A/N: Thank you as always for the reviews and for reading!


Chapter Fourteen: Group Consensus


"What do you think it's guarding?" Vincent asked as he chewed off the tail of a Sugar Mouse, his tone wistful.

"I've no idea, just the same as the last fifty times you asked." Draco leaned against the wall of the broom cupboard behind the tapestry of Chiron the Centaur, his eyes shut. They'd been discussing the three-headed dog and the great mystery of what lay beneath for the last half hour. "Are you sure it was standing on a trapdoor, Blaise?"

"Certain," Blaise said confidently. "I'd bet my life on it." His expression darkened, and he added, "Which I nearly did. That beast was enormous."

"So you keep saying." Theo pulled his legs closer against his stomach. There was a bit more space than usual, as they hadn't invited the girls, but it was still a tight fit. It was a Sunday evening and their first time back in the Club Slytherin space since the disastrous aftermath of their 'dueling' adventure the week before, and things simply didn't feel the same as they had before that awful night.

"Do you think we should tell the girls?" Harry said after a long moment.

It was impossible to know what anyone said, because everyone spoke at once, very loudly, before abruptly silencing themselves to avoid being heard from the corridor outside. It didn't matter, though; the subject had been discussed half to death and everyone's opinions were clear. It was a 'no' from Draco, Blaise, and Vincent, and a 'yes' from Greg, Harry, and Theo. In other words, an even split.

"It's serious, though, isn't it?" Blaise said. "It's not something silly like us dueling or sneaking around the castle for fun. It could be dangerous, or related to whoever was under that cloak. He tried to kill you. Do we want to rope the girls into something dangerous like that? Something that could hurt them?"

"All I'm saying," Harry said in a hushed voice. "All I'm saying is they're not stupid. They're not going to go pounding the door down. Why would they? And they're not blabbermouths. They were part of the plan, and they got into just as much trouble as we did when Snape showed up. Even if it is dangerous, don't we owe it to them to tell them what we discovered?"

"What I discovered," Blaise protested. "I found the dog and nearly got myself killed. And I don't want this to spiral out of control. We still don't know what it's even guarding."

"It has to be what Hagrid took from vault seven hundred and thirteen at Gringotts," Harry said, having shared the story of his trip to Diagon Alley with his dormmates shortly after Blaise revealed what he'd seen in the forbidden wing on the third floor. "What else could it be? We went deep underground, much deeper than my vault, and there wasn't even a keyhole on the door. It was important."

"Goodness, it must be important if it was deeper in Gringotts than the great and mighty Potter vault," Draco said sarcastically.

"Don't worry, I saw a little ladder and a sign that said 'Malfoy' a bit further down," Harry shot back. "But my point is it was in a really secure part of the bank. And that morning Hagrid told me he needed to get something important for Dumbledore at Gringotts."

"For all we know it was enchanted denture cream," Blaise said, but he was frowning. "You're sure he didn't tell you anything about what it might be?"

"Oh my God," Harry said slowly. "I'm an idiot. He did tell me exactly what it was. I've just remembered." The five boys around him jerked their heads in his direction, and he snorted. "I'm joking."

"All right, this is stupid." Millicent's voice filled the space, and before anyone could react, the tapestry was yanked open and she shoved her way in. "We can't listen outside forever, Daph. Someone's going to walk by and then our space won't be secret anymore."

"Oi!" Greg protested as the boys scrambled further in to make room for the four girls forcing their way in. "What are you doing here?"

"It's just as much our club as it is yours," Pansy said, grabbing a throw pillow and attempting to sit as dignified as one possibly could while squeezed between two other eleven-year-olds in a very cramped space. "And what have you lot to say for yourself? Sneaking around and whispering like you're a group of spies and forcing us to eavesdrop?"

"You could've asked!" Draco nearly shouted. Daphne elbowed him and nodded at the back of the tapestry.

"Quiet! Do you want someone to find us? Anyway, we have been asking. You wouldn't tell us anything!" She glared from boy to boy with an accusatory look.

"We wanted to," Theo said, then corrected himself. "Well, some of us did. We were trying to get the rest of the group to agree before going straight to you. You know, a group consensus."

"Git," Tracey said, leaning against the stone wall. There wasn't a cushion for her; she glanced around until she noticed Draco sitting on two. She yanked one loose and, ignoring the latter's protests, said, "We are part of the group. Aren't we?"

"It's not a group consensus if it's just the boys," Daphne agreed. "No more of this 'Are we including the girls?' business. Let's get that straight. It's about time you got it through your heads that we're just as much part of the Slytherin first years as you are, even if we're in different dorms."

