A/N: Thanks again for those who've reviewed! As a random note, all the temperatures used in this chapter are in the Fahrenheit system.

Also, I realize that Hagrid's dialogue is difficult to mimic, but I've done my best. :)

Chapter Five

After breakfast the next morning, Harry decided to visit Hagrid. Upon being reminded of the cottage yesterday, he decided not to delay the visit any longer. Wrapping himself in warm clothing, Harry stepped out of the castle and headed toward the little round hut Hagrid inhabited.

Hagrid answered on the second knock, throwing the wooden door wide open. "Harry! Great to see yeh. Come in, come in."

Harry hurried inside, welcoming the warmth. Hagrid's hut was as homey as ever: The hearth was cradling a cozy fire while a blackened teapot whistled over it.

"Cup of tea, Harry?" Hagrid asked as he reached for the teapot.

Harry sat at the table in the middle of Hagrid's hut, pulling off his red-and-gold scarf. "Sure. It's cold outside."

Hagrid poured the two of them cups of tea and sat down opposite of Harry, his black eyes shining as he beamed at Harry. "Well, what've yeh been up to? I heard yeh and Ron're here on Auror business?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. These Dementors have been giving Hogwarts some trouble. So the Ministry sent us to get the job done."

Hagrid gave Harry a look of appraisal as his smile grew more watery. "Boy, is it great to see yeh, Harry. I remember yeh as a little kid. Tiny tyke, yeh were. An' look at yeh now, all grown an' followin' in yer parents' footsteps. Well, they'd be mighty proud, I bet."

Not knowing how to respond to that, Harry just smiled.

Hagrid took a large gulp of his tea as some liquid spilled into his grizzly beard. "How's Ron? An' our lovely 'ermione? She workin' at the Ministry too?"

Harry nodded. "She's working for the Wizengamot. She's trying to change a couple of laws that favor purebloods. From what I've heard, she's had some success." Harry paused to drink some of his tea. "I'll tell you, it's great to see Ron and Hermione not fighting quite as much. Well, other than the occasional squabbles over Crookshanks and the like."

Hagrid laughed. "Certainly great to see those two happy as they are. What about yeh, Harry? Last I heard, yeh and Ginny weren' talking' so much. Somethin' happen?"

"Oh no, of course not," Harry said. "Ginny's playing Seeker for the Hollyhead Harpies. I've just finished my Auror training and finally got to work with a team not long ago. We decided to part ways for a little while to get into our careers. We're still great friends. And if something happens in the near future… well, at least there won't be a Dark wizard to put a hiatus on our relationship like the last time."

Harry didn't know how to continue, feeling slightly uncomfortable with talking to Hagrid about his relationships. "How about you, Hagrid? Did Madame Maxime ever—"

Hagrid immediately interrupted, his ears turning red. "Er—no, Maxime wasn' really inclined to start anythin'." More quietly, he muttered, "She always denied that she was even a half-giant."

Harry wondered how Hagrid occupied himself these days. He wondered if he'd gotten a new pet—perhaps another acromantula or a three-headed dog. Suddenly, Harry was reminded of something, and looked about the dim room quickly.

"Hagrid, where's Fang?" he asked after being certain he didn't spot the dog.

The reaction he received was startling. Hagrid began sobbing. Large tears dropped over the table and some even went into his tea as Hagrid took out a handkerchief and began dabbing at his eyes and blowing his nose. "Poor Fang…he was…he was such a good dog…"

Harry immediately felt sorry he'd asked the question. "No—don't tell me he—"

"Died!" Hagrid wailed. "Poor mutt gave out jus' a few months ago… after fightin' through the War and such…I thought nothin' could kill 'im."

Harry walked to the other side of the table and patted Hagrid on the back, reminded of the time when Aragog had died. He imagined Hagrid bawling and howling as he buried Fang. It seemed like all the pets Hagrid owned were destined to die or be taken away from him.

After a few moments of this, Hagrid quieted and heaved a great sigh. He then said, "Well, no sense dwellin' on it. So, tell me Harry, how are yeh gonna get rid o' these Dementors?"

Harry wasn't sure what to say. "Well, our team plans on waiting them out first. They're not really doing anything at the moment, just hanging around Hogwarts."

"Yeh be careful, Harry," Hagrid advised, his voice becoming quite serious. "These creatures are intelligent. They don' look like much, but they work together—they plan and they strike when they're ready."

Harry wondered how Hagrid knew so much about them, then realized that Hagrid had gone to Azkaban in Harry's second year, after all the basilisk attacks had caused the Ministry to imprison him. "Of course," he started. "You were around Dementors for a while. You were in Azkaban."

