"-half of us are staff at the schools or wrapped up in the Tournament, somehow, so Hogsmeade's the best place for it - close enough that we can just slip away-"

"London's central," Mad-Eye grumbled. "Lots of ways in and out to throw off any tails…"

"Sure," Sirius said. "And I've said I'm happy to offer up my place, but I can't until I've told Harry because of the Fidelius, which means the next one has to be somewhere else, and Hogsmeade-"

"I'll talk to Ab," Mad-Eye grunted. "See if I can get us use of a back room." His mismatched eyes flicked over Sirius, even more unnerving in the green of the Floo. "Will you have told the boy by Christmas?"

"I'll have told him as soon as the second task's over," Sirius said. It wasn't an urgent discussion in that there was no new information coming in through the Order and they weren't running missions or raids or protective details just yet, so he'd opted to wait to tell Harry; he had more pressing things to worry about.

"Good. I'll-" There was a soft knock on Sirius' office door and in the time it took Sirius to glance up at it and then back to the fire, Mad-Eye had vanished.

"Paranoid old git," Sirius sighed, and got to his feet. He pulled the door to his quarters shut behind him as he stepped into his office, just in case it was a normal student - unlikely, given the late hour, but it was still before curfew - and pulled the door open. "Ron," he said, surprised; it was not surprising to see Ron, but it was surprising to see Ron alone. He didn't look injured or upset, so Sirius didn't think anything was wrong. Merlin, but he hoped Ron wasn't here for advice about the Hermione situation. "Everything okay?" he asked lightly.

"'S fine now," Ron said. "But it almost wasn't; Mum said you pretty much talked her out of letting us compete with Harry." Sirius sighed and stepped back to let him in.

"I'm not going to apologise," he warned. "If I could keep every single one of you out of this, I would."

"Obviously," Ron said, flopping down in the chair opposite Sirius' desk. "I need you to teach me to throw the Imperius curse off. Should've come ages ago, right after we did it in class. I don't- I don't want them to use me to hurt anyone. Not in the task, and not at any other time."

"Seems sensible," Sirius said. He let out a gusty breath and drew his wand, rolling it contemplatively between his fingers.

"All right," he said. "I've seen it taught two ways; one's repeated casting, but that's going to take time I don't have tonight and it takes it out of you - headaches, dizziness, all that. The other's to put it on you and leave it on you, with a specific rule or instruction, and you can try to break it in your own time, but I understand if you don't want that-"

"If it's a silly rule I won't be motivated," Ron said. Sirius blinked; he'd been expecting hesitation about being under the curse for so long; it was one thing to let it be cast in short bursts, it was another to let it stay indefinitely. Sirius certainly wasn't going to abuse it, but it was still an enormous display of trust coming from Ron; Moony was the only person - living, anyway - that Sirius would trust to do the same for him.

"Depends what the rule is," Sirius said, finally. "But if you can go against a stupid instruction, chances are you'll be able to go against one that matters to you."

"All right," Ron said, nodding. "What's the rule?"

"That... you have to scratch your nose every time someone asks you a question? It'll be easy to know when you've beaten it, and it won't get you in trouble or make people think you're acting oddly. And if you've not beaten it by the task I'll take it off so you're not distracted."

"Okay," Ron said slowly. "Do it."

"Imperio," Sirius murmured, and whispered the instruction into Ron's head. Ron blinked glazed-over-eyes and refocused. "How do you feel?" Ron's face twitched and he scratched his nose.

"Like it's working," he grumbled. Sirius chuckled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Need anything else?"

Scratch.

"No. Thanks." Ron smiled wryly. "I think."


"Where've you been?" Harry asked, as Ginny padded over in pyjama trousers and a too-big Weasley jumper (green, with a large orange C on it).

"Dumbledore's office," she said.

"With Ron?"

"And Hermione. Had to get Mum and Dad's permission to be in the second task." Harry imagined Mrs Weasley's reaction to that and grimaced.

"We're in," Ginny assured him. Harry didn't know whether to be relieved or not. Ginny leaned on the back of the armchair opposite his. "What've you been doing? Hiding?"

"No," Harry said. "Just- er-" He sighed. "Yeah, a bit."

