Harry Potter and the Vault of Mystery

by JBean210

AU Year 7: The Trio plan to skip their last year at Hogwarts and find Horcruxes, but everything changes when Voldemort is killed, apparently by--Neville! And who is this new exchange student, Jonathan Crown? What's his connection with Voldemort, if any?

29. Fred and George's Excellent Adventure

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Chapter 29

FRED AND GEORGE'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

The weather began an upward swing after Valentine's Day, bringing with it warmer and wetter days. For the seventh years, however, it scarcely mattered as they were buried under an avalanche of N.E.W.T. homework. At least, Harry thought one evening while working on it with Hermione and Ron, most of the teachers were trying to be reasonable about the amount of work they expected done; only one continued to assign oppressive amounts of reading and essay work, and that, of course, was Snape.

As the days rushed forward to the end of February and the 10th Round of the Vault Tournament, Harry found himself hoping for a way to make the trip to London and Diagon Alley. The round would take place the day before Ron's 18th birthday, and Harry knew he was looking forward to going; he'd said so often enough, telling them he wanted just "one more chance to study the Vault in person."

Unfortunately, the one person they needed to talk to about the trip, Jon, had made himself scarce outside of class. The details he'd heard from Ginny was that Jon had gotten wind of a rumor that Ron and Hermione had fought over her interest in him in Madame Puddifoot's on Valentine's Day, and he was avoiding them so there'd be no further reason for them to quarrel. Even though Ginny had assured Jon, she told Harry, that Ron and Hermione quarreled all the time, over nearly anything, hadn't convinced him to rejoin them.

It wasn't until the Friday before the Round before they finally caught up with Jon. He had disappeared after the morning's Transfiguration class; Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone on the Gryffindor common room to study, then to lunch and back to study more until Hermione left for her Ancient Runes class. Jon was in that class as well, and Harry was determined to talk to him after that, one way or another.

Shortly before the end of the class, Harry and Ron stationed themselves, under Harry's Invisibility Cloak, outside the Ancient Runes classroom. "Whatever happens," Harry had whispered as they waited, "If he ditches Hermione we're going to follow Jon like there's a Sticking Charm on us."

"Check," Ron said.

The bell rang and a few moments later the door opened; several seventh-years poured out of the room, Jon being among the first. He set off immediately toward the nearest staircase, ignoring Hermione's calls to him. Harry and Ron were after him immediately, dodging around other students and jostling a few in their haste; Harry was counting on the crowdedness of the corridors to hide the fact that people were being bumped into by an invisible pair of students.

Soon, though, the crowds thinned out as Jon climbed staircase after staircase, evidently heading toward the seventh floor. "Is he going back to the common room?" Ron whispered as they followed him onto the sixth floor staircase leading upwards. Harry shook his head, uncertain.

Instead of heading toward the common room, Jon turned in the opposite direction at the top of the stairs, moving toward the corridor where Barnabas the Barmy's tapestry hung across from a bare wall Harry knew all too well. He smiled grimly to himself; why hadn't he thought of this long ago? To Ron he whispered, "He's headed for the Room of Requirement!"

Rather than walking up and down past the wall three times while concentrating on whatever he needed, however, Jon strode directly to the wall and tapped it three times with his wand. A large, oaken door appeared and Jon opened it. But instead of going inside, he turned, looking in their direction, and said, "I'm been meaning to show this to you, Harry. Why don't you come in and have a look?"

Pulling off the Cloak, Harry and Ron appeared ten feet away. "Blimey," Ron said in wonderment. "You can see through Invisibility Cloaks, too?!"

Jon laughed. "No, I was just guessing you were around somewhere, actually. My footsteps had echoed a bit oddly as I climbed that last staircase and along these deserted corridors. I expect I heard those," he pointed to Ron's boots.

"I thought you were going to put on trainers," Harry said, sounding mildly accusatory.

"Sorry," Ron said. "But, doesn't matter now, does it – we've found him; now we can ask about going to Diagon Alley tomorrow."

"Yeah, well, let's talk about that," Jon said as they walked into the Room of Requirement. Harry and Ron both gasped at what they saw: Jon's entire workroom and garage was now here. His Corvette sat gleaming in the center of the room, which extended high above their heads. Along the walls were rows of workbenches and cupboards. The room was several times the size of the one he'd used in the Shrieking Shack. Looking up, Harry saw a large skylight in the room's ceiling, something that never would have been there normally.

"So this is where you put everything!" Harry exclaimed, and Jon nodded, grinning. "But how could you have moved it all here?"

"Well, I needed to," Jon said, as if that explained everything. When Harry and Ron continued to stare at him inquiringly, however, he continued. "I did it the day I came back early. I suspected that Malfoy would raise a stink, based on what he'd said in London when we got off the train.

"Most of the stuff wasn't hard to move; I have a trunk I can pack it all in; I even let Filch examine it when I brought it in. Of course, he never thought there might be more than one compartment in it," Jon chuckled.

"And the car?" Harry asked, pointing to the Corvette. "You couldn't have flown it in here – there are spells preventing anyone from flying into or over the castle."

"That was a little trickier," Jon admitted. He walked over to the car and pointed to the exhaust pipes along its sides. "These normally carry exhaust gas away from the engine."

"Right," Harry said. He knew that much about cars. Ron listened, looking blankly at them.

"The car can't fly overHogwarts," Jon continued, "but it can levitate. I added a control that will allow it to levitate, to rise up and down, as high as I need it to. In the ends of these pipes," he said, pointing to them again, "I put nozzles that can be aimed by turning the steering wheel or the altitude lever. The nozzles shoot compressed air, which I installed a tank in the trunk for, that pushes the car forward or changes its direction."

"Pretty impressive," Harry admitted.

" 'Impressive?' " Ron said, gaping at him. "It's brilliant! Is that what the skylight is for, then?"

"Right," Jon said. "I just let the car float up and out of the skylight, aim for the nearest wall, and let the compressed air push me along until I'm past the anti-flying enchantment."

"How many times have you had it out?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Well," Jon said, looking sheepish. "None, actually. The Saturday before this term started, I got into the Room of Requirement and floated it in through the skylight. I just finished adding the levitation control and nozzles a few days ago."

"How did you get into the Room of Requirement just now?" Harry asked curiously. "You didn't appear to use the normal method."

"No, that's kind of a giveaway, isn't it?" Jon said. "I had to do it that way the first time, of course, but then I studied the door to the room a bit and came up with a spell that will do it just as well."

"A spell?" Harry and Ron said together, both now impressed.

"Yeah." Jon walked to the door. "You still have to concentrate on what you need, of course. While you're doing that, tap the wall directly across from the troll in the middle of the tapestry that's trying to pirouette and say, 'Desidero Cella Indigus!' Do that three times and the door to the Room will open to what you need."

"Oh, and by the way," Jon added as he walked to a nearby countertop, taking a book that was lying there and handing it to Harry. "Here's that potion-making book you told me about once."

Harry took the copy of Advanced Potion-Making from Jon and quickly flipped open its pages. Snape's notes were there, scattered throughout the book just as he remembered them. The book still looked fairly fresh and new (owning to the fact that Harry had swapped the cover of a brand-new book onto Snape's copy, and returned the other one to Professor Slughorn last year).

But Harry looked at it as if it were putrescent meat. "I don't want it any more," he said, handing it back to Jon. "It's Snape's, and I'm not taking any help from him, ever again!"

"Alright," Jon said. He tossed the book onto a nearby cupboard. "It'll be here if you change your mind, but I understand." He looked at Ron, then at Harry. "Have you talked, um, to …" Jon trailed off, but he jerked his head back toward Ron.

Harry sighed as Ron looked at them in confusion. "No, I haven't," he admitted.

"Talked to me about what?" Ron demanded. His eyes narrowed. "Did you decide not to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow? That's it, isn't it!" He sounded quite upset and disappointed. "Well I can make it there on my own, no thanks to you, then!" Ron turned and stomped angrily toward the door.

"Ron, it's not about that," Harry said quickly. "It's about you and – and – Snape," he said finally.

"What?" Ron turned to face Harry, now looking confused once again.

"Harry and I think Snape put an Imperius Curse on you a few months ago," Jon said bluntly.

"What?!" Ron shouted. "Harry, why the hell didn't you tell me?!"

"Because you might get upset and yell at me!" Harry shouted back. "Because I was trying to figure out what to do!"

"Let's stop yelling and find out," Jon cut in, taking out his wand again. He made several passes over Ron, muttering strange phrase in an unknown language, with Harry looking on intently. After several seconds, Jon stopped, said "Hmm," and made several more passes. He then stopped and looked wryly at Harry, frustration evident on his face.

"What'd you find?" Ron asked anxiously, looking from him to Harry.

"Nothing," Jon said. "There's no Imperius Curse."

"There has to be!" Harry insisted at once. "I saw Snape interrogating him, right outside this room!"

"Interesting," Jon said, looking at the door to the Room of Requirement. "I wonder why he did it there, so far from his office?"

Harry hadn't thought about that. "Maybe he expected Ron to be able to get in here for some reason."

"Yeah," Jon nodded grimly. "And I think it was to find this room," he said, gesturing with his wand at the room they were in. "He might've guessed this is where I hid my car and other things from the Shrieking Shack. Damn!" Jon began to pace.

"If Snape's checking the Naming Scroll," Jon pondered, walking back and forth in front of his car, "I'll have to put a Proximity Charm on it for him as well as Filch."

