are either having joint last names or completely talking the wife's."

"Yeah, I guess I could do that," William said. "You have a lovely surname, you know." He caught her curious look and ducked his head. She could feel herself going hot. "Some blokes think it's demeaning and unmanly and all that sort of stuff, but I can't wait for my surname to die out," he continued. "What do you think of all that equality talk, by the way?"

Veronica thought carefully. By lunch time news had travelled round about Thierry's proposed changes to the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and some people had cast unfriendly eyes in the part-Veela's direction. What had surprised her more than anything was that some of the eyes had been female. Some people didn't know what was good for them. "I think sometimes feminists are a bit too aggressive and go the wrong way about things," she said eventually. "But I also think a lot of what they say has a point. I mean, during flight classes in my first year I flew better than some of the boys who are on their house teams now and I'm as tall and strong as some men. Why shouldn't I be able to play Quidditch?"

"I couldn't agree more," William said and Veronica felt relieved, although she didn't know quite why. "I mean, except with a really dirty team like Slytherin, there isn't a lot of contact in Quidditch - well, only the Seekers, and they're pretty tiny anyway. I've been on the Hufflepuff team since my third year, and size is really only important if you're a Beater because then the strength aspect comes into it then. And it helps to be tall if you're a Keeper, but it's not essential."

"What year are you?" Veronica asked.

"Fifth," William responded.

"Oh," Veronica said, feeling slightly disappointed. Again, she wasn't quite sure why. "I'm a seventh year. I was just wondering why I haven't had any classes with you and haven't really noticed you around until now. You look older."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," William said. "You're friends with Amos aren't you?" Veronica nodded. "I was wondering where I'd seen you before." He glanced over at the other groups and saw that Zachary and Zabini were looking idly away from each other. "I suppose we better get onto the favourites now. They really don't look comfortable." He and Veronica shared a look and laughed.

A few minutes later Diana gathered everyone back together. Arthur was as much an observer in this as she was, and Veronica had the idea that was how things would be from now on. "Now as discussed before, you will introduce your partner to the rest of the group. Zachary and Blair, you two finished quickly. You must have been organised." Her voice was almost warm with approval. "Why don't you go first?"

Zabini rose to his feet, smirking dangerous. Zachary looked nervous. Arthur and Veronica shot each other quick glances. This would be interesting. "Zachary Lupin has one younger brother and his favourite food is roast mutton," Zabini said idly. "His favourite colour is yellow and he enjoys chess, scrabble and reading. He does not have a favourite Beatles album." Arthur looked disappointed. Zabini sat back down, his idle look twisting into a sneer.

"Blair Zabini also has one younger brother," Zachary continued, deadpan. "He is immensely proud of him as yesterday he hexed his first Gryffindor." Zabini's chin raised slightly, looking both smug and challenging. Diana glared back. "He does not like the food here and his favourite colour, surprisingly, is black." Veronica giggled. Arthur tried not to smile. "He doesn't like Quidditch, chess or Exploding Snap - and he thinks the Beatles have been stealing lyrics from the Familiars for years. That is all."

"Zachary, Blair, um, thank you for sharing," Arthur said, clearly at a lost for words. The Hufflepuff prefect next to Zabini had shifted her chair away from him slightly. "Er, Veronica and William, what have you two found out about each other?"

"Veronica Vector's favourite colour is green," William began. "She has an older brother who has been out of Hogwarts for two years and is working as a dragon keeper in Romania." At this Sylvian's eyes lit up. "Her favourite food is Bubble and Squeak and she enjoys going to Hogmeades on the weekend and playing Quidditch. Her favourite Beatle's album is Please Please Me." Seeing Arthur's disappointment, Veronica had racked her brains thinking of a title and whispered it to William. "In fact," he added, smiling, "she seems to want to adopt this as a life philosophy."

A few people laughed, including Veronica. This was the first genuine glimpse of humour William had revealed all evening. "William Edward Zjablomej," she had figured the dirty phrase would be less apparent if she inserted his middle name, "is an only child and his favourite colour is orange. He likes both watching and playing Quidditch and the team he supports is the Chutley Canons." To their left Arthur gave William a thumbs-up sign. "His favourite Beatles album is A Hard Day's Night."

"Excellent!" Arthur beamed. "I'm sure we will have plenty to talk about!"