"I was," Hagrid said stoically. "An' they're not creatures I respect, by any means. They'll trick yeh. They'll do anythin' to get food. If they're really waitin' for the right time, Harry, yeh can be sure they're plannin' somethin'."

Harry felt a crawl of fear. The Dementors frightened him enough, without the knowledge that they could be as intelligent as human beings. "Thanks, Hagrid. I'll keep that in mind."

As Hagrid cleared the table and cleaned up their tea cups, Harry was reminded that he should head back to the castle. Malfoy would surely be done with his classes by now.

Harry stood up. "Well, thanks for the tea, Hagrid. I'd best get going."

"Anytime, Harry," Hagrid said jovially. "Jus' think about what I said. Yeh'll need a strategy if yeh plan on beatin' those Dementors."

Harry smiled grimly.

"I'm working on it."

* * *

Harry found Malfoy in the Potions room, just as he'd expected. He also found him speaking with a young Slytherin girl, perhaps a second or third year student, who was chattering in a rather haughty manner. The girl had vibrant red hair reaching down to her shoulders and was holding herself very proudly. Harry's intrusion caused her to turn abruptly and scan him with a pair of scrutinizing amber eyes. Malfoy stayed still and quiet in the back of the room, as though expecting to watch an intriguing conversation.

The girl's eyebrows rose slightly. "So Harry Potter has indeed returned to Hogwarts. You're all the rage among the Gryffindors these days, you know."

Harry raised his eyebrows at her in turn. The girl spoke to him as though she were much older than twelve or thirteen years old. "I'm pleased to meet you…" Harry began, letting his sentence hang.

"Mafalda Prewett," she said, flicking her hair back. "I suppose you wouldn't know me, but I'm related to the Weasleys. One of your friends, isn't he a Weasley?"

Harry looked surprised. "You're a Weasley? In Slytherin?"

"The one and only in Slytherin, from what I've heard," she muttered. "I'm related to the Weasley mother, I believe. My father was a second cousin or such. I'm honestly ashamed of the connection. Bunch of worthless purebloods they are, frolicking with Muggles." She spit out rather than pronounced the word Muggles.

Harry's fists immediately clenched. "You've probably never even met them."

"I've seen the youngest one, Ron, around the castle recently. He seemed exactly as I've always suspected—immature, and proud for all the wrong reasons. I'm only glad I haven't met the others." Her gaze was challenging, as though she hoped Harry would get angry and crack.

Harry ignored the challenge after catching Malfoy's eye across the room. The latter had folded his arms and was looking on with amusement. "I don't know if you know, Mafalda, but Ron and I are here on an important mission—to get rid of the Dementors. And I think you should be a little more grateful toward us rather than throw daggers without even getting to know us."

Mafalda's eyes immediately turned to slits. "Here to get rid of the Dementors, are you? I think you're here to belittle us Slytherins. After all, everyone blames us for the Dementors."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, genuinely surprised at her accusatory tone.

But she didn't outwardly answer the question. "I'm sure you're going to join in with the Gryffindors and do some more damage to our Common Room," she snarled. "Or set off explosives in our bookbags and ruin our homework. Give us meaningless detention and dock 100 points for every little mistake we make!"

Harry became tired of her vague answers. "What does she mean, Malfoy?"

"Exactly what she says," Malfoy said coldly. "This is what the Gryffindors have done for the past few years, but more recently now with the Dementors descending upon Hogwarts and giving everyone nothing but unhappy thoughts to dwell on. Your precious House teachers and students have been merciless. Mafalda here was just telling me about an unfair punishment Whitby gave her for being unable to conjure a rabbit."

"Conjure?" Harry asked in confusion. "That's sixth year material."

"Precisely," Malfoy hissed. "How can he ask a third year student to do something she wasn't even taught? Not that it's so unusual. Many of my students have failed their OWLs because Whitby has flunked them in Transfiguration."

Harry was reminded of his Potions OWLs, when Snape had attempted to do just that. Still, there was no reason for any self-respecting teacher to go about failing good students. "What was her punishment?" Harry asked curiously.

"Whitby took away her broomstick," Malfoy said simply. "She's not to play the rest of the year."

Harry was caught in admiration and shock. He turned to Mafalda immediately. "You play Quidditch?"

She gave him a dark look. "Yes. Chaser. You'll be glad to know that Gryffindor has gotten the Cup these past three years. Though it doesn't seem like they needed your Seeking skills to do that, Scarhead."

Harry glared at her. "That's no way to talk to an adult."