"What for?" Ron asked, but Harry had already deduced the answer.

"The Naming Scroll is like the Marauder's Map," he said quickly. "It can't see you when you're in the Room of Requirement!"

"Correct," Jon nodded. "I have a Proximity Charm on the entrance hall; when Filch enters that Room, I'm alerted he's near the Naming Scroll, and I exit the Room of Requirement until he leaves again."

"But what if someone's outside there when you walk out?" Ron asked, looking at the door.

"That could be a problem. Fortunately, it hasn't come up yet," Jon admitted. "That corridor isn't used much; there's only one staircase that way, and it's very inconvenient unless you're a teacher, since it leads to where most of their private living areas are."

"Like Professor Trelawney's," Harry said. He remembered finding her in front of the Room once, trying to get in to hide her empty sherry bottles.

"But wait a minute!" Ron said, finally aggravated enough to speak out. "What about the Imperius Curse Snape's got on me?!"

"He doesn't have one on you, Ron," Jon said, shaking his head. "Sorry, Harry, but there's no sign of that curse on him."

Harry grunted in frustration. "Could he have removed it, then?"

"I checked for that, but there's nothing that would affect his mind except what looks like a Confundus Charm or a Confusing Concoction, cast or administered several months ago."

"Snape," Harry said through clenched teeth. "Has to be. But why would he give Ron a Confusing Concoction? That doesn't make any sense."

"It does," Jon said, a hard look in his eyes, "if Snape used it to break down Ron's resistance to suggestion. I think he hypnotized Ron."

"Hypnotized?" Ron repeated, looking lost. "What's that?"

Harry knew what it was, though. "Pretty clever of Snape, to avoid an Unforgivable Curse by using regular hypnotism instead. It's a Muggle magician's trick for making people do things they wouldn't normally do," he added, for Ron's benefit.

"And it means there's an easy solution to the problem," Jon said. He pointed his wand at Ron and said, "Obliviate!" Ron's eyes went blank and Harry, who'd jumped forward as Jon said the spell, caught Ron before he fell.

"Why did you do that!?" he said angrily, giving Jon a searing look. "Making him forget what happened isn't going to help!"

"It was a very specific Memory Charm," Jon said mildly, his wand now by his side. "I've only made him forget all the post-hypnotic suggestions Snape gave him. He'll come around in a few seconds without being any the worse for wear."

And indeed, a few seconds later Ron's eyes refocused and he looked at Harry as the latter held tightly onto him. "What'd you grab me for, Harry?" he asked.

"Never mind," Harry said, letting go of him. "Okay," he said evenly, looking at Jon. "If that's straightened Ron out, then what do we do about tomorrow?"

"Just like any other Saturday liberty," Jon said easily. We'll sign out after nine a.m. and head toward Hogsmeade. But instead of going there, we'll sneak back up to this corridor, take the car, leave through the skylight and head for London and Diagon Alley."

"And how are we going to sneak back into the castle? The fifth- and sixth-year prefects will still be here, and the Slytherins would like nothing better than to catch us up to something."

"Leave that to me," Jon said confidently. "The only thing is, we should keep the numbers low for this trip, at least. No more than you, me, Ron and Hermione, at most."

"What? No Deirdre?" Ron asked. Harry wondered if he sounded a bit – disappointed?

"She's been a bit … moody, lately," Jon said, sounding suddenly evasive. "It's not a big deal, she just goes through periods when she's not feeling terribly social."

"Right, then," Harry said. "We'll meet for breakfast in the Great Hall, and at nine a.m. sign out and head for Hogsmeade. Then you'll get us back inside and we'll go from here to London. That's the plan."

"And just one more thing, Harry," Jon said. "Bring your Invisibility Cloak, please."

"Okay," Harry said. He was puzzled by the request, but since he'd already decided to bring it, he had no problem with the idea.

"Very good," Jon said. "Off we go, then," he said imitating a British accent, and opened the door to the Room of Requirement with a flourish for Harry and Ron who, chuckling, walked through it, and right into Hermione.

"And what's the big idea of keeping me locked out here?" she demanded heatedly as Ron backed away from her hastily. "I've been pounding on this wall for ten minutes!"

"How did you know where to look for us?" Harry said, surprised.

"Lucky guess," she said shortly. "Well?"

"Sorry, Hermione," Jon said apologetically. "We just didn't hear you. But the good news is, Ron had been hypnotized, not Imperiused, and now his hypnotism's been cured, and we're going to London on Saturday." He smiled cheerfully and walked back down the corridor the way she had come.

Hermione watched him walk away, then rounded on Harry and Ron. "What Imperius Curse?"

"Ah," Harry said, looking sheepish. "It turns out I was wrong about that."

"Fortunately," Ron said gratefully as he and Harry walked off together, leaving her staring after them.

Saturday morning at nine a.m. found the four of them standing in line to sign out for liberty. Filch was eyeing each of them closely, and ran his golden search wand very carefully over each of them. Finding nothing proscribed by school rules or Ministry policy, however, he jerked a thumb at the door.

"Off with the lot of you, then," he said irritably. "And don't forget to come back into the school the same way!"

They set off down the steps in front of the school then walked toward the entrance gate to the north. But Jon had something else in mind. "Before we leave," he said, pointing toward the Quidditch pitch, I want to look at something over here.

"Do we have time for this?" Ron said impatiently as they angled toward the pitch.

"We can make the time," Jon said, looking back at him and smiling. "Don't worry – I'm only mad north-by-northwest, Ron."

He walked behind the broom shed, out of view of the castle, then reached in his pocket for a deck of Exploding Snap cards. Holding it out in front of him, Jon said, "Everyone put a finger on this. Alright. One! Two! –"

"Oh no, Jon!" Hermione said reprovingly. "You didn't create a –"

"—Three!" and Harry felt the by-now familiar irresistible pull drawing him inwards. His feet left the ground and there was a whirling howl of wind and swooping colors. Then, just as suddenly, they touched down again, in a by-now well-known corridor. The deck of cards dropped to the floor of the corridor.

"—Portkey," Hermione finished saying then looked around. "Oh, dear." She was worried, Harry knew, because Portkeys were only supposed to be created under Ministry control and supervision.

"That was wicked!" Ron said enthusiastically. "What a great way to sneak back into school!"

"Dumbledore sent me to his office at Hogwarts from the Ministry of Magic using a Portkey once," Harry remembered. There had been something vaguely unsetting about that when it happened, Harry recalled now, but he'd been to upset about Sirius dying to say anything to Dumbledore then. It had slipped his mind until this moment, but Jon's Portkey had jogged his memory. "I wonder why Voldemort hasn't just used a Portkey to get his Death Eaters into the school."

"Probably because Dumbledore had protections on the school grounds to keep anyone from using a Portkey to get in except him," Jon replied.

"So the school's not protected?" Ron said, suddenly alarmed. "D'you mean You-Know— oh all right, Hermione! Voldemort – could get in here if he wanted to?"

"No," Jon said, shaking his head. "Because Professor McGonagall, the current Head of the school, put her own protections in place when she took the job over."

"So how did you break those protections, then?" Hermione asked.

"I didn't break them," Jon said simply. "I just got Professor McGonagall's permission to use the Portkey and the means to circumvent her spell."

"Why would she do that?" Harry asked, but Jon waved off the question.

"We can get into that later," he said quickly. "But right now, Harry, we need to know where Snape is. Will you find him on the Marauder's Map, please, and quickly? While you're doing that –"

Jon stepped up to the wall directly across from the pirouetting troll on the tapestry and tapped the wall three times. The oaken door appeared, as did the three-dimensional image of the school as Harry activated the Map, and Harry said, "Where is Severus Snape?"

The image shifted and spun, passing through walls and floors until it showed a figure labeled "Severus Snape" – which was now climbing the staircase to the seventh floor, only a few corridors away.

"Quicker than I expected him to be," Jon said with a grim smile. "Let's get inside, hurry!" He opened the door and the four of them darted inside. Jon pulled the door shut, and Harry deactivated the ring.

They piled into the car and Jon pushed a button on the dashboard that opened the skylight above him. "Alright," he said with a wry smile. "Here goes nothing." He pulled back on the pitch lever.

The Corvette began to float in the air, rising slowly toward the ceiling and the skylight. Jon leaned out the driver's side window, watching to see how well his aim was at the opening. They passed slowly through the skylight; halfway through, they stopped and Jon put his arm out the window for a moment, muttering to himself. He then leaned back in and they continued to rise in the air. After they were forty or fifty feet above the roof, Jon tapped the button to close the skylight, then the one to make them invisible.

Now invisible, they rose higher and higher into the air. Several hundred feet above the castle, Jon put his foot down on the petrol feed and the Corvette surged forward. Harry and the others could hear the hiss of compressed air from the nozzles on either side. Jon pointed to a small red light on the dashboard.

"I have that set to turn green when we're clear of the anti-flight enchantments," he said. "Shouldn't be too long – ahh, there we are!" he grinned as the light went green. He turned off levitation mode and the car surged forward, now magically flying, and Jon curved the car around until they were flying toward London.

"Oh!" Hermione said suddenly, remembering something. "What happened to the Portkey?"

"It's on the floor of the corridor," Jon said, concentrating on setting the autopilot for the Leaky Cauldron. "Snape'll probably find it. He'll probably try some detection charms on it, to see if there's any magical residue. But it's an Exploding Snap deck, remember –?"