"Sorry," Veronica mouthed to William, who was wincing. Her partner had not even heard of the Beatles, but had also picked up on Arthur's disappointment and kindly allowed her to choose an album on his behalf. Evidently news of Arthur's Muggle obsession had travelled over to the black and yellow striped domains of Hufflepuff house.

The remaining four prefects introduced each other. Flora Sprout's hobby was, fittingly, gardening. The fearsome-looking Slytherin prefect, Georgina Flint, enjoyed knitting and crocheting. Arthur and Diana then introduced each other. Diana, unsurprisingly, counted playing chess and reading biographies among her hobbies, while Arthur's interests were all to do with Muggles. Veronica knew he had only mentioned about half of them with the rest, including taking Muggle electrical appliances apart and rebuilding them using magic, were illegal.

With this done, Veronica thought the meeting would continue with more conventional items, but Arthur stayed on his feet. "It has been decided between Diana and myself," he began, "that the prefects could use a little game to get to know each other better."

Diana's nose was pinched; this clearly had not been an idea of hers. The Slytherin pair were both looking equally unenthusiastic with the idea of getting to know their fellow prefects better, which, Merlin forbid, Veronica reflected a tad sourly, may even involve socialisation!

"The game we will be playing will be called Assassins," Arthur continued. Veronica and William glanced at each other; this sounded like fun! "Before we depart today, I will give you each a slip of paper. At around ten o'clock tonight, a name will appear on that slip of paper. That person represents the target that you must now kill. And no, Blair, you cannot literally "kill" the person. What happens is that you point your wand at your target, say "Assassinium," then your target's name will disappear off your piece of paper and be replaced with that of their target, who will be your next victim. If you are killed, your piece of paper will have "Dead" written on it and you will be out of the game. Is everyone with me so far?"

"When can you kill your target?" Veronica asked.

"I'm coming to that," Arthur said. "You can only kill your target when you are alone with them, and the usual rules about not sneaking outdoors after dark or going into other house's common areas still apply. You are also not permitted to kill your opponent if they have been forced into a situation in which they will be alone with you, such as if a teacher sends someone to summon their target, or if your target is your duty partner. Headmaster Dippet is officiating the game and any breaches or controversies in the rules will be settled by him."

"What happens if we win?" Georgina Flint asked. She was still scowling, but had appeared gradually more interested in the game as Arthur's description went on. "And how do we win?"

"The goal of the game," Arthur continued, "as you may have deduced, is to be the last wizard - or as the case may be, witch - standing. Whoever wins will have fifty points added to their house tally."

"Well, that's hardly fair," William protested. "Especially given that if you plan to include yourself and Diana in the game, that makes four Gryffindors and only two of every other house." Zabini was nodding fervently. It was the first time Veronica had seen him express any form of approval over anything anyone had said that meeting.

"Ah, Merlin bless you Hufflepuffs and your well-placed sense of fairness," Arthur beamed. Flora Sprout flushed. "Diana and I already anticipated that worry. Which is why, especially considering that we will hopefully be working with them to ensure that the rest of the student body is kept safe and under control, we have invited the teachers to join in our game." Veronica and Sylvian whooped. "We are making this the one exception in which a professor can win points for their house. If a professor who did not attend Hogwarts wins, the points will be delegated to whatever house the runner up is from. Given that from memory only one current staff member, Dumbledore, is a Gryffindor and I can think of at least three Slytherins, I trust you'll find that a fair arrangement." He looked around the room. No one voiced dissent. "Stupendous! Any more questions?"

Cordelia Sinistra raised her hand. "Can we work in pairs or make alliances?" she asked.

"Planning ahead, I see, just like any good Ravenclaw should," Arthur approved. Zabini rolled his eyes. "Yes, there is nothing against the rules in making pacts with other people. However, in this game I do believe it is best to trust no one."

Veronica felt a tug on her sleeve. "If either of us get each other as a target, can we make a pact not to kill each other until we're the last two standing?" William whispered.

"Or until someone else kills one of us first," Veronica added. "Sure."

"Arthur, I'm confused," Flora spoke up. "If both ourselves and our target have to be alone to assassinate them, well, if we're with them they won't be alone anymore. So since we can never really be alone, how can we kill them?"

