"We got it! We should plant it as soon as possible!" Hermione said. "Wait, where's Harry?"

The group shuffled their feet and exchanged awkward glances. I can try talking with him if that might help,"

"He… left," Crevan said.

"Left?"

"He… said it wasn't his fight," Baledin said.

"That's not like Harry. She's threatening Hogwarts since she's here, and pretty much every year, he chases down trouble he doesn't need to get entangled in," Hermione protested, looking suspicious. Peter put a hand on her shoulder. She was about to push it off, but it was rather nice to have his hand on her shoulder.

"He's used to be in charge and had a fit over being told what to do the other day," Susan guessed, seeing right through them.

"Yeah," Ron said sheepishly.

"I… I could try talking to him if that might help," Peter suggested, hoping it would please Hermione. "Or Susan, maybe you should. You're better at this sort of thing."

"We don't have time to waste," Hermione said briskly, not wanting to dwell on it. "We're going to need to use magic to speed up the tree's growth. I don't know of any, so I'm going to go – "

"To the library," Ron interrupted. "I'll go with you."

Peter frowned. He really needed to get a moment alone with Hermione to ask her about her relationship with Ron.

"We should get as many on that as possible," Veta pointed out. "But we also have another problem… we lost the White Witch. She disappeared from the map."

"What?"

"Look," Ron said. He had stolen the map from Harry's trunk as soon as he could.

"She's right there," Susan pointed out. Sure enough, she there. As they watched, she was leaving the Slytherin Common Room.

"Slytherins! Of course. Can't ever trust them," Ron said.

"Excuse me?" both Caspian and Peter said, defending Susan. She rolled her eyes. It hadn't taken her long to figure out most of the school didn't trust Slytherins.

"Oh, sorry," he said.

"Probably right," Susan said with a rueful grin. "Anyways, it looks like Harry's in the Gryffindor common room right now. How about Ron, Caspian, Baledin, and Peter go find him and try talking with him? I'll go to my common room, see if I can find out who she was talking to, and the rest can try to find some spells."

"Sounds like a plan," Hermione said.

The Gryffindor boys and Peter headed into the common room and quickly found Harry.

"We should talk," Caspian said.

"Not here," Harry agreed reluctantly, gesturing over to the other Gryffindors there. They found a quiet corner. "Did you seriously all need to come?"

"So… we got the apple. We need to find somewhere to plant it though," Peter said. "Any suggestions?"

"Why bother asking me?" Harry retorted.

"Because we're working as a team. And you, Ron, and Hermione all know Hogwarts the best," Peter pointed out. "Susan and I were able to help the most when dealing with anything remotely Narnian, but this needs the background of someone more… experienced with Hogwarts."

The compliment seemed to assuage Harry a little bit. He honestly would have gone to them earlier if he hadn't been so embarrassed and had issues with swallowing his pride. He then relented and said, "I… I see what you're doing. I…I'm actually rather made mad at myself for acting this way. You got us out of a confrontation against Voldemort and at least a dozen Death Eaters. That's pretty amazing."

"Well, they weren't expecting out – what do you call it? Muggle weapons," Baledin suggested. "Otherwise, we would have needed more magic to win with."

"I know you're just saying that to make me feel better. You don't need to mollycoddle me. So… you aren't angry with me for storming out on you?"

"After arguing with Peter, I tried to call up the White Witch, his worst enemy. I think we can easily forgive you," Caspian pointed out.

"And honestly, I rather pushed him towards it by arguing over who was in charge rather than working together," Peter said. "It was harder to accept, but sharing leadership and working as a team worked significantly better."

"I… I guess so," Harry said. "Where are the others?"

"Hermione's favorite place," Ron said.

"The library," Harry said.

"They're trying to find spells for speeding up plant growth," Peter explained.

"Why not ask your housemates? Hufflepuffs are the best at Herbology," Harry asked. "Or Neville?"

"Who's Neville? Can we trust him?"

"We can trust him. He was just out in the common room a moment ago," Harry said.

They found Neville and got him to come over to talk with them.

"We need a spell to make a tree grow from a fruit almost instantly," Hary said.

"I can do that, no problem," Neville said. "That's an easy one."

"Perfect! Let's go," Peter said.

Meanwhile, Susan had confronted Malfoy who she could just somehow tell had been speaking with the White Witch.

"Hey, Malfoy. Why the sad face?" she said, swinging an arm around him flirtatiously.

"Nothing, Pevensie. I…I shouldn't speak with you," he said, pushing her arm off.

"Why not?" Susan said as she amped up the charm.

"It…it's not a good idea," he said.

Susan pinched her nose in frustration. She tried to search for a reason. She doubted this was the reason, but giving any reason might prompt him to tell her the real reason. "It's about Pansy, isn't it?" she said, with a sad sigh.