It had been just over a week since Ron asked Hermione to the Ball, and the situation had not yet resolved itself; neither Ron or Hermione had gone into specifics about what exactly had unfolded (though Harry, Draco, and Ginny had theories), and, while they weren't hostile, or forcing Harry and the others to take sides, it was incredibly awkward. Even Draco's father giving Ginny the diary hadn't resulted in such a shift in the group's dynamic.

Most of their trainings had been focused on non-verbal casting, which was probably for the best because no one seemed to have much to say, at least while Ron and Hermione were in the same room; training and the second task was all right to mention, but Champions were off limits because Ron's mouth would twist and Hermione would get defensive whenever Krum was mentioned, and the same went for the Ball, and, unfortunately, for Quidditch as well.

The only good thing about it was that it was very successfully distracting Harry from the second task, but that wasn't actually a good thing because he cared a great deal more about Ron and Hermione than the task, and having them at odds was causing him a great deal of stress.

"Even though there's nothing to need to hide from because everything's completely normal, right? You should've seen them in Dumbledore's office - they wouldn't even look at each other. Well, not at the same time. Ron kept glancing over all sad and worried and Hermione was all guilty." Ginny pulled a face and draped herself over the armchair with a groan. Her long, red hair dangled over the arm of the chair, ends just shy of the carpet.

Harry concentrated, flicked his wand, and grinned when she yelped and rubbed at her head.

"Nice," she said, with a reluctant grin. "You're getting good."

"Getting there." Good thing too - the task was only days away. "But still not as good as Draco," Harry said; Draco had taken to non-verbal casting with ease and been surprisingly modest about it, like it just made sense. "Or Ron."

"Yeah, didn't see that one coming," Ginny admitted; Ron had done it successfully on his first try (and every try since) and been incredibly pleased about the fact. Harry wondered if it had anything to do with him always staring at forks and quills and other bits and pieces, because he wore the same expression. Harry had been a bit slower to pick it up - really only starting to consistently manage it in the last day or so - despite already knowing how to cast the Seeing-Magic spell silently, and having experience with other non-verbal magics like apparition and his animagus transformation. Ginny was about on par with Harry, while Hermione was still very inconsistent (and not particularly pleased about it). "And hopefully, none of the other Champions will either." Harry grinned at that.

The Room's door opened to admit Draco, who glanced cautiously in, then slumped with relief and came to join them, flopping dramatically down onto the couch beside Harry with a groan.

"Us too," Ginny said. Draco snorted from beneath the arm draped over his face, and kicked his feet up into Harry's lap. The sound he made was so exhausted that Harry reconsidered his decision to push Draco's legs off, and instead gave his ankle a pat.

"Snape?" Harry asked. "Or er… Ron and Hermione…?"

"Greengrass, actually," Draco said. "She heard I'm taking Astoria to the Ball and wanted to tell me exactly what she thought of that."

"You've got a date?" Harry asked, surprised. Ginny didn't look surprised at all, which made sense; she was friends with both Greengrass twins.

"Yes," Draco said, scowling at Harry. "Don't sound so shocked."

"I'm not- you just hadn't mentioned it."

"You didn't ask."

"Asking about the Ball's a dangerous thing to do," Harry said wryly, and Draco snorted. "You should have just said something." Did Draco fancy Astoria? Harry didn't think he'd ever seen them interact.

"I did," Draco said. "Just now." Harry did push his legs off then, but not hard.

"Which one's Astoria?" he asked. "The tall twin, or the little one?"

"She's the shorter of the two," Draco said. "The one in Slytherin."

"When did you ask her?"

"He didn't ask her at all," Ginny said. "He wrote her a letter-"

"That's asking," Draco said, sitting upright to scowl at her.

"Barely," Ginny said, though Harry thought Draco had the right of it; asking by letter seemed like the easier, less scary option and he rather wished he'd thought of it with Luna; perhaps then she wouldn't have misunderstood.

"I think a written invitation is a far more respectful and appropriate way to ask someone to accompany you somewhere than wandering up and putting them on the spot is," Draco said, pink-cheeked.