Harry and Ron chuckled, and Hermione smiled in spite of herself.

"And there's an enchantment on the cards to go off all at once if anyone tries a detection spell on them," Jon finished, grinning.

It was a very pleasant trip as they contemplated, among other things, the look on Snape's face when that deck of cards blew up, quite literally, in his face. As they approached London, however, Jon got serious about their arrival.

"If we take what Snape's been insinuating seriously," Jon argued, "and I think we have to, we don't want to be seen in Diagon Alley

"And that's where the Invisibility Cloak comes in," Harry deduced.

"Check," said Jon.

"What will you do about your car?" Hermione asked. "If Ministry Aurors find it you'll most likely be taken out of school before the end of term."

"I thought of that, too," Jon nodded. "So I installed this little James Bond device –" he pointed to another button on the dashboard. "It'll disguise the Corvette as another type of car."

They flew over London and Charing Cross Road, but bypassed the parking lot Jon normally used for a different one a few blocks away. "A further walk," Jon shrugged, "but it can't be helped, if we're going to avoid the Aurors." He settled into an unused parking slot and looked around carefully for any suspicious-looking bystanders. Finding none, Jon pushed the "James Bond" button and turned off invisibility on the car. "You three get out under the Cloak," he told them, taking off his regular glasses and putting on a pair of sunglasses. "I'll pay for the parking then duck under the Cloak when no one's looking."

Harry got out first on the passenger side, holding the Invisibility Cloak so Hermione, then Ron, could stand up underneath it with him. They pushed the door shut and turned to look at the Corvette. It didn't resemble anything like a Corvette now; it had become a small, two-door hatchback that Harry recognized as a Citroën AX.

"Urrgh," Ron said, wrinkling his nose. "Nobody'd suspect that was a flying car."

Jon paid for parking then walked between two car and stopped, leaning over so he was nearly out of view. Harry, Ron and Hermione, walking up behind him, passed the Invisibility Cloak over him and they continued on walking, now all under the Cloak. It was slow-going with four people trying to coordinate their steps, but they managed it and soon were walking up to the grubby little doorway that led to the Leaky Cauldron and beyond, to Diagon Alley.

Harry pushed the door open and they slid quickly inside, moving carefully to avoid jostling anyone. Tom, the bartender, clicked his tongue impatiently at the open door and went to close it. Making their way through the bar, they entered the small courtyard, tapped the correct brick in the wall and entered Diagon Alley.

It took some time to make their way to number 93, Diagon Alley, the location of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Harry suggested they stay under the Cloak until they reached the back of the store, so they made their way carefully around customers and down narrow aisles until they reached the back room, where Harry whipped off the Cloak and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, well! Look who's decided to grace us with their presence once again," Fred said, leaning out of doorway in the hallway behind them. "It's Britain's four 'Most Wanted Wizards,' as heard on the Wizarding Wireless Network."

George's head popped into the corridor as well. "Ah, so 'tis!" Both Fred and George left the room and joined them, shaking Harry and Jon's hands.

"What did you mean about 'Most Wanted Wizards' a minute ago?" Harry asked as Fred shook his hand.

"We've had Aurors flitting in and out of here for the past two weeks," Fred said, now looking grim. "Wanting to know when you'd be here next and trying to leave Wizard's Eyes in odd places to spy on us."

"We've been dropping them in other shops or taking them apart to study," George added airily. "They're not very hard to fool, really."

"Oh, no!" Hermione said, looking at Harry. "They really are out to find us here, aren't they?"

"We sent Ron an owl about it," Fred said, looking at his youngest brother. "Didn't he tell you?" Harry, Hermione and Jon turned to look at Ron, who smiled weakly.

"I, um, thought it was pretty well decided we were going," he said, sounding rather dodgy.

"It would have been nice to know the Ministry might've been waiting here for us, Ron!" Hermione said, thoroughly annoyed.

"Well, that's why Jon suggested we come in under the Invisibility Cloak," Harry said, nodding at him.

"A wise decision," George intoned. "They will be watching for you at the Vault Tournament today, no doubt about that."

"That means we can't be there today," Harry said flatly, looking at Ron, who shook his head in disappointment.

"At least, not as ourselves," Harry finished. "Fred, George, do you have any Polyjuice Potion we can borrow?"

"We've had a cauldron simmering for a month now," George said, grinning.

"We thought it might come in handy, when we heard what the Ministry's been up to at Hogwarts," Fred added.

"Cool," Ron said, "but who are we going to change into? We didn't bring anybody's hair to use."

"Well," Fred and George looked at each other, their faces inscrutable. "I suppose we can think of a few people you could pose as…"

"And what about me?" Hermione asked plaintively.

"I'm sure we can talk Verity into loaning us a hair sample," George said airily.

Verity, however, was decidedly uninterested in such an arrangement. "With all due respect, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley," she said firmly when the idea was broached to her. "I don't want anyone else running around and doing things looking like me. Not even Hermione Granger. Sorry, Hermione," she added apologetically.

"It's all right," Hermione said, without much reluctance. "Well, I think that means I'll have to sit this Round out."

"Not really," Jon, with something like a mischievous grin on his face, said. "Polyjuice Potions works on cross-gender changes, you know. Harry told me that Malfoy's buddies, Crabbe and Goyle, changed into little girls to keep watch when he was using the Room of Requirement last year."

"Yes, and I'm neither of them, so –"

"Hermione," Ron cut over her. "You know you want to try it. Not like we need more than one copy of Fred and George around," he added hastily.

"Actually, that's just what the world does need more of now," Fred said, smirking. "There's a critical shortage of Freds and Georges in the world."

"Fine," said Hermione, folding her arms across her chest. "I'll do it. But not because I want to – because it would probably raise more questions if either of you were seen in public without the other."

The twins looked at each other. "What do you think she means by that?" George said.

"I think she means that you're helpless without me, dear brother," Fred informed him, placing a hand over his own heart in mock sentiment.

"I beg to differ, bro – I thought she meant you were helpless without me," George corrected him.

"Well, whatever you're going to do," Verity said flatly. "You'd better hurry up and decide." She held up the morning's copy of the Prophet. "They've moved the Round up an hour, to 1 p.m."

It was obvious they couldn't go out for lunch, so Verity went out to collect it for everyone, while Hermione scanned the Prophet and Harry, Ron and Jon played a game of Exploding Snap in Fred and George's office while they minded the store.

"They've put quite a few changes in for the Tournament this year," Hermione said after a few minutes of reading the paper. "Beyond just reducing the fee, they've also cut back on the time allocated – you're only allowed 15 minutes now."

Ron was nodding – he evidently knew about that already. "That should speed up the rounds considerably," Jon commented as he shuffled the deck for another game.

"The way they were going there at the end of last year, though," Harry pointed out, as Jon dealt a new hand, "looked like they might run out of people to try opening it. If their own Curse-breakers can't open it, and nobody else wants a go at it, what are they going to do with it?"

"It looks like they already did it, Harry," Ron replied, picking up his cards and glancing at them as the others did likewise. "When the supply of contestants went down they increased demand by lowering the entry fee to 50 Galleons."

"But they also decreased the amount of time you can try to open it as well," Harry countered.

"Probably just as well," Ron replied. "We were all getting bored to tears waiting 20 or 25 minutes for each contestant to do anything."

Verity returned with lunch, which Fred and George had generously bought for everyone (although Ron complained that his hamburger wasn't made correctly, Fred noted that he finished it off in less than a minute and was still hungry); Verity then went back out front to mind the store while the three youngest Weasley brothers and Harry, Hermione and Jon formulated their game plan.

"Oh," Verity turned to add as she was walking out. "I did see a few gentlemen from the Ministry walking around when I was getting lunch. So whatever you do, be careful out there."

"Right-o, Verity," Fred said cheerfully. After she'd walked out front he turned to the others. "Okay. It seems pretty straightforward. There's two of me and George, and two pairs of you, so if you go out as two pairs of Fred and George, and stay separated on opposite sides of the crowd, you're not going to attract much attention."

He brought out four sets of clothes. "These were carefully selected from our ensemble, the Fred and George Business Wizards' Collection," he said, sounding like an advert from the Wireless Wiarding Network. "I'll think you'll find them quite comfortable, but stylish." Hermione took one of the sets, looking askance at Fred with a half-amused expression on her face, and went to the lavatory to change, while Harry, Ron and Jon changed quickly in their office.

When Hermione returned a few minutes later, they all looked rather bulky – Fred and Geoge's clothes were much too large for Harry, Jon or Hermione, and while Ron was taller than either of them, his thinner frame failed to fill in them in at all.

George came up with a tray with four cups filled with raw Polyjuice Potion – a dark, mud-like substance that bubbled sluggishly. Also on the tray were two small vials, one labeled "F" and the other "G," and each containing a few strands of flaming red hair, and two pairs of tweezers. "The only thing to decide now," he said, "is how the four of you are splitting up."

"Me and Harry," Ron said immediately.

"Jon and me," Hermione said at the same moment. They looked at each other in surprise.

Fred and George were looking at each other as well. "That was a pretty easy decision, it seems," Fred said, with an eyebrow raised. He picked up the vial marked "F" and a tweezers, opened the vial and extracted a strand of red hair and dropped it into one of the cups of Polyjuice. The potion hissed loudly, frothed and bubbled, then a moment later, settled again, now with a rather pinkish color to it.