"Don't tell me what to do!" she retorted. "I've taken enough rubbish from your lot and I won't take any from you just because you're Harry bloody Potter."

Harry ground his teeth but decided to keep quiet. Whoever this girl was, she was obviously a rebellious troublemaker and nothing would soothe her. He glanced at Malfoy, who had been arranging his desk papers in the meantime. Malfoy glanced back at him and seemed to have decided something. He walked over to Mafalda and gave her a thin smile, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Mafalda, I've got some work to do. Rest assured that I'll talk to Whitby and see if I can get him to give you back the broomstick."

The girl sulked but trudged out of the room nonetheless, closing the door with little grace. Malfoy sighed and rubbed his eyes after she left; the show of frustration, especially in front of Harry, surprised him. It seemed like his own students took the energy out of him.

"I don't suppose you have a wetsuit, Potter?" Malfoy asked abruptly.

"Er…no. Should I?"

"It would help." Malfoy strode to a corner of the room and threw open a cabinet door. "We're going into the Black Lake today."

Harry balked. "You must be mad! The water's probably below zero!"

"Ten degrees below, to be precise," Malfoy muttered as he dug through the cabinet. He stopped and turned to examine Harry's profile, looking him up and down. Harry immediately felt uncomfortable with the gaze, but before he could do anything, Malfoy had gone back to sifting through the cabinet. "Seems like I'm a little broader than you, so I'll need to transfigure it."

"Broader?" Harry scowled. "I think we're just about the same size." He and Malfoy were both rather tall and lanky, especially from years of Quidditch that had honed their muscles without adding any bulkiness.

"Really, Potter. I think those Dementors have had an effect on your appetite." Malfoy shook his head sadly, mocking him. "You're not what you used to be."

"I see you haven't gained any weight yourself. I suppose the War has had an effect on your diet too," Harry retorted. "And just what did I used to be?"

Malfoy made a motion to pretend he was thinking. "A tad more attractive, really. That scowl doesn't suit you," Malfoy's smile faded and he said more seriously, "and neither do the bags under your eyes."

Harry was surprised at the abrupt seriousness in his voice. He didn't think Malfoy could possibly be concerned, but that's how he sounded. Harry motioned toward the cabinet. "So, that wetsuit. Can I take a look?"

Malfoy brought out two pairs of green and silver wetsuits, not unlike the kind Harry had used for the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. He tossed a pair to Harry, who easily caught it and inspected the material, which appeared to have been spelled to withstand any water.

"And if you keep whining about the cold," Malfoy began, "I'll give you a Warming Spell. It'll make the water seem like thirty degrees or so."

"That's a great improvement," Harry muttered. "I won't freeze immediately."

Malfoy examined his wetsuit again, then glanced at Harry. "Well, I guess I won't transfigure yours. We're somewhat close in size, I suppose."

"Somewhat?" Harry rolled his eyes. "Anyway, what do you plan to do about breathing underwater?"

"I… uh, thought you might provide that bit," Malfoy said, as though self-conscious that he hadn't planned that part. "You had a task in our fourth year where you had to be underwater, didn't you?"

"Yes," Harry acknowledged. "I used gillyweed."

Malfoy's eyebrows rose slightly. "Gillyweed. I believe I have some in my stores. Obviously it wasn't ruined, being an underwater plant." After a pause, Malfoy suddenly smirked, "Did you think of that all by yourself for the task—gillyweed?"

"Are you implying I can't think up anything on my own?" Harry demanded. "And if you must know—I didn't. I had help from Neville."

Malfoy's smirk widened. "The great Harry Potter, asking for help from an oaf like Longbottom."

"I suppose that won't be the first time then. I'm working with you, aren't I?" Harry grinned. No matter their cordiality, Malfoy's regard toward Harry's friends wouldn't change, it seemed.

Malfoy scowled. Then, gathering his things, he said, "Well, if we're ever going to get those puffer fish and leeches, we'd better get going."

Harry agreed, following after Malfoy.

* * *

The water was indeed freezing. Harry's breath came puffing out as he shivered in the thin wetsuit, his bare feet turning to ice as he stepped in. Malfoy followed behind him, his jaw set against the wintry cold, his expression determined and his cheeks rosy, clutching his wand tightly. Harry noticed that it was the hawthorn and not the replacement.

"M-malfoy, I'll be n-needing that Warming Spell," Harry said between his teeth chattering.

Malfoy nodded and cast it wordlessly on both Harry and himself. Harry immediately felt much warmer, at least relative to the actual cold. They both tied a sack to their waists to store the puffer fish eyes and leeches.