"To Miss Astoria Greengrass," Ginny began, in a passable imitation of Draco's voice, "As you know, the Yule Ball has been announced and I am in need of a date for the evening…"

"Oh, shut up," Draco muttered, kicking at Harry, who was laughing. "She obviously didn't mind, because she replied with a letter."

"Yes: To Mr Draco Malfoy," Ginny said, in a posh voice, "You are quite right in saying I will not be able to attend as a third year without a date, so I accept your invitation to the Yule Ball-"

"That was private!"

"Not before she sent it, it wasn't." Ginny cut off with a laughing yelp as Draco flicked a non-verbal stinging jinx her way. Harry did his best to keep a straight face, but Ginny mimed attaching a letter to an owl's leg and swooning and his bark of laughter earned him a stinging jinx of his own… Or would have, if he hadn't cast a non-verbal shield charm.

"Not bad," Draco said.

"Thanks," Harry said, grinning, as he lowered his wand. "I-Ow!" Draco sniggered and pocketed his own.

"Are we going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" he asked.

"I am," Ginny said. "Luna and I are going shopping for dress robes, and a few last minute Christmas presents."

"I'm not," Harry said. "Dora's bringing Stella here and she and Padfoot and Moony and Marlene are going to do some last minute stuff with me and Ron. And you, if you're here, I s'pose." Hermione was going to Hogsmeade with Krum and had invited Harry and Draco - and by extension, Ron - along with them, but Harry couldn't imagine anything more uncomfortable, and so had made other plans which Ron had immediately jumped on. He didn't think Hermione minded; having Ron there would have been awkward, and this way, she'd get some proper time alone with Krum. It would probably be her last chance until after the second task, because all of Sunday would be dedicated to training, as would every spare, non-lesson moment on Monday and Tuesday.

"Be used for target practice and spell experimentation, or tag along, alone on a friend's date…" Draco mused. "Really, they're both such delightful options… I might see what Severus is doing."

"That's a better option?" Ginny mouthed at Harry, whose mouth twitched. Draco glanced between them with narrowed eyes.

He did end up seeing Snape on the weekend, and Ginny and Hermione went off to their respective Hogsmeade trips as planned, so it was just Harry and Ron that led the adults up the passageway from Padfoot's quarters to the Room.

"Ruddy useful, this," Dora said, voice echoing a little in the tunnel.

"I'll say," Moony said, brushing a hand over the smooth stone. "James must be rolling in his grave right about now." Harry caught Padfoot's eye; he'd said something similar when they first started using it.

"And Lily'd be rolling in hers just thinking about if you had found it when we were at school," Marlene said, wincing as she extracted a chunk of her hair from Stella's grip. "You lot caused more than enough trouble without being able to create your own secret passageways to anywhere in the school." Padfoot and Moony exchanged grins.

"It's the getting back to where you come from that's tricky," Ron said. "'S why we had to come through here to meet you and then leave the tunnel open, because as soon as you leave the Room - or any extensions of it, I guess - it resets." He ducked past Harry to push open the door into the Room, ears turning a pleased red in response to the exclamations of awe and approval from the others. Harry nudged him and smiled, and Ron gave a sheepish grin back.

"So it can be whatever you want it to be?" Dora asked, poking through the bookshelf that lined the walkway over the training area.

"Sure," Ron said, rubbing his nose. He pulled a face, stepped off the edge of the walkway and Moony made startled sound and grabbed at him, but Ron was standing on a stone staircase that had formed out of nowhere to support him.

"Wicked," Dora said. Ron looked pleased again, and Harry was glad for it; he'd had very little confidence since the whole Hermione-Ball thing.

"How does it work?" Marlene asked. Ron made a weird twitching movement and almost poked himself in the eye.

"You ask," Harry said. He scrunched up his face, concentrating, and the maroon training mats below turned a bright, Cannons orange, then went back to their original colour. "Ron's better at it though."

The mats turned a familiar bubblegum pink and Dora grinned, scent delighted, her hair the same shade.

"It's like me," she said, and green spots appeared on the walls at the same time as they appeared on her face.

Padfoot tweaked her nose on his way past, joining Harry, who'd followed Ron's makeshift staircase down.

"What's on the agenda today, then?" he asked.

"Anything, really," Harry said. "As long as it's me and Ron against some or all of you."