"All right, fine," Draco said, defeated. "If that's how you feel about it."

"That's how we feel about it," Pansy said.

"We'll include you from now on." Blaise held up both hands in a gesture of goodwill. "No hard feelings?"

"None unless you do it again," Millicent said. "In which case we'll break your arms."

Tracey giggled and settled into her cushion, then paused and said, "But really, we need to agree that we're all in this together. Professor Snape is always saying Slytherins stick together. We all ended up in his office last weekend together, didn't we? And we suffered through it together. Besides, we're too old for boy-girl rivalries, aren't we?"

"Just because aren't ugly brute boys doesn't mean our opinions don't matter," Pansy agreed, to objection from said boys.

"We said we were sorry," Vincent protested. "You don't have to rub it in."

"Well, we didn't say we were sorry, did we?" Greg asked diplomatically. "We said we'd include them from now on."

"Whose bloody side are you on?"

"Fine, fine, you're right," Draco cut in. "We're sorry, all right?"

Millicent raised an eyebrow. An apology from Draco Malfoy was a rare commodity. She nodded and held out a hand, which Draco reluctantly shook. She then stuck out the same hand to Harry as Pansy solemnly stuck a hand out to Draco, and before long they were all engaged in a never-ending series of handshakes between each member of Club Slytherin. Everyone's enthusiasm for seeing it all the way through faded quickly, but they'd already started, so the awkward exercise continued until everyone was reasonably sure they'd reached everyone. Harry was fairly certain he'd shaken Pansy's hand three times.

"Right," Pansy cleared her throat as everyone settled back against their respective cushions. "Harry, you said Hagrid took that package from Gringotts on your birthday?"

"Yeah, that's right. Why?"

Pansy gazed at him, her head slightly tilted. "When is your birthday?"

"Thirty-first of July. Why?"

"You're joking. That's the same as my Granny Viola," Pansy said, her eyes widening.

"Oh," Harry said, not quite sure what to do with this information. "That's nice, Pansy."

"No, you don't understand," she said, so quickly she nearly stumbled over her words. "My cousin was in the Daily Prophet a month ago!"

"Erm." Harry blinked. "That's nice too, Pansy."

"You don't understand!" Pansy's hand flew to her mouth. "It's all connected! Stay here, I'll be right back!"

Before anyone could say anything, Pansy managed to get to her feet with only minimal jostling and bolted out of the tiny space.

"Is she all right?" Blaise asked the remaining girls, who looked just as confused.

"I don't know," Millicent said, stretching out her legs so her feet rested on Pansy's empty pillow. "That business with her cousin happened the first week of term, right?" To the boys, she explained, "Pansy's cousin is an aspiring actress. Some play she was in was reviewed in the Daily Prophet, and her mum sent her the issue."

"She wouldn't shut up about it for a week," Daphne added. "She only had something like three lines, too."

Harry hadn't known about this, but, then again, he'd been suffering from early bedtimes with Draco the first week of the term. Most of his time in the common room had been spent getting his homework done and getting to know the other boys in his year before being shunted off to his dorm with his (at the time) greatest nemesis.

Barely five minutes later, Pansy burst in once more, nearly tripping over her own feet in the process.

"Slow down!" Theo protested, but Pansy just waved a hand, using the other to hold up the newspaper.

"My cousin Priscilla was in Blood of the Unicorn," she said breathlessly, showing Harry the review. "On the stage below the Palace Theatre, in the secret part the Muggles don't know about."

Harry scanned the review; it seemed Priscilla had an extremely minor role that the Prophet's assessment of was 'performed by Priscilla Parkinson'.

"But never mind that," Pansy said, flipping through the newspaper. "Look at this! I saw it when I read the rest of the paper, and I remembered it because Nana's birthday was the same day. We write to each other, and I mentioned it to her. She said she was at Gringotts that morning and for all she knew, she could have seen the thief!"

The rest of Club Slytherin scurried over to crowd around Harry; he struggled to get a look at the article, and finally grabbed it from Pansy and read it aloud.


GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST

Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.

"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.


Harry looked up. "Ron told me about a break-in at Gringotts this summer when we were the Hogwarts Express, but the thief didn't get away with anything. I didn't know it was on my birthday." He paused. "This said the vault was emptied earlier that day. Hagrid took the package in vault seven hundred and thirteen that day, and that was the only thing there."

"And he said that morning he was bringing it to Professor Dumbledore?" Millicent leaned forward, eyes gleaming. "That must be what's under the trapdoor, then. Blaise, you said it was a dog guarding it?"