"You'll find the leeches under rocks or in heavy seaweed clumps," Malfoy said. He was trembling slightly, despite the Warming Charm. Harry found himself glancing at his physique, usually hidden by sweaters and robes. The wetsuit was stretched across both their bodies as though a size too small.

"And the puffer fish?" Harry asked as they slipped deeper into the water.

"They're around, r-really. Quite common around here, for whatever reason." Malfoy dug something out of his pocket and handed Harry a pair of very thick gloves. "You'll want to put t-those on. The spikes on the fish could hurt you. Also, hold them by the tail to get a better grip."

"So we need five fish and five to s-six leeches?" Harry asked. The potion required ten puffer fish eyes and half a cup of leech juice.

Malfoy just nodded as the water reached their torsos. He then pulled out the gillyweed and gave Harry half; the two swallowed the mess of seaweed and waited for the transformation. When Harry felt his gills sprouting out, he dove under the surface, breathing in a cold gulp of water. He heard another splash near him and saw Malfoy struggling underwater as his gills opened up. They then grew thin skin over their hands, connecting the fingers, and their feet elongated and became paddle-like. Harry noted Malfoy's blonde hair billowing out under the water, becoming fluid and wispy.

"Let's get going," Harry said, his voice reverberating in an echo underwater. "We only have an hour or so."

Malfoy nodded and they swam deeper into the water. Harry perused the lake bottom, peeking under rocks to look for leeches. These were actually quite easy to spot. The leeches clung to the bottoms of rocks and to the tendrils at the bottom of seaweed clumps. The moment Harry picked them up, the leeches sucked on his gloves and attempted to break through the material. He then immediately stuffed the creatures into the sack tied at his waist.

After capturing six leeches, Harry turned to look for Malfoy, who seemed to have gone deeper into the lake. Harry swam languidly through the water, the cold at the back of his mind now. He was happy with the way they were finding the ingredients so easily. Not too long from now, they'd begin the potion. With cheerful thoughts in mind, Harry dove deeper into the lake, the sunlight streaming less clearly through the murky depths.

Several moments later, Harry spotted the glinting silver trim of Malfoy's wetsuit and rushed in that direction. The closer he got, the more he was able to make out the scene before him. Malfoy was hovering over what looked to be a cave, trying to peek into it.

"I got all the leeches we need," Harry announced as he reached Malfoy. "Did you find something?"

Malfoy turned to face him. "I think there's a school of puffer fish in there. I need to draw them out."

Harry peered into the cave and saw the telltale spikes and balloon-like bodies. He aimed his wand at the cave and sent a wave of sound within. The fish immediately dispersed, scuttling out of the cave, as Harry and Malfoy grabbed at the nearest ones and stupefied them. As Malfoy deflated them and pushed them into the sack tied at his waist, Harry attempted to catch and stupefy the rest. He managed to capture another two, which he handed to Malfoy.

Harry was just considering how easy this had been when he stepped on something spiky and felt piercing pain shoot up his left leg. He looked at the lake bottom but saw nothing remarkable. Ignoring his irritation and sudden overwhelming pain, he spotted the last puffer fish hurrying to scuttle back into the cave; despite the excruciating sting, Harry stupefied the creature before it could disappear into the depths. Malfoy immediately scooped it up, giving Harry a grin as they finished the job.

Suddenly, Malfoy noticed the grimace Harry wore and the way he held his left leg higher than his right.

"What happened?" Malfoy asked, his voice reverberating.

Harry winced as the pain spread. "I-I don't know. I think I stepped on something."

Malfoy inspected the ground, then appeared to have spotted something. Swearing under his breath, Malfoy's expression became grave, and he linked one of his arms into Harry's right arm and began swimming toward the shore, striking his paddle feet against the murky water. Harry propelled his own feet, but his entire body was becoming paralyzed with pain. Their gills were beginning to retract, as well as the extra skin on their feet and hands. But only moments later, they broke through the surface, Malfoy dragging Harry as the latter became more laden and less able to carry himself. They splashed out of the water, Malfoy clutching Harry with one arm around Harry's back and under his left arm, and the other draping Harry's right arm over Malfoy's shoulders.

Malfoy laid Harry down on the cold, sandy shore. Harry's breathing slowed until he wasn't sure if he was breathing at all. The coldness of the air pressed upon him and he shivered. It seemed like the Warming Charm had disappeared and he felt the below freezing temperature again. He couldn't feel his left leg anymore, but the pain was still unbearable, and it had spread to other parts of his body.