Zabini groaned. Zachary kicked him. "I mean alone with your target, rather, Flora," Arthur explained kindly. "But I trust you will figure it out for yourself when the time comes. The game will begin at midnight on Saturday morning. For now that is all from me. Diana, I do believe that you had some other agenda to discuss?"

The meeting then went on to more conventional items, such as tutoring allocations and partners for hall monitoring on weeknight. With her flying skills Veronica was assigned to tutoring children who had difficulties in that area (she had a feeling she would be seeing Lucille sometime soon) and, totally shocking everyone, they were assigned partners according to who they had introduced earlier. Apart from a brief moment of amusement when she had seen Zachary and Zabini's face when Diana had made the pair announcement, Veronica was too excited about the upcoming Assassins game and hardly paid attention to the rest of the agenda. She was not alone in her lack of observation. Diana was looking particularly disgruntled when she finally called for time.

Arthur then went around in a semi-circle and handed out a white slip of paper to everyone. Veronica instantly pocketted hers, resolving to go next door to the library to kill some time. She would never get through the next hour otherwise.

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An hour later Veronica was sitting on her bed, laughing her head off. One only needed to glance down at her lap to see why. Etched on the paper in dark red letters that looked like real blood were two words: Clarity Trelawney.

"This is just too easy for words," she chuckled. "Now I know that I've have killed at least one person before I go down."

"And who do you have?" Diana asked in a bored tone. The head girl was sitting at her desk, scrawling notes at a rate that would exhaust most people just watching her. She was still trying to maintain a semblance of feeling like she was above the whole thing, but Veronica could tell she was gradually warming to the game.

Figuring there was no harm in it, Veronica chuckled again and said, "Clarity Trelawney," showing her the paper. "You? Oh come on, Di," she cajoled, "if we're to make sure Gryffindor gets those fifty points, we have to work together to an extent. And besides," her blue eyes twinkled mischievously, "if you don't tell me who it is, I'll assume it's me."

"Very well then," Diana sighed and turned her paper around. Flora Sprout, it read. "It should be very easily done. Do not misread me, Veronica, she is a lovely girl, but not really the sharpest quill on the back of a duck, shall we say?"

"Agreed," Veronica shrugged. "She wouldn't recognise an assassin if they wacked off her head. Between these two, we should have our first victims in the bag easily."

There was a knock at the door. Arthur opened it, then found himself on the wrong end of Diana's wand. "Settle down, you two," he said. "This game doesn't start until midnight on Saturday morning and anyway, you can't kill when there are witnesses."

"And what leads you to believe this is about Assassins?" Diana demanded, but put her wand away, looking a little sheepish, well, as close to looking sheepish as Diana could get. Arthur came inside and perched on top of Veronica's bed. "So?" he prompted.

"So what?" Veronica shrugged.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," Arthur said.

At her desk Diana snorted, whether in disgust or - dare she even think it - amusement, Veronica couldn't tell. Shrugging, she opened up her palm and showed Arthur Clarity. Arthur gave her an envious look and reached into his pocket, producing his own paper. Veronica gaped in horror. Written on Arthur's paper was Albus Dumbledore.

"I know, Veronica," he told her. "It's hopeless. I'll never get him."

"Why do these things always happen to you, Arthur?" she asked.

"I don't know," he responded.

"Di, Arthur got Dumbledore," Veronica told her.

Diana only raised one eyebrow. "I do believe that in order to receive a reply, Veronica, one has to first present a question," she said coolly.

"Oh, you were just itching to ask, I know it," Veronica told her cheerfully. Diana shrugged and went back to her work. "So, Arthur, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know," he repeated miserably. "I always seem to end up last in these things. I think I'm just too honest, Veronica."

"That's it!" Veronica snapped her fingers together. "You are just too honest! No one would ever suspect you. When you're in these situations, you have to play to your strengths. You can make your honesty, or at least, other people's perceptions of your honesty since you're going to be very dishonest for this to work. Because I know just how to pull it off too."

"Are you two still talking about this infantile game?" Diana queried.

"You're still here," Arthur pointed out.

"I know," Diana sighed, a smile finally crackling her ice queen façade. Abandoning all pretences of disinterest, she got up from her desk and sat down between Veronica and Arthur. "So, how about an alliance?"

