Chapter 31 – Error of Omission

Harry and Ron were discharged from the infirmary on Monday morning. They joined H and I in the great hall for breakfast. Harry sat in front of me and Ron sat in front of H.

"I want to kill McLaggen." Harry told us.

"McLaggen has been getting hexed mysteriously since the match got over. Others are already taking care of it, so you don't have to bother." I told him. I put my hand on his. He acknowledged me with a smile.

"And I think one of them was Ginny. He definitely got hit by the bat bogey curse more than once." H said. "I think she got really angry after her argument with Dean."

Harry perked up when he heard that. "Why?"

"I think it would be nice if they break up." Ron said. "Don't like it, that he is with my little sister."

"So, it's okay for you to be with Lav-Lav but she can't date someone?" I challenged him.

He opened his mouth but no words came out. Then he closed his mouth, he did that a couple of times before finally saying, "That's not what I meant." He defended himself.

"Why did they argue anyways?" Harry pushed.

"Dean was laughing when Cormac hit with you the bludger." H said.

"It may have looked funny." Ron inferred.

"It was not funny, it was scary. My heart literally skipped a beat." I said. "Thank God, Jimmy and Ritchie caught you before you fell." I saw it happen again before my eyes. That thud of the bludger against his head!

Harry put his hand on my hand and squeezed it gently. "It's okay. I'm fine. But Ginny and Dean didn't have to break up because of this."

I raised my eyebrow at him.

"They didn't. Why would you think that?" H asked.

"She's on the team. I don't want players to bring personal problems to the game. Our next match is really crucial. Maybe we can still make it to the finals." Harry said quickly.

I have to admit, I don't like his interest in Ginny. He assured me things are fine in between the two of us but I'm finding it difficult to believe him. Did he lie to him? Maybe it's concern. Maybe it's harmless attraction. Fingers crossed.

"Won-Won! You're back." Lavender screeched when she saw Ron. "Why didn't you tell you were getting out today?"

"Uhhh…" He looked like didn't have an answer.

"And why are you with her?" She looked at H like H was a sour sight.

"We are talking." Ron said. I wish he had said something better.

"Well, sit with me. We've not spoken for a while." She urged him but there was an edge to her voice.

Like they've had a single conversation till now.

"But we are in the middle of something important." Ron said.

She looked positively angry now, "Ron, just come with me. I don't want you near Hermione."

H was looking down but I could see a hint of a smile on her face. She was enjoying this. Ron got up reluctantly and went with her. They sat on the other end of the table. Ron looked sour but Lavender put her hand in his and smiled like nothing was wrong.

"Hey Harry." Luna sat next to Harry.

"Hey Luna."

"How are you?" She looked concerned.

"I'm good. Thank you."

She smiled kindly, "I have something for you." She started digging into her bag. She took a lot of weird things out of her bag and put it on the table. H and I exchanged looks. "Here." She pulled out a small piece from the parchment and gave it Harry.

Harry looked more surprised by the other things she removed from her bag, "Huh, thanks."

"See you around." She put the other things in her bag and left.

"Wow!" I exclaimed.

"I'm meeting Dumbledore tonight." Harry whispered to us.


Harry wanted to tell us about his meeting with Dumbledore but there was just no perfect time for him to tell us. During breakfast we got interrupted by a lot of students. Lavender asked Ron to join her. Some third year kid came to ask H something. Jimmy and Ritchie came to ask Harry about the next practice and if McLaggen was going to play again.

Harry's hand closed in a fist whenever he saw McLaggen or even heard his name. Even after getting hexed a lot, I'm not sure if McLaggen truly felt sorry. H and McLaggen ignored each other like nothing happened in between them. It must be really hard for her. I'm not saying she fell in love with him. But imagine dating someone that all your friends want to hurt. That is going to be at least a little hurtful, right?

He, finally, got to it when we were in the common room after the others left for the dorms. We had just finished homework and Harry started telling us about his meeting with Dumbledore. So, this time our young Tom Riddle had graduated from school and requested the then Headmaster Dippet to teach in the school. He refused stating that Tom was too young to teach and that he didn't have a lot of experience. Then, he starts working at Borgin & Burke. Hey, I knew this bit already! I told Dumbledore about this. Maybe he already knew it.

