OOO

"Thank you for escorting Draco down here. You may go, Mr. Diggory," Dumbledore said with a nod.

"If it's all the same, sir, I think I would like to stay." He gave Draco's shoulder an encouraging squeeze, for which Draco gave a grateful smile. "He's my housemate and I know it looks pretty bleak right now. I think somebody should stand up for him."

"Very noble of you Mr. Diggory – seeing as it was another housemate of yours who was a victim and an antagonists of Draco's."

"That doesn't mean Draco did it, sir," Cedric said firmly.

Dumbledore nodded again, and then turned his attention to Draco. "I'm sure you aware of how very serious this is," he said, boring into the boy with his ice-blue eyes.

"I… I don't know what to say." Draco shook his head. "I mean, other than I didn't do it. I know it looks bad…"

"It does," Dumbledore confirmed.

"He's obviously being framed," Cedric broke in. "Look, sir, we don't have a single bit of hard evidence that it was Draco. It's all circumstantial. But whoever really is doing this wants us to think that it's Draco. With that in mind, I think I might have a solution."

"Oh?" Dumbledore looked at him, somewhat amused.

"A pensieve. Perhaps not for the attack on Zach since Draco was sleeping when that happened and wouldn't remember anything, but at least for the attack on Hermione. If he says that he was off doing something else after he split up from Ernie, Susan and Hannah, then that should be what he remembers, not attacking Hermione. Trace the memory from the moment he left them to the moment where he joined the crowd where the body was found. If there's no attack on Hermione that means he didn't do it!"

"Admirable thought process. However, there are a few problems. First, the pensieve offers very limited viewing capabilities. Even were I to extract a memory from Draco, not everybody could see it. Most would have to take my word as voucher. More problematic, however, as I'm sure you know, is the problem that memories can be altered."

"He couldn't do that!" Cedric looked genuinely angry. "He's nowhere near the skill it would take to successfully graft a false memory in with a true! It's technically possible but so utterly improbable…"

"It won't stop people from accusing and insinuating that that's what I did," Draco muttered. "If they think I'm dark and powerful enough to summon some beast from some chamber that nobody else even knows how to find I'm sure they can be convinced that I can fix a memory too to make it look like I'm innocent."

"Draco, it's still worth a try…"

"No thanks." He shook his head. "It won't change anybody's mind. And I'd rather not have people thinking that you're in on it too." He looked up at Dumbledore. "Am I going to be expelled?"

"No," the elderly wizard replied, quickly shaking his head. "As Cedric said, there is no direct evidence against you. However, I felt it prudent to warn you that there are some who are voicing such concerns. Be careful and aware; stay with other people and give as little reason to accuse as possible. For your own safety as well as that of those around you."

"I won't attack anybody – not that I have, but I won't start – if that's what you mean."

"I do. Avoid incidents such as the one with Mr. Smith in the Great Hall and be aware not simple of what is truth but what is perceived. That, as much as anything, can create guilt in the eyes of others."

Draco looked at him, unsure of what to say; finally he nodded. "I'll… I'll do my best. Can I go now?"

"You may."

"Come on." Cedric steered him towards the door. "Let's get you out of here and dressed before you're late to class."

Fortunately, because he was so late in getting ready, the bathrooms and dormitory were virtually deserted so that he had no tense encounters until he joined the rest of his class. His three friends flanked him on the way into class, Susan glaring at others as if daring them to say anything to her face. Nobody did, at least not loud enough to be heard, but Draco saw the way he was being looking at. Younger students glanced at him out of the corners of their eyes, as if afraid that he might attack them next, while older students looked at him with a mixture of anger, wariness and contempt.

A few more weeks of this, Draco thought, and expulsion might not be necessary; leaving of his own free will seemed like a better and better choice. Meanwhile, a few stories above, the Floo Port in Dumbledore's office flared.

"Hello Lucius," he smiled.

"You had better explain to me what's happening with my son!" Lucius demanded.