"Shall we, Mister Moony?" Padfoot asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Of course, Mister Padfoot," Moony replied, eyes glinting.

"Marlene and I are next!" Dora called after them, sitting down on the edge of the walkway to watch.

Moony stepped onto Ron's staircase, then twitched in surprise as it lowered like a lift instead. Harry and Ron sniggered, then took up duelling stances in the middle of the mats.

"No Room stuff?" Ron asked. "Since we won't have it with us out there…"

"No Room stuff," Harry agreed, eyes on Moony and Padfoot, who hadn't even bothered to strategise, and had instead fallen into relaxed-looking fighting stances, side by side.

"Ready?" Padfoot called. Ron rubbed his nose again; it was rather red. Harry wondered if he was developing an allergy. Padfoot sniggered.

Harry responded with a non-verbal Expelliarmus and Padfoot's wand came soaring toward him. Padfoot swore loudly, but before Harry could catch the wand, he was hit by something that sent him stumbling back - and Ron beside him - and Padfoot's wand changed direction in mid-air, flying into Moony's waiting hand instead. He tossed it to Padfoot.

"Keep a better hold of that, please, Sirius," he said, in the same tone as he'd used to ask Harry to put all four chair legs on the ground in first year Defence. Harry had time to grin a little but nothing else, because then spells were flying:

An Obscuro blindfold slapped itself over Ron's face and Harry had to raise a hasty shield to cover them both from a pair of Stunners. A small wisp of fire curled out of Ron's wand and a second and a noseful of burning-fabric-smell later, Ron's blindfold was lying harmlessly on the ground; him practicing with fire hadn't stopped after the first task.

Harry dodged several jets of light and would have been caught by a third were it not for a well-placed Shield Charm of Ron's.

"Thanks! Fragria!" Moony was too busy casting to block and staggered backward with a choking noise, a hand to his nose; that had been a find of Hermione's, who'd rightly guessed people with sensitive noses would find it particularly unpleasant (Harry could attest to that). Harry ducked under a jet of lime-green light.

"Finite," Padfoot said, and Moony sneezed and straightened. Padfoot flicked his wand and the floor rose up in a wave that tried to envelope both Harry and Ron.

"Avea Apara," Harry said, and a dome sprang up around them both. The floor completely covered it, plunging them into darkness.

"Melumen," Ron said, and a ball of light sprang into being over his shoulder. "What now?" He barely breathed the words, not because he was scared or worried, Harry didn't think, but because he was familiar enough with Harry's hearing to know they'd be giving Moony and Padfoot an advantage if he spoke too loudly.

Harry grinned, released his dome and said, "Bombarda!"

The stone over their heads exploded outward.

"Crustallum!" Padfoot had not been idle; his voice came from behind them, and Harry ducked and rolled but Ron conjured a wall of fire that melted Padfoot's shards of ice before they could get anywhere close.

Procellus, Harry thought, and Moony had time to look startled before he was swept up in a small hurricane.

"Stupefy!" he added in Padfoot's direction, but Padfoot swatted it away and cast a spell that covered Ron in lime green goo.

"Finite," Harry said, but it did nothing. "Scourgify!" Ron yelped but the spell did free him and he stumbled out, right into a Stunner; Moony had escaped Harry's Procellus.

"Caligo," Harry said, and thick grey fog poured out of his wand. He crouched. Accio, Ron. A moment later, Ron's prone form bumped gently into his side and Harry thought Rennervate.

Ron stirred with a confused noise and Harry gave him a push then jumped back himself; two spells - one from Padfoot's direction, one from Moony's - collided where they'd just been.

"Exsugo," Padfoot said, and the fog was sucked into his wand. Harry flung another Disarmer in his direction while his wand was occupied but his aim was off and it soared harmlessly past Padfoot's ear. He got a Shield in front of a still-disoriented Ron just in time to save him from whatever Moony's spell had been, and then a spell thudded into his side and Harry couldn't breathe.

Finite, he thought, but it did nothing. Though he knew it was Padfoot and Moony and they wouldn't actually hurt him, he couldn't breathe and he looked to Ron, panicked.

