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Dark-Lady-Devinity – glad you enjoyed, thanks for the review!
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honestiago – I always love your reviews! Sorry for the long gap between updates. Yep, love the Harry bashing! Afraid there's no Dru and Remus in this chapter but you do get to see Harry acting rather crazy! Love as ever my faithful muse/devil.
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TROMBAY – personal relationship? You'll see. You've guilted me into updating, well done.
A Subtle ChangeChapter 11
With Ginny having been taken home, Ron was able to relax slightly in his worry for her. It wasn't as though he was short of things to worry about though. Percy's letters let more slip than the ones from his parents or the occasional ones from Bill and Charlie and it was clear that things were not going overly well for either the Order or the ministry. More immediately troubling to Ron however was the state his and Harry's friendship seemed to have fallen into. They were both behaving as though things were normal but the distance between the two of them seemed to be growing. They disagreed more and more, and Harry was steadily withdrawing from everyone.
Ron was also slightly annoyed that Harry had been unable to resist mentioning Ginny to Malfoy. Who, much to Ron's surprise, had just looked confused and asked Harry if he'd lost any last shreds of sense he might have once had, before walking away with a look on his face suggesting he had no idea what was going on.
It was a few days after this particular incident and Ron awoke far earlier than he would have liked in the still grey morning and, unable to get back to sleep, picked up a book and began to read, noticing that Harry had fallen asleep with his curtains open. His wristwatch informed him it was nearly six o'clock.
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Harry had had a troubled night's sleep, waking repeatedly, until in the dawn light he found himself in what at first he took to be a dream, before realising it felt far too much like the visions he had had the previous year.
He was in a stone room, lit by torches that were set in brackets at regular intervals along the walls. Voldemort was sat in a chair at one end, with the tall figure of Bellatrix Lestrange stood before him.
He spoke, his voice a low, snake-like hiss, clearly in response to something Bellatrix had been saying. "If we were to go through with your plan however, Bella, we would be lacking a rather important ingredient for the potion."
"I'm fairly confidant I can get hold of it, My Lord," she responded, adoration bordering on worship clear on her once handsome face.
"I am less so, admittedly," Voldemort responded. "We need someone a little less notorious, and a lot less suspicious, but someone who can still gain access…" Voldemort trailed off, looking at a small blond figure bent over a scroll in the corner. "Yes, I think we can still arrange that though."
The vision began to fade as the figure turned, revealing delicate, pointed features and stormy grey eyes, the face looked familiar but was too blurry for Harry to put a name to it. He struggled to stay with the vision a little longer, feeling it begin to slip.
"So what do you say, Malfoy," Voldemort asked, a leering smile on the snakelike face, "Ready to be useful again?"
"Malfoy!" Harry found himself losing the vision completely and his eyes snapped open suddenly.
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Ron was disturbed from his book by his best friend sitting bolt upright and calling out their enemy's name. He raised an eyebrow and pointed his wand at Harry, "You know I've always said the day you woke up shouting that particular name I'd put you out of your misery!"
Harry didn't waste a second before blurting out, "I had a vision!"
"Of Malfoy!" Ron was starting to get concerned.
"Not exactly," Harry seemed too distressed to see the funny side, "I had a vision of Voldemort and the death eaters and Malfoy was there!"
"What?!" Ron frowned
"I…" Harry shook his head, "Get Hermione, I don't want to repeat this and we should talk about it in the common room so we don't wake anyone."
Ron nodded, "We'll have to try and send her an owl if you want to do this now, it's only six o'clock, she'll be asleep for another hour or so and we can't get up the girls' stairs."
Harry nodded, "Go get Pig, he'll get through her window easier."
Ron disagreed, "The window'll be closed, best to send Hedwig, she'll make more noise so she'll wake Hermione quicker."
"Alright," Harry leapt out of bed, "I'll go and get her."
Ron followed him down to the common room to see Crookshanks asleep on a chair. "Hang on, Harry," he grabbed the other boy's arm and scribbled a note, tucking it under Crookshank's collar and waking him with a firm but gentle poke.
The cat sat up, looking very disgruntled and Ron picked him up and set him down at the foot of the staircase to the girl's dorms. "Crookshanks, go wake Hermione up!"
The cat ran up the stairs.
"Ron," Harry said, doubtfully, "He's a cat, he can't understand you."
"I know, but Hermione says whenever he comes into the dorm he jumps right onto her bed and more often than not onto her stomach, that ought to wake her up."
Harry managed a grin, "Good thinking."
Sure enough, a sleepy looking Hermione soon came down the stairs, "What's happened this time?" she yawned, "And please don't tell me you need help with your homework at this hour!"
"Harry's had a vision," Ron said.