"Nice color you have there, Fred," Ron said, staring into the cup, his nose wrinkled at the thought of having to drink bits of Fred.

"Wait'll you see mine," George said, taking up his vial and dropping a hair into another cup. The potion frothed and bubbled as well then turned – a rather pinkish color as well.

"I don't see any difference," Ron said, his mouth twisted as he squinted into the cup George had just activated.

"Of course there is," Hermione said, sounding as if she couldn't believe it was obvious. "George's potion is more orange than Fred's is, and –"

"Hermione, it's bad enough I have to drink it," Ron cut her off. "I don't care what ruddy colors they are!"

"Right, then," Fred said. "It's ten minutes of one. Drink up, boys and girls, it's almost showtime."

Hermione reached out and took one of George's potions. Ron took the other, so Harry and Jon each took one of Fred's. "On three, then," Harry said. "One, two, and –" and they all drained their cups.

A minute – and quite a bit of gasping and retching – later, Fred and George proudly regarded two sets of identical copies of themselves. "Just imagine how much work we could get done," Fred commented to George, "if they worked half as hard as we did."

The two other Freds chuckled, but one of the Georges – the one where Ron had been standing – made a rude hand gesture at him.

Fred turned to George. "How do I look in glasses, d'you think?""I think they suit you," George said thoughtfully. "Makes you look halfway intelligent." Harry realized that he was still wearing his glasses, which were making things blurry now. He took them off and put them in a shirt pocket, as did Jon.

"Well, there you are, then, "George said. "Of you go, to the great Vault Tournament."

"Don't do anything we wouldn't do," Fred added.

"Which isn't saying much," George noted.

"So true," Fred agreed.

Harry hoped this would work, at least for Ron's sake. He'd wanted to be here more than any of them; this whole Vault business had become rather stale in Harry's mind. At least, while Ron enjoyed the competitions he, Harry, could be thinking about what to do about Voldemort's Horcruxes. His dream about Dumbledore had inspired him to renew his efforts.

It was decided that Jon and Hermione would leave the shop first, heading for the far side of the crowd in front of Gringotts; Harry and Ron would follow a minute or two later, and stay on the near side. It would be very unlikely they could be seen by anyone at the same time, and, Harry hoped, any Aurors that encountered both groups would chalk it up to them moving around in the crowd.

It was a few minutes before one. There was no one in the store at the moment so both pairs of Fred and George walked to the front of the shop, followed by the real Fred and George, to see them off. "Blimey," Verity said. "It's just like that story some Muggle once wrote, about a whole group of red-headed men."

"You should see our house at Christmas," Fred (the real one) said.

"We'll walk to Gringotts on this side of the street," George (that is, Hermione) said to Fred (Harry) as they started out. Harry nodded and gave a Fred-like thumbs-up gesture.

As they were about to leave, however, Ron suddenly reached into the robe he was wearing. "Wait a minute," he said to Harry. "I'll be right back!" He dashed back to Fred and George's office. What could he have forgotten, Harry wondered.

Ron appeared a half-minute later, stuffing a journal and some sheets of parchment into a pocket inside his robe. "Ready," he said eagerly.

They set out toward Gringotts, walking on the opposite side of the street Jon and Hermione used. As it was, they still got a few curious stares from people, as if they weren't quite sure they had just seen them or not, before.

"What's the journal and extra parchment for?" Harry asked Ron as they made their way to the bank.

"It's Uncle Archie's journal," Ron explained. "There's some drawings in it I want to compare to the Vault."

"You mean there's pictures of the Vault in that journal?" Harry said, incredulous. "Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded.

"No, not the Vault!" Ron said irritably. "Pictures of the grandfather clock – he built that, you know."

"Why would you compare your great-uncle's grandfather clock with the Mystery Vault?" Harry asked, now completely confused. "What's one got to do with the other?"

"I don't know!" Ron said, getting even more annoyed with Harry's questions. "That's what I'm trying to figure out!"

They arrived at the Bank as Bill was going through the updated rules for the Tournament. The changes were pretty much as Hermione had read from the Prophet: The registration fee was now 50 Galleons and the time limit was now 15 minutes. Everything else was pretty much the same.

"Can we get closer?" Ron said to Harry. "I can't see enough details on the Vault to draw a good picture from here."

"We don't want to get too close," Harry warned. "Someone might be able to see both us and Hermione and Jon." But they began pushing their way slowly toward the front of the crowd.

Meanwhile, Bill had introduced the first contestant, a proud-looking wizard in a deep blue and gold robe, who as soon as the hourglass turned over to begin his 15 minutes began spinning the dial, moving and rotating tiles on the face of the Vault.

"Merlin's beard, look at those things move!" Harry heard one bystander, a middle-aged wizard, say aloud. It was true – this contestant clearly had some goal in mind, from the way the tiles were sliding and rotating. Even Ron had stopped consulting his great-uncle's journal and was watching intently.

After a minute of watching, however, Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered, "He's not going to solve it."

"Why not?" Harry wanted to know why Ron thought so.

"The picture's wrong," Ron said.

"What picture?" Harry asked loudly, now confused.

"Keep it down!" Ron hissed. "Come on, we need to get closer."

Harry started to protest they were too close already but Ron had already moved off, motioning for him to follow. Sighing, Harry pushed forward behind Ron, moving closer to the platform where the Mystery Vault stood.

Time had run out for the proud-looking wizard, and he was walking off the platform, looking upset. He disappeared into the crowed as Bill announced the next contestant, a 10-year old boy and his parents, who would actually perform the magic and open the Vault for him.

"They're going to let a 10-year old try to open the Vault?" Ron looked up, incredulous, from the drawing he was making of the front of the Vault.

"I don't think there was any age restrictions in the rules," Harry mused, watching the boy push his token into the hourglass timer. It became immediately obvious the boy and his father, who was wielding his wand, had been practicing for this, because the boy began calling out numbers while his father rapidly manipulated the dial, causing the tiles to slide and spin in quick succession.

"Fred! George!" an unfamiliar voice behind them said. Harry turned around to see a stern-faced man with short brown hair solemnly regarding both of them. "I don't often see you outside your shop these days." He extended a hand, which Harry shook automatically, then turned to Ron, who stuck his charcoal pencil in his mouth so he could shake the man's hand as well.

"So what are you up to here at the Vault Tournament?" the man asked them. The question was mean as conversation but Harry couldn't help but feel there was an edge to it, as if the man was on the prowl for information. A warning went off somewhere in Harry's brain: this man was an Auror.

"Oh, just on the lookout for new ideas," Harry said, trying to banter the way the real Fred was so good at. "You know how it is – always looking for a way to turn something into gold."

"Oh, I know it," the Auror said with a mirthless smile. "You two keep me busy enough making sure you're toeing the Ministry line with the stuff you keep coming up with."

"Well, we like to do our part," Ron said with a weak smile.

"I shouldn't complain, I suppose," the Auror said. "From what I've heard, you two could just as easily be working here at Gringotts with your brother, with all the stuff you know about curses and so on. It's almost like you two wrote the book on that stuff."

"Maybe," Harry said airily. "But we were never cut out for that kind of job. Bill likes it, though; but you know us: we'd probably want to keep the gold we found, or go round at night emptying vaults." That was a stupid thing to say! Harry scolded himself.

The Auror snorted. "Actually, I wouldn't be a bit surprised," he said candidly. "But that's the point of keeping your gold and such at Gringotts, isn't it? It's the safest place on Earth. Well, you boys take it easy," the Auror said, turning back into the crowd. "I'll see you around."

"See you," Harry said cheerfully. As soon as the Auror was gone, though, he sagged. "Who was that guy?" he whispered to Ron. "Did they ever mention him to you?"

"Dunno," Ron shrugged. "They say they get Ministry folk coming by all the time, checking up on them."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Since they opened," Ron said. He looked at Harry a little edgily. "Uh, they said not to bother you with it, it's just the price of doing business in Diagon Alley – the Ministry keeps a close eye the goings-on there. You're – er – not going to mention it to them, are you?"

Harry shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he said, and Ron relaxed.

The 10-year old was still reciting numbers for his father. Ron looked at the tiles and shook his head. "He's not going to get it, either," he said. "That's all wrong, it's –"

"When are you gonna tell me what all this is about?" Harry interrupted Ron's critique. "What are you really trying to do with this thing?"
"I've told you – I'm trying to figure out how to open it!" Ron said, waving the journal and drawings he'd made at Harry. "On my own, without having Hermione help me. Or at least, not much," he amended quickly. "I had some ideas over the Christmas holidays, and wanted to come and make some sketches of the Vault to see if they would hold up."

There was a wail from the platform in front of them; Harry and Ron both turned to see the 10-year old lying on the platform, kicking and screaming, as his father stood over him, looking embarrassed and angry. "What happened?" Ron said aloud.

A bystander answered. "Time ran out and the father stopped, but the kid wanted to keep on going. He got a bit upset when his dad said 'no.'" As they watched, the father picked his son up by the back of his robe, set him on his feet, and swatted him across the backside with his wand. The crowd laughed and the boy, mortified, ran across the stage, bawling uncontrollably, to where his mother was standing. She gave her husband a piercing look then turned and escorted her son off the stage. The father followed them both, walking stiffly.

"I can't believe I was ever that young," Ron said softly.