"Avea apara," Ron said, and the familiar orange dome sprung up. "Finite," he said, and Harry gasped in a mouthful of air. "All right?" he asked. Harry gulped again and nodded. Beyond the dome, Padfoot looked both impressed and put out.

"This is cheating," he said, flinging a casual Stunner, and sidestepping to dodge it when it came back at him. "And not likely to be of use in the second task if it involves any sort of moving around."

Ron glanced at Harry. Harry shrugged, turning so that Moony was in his line of sight. Ron dropped the dome.

Harry blocked Moony's Body-Bind, and heard Ron dodge Padfoot's attack, but a spell came from a third direction - Dora had got sick of waiting for her turn, it seemed - and hit Harry in the leg.

His feet tingled strangely and he tried to wiggle his toes which felt... wrong. He stayed where he was, not sure taking a step would be a good idea.

"Finite," he said, but didn't feel whatever it was fix itself. Dora winked and flung a length of rope at Ron, binding him tightly; he toppled over with a yell.

"Now who's cheating?" Harry asked Padfoot, who had him at wandpoint.

"Constant vigilance," he and Dora said in unison. Moony chuckled, coming around to join them, wand trained on Ron, who was grumbling on the ground.

"Yield?" Padfoot asked. Ron rubbed his face against the training mats, perhaps nodding.

Harry sighed, nodded, and gently lowered himself into a sitting position. Dora took pity on him and flicked her wand, and his feet went back to feeling normal.

"Ta," he said. Padfoot stepped over to Ron, but the ropes burned away before he could do anything to help.

"Nice," Padfoot said, arching an eyebrow, and offered him a hand up.

"Late," Ron said, but smelled pleased all the same.

"You're looking sharp," Moony said, looking between Harry and Ron. "Good form, good aim - Harry, I think yours was the only miss I saw - good variety of spells, and you cover each other well-"

"Mmm," Marlene said, "not bad for a warm up round." She passed Stella off to Padfoot, eyes gleaming and a small smile on her face. "Shall we give them a proper bout, Lupin?"

"Sounds good, McKinnon," Dora said, grinning as she waved Moony and Padfoot away. "Ready, lads?"

Harry got to his feet and into position beside Ron, who was scratching again.

He opened his mouth to say that they were ready, but Marlene had already launched a Stunner, and Dora was quick to turn the Room's floor to quicksand.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Harry said, and got Ron out of it. "Finite." Nothing happened; obviously it had been transfigured not charmed. "Stupefy!"

Dora shrank several inches to avoid it, an amused look on her face, and flung something back.

"Protego!" Harry said, because he couldn't move. Then: "Ascendio." He shot out of the floor but didn't go high, using his momentum to move to the side and then landed in a roll that brought him to his feet. A shield - Ron's shield - appeared in front of him in time to block a spell from Marlene.

Expecto Patronum! Prongs burst out of his wand, galloping at Dora, who dove out of the way, and then at Marlene, who - cool as anything - conjured her own lioness and sent it after Prongs.

"Densissima," Harry said, thickening the air around Dora to slow her down.

"Expelliarmus!" Ron said, and Marlene's wand went flying into Ron's hand. She looked surprised and then her eyes narrowed and she pointed at him. Ron smirked - as did Harry - at least until both Ron and Marlene's wands went soaring back to Marlene. Ron gaped at her and Harry sent a Stunner in Marlene's direction.

She conjured a glowing yellow ball that absorbed it, then pointed a wand each at him and Ron, and cast a pair of lilac spells simultaneously. Harry conjured a shield in front of Ron and rolled out of the way of the spell she'd directed at him. Dora's Disarmer caught him; clearly she'd predicted what he was going to do.

"Yield?" Dora asked, as she moved to stand by Marlene's side, four wands between them. Harry glanced at Ron - who was as empty-handed as he was.

"Yield," Ron agreed, wiping his face on the back of his hand. Marlene tossed him his wand, and Dora offered Harry his.

"You all right?" Harry asked, gesturing at Ron's red nose. Ron scratched and grumbled, waving him away.

"Again?" Dora asked, backing up.

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, Ron rubbing his face against his shoulder - to get rid of sweat, or an itch, Harry wasn't sure - and nodded.

"Torpeo!"

"Protego!"