Hermione sat down, instantly serious, "Ok, what was it?"
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Harry recounted his vision as best he could, ending with the face he'd glimpsed as the vision faded.
"He called him Malfoy and it must have been Draco he was talking to, the face wasn't right for Lucius, besides, unless something changed very recently, he's still in Azkaban. Voldemort must want some kind of potions ingredient from Snape's stores and who's in a better position to get it than Malfoy?"
"Snape." Ron looked doubtful, "If he really is working as a spy shouldn't he just be able to give You-Know-Who the ingredient he wants, after all I'd expect it would be him brewing the potion anyway."
"Maybe Voldemort doesn't trust him. Whatever it is it sounded important so perhaps Snape's been trying to keep it from him and Voldemort has lost patience and wants Malfoy to get it to prove Snape's been lying to him," Harry suggested.
"Hang on a minute; we still have the 'again' part to deal with. Since when has Malfoy done anything for You-Know-Who?" Ron still wouldn't use Voldemort's name, he didn't care what Hermione thought of that issue. He'd grown up with in aftermath of a war she'd been oblivious to until it were long over. She'd never seen her parents recoil in fear simply at a name. Even his father only used the name sparingly. He continued by adding, "That, and do you really think that if he didn't trust Snape, Snape would still be alive?"
"Just because he doesn't trust him doesn't mean he doesn't find him useful," Hermione argued, "He can feed him false information for Dumbledore."
"Still, if you were a Dark Lord would you use a sixteen-year-old boy to help you?" Ron asked sceptically.
"If it was the only way," Harry responded, "And who else could get such easy access to Snape's stores? Not only is he already entitled to be in the dungeons, he's Snape's favourite student and therefore if he gets caught he has the perfect alibi of claiming he was trying to find Snape and Snape never believes anything bad of him."
"Ok, but what about the 'again'?" Ron was still not persuaded.
Harry shrugged, "Obviously this isn't the first time Malfoy's helped them."
"He could be keeping tabs on Harry for them, he'd be perfect to use to spy against us!" Hermione said suddenly.
"I suppose," Ron didn't sound convinced.
"I saw him, Ron!" Harry said simply.
The other boy nodded, "Ok, so what do we do?"
"That's going to be tricky, none of us is exactly welcome down there. I suppose we'll have to try and spy on Malfoy and see what he does." Harry suggested.
"Shouldn't we go to Dumbledore?" Ron asked.
"Ron, Dumbledore's got bigger problems!" Hermione chided.
"You're saying You-Know-Who's got an agent inside Hogwarts and you think Dumbledore's got bigger problems! Unless he's got McGonagall pregnant, he doesn't have a bigger problem!" Ron snapped.
"But you don't think he has got an agent inside Hogwarts!" Hermione argued.
"But that's not the point, you do!" Ron said in exasperation, but it was clear Harry and Hermione were no longer listening to him.
"Harry, we can't just hang around in the dungeons, we should at least use the invisibility cloak," Hermione said. "Pity there's not much chance of pulling off the polyjuice thing with you and Ron again."
"That's it!" Harry exclaimed, "We need to get into the Slytherin common room!"
"How?!" Ron was instantly sceptical.
"The invisibility cloak!"
"Oh no!" Harry's plan suddenly became very clear to Ron, "Not in a million years! We'll be caught and they'll murder us!"
"It might be the only way," Hermione said quietly.
"Hermione!" Ron groaned, "You're meant to be the sensible one around here! Think of all the rule breaking it'll require!"
"Some things are more important than rules, Ron," she responded primly.
Ron threw up his hands in despair, "You had to choose now to learn that!?"
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"This is madness!" Ron whispered from where he was feeling decidedly squashed under the invisibility cloak along with Harry and Hermione. He still wasn't sure what had happened during the day to persuade him that this was the best way to spend his evening but now that they were practically at the dungeons it seemed rather too late to back out.
"Shush!" Hermione elbowed him. "Someone will hear you!"
Finding the entrance to the Slytherin common room was less of a trial than it had been in their second year because Ron and Harry both remembered where it was. However upon reaching it they found there was no one around.
"What now?" Ron asked, "We can't get in!"
"We wait for someone to come along and give the password and we slip in after them!" Hermione said simply.
"Oh yeah, why didn't I think of that?" Ron asked sarcastically, "Oh I know why I didn't think of it, because this entire plan's too crazy for words!"
He still thought it was too crazy for words half an hour later when a solitary Slytherin finally showed up. The girl stepped up to the wall and said clearly, "Sangre Limpia."
"Is it just me or have their passwords become less easily understood since we were last here?" Ron muttered as they followed the girl through into the busy common room. Their 'guide' went off to one side and along a corridor that they presumed would lead to the girls' dormitories.