"Me either," Harry agreed. "And I'd never act that in front of my uncle or aunt…"

"Too right," Ron said feelingly. "Mum would've pinned my ears back in a heartbeat for acting like that!"

Bill began announcing the next contestant. "Have you got what you need?" Harry asked, suddenly ready to go.

"Yeah…" Ron said, but he was hesitating. "But… I just want to watch this last contestant, okay?"

"Fine," Harry said, not wanting to argue. He still hadn't had much chance to think about Voldemort, or the Horcruxes, or exactly what to do to begin finding them again. Lucius Malfoy seemed to know where at least one, the Helm of Gryffindor, was, but he wasn't sharing that information, even with his own son. Harry wondered if his wife, Narcissa, knew. Or Narcissa's sister, Bellatrix Lestrange.

Thinking of her, Harry's anger at Sirius's death, which he'd held in check for so long, surged back momentarily. She was still at large after all this time; over two years had passed since she escaped from Azkaban. Harry had long wished for a chance to confront her somewhere along the way to ridding the world of Voldemort, and those Horcruxes.

Only two of the six Horcruxes they believed existed had been disposed of so far: Tom Riddle's diary and Marvolo Gaunt's ring. From another memory, viewed by Harry and Dumbledore last year, they deduced that Voldemort had stolen Helga Hufflepuff's cup and Salazar Slytherin's locket from Hepzibah Smith, murdered her, and framed Smith's house-elf Hokey for the crime. Earlier this year Harry had all but confirmed that the Malfoy family had taken Godric Gryffindor's helmet, acquired somehow by the Crabbe family, from them for Voldemort, and now had it hidden for them in some safe place.

The last Horcrux, Dumbledore had speculated, was a living creature, not an object: Voldemort's snake, Nagini. The snake, Harry surmised, would be with Voldemort, or near him.

"That's all we have for this week, everyone," Bill Weasley's amplified voice brought Harry out of his ruminations. "We'll be back for the next round in about a month. All of you have a pleasant afternoon!"

"I guess the last person didn't win, either," Harry said, looking around at the crowd, now dispersing.

"Not even close," Ron said with a smile. "Weren't you watching?"

"I was thinking about – things."

"Well, we'd better get a move-on," Ron said, perusing his watch. "We've got about five minutes to get back to the shop before our hour's up."

"Did you get all the drawings you needed?" Harry asked as they made their way back toward Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"Yep," Ron said happily, patting the journal and parchment sheets under his arm. "Jon showed me a handy spell for drawing a picture, you can make an almost exact drawing –"

"Oi! Weasleys!" A shopkeeper had seen them and called out as they walked past his shop. "I've got a bone ter pick with you two!"

"It's Mr. Shunpike," Ron muttered under his breath to Harry. "He owns the second-hand robe shop,"

"Shunpike?" Harry recognized the name. "Stan Shunpike's dad?"

"Yeah," Ron said, smiling toothily as the man, an older, stouter version of Stan himself, approached them, red-faced. "He's a grouchy old – Hi, Mr. Shunpike! How are you this fine day?"

"Not very ruddy well, thank you!" the man said, his face florid. "Whachoo mean leavin' this here in me shop?!" He thrust a small flat, round object the size of a pea under Harry's nose.

Harry pulled his face back to see what it was. "What is that?" he asked automatically.

"'S a ruddy Wizard's Eye, 'swot it is!" Shunpike said, poking another finger at Harry's face, making him blink. "Found it this affernoon, an' you were in 'ere this mornin' pokin' aroun' me clothes! Say it ain't true!" he demanded.

Harry wouldn't have doubted that Fred did leave it in his shop, especially since he'd all but admitted it earlier today, but Harry didn't especially care to be shouted at for it, especially since he hadn't done it. Plus, the nervous look on George's (Ron's) face told Harry that their hour was almost up.

"Sorry, Mr. Shunpike," Harry said hurriedly, "But we have to get back to the shop." He and Ron dashed away.

"I'll be talking to Mike about this! Count on it!" Shunpike shouted after them, shaking his fist.

Harry and Ron raced the last several yards to Fred and George's shop, dodging several bewildered witches and wizards, and ran through the aisles into the back room. By the time they'd stopped, the transformation had reversed itself; Harry and Ron were back to their old selves again.

"That was cutting it mighty fine," Fred said from the office, smirking at them.

"Old man Shunpike stopped us," Ron said accusingly, "because of the Wizard's Eyes you've been dropping in his shop."

"Well, the jokes on him, because I didn't drop one there today," Fred said with a grin. "So he's probably found one the real Aurors left."

"He said he was going to tell Mike about it," Harry said as he discarded Fred's clothes and began putting on his own.

"Mike's the Auror who patrols Diagon Alley," George said, coming up the hallway from the workroom, having heard Harry and Ron's voices. "If I had a Galleon for every time I heard someone say, 'I'm telling Mike!' I'd buy Gringotts."

"Where's Jon and Hermione?" Ron asked, looking around.

"Not back yet," George said. "Obviously."

"Whaddaya mean, 'not back yet?' " Ron cried, alarmed. "Their potions have worn off by now!"

"Very probably," Fred said calmly.

"So what do we do?" Ron shouted.

"We wait," George said, "for a sign."

"Just calm down, little bro," Fred said preemptively, as Ron opened his mouth to argue. "They're both very smart people – if they can get back without our help, they will. And if they need help, they'll send us a message or a sign of some kind."

"But –"

Suddenly there were two loud cracks just outside Fred and George's office. Rushing out of the office, they found Jon and Hermione standing there, both looking disheveled in Fred and George's bigger clothes.

"Welcome back," Fred said. "What kept you?"

The next ten minutes was spent listening to Jon and Hermione describe how, while they were headed back to the shop, saw Harry and Ron accosted by the proprietor of the second-hand clothing store, effectively blocking their path. "Well obviously, we couldn't just walk past looking like an extra pair of Fred and Georges," Hermione said matter-of-factly. They had ducked into a nearby building, which turned out to be Magical Menagerie, where Hermione had got Crookshanks several years before, hiding their faces so the owner couldn't tell who they were, then running out the back.

"But there isn't anything out back of the shops on this side of Diagon Alley," George pointed out.

"Yeah, we know that now," Jon said, plaintively.

Where that door led, they couldn't tell. It had been pitch black; even the light cast by both their wands had illuminated only each other. "To make it worse," Jon continued. "The door had gone shut behind us, so we couldn't see where it was to get back into the shop again."

"Wicked!" Fred and George both said, looking at each other, their eyes gleaming.

"It was a nightmare," Hermione said, shuddering. "Wherever it was, was icy cold, colder even than Diagon Alley. We walked around and around for ten minutes before we bumped into a wall and found the door again."

"Which was locked," Jon said dryly.

"But it opened for Alohomora," Hermione continued, "And we got back inside and Jon suggested we Apparate here and so we did," she finished breathlessly.

"Thank goodness you're safe, though!" Ron said, hugging her.

Jon sat down in a chair, rubbing his face, trying to release some of the stress he was feeling. He looked up at Harry and said quietly, "Did Ron get the drawings he wanted?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. He said you gave him a spell to help him out with that."

"Right, an old version of the Wizard's Pantograph spell. It lets you quickly draw any scene or object; it's a handy little spell."

"That's a pretty interesting door," Harry commented. "Not something you'd expect to find in a pet shop."

"I know it," Jon agreed emphatically. "For a second I didn't know what the hell to do. She held up pretty well," he added, nodding toward Hermione. "Too bad you couldn't see what went on at Gringotts."

"Actually," George said smugly, "Fred and I did come up with a rather ingenious solution for keeping tabs on the goings-on there without having to be gone from the shop."

"And what's that?" Harry asked.

Rather than reply, George canceled the Imperturbable Charm on the door and walked back to the workroom, returning a few moments later holding what looked like a short, fat brass telescope. Shutting the door, he replaced the Imperturbable Charm on it and placed the telescope on the desk in front of them.

"You may recognize this," Fred said, "From the Quidditch World Cup we attended a few years ago."

"It looks like half an Omnioculars," Ron said, looking at the twins suspiciously. "Why'd you take it apart?"

"We've been running a few tests on it," Fred said, "based on our examination of Ministry Wizard's Eyes, to see if we could get most of the functionality into a smaller format. Something like this would be ideal." Fred picked up a small pair of normal binoculars from a cabinet behind the desk.

"One of the things we've been doing is using it to record the Vault Tournament rounds," George said. "Mostly for historical purposes, of course, but we also wanted a record of how the vault mechanism operated. That's how we worked out the dial and tile motion combinations."

"So that's how you did that!" Ron exclaimed. "I wondered how you figured everything out just from the Prophet article – it didn't seem like there was enough information to do it."

"There wasn't," Hermione confirmed. "I'd been wondering that, too."

"Smart girl," Fred said, grinning. "Anyway, we've already got one in place to record the comings and goings at Gringotts – we just need to adjust the angle a hair and – voilà! Our first foray into visual surveillance will be off and running."

Harry had the twins describe everything their Omniocular-based surveillance could show them – close-ups, slow-motion, freeze-frame – in short, everything the regular Omnioculars could do. They had even added spells to it, making it possible to store images only when there was something moving within the viewing perspective. Fred estimated it would store images for up to a week before they would have to take it down and put up a new one. Harry immediately volunteered his pair of Omnioculars, still being stored in his trunk.