"A three-headed one." Blaise seemed to be coming around the the idea of the girls being included if it meant he got to share his story again. "It was enormous. Bigger than you can imagine. It practically filled the entire room."

"Poor thing," Tracey said, half to herself. "It must be lonely in there. And cramped."

"Poor thing? It nearly killed me!" Blaise said indignantly. "Its fangs were bigger than my head!"

"Do you think that person in the cloak was the same person who tried to steal it from Gringotts?" Pansy asked. "Do you think they broke into the castle?"

"That's what we've been debating the past week," Draco said. "We don't know. But you can't break into Hogwarts. It's supposed to be impossible."

"But that means it's someone inside the castle," Millicent said, her jaw setting into a grim expression. "Someone who tried to kill Harry."

All eyes were on Harry again. He stared at a wall, not sure what to say, aware that the stares were directed not just at him, but at his scar.

"I don't know who it is," he said finally. "Unless Peeves stole someone's cloak and is pulling off the biggest practical joke of all time."

"You don't think..." Pansy trailed off, then started again. "It couldn't be him, could it?"

The three-lettered word hung in the air around them. Everyone was silent for a moment, thinking of the wizard that nearly everyone could remember except them.

"Hagrid said the only wizard Voldemort was ever afraid of was Dumbledore," Harry said, ignoring the winces of everyone around him. "And he said Hogwarts is the safest place there is, besides Gringotts."

"But if there was something he really wanted..." Theo bit at a knuckle as he thought before continuing. "And it's not just that you're here. It's whatever was in the vault Hagrid emptied. With both of you here..."

He didn't have to finish the sentence. Harry could only imagine how tempting it might be.

"Voldemort's dead," he said. This time Millicent swatted the side of his head, hard. "Ow!"

"We don't like the name," she said firmly. "Say it again, and I'll smack you again."

"Fine, then, You-Know-Who is dead." Harry glared at her as he rubbed where she'd swatted. "Or at least he's gone."

"No one ever confirmed he died," Draco said. "No one knows where he is now."

"If no one's seen him for ten years, isn't he as good as dead?" Tracey asked, but she didn't seemed convinced. "I think him still being alive is just a conspiracy theory."

"They never found the body, though," Draco said. With a jerk of his head toward Harry, he said, "Unless this one here made him explode into thin air, and we've all seen his wandwork. I doubt it."

"I don't know why there wasn't a body," Harry said, rolling his eyes at Draco's comment. "I don't remember any of it beyond some green light. I don't know who the person under the cloak was. I wish I did, though. He nearly killed me."

They all fell silent. After a moment, Theo said, "Well, we've got to find out, then, don't we?"

Daphne nodded. "Professor Snape knows, and he won't let anything happen to you, but if there's someone in the castle who wants to off you- well, you're a Slytherin, aren't you? We look out for one another."

The rest of Club Slytherin nodded, and Harry found his chest was suddenly gripped by something very tight. If someone had tried and failed to attack Harry in the middle of the night back on Privet Drive, he wouldn't put it past the Dursleys to hang a flashing neon sign outside his cupboard the next morning.

"Well... thanks," he finally said, then nodded at the doorway. "We should head back to the common room. It's getting late, and Professor Snape will wonder where we are."

Professor Snape had been watching Harry intensely for the past week. Harry could feel the man's eyes on him each day from the head table in the Great Hall, and in the hallways whenever they crossed paths. It was understandable, given someone had just tried to kill him the weekend prior. Even so, Snape couldn't watch him round-the-clock. That being said, Harry had noticed an increased presence of the Bloody Baron, who in fact just happened to be gliding down the corridor as the entire first year came tumbling out of their hiding spot. They hesitated as he passed, but the ghost didn't say a word and just rounded the corner.

"Is that where you lot have been running off to?"

Harry jumped at the sound of Ellen Greybourne's voice. The fifth year prefect, who was walking down the corridor the same way the Baron had come from, let out a small laugh. Her arms were filled with books, and Harry figured she was on her way back from the library.

"You know about...?" Daphne trailed off, unable to give away their hiding spot despite Greg still being in the process of adjusting it into place behind her.

"The broom cupboard? Of course I do. Every group of first years finds it at some point and takes it over. It's the perfect location, isn't it? Close to the common room, a little cubbyhole to get away from it all, and the tapestry gives it a bit of mystery. Everyone's been wondering where you've been creeping off to all the time. We should have figured it out sooner."