The three Gryffindors glanced around, trying to see through the sea of black and green uniforms to their target.
The common room was dimly lit and had an odd greenish glow about it, though Ron had to admit it was more calming than creepy. They passed a stressed looking seventh year, Ron recognised him as a prefect, his head was bent over a piece of parchment, piles of books around him and an expression on his face as though the world would end if he didn't work out the arithmancy problem before him.
Beyond the seventh year was a group of laughing first years and in a corner an older girl (a fifth year, Ron estimated) was looking close to tears, her head resting against the chest of a boy whose eyes shot daggers at anyone who tried to approach them.
They spotted Daphne Greengrass talking to Millicent Bullstrode about some aspect of charms and beyond them Crabbe and Goyle, sat unfortunately without Malfoy, were attempting to bewitch objects to hurl themselves at the giggling first years.
"Cheerful bunch, aren't they?" Ron couldn't help but think that more people in the room looked stressed and unhappy than appeared in any way pleased with life. Then again there had been times recently when the Gryffindor common room had looked like that, why should the Slytherins react too differently to the climate of the outside world?
"There he is!" Harry hissed under his breath.
Ron looked across to where Harry had gestured at the large fireplace with the impressively carved mantelpiece. Draco was sat in an armchair, working on what looked like homework. Pansy Parkinson was lying across a green sofa at the side of him, fast asleep, her dark hair covering her face, a novel slipping from her fingers.
Upon noticing she had fallen asleep, Draco reached across and placed her book on a nearby table, then pushed her hair gently from her face before taking a throw from the back of the sofa and laying it tenderly over her, smiling at the sleeping girl. To say the two of them were never very affectionate in public no one in the common room seemed to see this as anything out of the ordinary, that or they were all too intimidated by Draco to comment.
He sat back in his armchair and continued with his work. Ron was by now firmly convinced that this had been a deeply stupid idea, watching Draco do his homework wasn't very interesting nor was it helping them in any way and if anyone caught them they'd end up having to trawl the lake for their bodies knowing the Slytherins. Then again, Ron thought, it would probably be the same if any of the Slytherins ever sneaked into the Gryffindor common room like this.
They remained that way for a further fifteen minutes, having to dodge passers-by every now and again. Harry was trying to make sense of what Draco was writing, Hermione was glaring at Crabbe and Goyle who had now succeeded in bewitching various small objects and were tormenting the first years. Ron was just praying to every God he could think of that they wouldn't get caught.
Eventually the stressed looking boy with the arithmancy work looked up and hurled a book straight at Crabbe and Goyle, hitting Goyle on the head. "Stop pratting about!" He gestured vaguely with his wand and his book flew back into his hand. "Some of us have this strange intention of taking exams this year which will determine the rest of our lives, so if you want to muck around go to the library!"
The common room went quiet for a moment as everyone looked at the older boy before turning back to their own conversations. Crabbe and Goyle lumbered off in the direction of the dormitories, muttering mutinously, and Draco didn't even glance up from his work but simply snorted with quiet laughter
Clearly awoken by the raised voices, Pansy suddenly blinked open her eyes and yawned.
"Ah, sleeping beauty awakes," Draco smirked, "Had a nice nap?"
She nodded, "Actually yes, thanks for the blanket, I take it that was your doing?" she gestured to the throw he had covered her with.
He shrugged, "You looked cold."
She smiled and sat up, "What have you been doing?"
"Homework," Draco gestured at the parchment on the table before him, "Nothing too exciting."
"Yeah, I'll second that!" Ron muttered.
Hermione elbowed Ron in an attempt to get him to be quiet.
"What's the work for?" Pansy asked.
Ron poked Hermione in response to her elbow having connected sharply with his ribcage.
"Potions, it's finished now. I feel the need to give Snape something worth his attention after he has to mark whatever trash Potter hands in." Draco replied.
Pansy laughed, "How did that idiot get into the class?"
Hermione pushed Ron.
"By being the boy who lived of course, same way he gets everything," Draco drawled.
"Not the snitch," Pansy grinned.
Draco smiled, clearly enjoying that memory still, "Yeah that felt good, though I'd have preferred it if he hadn't hexed you afterwards. I mean it's bad enough he attacked a girl at all but an unarmed one in a surprise attack! Just goes to show you how meaningless all that crap about Gryffindor chivalry really is."
Ron returned Hermione's push with a pinch to her upper arm.
"Certainly does," Pansy agreed, "But it sounds like your mother took revenge for that incident."
Hermione glared at Ron and kicked his shin.