"Donations cheerfully accepted," George said.

It was nearly half-past three by now, and they would have to leave soon if they wanted to get back to the school by six p.m.

"We'll walk you to the entrance," Fred decided. "George and I can have a look at the Omniocs we've got up right now and maybe give it a nudge or two, to put it right for checking the Gringotts entrance."

Harry tried to demur, but the twins were insistent. "If anyone reported anything," he pointed out, "Even if old man Shunpike just got his dander up with Mike, they'll be checking for anything dodgy at the entrance. You'll need George and me to be your Beaters, for old time's sake."

Put that way, Harry decided, they could hardly refuse. Hermione, Ron, Jon and Harry got themselves situated under the Invisibility Cloak, then they, Fred and George began a nonchalant, but brisk, walk toward the exit and the Leaky Cauldron, almost the length of Diagon Alley.

The twins were clearly a popular pair, Harry saw, as they made their way down Diagon Alley walking closely behind them. "Afternoon, Madam Bestianna," Fred nodded to the proprietress of Magical Menagerie as they passed by. "New spectacles, I see?" Both of them waved to other shopkeepers as they strolled by; once or twice George stopped to shake hands with a witch or wizard they met in the street. Harry began to see that his and Ron's impersonations hadn't begun to do them justice.

As they passed by Gringotts, Fred looked carefully along the roof of one of the buildings standing across the street from the white marble walls of the bank. "Yep, still there," he said softly.

"Where?" Harry whispered from under the Cloak. "I don't see anything…"

"Well, you wouldn't expect to, would you?" George said quietly. "We've got a Disillusionment Charm on it. No point in having secret surveillance devices if everyone knows about them." Which, of course, Harry had to admit, made sense.

As they approached the entrance to Diagon Alley, Fred turned to look at George, but spoke to Harry and the others. "Looks like we've got a going-away party up ahead," he murmured.

Harry, looking ahead, saw two men, one of them the stern-faced wizard who'd talked to him and Ron at the Vault Tournament earlier that day. They were positioned in front of the exit such that it would be impossible for the four of them, under the Invisibility Cloak, to slip past them without being noticed.

"George and I will try to distract them," Fred continued, speaking so quietly only they and George could hear him. "When you get your chance, slip past them and into the Leaky Cauldron. We'll follow if we can."

"Got it," Harry replied quietly. To Hermione, Ron and Jon he said, "Be ready to run for the exit." They nodded silently.

"Afternoon, gentlemen," Fred said cheerfully as he and George reached the pair, who stared back at them silently for some moments. "Care to tip a glass with us?"

Both men stepped forward slightly, as if making sure they were within arm's-reach of the twins in case they suddenly drew their wands. Harry edged back a bit, making sure they couldn't suddenly reach past Fred and George and make a grab for them. Both men appeared to have a normal-looking pair of eyes, but they couldn't afford to take the chance.

The stern-faced wizard smiled humorlessly as he looked Fred up and down. "You know we're on duty, Fred. If that's who you are."

"If that's who we are?" George repeated, wonderingly. He and Fred exchanged extravagantly innocent looks. "D'you think we might've become Gred and Forge last night in our sleep, perhaps?"

"The question, my lads," the other wizard, a burley, black-haired man said, "is who were you an hour ago." He held up a small, gyroscopic-like device that Harry recognized: a Sneakoscope. It was spinning rapidly, emitting a high-pitched whistle, indicating that someone untrustworthy was nearby.

"This went off just as you arrived," the burly man said, putting it back into his robe. "So you can imagine we're a bit curious about your intentions, boys."

"Huh, imagine that," George said airily to Fred. "Aurors Pettijohn and Mason, not trusting us? What will the rest of Diagon Alley think?"

"They might think we deserve a medal for finally hauling you before the Wizengamot," the stern wizard said. He reached in his pocket, pulled out two small pieces of candy and offered them to Fred and George. "Have a toffee."

"Thanks," both twins said instantly, accepting them. Harry exchanged astonished glances with Ron and Hermione. Were they actually going to eat those things?

But as both twins went to stuff the candies in their pocket, the two Aurors immediately drew their wands. "Ah, ah," the first Auror said. "Go on, have a taste."

The twins exchanged nervous looks, but each unwrapped their piece of candy and placed them in their mouths. "Mm, chewy," George said. "But a little too much salt. I've had better."

"Our mum makes much better toffee than this, Mike," Fred agreed, looking at the first Auror. "We can get you her recipe, if you like." As Fred spoke, Harry saw his other hand, behind his back, pointed to one side as if they should move that way. Taking the hint, Harry and the others began to move that way.

"I might take you up on that," the Auror said. "But it could be difficult to arrange once you're in Azkaban. There's enough Aging Potion in each of those to make you one hour older – so any Polyjuice Potion you've taken should be wearing off any moment now."

But a minute passed and Fred and George still stood there, smiling innocently at the Aurors. Underneath the Invisibility Cloak Ron covered his mouth to keep from chuckling. Harry, Hermione and Jon all smiled at the Aurors' mistake.

"Well, that's an hour I'll never get back," Fred quipped.

Both of the Aurors scowled. "Right, then," the burly one said, taking a golden wand out of his robe.

"Well, never mind then," Fred said, stepping back away from them. As if George had read his mind, he stepped back as well. "We'll just have a pint or two sometime later, when you're not so busy with work."

"No, come here, you two," Mike, the stern one, said, wiggling his finger for them to come closer. But Fred and George continued to retreat, and the two Aurors started after them. Turning, the twins bolted, and the Aurors dashed after them.

Seizing the opportunity, Harry and the others rushed toward the exit, which opened obligingly at their approach, and they passed through and into the courtyard that was behind the Leaky Cauldron. Hurrying on through without stopping, they dodged around a few customers having a conversation about the Vault Tournament – "Getting to be a rather dull affair, I'd say, when the high point was a child's temper tantrum," Harry heard one complain to the other – then they were around them and out the door.

"Keep together!" Harry said urgently, trying to keep them all covered by the Cloak; it seemed like something had caught the edge of the Cloak as a woman they were passing suddenly shrieked and jumped to the side, holding her mouth and staring where they had just been. Looking back at her, Harry saw the two wizards run out of the Leaky Cauldron, looking up and down Charing Cross Road for some sign of whoever had opened the passageway to the Leaky Cauldron. They split up, the burly one going the opposite way while the one named Mike came up the road in the same direction as them.

At first Harry was afraid the Auror had detected them, but he realized that, if he had, both Aurors would have come after him. As they approached a side street Harry whispered, "This way!"

"This isn't the way we came, Harry," Hermione protested.

"We've got to give that Auror the slip!" Harry replied.

"We can still get to the parking lot this way," Jon said, pointing to another side street that headed off in the right direction.

Behind them, at the corner, the Auror halted, uncertain which way to go. He might not even be sure he was following anyone, Harry knew. As they watched, he dashed off the other way and out of sight. Ron breathed a sigh of relief, and Hermione visibly relaxed.

"We should get to the car quickly," Jon said, however. "If they think we're around somewhere they'll start watching the parking lots."

Harry agreed. Ron looked Jon quizzically and asked, "Why d'you call it a parking lot? Is it like saying 'Hey, you lot' to a group of cars?"

"What?" Jon said, confused.

"Oh, never mind, Ron," Hermione said, exasperated. "We'll explain later."

They made their way toward the car park and the small red hatchback that Jon's Corvette was disguised as. But just as Jon was about to open the passenger door, Harry hissed, "Hold it!"

The Auror who'd been following them appeared at the corner nearby, followed by two other Aurors. "Check these!" they all heard him shout to the other two Aurors, then run on out of sight up the street. The two Aurors ran into the car park and slowed to a brisk walk, looking from side to side at the cars sitting there. They were apparently looking for a car matching the description of Jon's Corvette, because they walked right past them and the Citroën, continuing on to the other end of the car park.

As Harry and the others watched nervously, the two Aurors conferred briefly, then walked over to the shed where the attended stood, watching them suspiciously, evidently unused to seeing fully gown men running around with long flowing robes and pointed hats on.

"What do we do?" Hermione asked, sounding very nervous.

"Nothing," Harry whispered. "They're just fishing now."

"The attendant won't remember anything," Jon added. "He never saw my car or the four of us together."

But one Auror had pulled out a handful of photographs and was showing them to the attendant – who was apparently started by what he saw. Harry grinned in spite of himself; he imagined they'd forgotten Muggles weren't used to seeing photographs that moved.

"I think we'd better get going," Jon said, watching the Muggle attendant looking intently at the pictures he was seeing. "If he remembers me he might remember this car."

Jon opened the car door as quietly as he could and slid out from under the Invisibility Cloak and into the car. Ron, then Hermione followed suit. As Harry glanced over the top of the car he saw the attendant point their way. Harry quickly ducked into the car, slamming the door shut. "Hey!" they heard one of the Aurors shout. "There's somebody in that car!"

"Hang on, everyone!" Jon said, and jerked back hard on the pitch lever. The Citroën leapt straight up into the air. They heard a loud shout as they ascended; the attendant was apparently unused to seeing cars jump into the air from his car park, especially Citroëns.

Jon punched the invisibility button and their view through the windscreen blurred momentarily as it took effect. Switching off levitation mode, Jon hit the petrol feed and the car surged forward. "Well, that's probably done it," he said plaintively, steering northward for the return to Hogwarts. "They're bound to believe there's a flying car out there somewhere now, if two Aurors have seen it."