"We wouldn't have to creep off if everyone didn't treat us like a bunch of babies," Pansy muttered under her breath in a tone Harry had to admit was somewhat sulky.

"Oh, come off it, everyone gives the first years a hard time, but it's not personal. It's the Slytherin house game," Ellen said. "Besides, weren't the third years just teaching you to cast the Dancing Feet charm last night? And the sixth years brought you sweets when they raided the kitchens last night. They didn't do that for anyone else."

"They shoved frogs in our pillowcases two nights before that," Pansy pointed out, but she didn't seem quite as put out as she had a moment before.

"Well, there's nothing I can do about that," Ellen said, ignoring Draco's interjection that yes she could, she was a prefect, and adding, "But I'll keep an eye out for you, all right? Everyone in Slytherin does, even if we give you a hard time now and then."

"Thanks, Ellen," Harry said.

Ellen started back down the corridor, then paused and turned back. She hesitated for a moment before speaking. "I should really let you figure this out for yourself, but..."

"But what?" Draco asked.

Ellen shifted her books into the crook of one arm before pushing aside the tapestry and opening the tiny, narrow door set into the wall. "You see that?"

Harry looked at the tiny grate set high in the ceiling that she was pointing at, then back at Ellen, who stepped back and shut the door. "What about it?"

"Do you know what that is?"

The first years glanced at one another. Daphne spoke up first. "Ventilation?"

"Close." Ellen motioned for them to move closer, even though there was no one around to overheard. "According to Terence Higgs, it used to be an interrogation cell, centuries ago. They'd shut up the accused in there with a Boggart."

"What's a Boggart?" Harry asked.

"You don't even know what a Boggart is?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Not too many of them on Privet Drive, sorry," Harry said sarcastically as Vincent said quietly, "It's something that turns into your worst fear. They're awful."

Harry could see from Vincent's expression that he'd likely had firsthand experience with them, but before anyone could press him on it, Ellen went forward with her explanation. "Anyway, what sort of interrogator would want to be around something that could turn into their worst fear if distracted from the prisoner? The grate leads to a passageway, sort of. The prisoner can speak into it and be heard in the interrogator's office. Professor Snape's office, these days."

Harry froze. They all did. No wonder Snape knew they'd crept out last weekend. No wonder he knew about Daphne and Tracey's plan by the dorms as soon as he arrived. No wonder-

"Anyway, each group of first years always seems to stumble across it and take it over for themselves," Ellen said fondly. "My own year included. But we came to notice over time that everything we planned there was always foiled by Professor Snape. Always. I didn't know exactly how until Higgs told me about the grate, but everyone knows there's something funny about that room. It's sort of a Slytherin tradition at this point, if you know what I mean?"

Harry's mouth was very dry, but he somehow managed to mumble, "Yes."

Ellen laughed. "The lot of you look like you've seen a banshee! He must have caught you in the act over something you plotted in there, hasn't he?"

They all nodded dumbly, and Ellen said, "Well, now I don't feel so bad for having told you. Don't say I'm the one who did, though. And really, cheer up about being first years- you'll be second years before long, after all. Besides, I'll round up the fifth years tonight and we'll teach you the spell to vomit bubbles. Would you like that?"

Harry would normally like that very much, but he was distracted by the same thought as everyone else. They'd just discussed Blaise going into the forbidden corridor and discovering the three-headed dog, their theories on its connection to the mysterious cloaked figure, and their plans to try to discover more on their own. In the same room that could be heard from Snape's office.

He was going to murder them.

"That sounds great, thanks Ellen," Daphne said, her voice sounding as dry as Harry's mouth felt.

Ellen started off towards the common room again, and the moment she rounded the corner Harry turned to the others, their faces matching the desperation he felt. "Maybe he wasn't in his office. Maybe he didn't hear us."

Greg turned and bolted down the corridor.

"Where are you going?" Theo shouted after him.

"Checking!"

The first years all stared at one another for a moment, then took off after him. Harry wasn't sure what they'd do if Snape was there waiting for them- bend over his armchair and wait to be killed, probably. But no one was waiting for them once they came to a stop outside the closed, locked door.

"D'you think he's in there?" Draco asked, his voice low.

Harry bit his lip, then leaned closer to the door. He couldn't hear a thing, but it was a thick door. He pressed his ear against it, straining to hear any signs of life within, when Professor Snape's voice rang out behind him.

"May I help you, Mr. Potter?"

Harry jumped away from the door as though he'd been jabbed with a hot poker; Draco let out a noise not unlike a squeak. Professor Snape approached the first years, looking from face to face slowly and deliberately.