"Potter!" Malfoy shouted, hovering over him. "We need to get you into the castle—quickly! You don't want the poison in there longer than necessary!"

Harry was numb and pained all over. "P-poison?"

"Come on!" Malfoy dragged him upward again. Harry felt himself being hauled into a standing position as Malfoy draped Harry's arm over his shoulders again, letting Harry lean heavily into him. He felt a Drying Spell remove the lake water from the uncovered parts of his body, since the wetsuit was quite repellant, causing him to shiver less. Then Malfoy partly dragged Harry through the frigid snow, toward the castle. Their bare feet froze in the snow, but Malfoy moved determinedly and Harry only struggled to keep up.

"W-what happened?" Harry asked, the cold and pain closing in on his senses.

But Malfoy didn't answer as they crossed the threshold into the castle. The castle wasn't much warmer than outside, but at least the floor wasn't as icy. It seemed like most students were still in classes, as no one walked down the hallways in their direction or stopped them to demand what was going on. They descended into the Dungeons, heading toward Malfoy's storage room. Malfoy blasted the door open with his wand as they reached it and pushed Harry into the dim little chamber, closing the door behind them. Harry sank into the chair at the desk in the corner of the room as Malfoy put a bucket of water in front of him. When Harry gave him an inquisitive look, Malfoy just pointed his wand at the water and heated it, making it boil for moment.

"Put your left foot in that," Malfoy instructed.

"It's just hot water," Harry said. "What's that supposed to do? Other than warm it up?"

Malfoy grabbed the sack of leeches tied at Harry's waist and snapped, "Just do it, Potter." He proceeded to untie his own sack of puffer fish and placed the ingredients on the desk.

Harry delicately placed his foot into the water and a prickly feeling crawled up his leg, warming him. Harry was still breathing shallowly and his foot was paralyzed with pain, but the water soothed him. "How long do I do this for?"

"At least an hour," Malfoy replied shortly. "And once I find the antivenin, I'll administer it to you."

"Anti-what?" Harry asked, his head swimming with pain and the thought that he didn't even know what had happened. "Malfoy—tell me what I stepped on. What was that?"

Malfoy paused while searching through his storage and looked at Harry. "It was a stonefish. They have very clever camouflage, as you probably noticed. And you're lucky it's not fatal. Just very, very painful."

"I figured that last part," Harry muttered. "Aren't those types of fish in warmer waters?"

"You'll probably find anything in the Black Lake if you looked hard enough." Malfoy went back to peruse his stores and finally returned with a small vial of something dark green. He uncapped it and handed it to Harry. "Drink this."

Harry took it carefully, inspecting it. "Is this the anti-whatsit?"

"Yes," Malfoy said shortly and returned to the ingredients they had collected. He took out a set of mortar and pestle and flipped the sack with leeches upside down into the mortar, making them squirm out and fall in.

Harry looked away and brought the vial to his lips, drinking it in one gulp. It didn't stop the bitter taste from lingering on his tongue, causing him to grimace. He heard Malfoy crush the leeches with the pestle, producing a squishy sound as he worked them into pulp.

"I'm surprised you're not queasy with doing that," Harry remarked, watching Malfoy produce a cup or so of leech juice.

"While that would be true with most things," Malfoy began, "Potion-making never makes me queasy."

After finishing the juice, he measured half a cup of it and placed it into a vial, labeling it. He then pulled out the five puffer fish and pointed his hawthorn wand at them, focusing on one fish at a time. As Malfoy concentrated, the eye of one fish began bulging out, as though slowly inflating, before it popped clear out of the eye socket and fell on the table, its nerves still attached to the head.

Harry thought he might be sick, and he wasn't even doing anything. Malfoy detached the nerves, all with his wand, and floated the eye into an empty bowl. He worked methodically with the rest of the fish, filling up the bowl with exactly ten eyes. Harry looked down at his leg, which was throbbing less now. It was two days in a row now that one of them had gotten hurt while looking for ingredients for this Felix Felicis potion. And they hadn't even started the actual potion, which was supposed to be the difficult part. And what if the potion didn't even work?

His head swimming with thoughts, Harry sighed heavily.

The sound distracted Malfoy, who was sealing the fish eyes into some kind of goo, probably to preserve them. He turned and glanced at Harry's worn out frame, his hunched shoulders and his left foot, which was still languidly moving in the warm water.

"You really didn't think this potion would be that easy, did you?" Malfoy asked, his voice quiet rather than demanding.

Harry just gave him a tired look.

"You know—for once, I kind of hoped it would be."

A/N: Please let me know what you think! I think I'll be updating more often from now on, rather than about once every week.