OOO

"Hagrid was involved with something?" Ginny gave Harry a doubtful look as they sat down to breakfast at the end of the Ravenclaw table. "Hagrid? I mean – really? He doesn't seem like the safest person to be around and, to be fair, his cooking is absolutely awful. But I can't imagine he would have done anything that would merit expulsion."

"That's what Nott said that his dad said," Harry shrugged. "I don't know anything about it first hand."

"Nott's dad?" Ginny scoffed. "As if he would give any truth about the matter. After the way he's treated Theo it isn't hard to see he's a Slytherin through and through. Probably a Death Eater too," she whispered. "He would want to make a Gryffindor look as guilty as possible. In fact, if that was the reason why he was expelled then what's happening to Draco probably happened to Hagrid. Because there's no way someone like either of them could be the heir."

"You know," Luna said as she spread butter on a slice of toast, "perhaps the best place to get the truth from would be the source itself."

"What? Nott's dad?" Harry looked at her, puzzled.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Hagrid, Harry. We could ask him."

"What? Just waltz up and ask about the conditions under which he was expelled? Inquire about the Chamber? Don't you think it's a bit of a sensitive subject?"

"I'm sure he would understand if we explained it. Nott could tell us about his father story and… speaking of which," she trailed off in distraction, "where is Nott anyway?"

Harry's face fell. "I haven't seen him since we left the common room this morning," he whispered. "I think he's visiting Hermione. He feels really guilty about losing track of her in the hallway. I think he's even having nightmares about it."

"Hnh." Ginny made a non-committal noise. "Anyway, the way I see it is there's only one way to clear Draco's name for sure and that means finding out who really is opening up the Chamber. For the moment, Hagrid is the best clue we have to go on. Figuring out what happened a long time ago might give us a hint about what's happening now."

"There's the attack on Dragon," Luna reminded.

"That too. But that happened around Hagrid's hut," Ginny pointed out. "Anyway you look at it, I think we have to pay him a visit to get a better idea of what might be happening."

"Well that's something you two might be able to do in your spare time. Meanwhile – as I'm sure you know from your brother, Gin – we've had and will be having Quidditch practice practically every day. Wood's been training us like mad for this match against Slytherin. In fact, I'm probably supposed to be out on the field right now warming up."

The girls nodded.

"We'll be cheering for you," Ginny assured him.

"Be careful not to fly into any Thestrals! And make sure not to get fooled by any wandering Snidgets!"

Harry grinned as he grabbed a last muffin and left the table. "Thanks!"

As Harry left, Ginny snapped her fingers. "There's something else too!"

"You've thought of something?"

"Milli!" Ginny practically clapped. "If there's anybody who would know about dark things going on it's probably the Slytherins. And they might not say anything around the rest of the school – but in the safety of their own common room they might talk or speculate in ways they normally wouldn't! Millicent can be our source on the inside to tell us if anybody knows anything they're not telling – anything that might help to clear Draco."

Luna bobbed her head up and down. "Yes, Millicent has better sense than to let houses ruin friendships. She would probably be happy to help us help Draco."

OOO

Ron looked up at the sky despondently; the air outside was thick and muggy with grey clouds hanging over head and he thought he heard thunder in the distance. Competing against Gryffindor and Potter was bad enough and rain would be another nuisance to add to the stack of challenges, right on top of the crowd being perpetually against them and his own lack of confidence.

"You look like you're about to be led off to execution." Pansy ran up to him on the field.

"It looks like rain," he said by way of changing the subject.

"Then put a repelling charm on your uniform so you stay dry. Do you want me to do it for you?"

He shrugged. "It's find."

"Well I'm not having you get pneumonia," she said, pulling out her wand. "Otherwise I'll have to use Crabbe or Goyle for a potions partner and nobody wants that. There," she said with a wave. "Now you'll stay nice and rain free. Cheer up." She shook him by the shoulder. "You have a broom that's fast as lightning, you've been practicing all summer…"

"I feel like I'm about to lose my breakfast." He looked at her in despair. "Flint's going to kill me if I don't win this one. And I'm facing off against Potter!"

