The Ravenclaw meeting in November went smoothly. Hermione was a great favourite in the house, having taken the lead in points for the first years. Once their curiosity about the floating light globes had been satisfied ('Stabilized suspended phosphorus imbued with magic? Fascinating!'), they inquired how the petition to sack Binns was going.

"The headmaster tried to stonewall us," Draco explained, "but my father gave a copy to all the Board members. They're going to vote on it next week."

"If it goes through, who do you think will be hired? Binns is bad, but we don't want to jump from the cauldron into the fire."

"We are in contact with the history professor from our earlier school," Neville informed them. "She is willing to consider the position."

"Is the name one we would recognize?" Kevin Entwhistle queried.

"Probably not." Harry put in. "She attended Beauxbatons, although she is American. Louisiana," he added to most of the listeners' confusion.

"We will certainly learn more than goblin wars," Hermione assured them.

Padma Patil gave a sharp nod. "Then that's all to the good."

As Hermione had earlier reported, they had no interest in investigating the 'third floor of painful death', as they referred to it. Stephen Cornfoot put it best, "For Merlin's sake, with Dumbledore repeating that announcement every other week, it's almost like he's inviting the daredevils to show up. Do you suppose he's going senile?"

A simple "Well, he is getting up there in years" was Draco's mild return, and somehow they managed to segue the conversation onto Voldemort and his current non-existence.

The Eagles listened with open minds to the abridged biography of Tom Riddle. By the end of the evening they were calling each other by anagrammed names, having derided the Dark Lord's result as 'juvenile'.


Hannah's eyes widened as she looked over Susan's head. "Above you!" she gasped.

Susan swallowed her mouthful of oatmeal and grabbed the fluttering parchment bird. "That's some nice charm work."

"It has our names on it," Hannah pointed out, and Susan gently unfolded it.

"It's from Hermione. She wants to know if, when we saw Hagrid, he was carrying a bag over his shoulder."

"He was, Sue!" Hannah almost squealed. "It was brown; don't know if it was canvas or leather."

"Canvas," Susan murmured before snapping her fingers, "and there were a bunch of stains on it. Some more faded so they were probably older." She grinned at Hannah's expression. "Aunt Amelia says that the most important way witnesses can help aurors is to be observant. She likes to give me little 'tests' whenever she comes over for dinner."

"Are you going to write Hermione back?"

"No, I'll tell her right before DADA today. And then I'm going to make her show me how to do this!" She waved the creased parchment. "Ronald Weasley is an absolute idiot for refusing her help."


The Snakes were civil and slightly wary when they met early in December. Draco had suggested the timing so that they could discuss and consider the matter for a couple of weeks in the dungeons before reporting the information to their parents.

"Look," Harry addressed them, "I know someone gave me that ridiculous title of 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'. Let me assure you that the rumour that I defeated Voldemort at fifteen months of age is ludicrous."

"Then, what do you think happened?" The inflection in the voice of Daphne Greengrass was not of accusation but of curiosity.

"Who knows?" He shrugged. "Some people have put it out there that my mother's love saved me, but if that was the case, why isn't it a widely used method of protection?"

"Simple," Neville snorted, "because it makes no sense."

Blaise Zabini pointed out, "She was a muggleborn witch. A lot of things in the magical world make no sense to those of that background. Maybe she didn't know it wasn't possible so she just...did whatever she did."

"You may be close to the truth." Harry nodded at Hermione, and she continued, "Mrs. Potter left scads of notes behind. From what has been made of them, she feared that Harry was a target and had researched numerous forms of protection: charms, runes, even potions."

Theo Nott whistled through his teeth. "Salazar! She managed to do the impossible, yet since she was murdered we don't know what she did."

"Being a muggleborn magical doesn't make one weak," Tracey Davis spoke up. "My mum gained more NEWTs and higher test scores than my father, and he can trace his pureblood lineage for seven generations."

"Well, we don't need to look any further than our Hermione here for proof of that," Draco stated, sneering at Pansy's scowl.

"Anyway, guys," Harry brought the attention back to himself, "please do your best not to think of me as some sort of toddler wunderkind. I'm happy to just be Harry, if not your friend, then at least not an enemy."

"I don't think anyone here is foolish enough to try to set themselves up in opposition to you," Daphne laughed. "Separately, you four are impressive; together, you are formidable."

"Now, Daphne," Draco whined, "you forgot good-looking."

Millicent snorted. "That's our Draco, as vain as those peacocks on his family's lawn."

"Say, guys," Neville turned to the boys, "does he still spend a quarter of an hour arranging his hair?"

Theo and Blaise verified that and began to tell other tales, over Draco's protests. Greg and Vince nodded in agreement while partaking of the delicious refreshments. After all, the others were better at talking, and this food shouldn't go to waste.


The quartet stumbled into their meeting room, their bodies only half visible as a silvery cloak fluttered around them.

"A Cerberus! I never thought I'd see one before taking upper level Creatures!"

"Neville, a three-headed dog is not meant to be an indoor pet." Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "And the fact that you rash adventurers left me behind to keep him asleep has you majorly in my debt."

"But Hermione," Draco placed an arm over her shoulders, "you have the best singing voice of all of us."

"And I can't believe that you, Harry Potter, managed to convince Mr. Steadman to let you use your invisibility cloak to sneak around to see what Hagrid was up to."

"We knew what he was up to, Mione." Harry stated in an earnest tone. "When we told Professor Snape what Susan and Hannah heard, he told us, in general, what was behind that door."

"There is a sort of obstacle course in a series of interconnected rooms over several levels, ending deep under the castle in some mysterious vast chamber. Headmaster Dumbledore, despite all of the evidence given him, continues to believe that Voldemort is alive in some way and would be attracted to the … object."

Despite repeated begging, the potions professor would not state outright what would prove so enticing to a dark lord, provided he still existed. "I have been bound by a vow, but I do believe I can say that it would not come amiss to study the Headmaster's past accomplishments."

Neville intoned, "Devil's Snare, flying keys, chess, a troll–"

"A troll!" she screeched. "A troll in the dungeon! How is that appropriate or even useful? No one has show-and-tell with 4X sapient beasts even in Advanced DADA!"

"Well, we made it back, didn't we? I mean, I sent him a jelly-legs jinx, Harry charmed him to sleep, and Nev transformed his blanket to a soft bed so he wouldn't get hurt when he fell."

Hermione was not impressed. "And then you blockheads decided to walk through fire to find what? An empty room!"

"Now, Mione, Professor Snape did say that the headmaster may not have placed whatever he wanted to protect there yet."

"And another thing, Draco!" She turned on him. "What sort of protection is it that can be undone by first years? First years are supposed to be enjoying the wonder of performing magic, not dodging danger in dark hallways! And, that!" she pointed at each of them in turn. "All of you will be undergoing great pain if I get a detention for being out after curfew." She paused. "Wait, a detention is the least of it. We could have been killed, or worse, expelled."

"We'll figure it out, Hermione." Harry placed both hands on her shoulders. "Now, breathe and think. What should we do first?"

"Call the aurors!" she snapped.

"And explain that we deliberately disobeyed an instruction from the headmaster?" Neville shook his head. "We need to think of a way to take care of things in a more subtle manner." He turned. "Draco?"

The blond straightened. "Okay, a Slytherin method will take some time and planning. But," an upraised index finger halted Hermione's protest in her throat, "that doesn't mean that we can't try to ease a fellow creature's suffering."