During, an assignment he was sent to Hepzibah Smith to buy some antiques from her. That's when she showed him her supposed 'treasures'. She was a descendent of Helga Hufflepuff. She showed him Hufflepuff's cup and then the Slytherin's locket. Harry said Tom looked really hungrily at the items. Two days later, Hepzibah Smith is dead and Hokey, her house elf confessed to 'adding something wrong in Hepzibah's evening tea'. And no one from the family saw the 'treasures' ever again.

The second memory, Tom Riddle had returned to school to meet Dumbledore, who was appointed the Headmaster by then. He wanted a teaching job, again. Dumbledore, of course, refused. Harry said the face-off was very electric. He said it was amazing of neither of them drew their wands though both of them wanted to.

"It's hard to imagine that Voldemort wanted to teach here."

"Please don't say the name." Ron told me.

"Ron, come on are you really saying this now! You have to stop being afraid to say or hear the name." Harry said.

"What did he want to teach?" H asked. She looked like she already knew the answer. Even I felt like I might know the answer to that one.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts." Harry said.

"That's why no DADA professors sticks for more than a year?" Ron asked, "Because he cursed the post." Harry nodded.

A shiver went down my spine, "Imagine if he had gotten the job." They shuddered at the thought.

"That poor house elf! He did that only to steal the cup and the locket. How petty of him!" H said.

"He has no qualms about putting someone else's life on the line. I hate Voldemort!"

"Don't say his name!" Ron yelled.

"Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort. Get over it, Ron. He's the one we're ultimately facing. You won't be able to fight him if you're afraid to even say his name." I told him.

"We are facing him? Whoa, hold on!" Harry stopped me. "We are not facing him, I am facing him. I'm not going to risk your lives."

"Harry, do you really think you can do this without us?" H had that look on her face, as if she was daring him to give the wrong answer.

"You guys don't have to do this. This is my fight."

"This is everyone's fight. He's ruined so many people's lives." Ron said.

"Sure, you maybe the one who gets the final shot at him but we are the ones who are going to get you there."

"No! I don't want you guys to do this for me." Harry protested. "This is dangerous."

"Dude, if you had stopped us in the first year maybe we would not have been…" Ron looked at us like he was asking us for a word.

"Into it?" I suggested. He shook his head.

"Invested in this?" H asked.

"Yes, invested in this. If you have stopped us in first year maybe we wouldn't have been so invested in this." Ron completed.

"We are in this together." I didn't wait for Harry to say anything and I hugged him. "Don't fight us. You know, you need us and we need you."

He sighed in defeat and wrapped his arms around my body. "For now, you guys win."

"So, Dumbledore didn't ask you about the memory from Slughorn?" H asked Harry.

I pulled back and I saw Harry looking at the floor.

"Did he ask you?" I asked.

"He did. I think, this is the first time he's disappointed in me."

"Did he say anything?" Ron asked.

"No, he didn't say anything, that's how I know he's disappointed. I really have to find a way to get that memory." Harry sounded determined.

I liked it when Harry is determined. It's one of the things I love about him. He looks absolutely hot when he has that look of determination on his face.


The next few weeks, Harry tried to find a way to get that memory but he never got the opportunity. Some students were excited because the first Apparition test was set on twenty-first April. H and Ron were going to take the test, as they were already seventeen. I would have wait until the next date is set. I managed to apparate once during training. I felt so good after apparating but my stomach didn't have a very pleasant time. I puked in the great hall. So embarrassing! Thank God for the five feet gap in between all the students, I didn't vomit on someone. I don't even want to imagine what that would have been like.

I didn't like one thing about Ron and H talking to each other again – she was helping him with homework. Helping didn't look like helping. It was more like she was doing Ron's homework herself. Ron makes so many mistakes in his homework that H 'checking' his homework is almost like she doing it.

One such night, when H was 'helping' Ron with his essay, Kreacher appeared and bowed low in front of Harry.

"Master wanted regular reports of what Malfoy boy is doing so Kreacher has…"

Kreacher was interrupted when Dobby when made an appearance. What's going on?