"Don't think about him," Pansy commanded sternly.

"Him who? Flint or Potter?"

"Either of them! Look, Flint blows a lot of hot air but he won't do anything about it even if we do lose – which we won't. And Potter's reputation is better than he is and you've a better broom and more practice. There's no earthy reason – apart from your own self-sabotage – that you can't beat him."

"You really think so?"

"Ron, how many times are you going to ask me that? As I've said a hundred times, of course I do. I wouldn't have bothered with the brooms and everything if I didn't. I believe in you Ron but you need to believe in yourself if you want to make this happen." She clapped his shoulder. "I need to get back to the bleachers. But I'll be cheering with every ounce of air in my lungs."

Ron could feel his ears turning pink. "Thanks!" He blurted, then turned and ran to join the rest of the team before she could see how flustered he was.

Pansy, however, noticed regardless and smiled as she joined the rest of the silver and green throng to watch the game.

After a tense handshake between Flint and Wood, the teams took to the air. Trying to beat back his nausea, Ron focused on the thrill of flying on such a powerful broom. He sped around the pitch, looking down and searching for the Snitch. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Potter was doing the same thing, albeit at a somewhat slower speed. For a moment Ron thought about taunting him as a means of bolstering his confidence.

No, he told himself firmly. Remembering Pansy's advice, he shut out any and all thoughts of Flint and Potter and kept his attention solely on the only task he had at hand – finding the Snithc. As he swooped around he heard the crowd from a distance – apparently Potter was having trouble with a Bludger – but he tried to ignore it. Even when it began to rain he barely notice.

Then he saw a flicker of gold at the far end of the field, fluttering above the head of a Gryffindor Chaser, Angelina Johnson if he remembered correctly. He zoomed to catch it, followed on his heels by Potter, but they were both too late by the time they reached it. As he wheeled the broom around another Bludger, or perhaps the same one from earlier, came crashing between him and Harry. Swerving to avoid it, he gained height and resumed searching for the Snitch.

The second time he saw it, he spotted it first but Potter, still observant despite his Bludger issues, was much closer. Panicked, Ron urged his broom on as fast as he could, reaching dizzying speeds in a matter of moments. He stretched out his hand towards the ground at the same time Potter did when, all at once, Potter was clown back by something. He felt his hand close around the Snitch and he pulled up short, stopping his broom with a suddenness that nearly made him pitch off of it.

"I've got it!" He lifted the Snitch high and screamed.

The crowd apart from the Slytherins, however, was pointing behind him, murmurs of concern rippling through the rows of spectators. Teachers and students began flooding onto the field.

"Slytherin wins!" Madame Hooch declared and there were cheers and applause from the one-fourth of the group that had remained in their seats.

Ron turned, however, to find the rest of the crowd gathering around a fallen and bleeding Harry. His brothers were wrestling a Bludger back into the case with the help of Wood and Madame Hooch, shouting accusations at him and the rest of the Slytherin team all the while. The rest of the Gryffindors, and many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, were looking at him like he had killed somebody.

"Way to win. Cheating a practically killing Harry," a familiar voice accused him.

"Ginny." He grimaced. "You would think that I…"

There was a sudden gasp from the crowd and Ginny, ignoring him now, pushed through it to find out what had happened. All Ron could see was a blond head in a garish robe bending over him. Then the crowd parted, Harry being carried off the field, and a small smile quirked Ron's lips.

He wasn't happy about Harry's injury distracting from his victory. And he knew that over the next few weeks the insinuations of cheating would be nearly incessant. But seeing Harry with the bones of his arm accidentally removed went a long way to brightening up his day.

And, he thought as Pansy slipped her hand in his and lead him back to the common room celebration, there were other positives as well.

OOO

"He needs his rest, now shoo!" Madame Pomfrey waved the three girls out of the infirmary as they exchanged looks with Harry.