"Erm," Harry said, for lack of a better word. "Hello, sir."

"Hello, Mr. Potter." Snape crossed his arms, his voice silky smooth and sounding incredibly dangerous. "It is highly unusual for a student to find themselves wanting to enter this office even when they're invited. Particularly a group of students who just found themselves within it this weekend in a state of disgrace. I'd be extremely... disappointed to discover you were plotting something once more." He tapped the door with his wand, and it cracked itself open. "Shall we go inside and discuss it further, everyone?"

"We came to say we were sorry, sir," Tracey said suddenly. Everyone turned to look at her, and she gazed at her feet, then forced herself to look up at Professor Snape. "It was my idea, and Daphne's. All of us have been feeling awful about what happened last weekend and we wanted to tell you. We couldn't decide who to send, so we all came. We've felt terrible all week."

That last sentence wasn't a lie, and Harry figured Professor Snape, even as distracted as he'd been since the whole awful business had occurred, must have noticed how subdued they'd been since the reckoning they'd experienced just over the threshold of the now-ajar door.

"It's true, sir," Daphne said. "We never should have gone out after curfew. Draco felt so terrible he's been having nightmares."

Snape turned his gaze to Draco, who Harry had to admit was doing an impressive job at not revealing his outrage at Daphne's embellishment. He gazed at his feet, cheeks bright red, and said "Just one, sir. That you didn't find us in time, and something terrible happened on the stairs. That's all."

"Tracey and Daphne thought it might make things better if we found you and told you how rotten we felt about the entire thing," Harry said quickly. "So we went to find you, but you weren't there when we knocked, sir. We thought we might have heard someone inside, so..."

He trailed off as Snape pushed the door all the way open. No one was inside. Snape turned to them once again, but didn't say a word.

"We're sorry," Theo finally said, his voice weak. "We won't do it again, sir."

"I would certainly hope not," Snape said, but his lip twitched a fraction of a single percent, and Harry knew they were safe. "As dunderheaded, moronic, and potentially brain dead as you all occasionally seem to be."

Everyone relaxed. If Snape was insulting them, they weren't in trouble, not the kind of trouble that would come from knowing what they'd discussed in the broom cupboard.

"Go," Snape said, nodding in the direction of the common room. "I'll join you tonight, if you haven't managed to burn down the infirmary or infest the Great Hall with doxies by that point. I wouldn't put it past you."

"Excellent ideas, thanks sir," Millicent said with a grin. She narrowly dodged the swat aimed in her direction, but Snape hadn't really been moving very quickly.

In fact, Harry thought to himself, as they started back toward the common room, Snape's expression as he turned back to his office was the closest to a smile that Harry had ever seen it. Nothing even close to an actual smile, of course, but if one squinted...

"That was brilliant," Blaise hissed to Tracey as they approached the stone wall that led to the common room. "Thank you, Tracey."

Tracey beamed at him, clearly very pleased with herself. "And you didn't want to include us girls. What would've happened if I hadn't been there?"

"You would've run straight there and stared like an idiot until he pulled the whole thing out of you," Pansy agreed, to which Theo protested, "We would've thought of something!"

"Good on you for keeping it together when Daphne came up with that nightmare story," Harry muttered to Draco as they entered the common room. "If you hadn't gone along with it..."

"I'm not stupid. I value my own skin," Draco shot back. Ellen Greybourne and a couple of fifth years were already gesturing them over, but he and Harry paused for a moment. "Besides, I wasn't lying. Not that Greengrass knew that."

"You've had nightmares?" Harry glanced sideways at Draco, who shrugged.

"Just one. That whoever that was... well, that he got what he wanted. That I didn't grab you in time." He shrugged again and looked away. "It doesn't matter. It was just a dream."

Harry watched as the rest of the fifth years were roped into teaching the first years to vomit bubbles in various shapes and colors. "I didn't know that."

"Well, I didn't wake up screaming or anything. It doesn't matter."

"I never said thank you," Harry said after a moment had passed. "For saving me."

"It was just reflexes. I didn't know what I was doing." Draco made a face and a half-hearted shrug. "It doesn't-"

"It does matter." Harry shuffled his feet awkwardly. "So... you know. Thanks."

"You're welcome," Draco said, only making eye contact a moment later to say, "Want to join them?"

Harry nodded, then added, "Listen, we should go visit Hagrid. All of us. He can tell us about whatever that dog is guarding."

Draco nodded as well, and the two walked across the common room to join the rest of the first year together.