"Don't see why not," Veronica shrugged. True, she had already made an agreement with William, but if there were no rules in place against one alliance, she didn't really see why anyone would have anything against multiple alliances, except that they hadn't thought of it first. She would just play both sides and see which one offered the most to her.

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Veronica's scheming did not limit itself to Assassins. "Alright then," she paused and looked around at her second group of cronies. "We've established that he's going to strip, and that he's going to strip in the Gryffindor common room before everyone goes to Hogsmeade on Saturday. What we now have to establish is when-"

"-And more importantly, to what song-" Lucille continued.

"-And even more importantly, what are we going ter do avec Diana?" Thierry finished.

"That's a tough one," Veronica conceded.

The trio were sitting in the library on Thursday after Transfiguration, which as an elective was a class they all shared. After he had asked Lucille if he could see Uranus, Professor Trelawney had lost her temper and predicted that Thierry would be beheaded on Saturday, then hanged the following Tuesday. He and Veronica had already changed into Quidditch robes for practice. As the girls on the team did not yet have uniforms, Veronica was wearing a pair from Thierry's fourth year. Tiny Holly Wood was now the proud owner of the robes he had worn in his first year. Possibly because of Thierry, it had been the final year that first years had been allowed onto house teams.

"Well," Lucille paused, "I've got two of the three sorted out in my head. We should have Arthur stripping before breakfast. That way none of the teachers will be up, and he'll be doing it on an empty stomach. So he won't be sick with nerves. I don't think it will be a good idea for any of us to watch him after a big meal, come to think of it. He's kind of scrawny. Not like John Lennon, who's just perfectly svelte."

Veronica rolled her eyes.

"Pot callin' keetaile black," Thierry muttered, but very quietly, since Molly had spoken to him about making fun of Lucille's figure, or lack of it.

"I don't think Arthur would look bad naked." The group's redhead had appeared. Everyone turned to look at her, and her redness developed another dimension. "I-I mean-"

"We 'ave already estableeshed zat Arthur weel not be getting nu totalement." Thierry explained, "which fer one theeng I would not like ter see. We are goin' ter let 'im keep ees leedle undies on. Don't want ter completely scare ze firs' years."

"What I was saying before," Lucille continued with no small amount of haughtiness, "was that I have already chosen a song for Arthur to strip to."

"Oh, oh, Lucille!" Thierry looked ready to self-combust in desperation. Or mockery. "Do tell us oo ze band weel be zat ees performing cette chanson! Oh, oo can eet possibly be? Nous n'avez pas la moindre idée! Nous sommes about ter die of anticipation. S'il vous plait, Lucille, avec une cerise sur-"

"What's he saying?" Molly frowned.

"He's just being a prat, as usual," Lucille shot the "he" in question a withering look. "The whole "we have no idea" and the "pretty please with a cherry on top" thing, when that phrase is completely impossible to translate into French. For those who are interested-" Thierry pretended to yawn, which Lucille ignored with great dignity "-the song will be taken from the album Beatles for Sale, which, as the title may suggest, is a Beatles record."

Thierry's mouth dropped open. Veronica began to giggle.

"The song is "Eight Days a Week" and has the perfect rhythm to strip to," Lucille continued primly in a superhuman effort to ignore Thierry. "I have practised it myself." Thierry roared with laughter, causing Lucille to finally snap. "In the sixth year girls' dorm!" she added heatedly. "Alone!"

"Oh, vraiment, Lucille?" Thierry grinned. "Are yer sure yer practiced properly? Perhaps yer should 'ave a live audience next time."

"Remind me to knock before entering our room," Molly told her.

"You're all impossible!" Lucille declared. "I'm going back to the dorm to study!"

"Oh, so zat eez what yer call eet now?" Thierry queried. Veronica and Molly were beside themselves.

"Hmph!" said Lucille. She scooped up her books and marched out of the room.

"Weel, zat got rid of 'er," Thierry said. "I 'ave thought of a way ter keep Diana occupied, mais yer are not allowed to ask me what eet ees."

"Okaaay," Veronica said, giving him a strange look. Something told her she'd rather not know. "Well, now that's taken care of, I also have an idea of how exactly we're going to break the good news to Arthur."

"He's going to kill me," Molly moaned, burying her head in her hands. "Oh, poor Arthur!"

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