"Don't worry," Ginny whispered to him. "You'll be out of here soon."

"I hope so," he groaned. "That idiot Lockhart…"

"Out!" This time she was more insistent so Ginny reluctantly turned away with Luna.

"Great," Ginny frowned. "Now Harry's out of commission too. I hope he gets better soon in case anything happens. I mean, he'll be safe but if there's some sort of creature wandering around…"

"He and Draco were the one's who helped me out with that troll," Millicent pointed out. "Nobody better to have next to you in a pinch."

"It would be helpful to have Harry with us," Luna agreed. "But he should be better soon."

"He'd be better now if that moron hadn't gotten his hands on him! Honestly, letting him teach? I really can't understand it," Ginny fumed.

"Perhaps nobody else wants the job," Luna mused.

"The rest of the Slytherins say it's cursed," Milli pointed out. "That nobody teaches it for more than one year before something happens to them."

"Well I hope it's true," Ginny hissed vindictively, "and that something happens to Lockhart. Shame to have to waste a whole year on him but at least it will only be one."

As they rounded the corner, they found themselves face to face with Draco and Cedric.

"Hey guys." He greeted them with a wave. "Have you been to see Harry?"

"Yeah." Ginny nodded. "He's doing about as well as he can be, considering what that moron did to him, but he's in for a rough night. If you were hoping to see him, though, I don't think that will be possible."

Draco's face fell. "Why not?"

"Madame Pomfrey doesn't think he's up to seeing any more visitors." Ginny shrugged. "She just finished sending us packing."

"Perhaps you could use your cloak later on?" Luna suggested.

"No way!" He shook his head. "The last think I need for my reputation is to get caught wandering around under an invisibility cloak. In fact, I gave mine to Professor Sprout for safekeeping so nobody would think I was using it. The last think I need to do is add fuel to the 'blame Draco' fire by sneaking about. I couldn't even come here alone – everybody else was tired so I had to badger Cedric to come with me."

"Was that a pun, Draco?" Cedric teased. "I was glad to do it, though," Cedric assured the girls. "I saw what happened out there on the field; it's every Seeker's nightmare. Harry handled it well and I really thought he was going to pull it off at the end until that Bludger came from behind. Nasty injury, that."

"Well it wouldn't have been so bad if Lockhart hadn't stuck that stupid blond head of his into it!"

The Hufflepuff laughed. "No, I suppose not. Well, come on, Draco. We'd better get going."

"Where are you headed?" Luna looked at him.

"Detention," he sighed. "The one I got for arguing with Smith."

"I'll take you down and make sure nothing happens on the way," Cedric assured him. "You two had better get back as well. I don't want to hear of anything bad happening to either of you, strolling about like this."

As the two Hufflepuffs went back the way they came, Ginny turned around with the others and headed down the steps. As they did, Millicent stopped suddenly, pausing to listen.

"Milli?" Ginny turned around. "What's wrong?"

"I thought I heard a sliding…" She turned toward the wall where there was a thick pipe and rapped on it with her fingers. The moment she did, her frown deepened. "That's odd."

"What is it?"

"This pipe is clogged." As she stared at it, Ginny and Luna gathered behind her.

"How do you know?"

"Mum's a plumber; I know what a blocked pipe sounds like."

"Water?" Ginny suggested.

"No. You'd hear it rushing. Besides, I didn't think these pipes… there! Did you hear that?"

"It sounded like a soft, scraping kind of noise," Luna observed.

"And…" Ginny strained her ears then paled. "Come on!" She ran back up the steps.

"Where are you going?" Millicent called, following.

"We need to find Draco," she panted. "I need to ask him something, I need to…"

The girls stopped cold in their tracks.

OOO

A/N: Yep, that's right. Cliffhanger! See you in three weeks. :) Find out what went on with Lucius, who messed up the Bludger, what happens to the girls, etc. etc. – in 21 days.