"No! It's … it's… never mind," he said.

Susan stuck her lip out in a pout. "It is Pansy, isn't it? I thought you said you were over her! Were you just lying to me?"

"No! …Um, we're attracting stares. Can… let's move to a quieter place," he said.

"So, what is it then?" Susan asked as soon as they were alone.

"Can… can you keep a secret?" he asked. "My life is on the line if they find out I told you."

"Of course," Susan assured.

"There… there was a witch who claims to be from another world here," he said slowly.

"Jadis, the White Witch," she said.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

Susan sighed and tried to act the part of the scared damsel in distress. "She… she's tried to kill me before! For absolutely no reason. She terrifies me so! And then as soon as I thought she was dead, then she came back to haunt me again! Oh, I do wish someone would help with stopping her."

"She's not going to hurt you," Draco said, falling for her act. "She is after you though. I'll help you get somewhere safe. She came here because… she made an alliance with the Dark Lord in order to try to get you. She seems to think you're friends with Potter and his lot."

"Who's that?" she asked innocently.

"Harry Potter. He's usually with Granger and Weasley," Draco sneered.

"Granger… I've heard that name before. I think my brother fancies her. But I don't know the others," she lied casually. "But, who's the Dark Lord?"

"He's…the greatest wizard who ever lived. He's going to eradicate the wizarding world of filth like Mudbloods," he sneered.

Susan flushed and said, "You mean, like me?"

"What? No!" Draco protested. "Wait…are you a Mudblood?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"I believe so. My parents are gone from my life now, but I'm pretty sure they weren't magic," she said sourly. She knew for sure they would have said something if they were, but she left a sliver of possibility to make it seem like there might be some doubt.

"They… they must be though if you're in Slytherin," Draco protested, trying to convince himself. Susan was so strangely perfect. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. He couldn't trust her though if she was a Mudblood.

"Anyways, what did the Witch want with you?" Susan said, making herself fall back into the damsel-in-distress role again. "I'm sooo worried."

"She… she wanted my help in cornering you. She found out you're here in Slytherin with me and found out from the Dark Lord that I work for him. So… she wanted me to try to get you to come with me. But… I… I can't do that to you."

"But what would happen to you if you don't?" Susan asked softly.

"I…It wouldn't be good," he said, his skin pale white. He knew very well the Dark Lord's anger at his father after the fiasco at the Ministry. Betraying the White Witch may not be as serious as betraying the Dark Lord himself, but he was still unlikely to show any mercy should he find out.

She kissed him on the cheek gently. "Thank you. I know you're risking a lot by even telling me. I… My brother and an, urm, friend of ours defeated her before and Peter might have a plan. So, please, can you delay her? For me?" she said, turning up the helpless female act again As expected, his manly ego seemed to feel the need to help her when she acted this way. She mentally rolled her eyes. Sometimes it was so easy to manipulate boys. Even though she hated pretending to be helpless.

"I… I will!" he said, grabbing her hands. "But the Dark Lord can never find out."

"Of course not," Susan said smoothly. Draco pulled her in for a kiss, which Susan reluctantly allowed.

As soon as she could, she ran to find the others who were just leaving the library.

"Neville's going to grow the tree since he's brilliant at Herbology," Harry explained, making Neville beam in delight at actually being complimented for once.

"Perfect. I found out where she is. She had been trying to get Malfoy to bring us to the Room of Requirement to capture us," she said.

"Bloody hell! Of course Malfoy would side with her," Ron swore.

"Malfoy's a Death Eater! Like I've been saying," Harry insisted.

"Whoa! Why all the hate? He isn't siding with her. Instead he told me all of this to protect me," Susan said with a glare.

"What?!"

"Stop automatically assuming his guilt just because he's a Slytherin," Susan scowled.

"Nah, it's because he's Malfoy," Ron said. Although both Ron and Harry were feeling pretty bad at that moment. Why was Malfoy of all people the one to resist the White Witch? Especially when both of them had made mistakes.

"He must really like you," Caspian said jealously. He really didn't like Susan faking interest in Malfoy. And the darker side of him couldn't help wondering if she wasn't just faking it.

"Not as much as you do," Susan assured, taking Caspian's hand and smiling at him.

"We still need to plant it as soon as possible," Hermione reminded. "We're putting it in one of the Herbology Rooms where it'll be safe and well-kept."

They hurried down to the Herbology Rooms, not caring about how late it was.

"Alohamora!" Hermione said, pointing her wand at the chains on the Herbology doors.

They rushed inside.

"Here's a good spot," Neville said. They started planting it, not paying attention to what was going on around them.

Suddenly, a voice all too familiar to Harry, Ron, and Hermione said, "Breaking into the Herbology rooms? Well, well, well. We are in trouble."