"Dobby helping too, Harry Potter!" He looked angrily at Kreacher. "Kreacher should tell Dobby when he is coming to see Harry Potter."

And then the thing I was most worried about happened. While Kreacher said Draco didn't do anything out of the ordinary, Dobby mentioned that Draco was doing his best to avoid attention. Then Dobby said he kept going to the seventh floor and got different students to keep a look out for him.

My heart sank. Why would Dobby even do this? No, no, no, no!

"Harry, what's all this?" I asked him.

He looked at me like he remembered something, "Remember before the match I told you that Malfoy was skipping the match and going somewhere?" I nodded. "Well, after I woke up in the hospital wing, I called out to Kreacher and Dobby and asked them to keep a watch on Malfoy."

OH MY GOD! What if he figures it out? I was having troubling breathing. H looked at me suspiciously. I mouthed, "I'll tell you later."

After telling him everything, Dobby and Kreacher left. This is not good. I should tell Draco. Or should I? If Harry catches Draco, then whatever he is doing in the room of requirement has to stop. Then Dumbledore may take him into custody and find out what he was doing and maybe even offer him protection. But what is the guarantee that Harry won't hurt Draco or that Draco won't hurt Harry. They will hurt each other, that's a given, but at least they won't go so far as to threaten each other's lives. Maybe Harry knowing won't be a bad thing after all. Maybe it'll be one of those blessings in disguise for Draco.

I completely lost track of what Harry was saying while I was thinking about Draco, "Nat, isn't this great? Finally, I've got a lead on him. Soon, I will prove he is a death eater." Harry asked me.

"Uh…What? I'm sorry. I wasn't listening. I'm just trying to process what Dobby said. What would Malfoy be doing in there?" I didn't say room of requirement because I was not sure if he had figured it out yet.

"Harry, you are getting way ahead of yourself. I agree he is up to something but that doesn't make him a death eater." H said.

"Why would You-Know-Who make a student a death eater? He has not even completed school. He still has a year more to go to finish school. If this was two years later, maybe I would have agreed with you." Ron said.

"Exactly, I agree with Ron." H supported Ron.

"What about you? You also agree with them?" Harry asked me with an accusatory tone.

I'm not about to admit to him that I'm almost sure he is right. "Harry… death eater is a little too much. But yes, I agree with you on him doing something, it may even be big. I will help you find out. We could do this together."

I saw some the anger in his eyes going away and he smiled at me gently, "I would like it if you help but you have too much going on. Lots of subjects equals lot of homework and you are also on the team." He placed his lips on my forehead. "But you three are going to be eating your words when I prove it that Malfoy is actually a death eater."

I'm not looking forward to that Harry!


H and I had just reached our dorm when she turned to me and said, "You knew."

She didn't ask me. She told me. "Ummm…asking or telling?"

"Both."

"Okay, I knew. I knew he has been going to the room of requirement."

"How?"

"Remember, I borrowed the map from Harry."

"Yes." She nodded, "Tell me everything."

"I didn't see him go into the room. But I caught Crabbe and Goyle on the map. A couple of times, I even went to the place where they stood as a look out. When I went there, I would see some little girls. I thought the map might be losing it magic, so I would come back."

"Then how did you figure it out?"

"During Christmas holidays. I really thought about everything that was happening and I realised the map was not lying. I remembered the Polyjuice Potion that Prof. Slughorn had brewed. Draco must have stolen some of it."

"Christmas!" We looked around so see if we had woken anybody up. She dropped her voice to a whisper and said, "You didn't confront him, did you?" She asked with concern.

How does she always ask the right questions? "Ya, I even managed to get into the room that he was working in."

Her jaw dropped, "And you didn't tell anyone about this? This could be important."

"Let me finish. He wiped my memory or at least attempted to do it."

"What?"

"He used the memory charm on me but he didn't do it well enough. Guess, his heart wasn't into it. Next day, I remembered the scene like it was a dream."

"The day you said you'd spent the night in the room of requirement." H guessed.

I nodded, "I confronted him again. He told about using the memory charm. Things got pretty ugly after that."

"So, Harry is right? Malfoy is a death eater?"

I started to say something but then I stopped myself and thought about the question, "I don't think so." I think he is.


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