"Yeah, I asked her about that but she didn't reply to the letter, well she replied but she didn't mention the Weasley girl. I don't know if she actually did it or if Potter's just fallen further off his rocker than usual."
"Who cares?" Pansy shrugged. "I can't say Potter's sanity or lack thereof is one of my major concerns at present."
"Me neither. You know if we get caught tomorrow night we are going to be in so much trouble," Draco warned the girl.
"Since when do you care about trouble?" Pansy laughed quietly.
"I don't, but I still prefer to avoid it," Draco said. "I was thinking we could go in the early evening while people are still milling about in the corridors, less chance of getting caught and more cover if we do."
Pansy nodded, "True."
Ron was still hopping about in pain from the kick Hermione had administered when he grabbed her for support only to find her stumbling into him. The two thankfully were close to the wall so the cloak just managed to remain covering them but everyone's attention was broken and whatever Pansy said next was lost.
"Ron! Hermione! They're admitting what they're up to, stop mucking around!" Harry hissed.
Hermione stood up straight and stepped away from Ron while Ron suddenly realised the invisibility cloak was now firmly attached to a nail on the wall. Oh hell, this is not good. He tugged it but it didn't move, apart from to stretch in a worrying manner that suggested it was going to rip soon.
The other two hadn't noticed and Harry was still staring avidly at Draco with a fanatical gleam in his green eyes. Ron poked him in the back, "Harry," he hissed, "The bloody cloak's stuck to the bloody wall!"
"Shh! They're talking about their plans!"
Ron's eyes widened, We're about to be killed and he's more interested in what the Slytherins may or may not be plotting! He tried to disentangle the cloak but the mess seemed to get worse. His back was aching from bending over all the time and he was getting deeply annoyed.
Hermione poked him again.
Ron grabbed her hand, "Hermione, the cloak is stuck on the wall, I can't get it free, the Slytherins are going to find us and we are going to die!"
Hermione raised an eyebrow and tugged at the cloak as though she thought Ron hadn't thought of that already. She looked mildly surprised when it didn't work.
"Oh yeah, Herm, I didn't try that already, did I?!" he responded sarcastically.
It was a frantic and worrying few minutes before Ron managed to tease the cloak free from the wall, even Harry turned his attention from the two Slytherins and tried to help. Eventually the cloak was free and Ron decided enough was enough.
"Right, that's it!" Ron whispered furiously. "We are leaving! Now."
"But…" Harry began.
Ron cut off his protestations, "No buts! We leave now before they find us and roast us merrily over that prettily roaring fire over there. You know I can just see Malfoy and Parkinson romantically feeding each other Weasley kebab!" Ron grabbed hold of Harry and Hermione's arms, leaving them with no choice but to follow him in backing towards the exit.
Thankfully someone was leaving almost as they reached the exit so they slipped out with no trouble. As soon as they came across an empty classroom they slipped inside and pulled off the cloak, all very grateful to be able to stand up straight and move apart. They really were all past the age where the three of them could fit under it with any degree of comfort.
"That was too close!" Ron said.
"Yeah, that was a bit close," Harry admitted, "But at least we got some information. We should have stayed longer, they were admitting what they were up to."
"Harry," Ron groaned, "From what I heard it wasn't clear what they were talking about, or what they were planning. It's probably nothing! If Malfoy was up to something for you-know-who would he really drag his girlfriend along?"
"Why not?" Hermione said snidely, "It's not like she's known for her defence of muggles, and from what I hear her family's not much less suspect than Malfoy's is!"
"Well there's only one way to find out. We'll follow them tomorrow," Harry said determinedly, "While you two were mucking about with the cloak and trying to kill each other, I heard her suggesting they leave half an hour before curfew so we're getting back under this cloak and we're following them!"
"We are?" Ron asked, weakly, not at all happy at the prospect.
"We have to, Ron!" Harry insisted.
Even Hermione looked as though this was going too far, "Harry, are you sure?"
"Yes. Come on, we have to do this! You've seen the papers, you've read Percy's letters, things keep getting worse! We need to try to stop Voldemort and it's got to be done soon and it's no good telling me to leave it to someone else anymore, it's down to me. And I really wish it wasn't."
Hermione sighed and nodded, "Ok, Harry, we'll go with you."
"Ron?" Harry turned to his friend imploringly.
Ron groaned, "Alright!"
Harry grinned at him, "Thanks, Ron."
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Sangre Limpia by the way means Pure Blood, it's a phrase used in this format in the Spanish inquisition. Just thought it sounded cool.
Let me know what you think, it's usually a review that guilts me into updating so I'll try not to keep you all waiting too long this time. So sorry about the infrequent updates, thakns to everyone who's stuck by me. I'd love you all to drop a review. :o)