"I wonder what their expressions were when they saw it take off?" Ron said with a grin.

"Probably something like, 'We'd better get a message to our men at Hogwarts,'" Jon said with a frown. "I think this is probably the last trip we're making to Diagon Alley in this car."

Ron looked unhappy. "Well, at least I've got enough drawings of the Vault," he said, patting the journal and parchments he was still clutching.

Jon reached up and pushed the button that set the car on autopilot. "So what's the idea with the drawings anyway?" he asked Ron. "I never did understand what you wanted them for."

"Well, I –"

"It's a big secret," Hermione said, sounding peeved. Ron had evidently not even let her in on what his plans were.

"It's not a secret!" Ron said loudly, looking frustrated by her annoyance. "I just want to do this on my own is all!"

"So how will telling us what you're going to do force us to help you?" Jon asked reasonably. Ron snorted but said nothing for several seconds.

Finally he sighed. "Alright, it's no big deal," he said in an annoyed tone. "When we were home for Christmas I was looking at the grandfather clock in our kitchen. Mum usually keeps it with her all the time anymore, but it was just sitting there one morning, and I noticed that some of the designs along the edges are similar to ones I've seen on the Mystery Vault."

"Similar how?" Harry asked.

"You know," Ron said, making vague patterns in the air in front of him. "Curls and whorls and things like that. It's hard to explain," he finished, sounding frustrated and embarrassed.

"So what are you going to do, then?" Jon asked. "Compare the designs from your parents' grandfather clock to the designs on the Mystery Vault? What do you do if you find similarities?"

"Well –" Ron sounded reluctant to respond. But he suddenly blurted out, "I think my great-uncle Archie might have built the Mystery Vault."

There was several moments of shocked silence. Everyone was staring at Ron, who looked back at Harry as if daring him to laugh or say something silly.

Jon finally broke the silence. "Interesting theory," he said, and Ron looked at him, his mouth agape. "Any other evidence that your great-uncle might have done that, other than the similarity in design?"

"Not directly," Ron admitted. "I've been reading his journal. He wrote about his two older brothers, how they didn't care for his mum like he and Grandad did. And he talks about Dad, about giving him various toys and things he built. He wrote Dad really liked toys that Muggle kids played with, so he'd get things like that and put spells on them."

"That's very interesting, Ron," Hermione said kindly, looking at him with a gentle smile. "I'm glad you're trying to find out more about your great-uncle."

"But don't you think I'm mental, to believe Great-uncle Archie build the Mystery Vault?" Ron pressed her.

"No," she said softly, shaking her head.

"So you think he might've?" Ron continued eagerly.

"I don't know," she said with a small shrug. "You'll have to keep trying to find out."

They raced across Northern England, finally passing into Scotland. Harry wondered how they would get back into the school, but Jon seemed confident they could. "I put a stop on the skylight," he told them. "I just used a Sticking Charm to place a block of wood along the edge of the skylight, to keep it from closing completely."

"What d'you think would happen if it closed completely?" Harry asked.

"The skylight would probably disappear," Hermione interjected. "And there wouldn't be any way to open it again. At least, not without getting back into the Room of Requirement."

"Right," Jon agreed. "At least, no way I can think of. Plus, I think that, as long as I keep that skylight open, nobody else can get into the Room of Requirement. Unless, of course, they need to."

It was only a few minutes until six p.m. when they flew over the lake to the south of the school. Jon switched the car into levitate mode and coasted forward, a hundred feet in the air above the ground. He spun the wheel, causing the car to spin around until it was traveling backwards, then fired the air nozzles until they had come to nearly a complete halt above the roof.

"Now," Harry said, looking around; they couldn't see anything below them unless he leaned way out of the window. "How do we get back inside?"

"Only one way I can think of," Jon said, reaching forward to press another button on the dashboard. The top of the Corvette began to retract until it was completely folded up behind them. Looking back, Harry saw that there was apparently no back seating – at least none that he could tell; the roof looked to be only a foot or so away.

"Everybody fasten you seat belts," Jon instructed, and Harry, Ron and Hermione each found one to fasten across themselves. "Make sure they're snug," Jon added. "Everyone ready?" When everyone nodded, he pulled back on a lever on the left side of the steering wheel then spun the wheel a half-turn.

The Corvette spun sideways until it was upside down. Hermione let out a shriek and Ron shouted "Whoa!" Harry, looking toward the roof, saw the skylight a few twenty or thirty feet below them.

"Now," Jon said, concentrating. "We can see where we're heading. He moved the pitch control slowly while adjusting their position with a small lever next to the pitch lever, until the car was centered in the skylight. Dropping through, they floated down until they were a few feet above the floor. Jon then turned the steering wheel back the other way and the Corvette righted itself and floated the final few feet to the ground. Taking out his wand, Jon waved it at the skylight, catching the block of wood that fell as he did so. He punched a button on the dash and the skylight began closing.

They piled out of the car and Harry turned to look at it once more. With the top down, looking in from the outside, it looked like a normal vehicle; one couldn't' tell that there was room for four or more people in the front seat, and enough seating for behind it for twice that number, if needed.

"It's a shame we won't be able to use this again," Harry said to Jon. "Assuming we don't get caught for this time."

"We won't," Jon said, walking over to a nearby cabinet and pulling out a Chocolate Frog box. He opened the box, took out the Chocolate Frog, then turned to the others. "Let's go," he said, indicating the door.

"What's the Chocolate Frog for?" Ron said as they walked into the corridor outside the Room of Requirement. Harry looked around; fortunately, it was deserted – he hadn't thought to check the Marauder's Map before they exited.

"Our way back outside," Jon said, holding up the box. "Everyone put a finger on the Frog," he said. "One, two –"

There was a motion just behind Jon, seemingly out of nowhere, and a dark form appeared, stretching a pale hand toward them. "—three!" Jon finished, and they were pulled forward with a whoosh and swirl of colors, to land a moment later in the grass near the broom shed beside the Quidditch pitch.

"Here you go, Ron," Jon said, handing him the Chocolate Frog box. "We've got about a minute left!" he announced, jogging toward the front steps of the school. Harry and Hermione were right behind him, with Ron bringing up the rear as he opened the Chocolate Frog box and popped it into his mouth.

Filch was standing at the front doors, apparently ready to lock them once the bells rang for six p.m., but Jon pushed the doors open and they rushed inside, breathless. "Sign in," Filch said sourly, and each of them quickly signed the book as the bells pealed out the last of its six rings. Harry glanced up at the Naming Scroll; all of their names, he could see, were in gleaming black ink.

The four of them turned toward the main staircase, but were brought up short by the figure of Professor Snape standing in front of it, staring at them coldly. Harry saw something nestled in the crook of Snape's arm – something that looked very much like his own Invisibility Cloak, tucked away safely within his own robe.

Harry knew suddenly what it was they had seen just before the Portkey took them: it had been Snape, trying to catch them as they emerged from the Room of Requirement! If Jon hadn't had the Portkey ready to use so quickly, he might have stopped them.

"Have a nice liberty?" Snape asked, his tone caustic. "I hope you enjoyed yourselves – it will be the last chance you'll have to be out of this school before classes end this summer. Liberty is hereby revoked for all students, effective immediately."

Behind them, Filch was chuckling derisively. "Why is that, sir," Harry forced himself to ask the question politely despite his burning anger – it would be just like Snape to use any excuse, valid or not, to blame them for the end of liberty.

"There have been reports," Snape said smoothly, "of a flying car sighted in London this afternoon. For the safety of all students, I have decided to order the temporary cessation of liberty for seventh-year students, until further notice." You are dismissed," he said, waving them off, and they escaped into the Great Hall for dinner.

"Wonder why he did that?" Hermione mused later as they were eating, after Harry told them what he'd seen just before they were taken by the Portkey. "He had us dead to rights – he could have put us all in detention or reported us to McGonagall."

"He must have something else up his sleeve," Harry said darkly.

"One thing's certain," Jon said with a smile. "He can't produce the Portkey we used, not when it's in Ron's stomach."

"I wouldn't put it past Snape to go in after it," Harry said, and Ron, looking revolted by the idea, put his hand over his stomach.

The next morning, true to his word, students found a notice posted where the sign-in book had been, stating:

To Hogwarts seventh years and other students,

Effective immediately, seventh-year liberty has been revoked, due to alleged illegal activity – specifically, the sighting of an illegal flying vehicle in London by Ministry personnel. Such activity represents a danger to students.

Students are encouraged to report the whereabouts of any Muggle artifacts illegally enchanted, including vehicles, to school staff.

Seventh-year liberty will resume when Ministry personnel determines that any and all illegal activity has ceased.

Professor Severus Snape

Deputy Headmaster

"Who's he trying to fool?" Dean Thomas said angrily, upon reading the notice. "He just wanted an excuse to top seventh-year liberty!"

"I wonder why Professor McGonagall's going along with it," Patil Parvati, who was standing near Harry and Ron as they read the notice, was saying.

"The deputy headmaster is supposed to enforce discipline for the school," Hermione said, reading the notice as well. "If she overrode this, at least directly, Snape could claim she's not looking out for students' welfare. Plus, I hate to say this –" she looked at Harry apologetically "– she was never really happy with seventh-year liberty in the first place."

"And that pretty much means that Snape's won," Harry said bleakly.

"For now," Hermione admitted. "But the Hogwarts governors instituted liberty for seventh years; they might overturn Snape."

Things got worse, however, after the morning edition of the Daily Prophet arrived. Splashed across the front page was the headline:

---

Flying Car Sighted by Muggle in London

A London Muggle, Ambrose Pierce, of Westminster, was processed and released by Ministry Aurors after reporting seeing a car flying from the car park where he is employed as a day attendant yesterday afternoon, according to Ministry sources.

Ministry Aurors, tipped off that an illegally enchanted Muggle automobile might be operating in the London area, possibly by students currently attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, were searching the area near the Leaky Cauldron, an establishment that serves as entry point to Diagon Alley, when they were approached by Mr. Pierce after witnessing a 1997 Citroën AX parked in the car part he is employed at fly into the air. An Obliviator, who preferred not to be identified, told the Prophet, "He was quite shaken, of course … nasty business, this removing people's memories when they accidentally see things like this – but it would undoubtedly be worse if we let them remember!"

Nor is this the first time a flying car has been spotted by Muggles in London. Five years ago on September first, a Ford Anglia owned by Mr. Arthur Weasley, now Head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects, was spotted in the skies by no less than six Muggles. The car, driven to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by students Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, damaged school property, but was never recovered. Mr. Weasley was given a fine by the Ministry of Magic for his part in the affair.

---

"Well, it goes on with rubbish like that," Hermione said, closing the paper and shaking her head disgustedly. "I can't believe how blatantly biased this article is!"

"Maybe Rita Skeeter wrote it," Ron said in a very annoyed tone; it was clear he hadn't appreciated the uncomplimentary references to his father any more than he cared for what was written about him and Harry.

"I doubt it," Hermione said. "Her name wasn't on it and that woman never misses an opportunity to promote herself. Although," she continued, shaking the paper angrily, "whoever wrote this clearly took the opportunity to smear your father, Ron, as well as you and Harry."

Already the rumors had begun to spread, Harry could tell. Students at the other House tables were nodding in his and Ron's direction, and Harry had seen several hard looks from seventh years – apparently there were rumors flying about that they'd been responsible for the loss of seventh-year liberty.

Harry was about to give his own thoughts on the article when a younger student from Ravenclaw approached the table with a folded piece of parchment in her hand. "Are you Harry Potter?" she asked, wide-eyed, and handed him the parchment when he nodded wordlessly. Harry opened the parchment as the girl scampered away.

"It's from Tonks," he said, looking up toward the High Table, where the young Transfiguration teacher sat. "She wants a quick word."

"Oh – maybe she has news from Professor Lupin," Hermione suggested.

"Or maybe something on Snape," Ron guessed.

Harry left Hermione and Ron and approached the High Table. Tonks watched as he walked toward her; she nodded as he stopped in front of the table directly across from her.

"Come around here, please, Harry," she told him. Harry complied, looking questioningly at her as he seated himself beside her.

"Yes, Professor Tonks?" Harry asked politely.

"You know," she said, smiling, "I'm still not quite used to being called 'Professor,' Harry. But I suppose we can't have you calling me just 'Tonks,' either, can we?"

"The other teachers usually don't encourage that," Harry said matter-of-factly.

"Of course not," Tonks said; she shrugged indifferently. "That's not what I asked you up here for, however. Have you seen the morning's Prophet yet?"

"Yes," Harry said, nodding toward Ron and Hermione. "We were just discussing it. It was clearly written to make it appear as Ron and I were somehow involved in the incident with the car in London yesterday."

"You have to be careful," Tonks said in a low voice, "how you approach things now, especially where the Ministry of Magic is concerned. Scrimgeour has abandoned trying to get your support for the Ministry –"

"Good," Harry said curtly.

"– but he's not going to give you carte blanche either," Tonks pointed out. "They've adopted a 'wait and see' attitude now that You-Know-Who is gone –"

"But he's not gone," Harry put in, pointedly.

"Right, we don't' disagree on that," Tonks agreed. "But Scrimgeour and the Ministry are too afraid to consider the possibility that he wasn't killed and that they've just been fooling themselves for the past eight months."

Harry nodded, frustrated by that fact. The downside to keeping information about Horcruxes suppressed was that if no one knew what they were up against, adequate safeguards couldn't' be taken. Harry wondered, momentarily, what would happen if he told Scrimgeour about the Horcruxes. He abandonded the idea almost immediately – the Ministry would likely clap him into Azkaban for having such knowledge as do anything useful with it.

"Thanks, Professor," Harry said, grateful for the chance to talk to her again, even if only for a few minutes. "There is something I want to ask."

"What is it?"

"Is there a reason why the Ministry seems to be concentrating on me, instead of, say, Neville?" Harry asked. "After all, he's the one who's supposed to have killed Voldemort."

Tonks looked confused. "Why do you say the Ministry's concentrating on you, Harry?"

"In Hogsmeade this past Valentine's Day, I must have saw four or five Aurors watching me and Ginny as we walked to Madame Puddifoot's for tea," Harry told her.

"Really?" Tonks looked concerned. "That can't be right, Harry. There are only two Aurors stationed in Hogsmeade, and have been since the start of the school year."

"I'm certain I saw at least four watching me," Harry said.

"Were they separate or in pairs?" Tonks asked anxiously.

"Separately."

"That isn't good Harry," she told him, now looking very tense. "One of the policies Scrimgeour put in place last summer was that all Aurors doing field work operate in pairs. It's possible that you saw the same two Aurors twice each, in different locations, but there's a chance that someone else was observing you as well."

Harry understood what she was implying. "You mean, like – Death Eaters?"

"Yes," she nodded grimly. "If that's true, there may be a plot against you."

In spite of the severity of the situation, Harry smiled. "Right," he said evenly. "When hasn't there been one against me?"

A smile flickered across Tonks's face but quickly disappeared. "Be that as it may, it's probably best if you didn't leave the school any more, even to go to Hogsmeade."

"No problem there," Harry said, now bitter with the thought of what Snape was doing. "With Professor Snape taking away liberty because of that car incident –"

"Well, I'm almost on his side on this one," Tonks told him. "Even if he is doing it for the wrong reasons. It's not a popular decision with the governors – they're almost certain to overturn it during their meeting later this month. Even if they do, Harry, and you leave the school again, be careful. Will you do that for me?" Tonks smiled at him.

"I'll be careful, Professor," Harry promised, returning her smile. He really did miss talking to Tonks; they'd hardly had a word together outside class since the Christmas holidays.

"I'll see you later in class, Harry," she told him, unable to resist wagging a finger at him as well. "Don't forget that homework – it's very important for your Transfiguration N.E.W.T.s!"

"Yes, Professor," Harry replied airily, emphasizing her title, and Tonks chuckled as he got up, grinning, and walked back to where Hermione and Ron were sitting.

"What did she want?" Ron asked.

"I'll tell you on the way up," Harry said, remaining standing to suggest that they head back to the common room. Hermione stood as well, but Ron stayed seated.

"Is – is that all we were having for breakfast this morning?" he asked, sounding expectant.

"What else?" Harry said with a shrug.

"Aren't you full yet, Ron?" Hermione said, her head cocked to one side.

"Well – I guess so," Ron said, sighing and rising to his feet. He followed Harry and Hermione into the entrance hall where a group of seventh-years including Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, were milling about, reading the notice. When they saw Harry and Ron there was some grumbling, but nobody tried to stop them.

However, when they were halfway up the main entrance's staircase, Malfoy said loudly, "I wonder who's been flying illegal vehicles around London, this time?" There was laughter from some of the other seventh-years, grumbles from others.

"Ignore it," Hermione said, almost automatically, and they continued up the stairs.

"Thanks a lot, Potter!" Malfoy taunted him one last time as they were almost out of sight, but Harry ignored him as the students laughed and grumbled again.

"What a slimy git," Ron said as they continued toward Gryffindor Tower.

"At least he's predictable," Harry said. "If he didn't spread rumors about me around, I'd think I'd lost my touch or something."

Hermione and Ron both chuckled. "Right!" Ron agreed.

By the time they'd reached Gryffindor Tower, however, Ron had fallen silent again and was looking rather distant as they approached the Fat Lady. "Salamander," Harry said, giving the latest password, and the portrait swung open to admit them. Hermione climbed through first. "Go ahead," Harry said to Ron, who shrugged indifferently at the courtesy and walked through the portal into the common room.

"Surprise!" came a chorus of voices as Ron stepped into the room, and he looked up, his mouth agape, at the room decorated in colored streamers and floating candles. A crowd of Gryffindors stood around a table; in the middle of it was a large chocolate cake, decorated in red and yellow, with the words "Happy 18th Birthday, Ronald Weasley" and 18 candles arranged across the top.

"Happy Birthday, Ron!" Ginny said, hugging him and stepping back, grinning, to see the look of absolute surprise on his face. "Weren't expecting this, were you?"

"No," Ron said, his voice almost gone in shock. "And here I was, hoping for a piece of cake after breakfast!"

"Happy Birthday, Ron," Hermione said, hugging him as well. "I knew you were wondering down in the Great Hall where your cake was." Ron laughed.

Taking out her wand, Hermione flicked it at the cake; a knife lying on the table next to it floated into the air and began cutting it into slices, which then floated onto plates, which in turn began arranging themselves into rows for everyone to take.

Ginny was the first to give Ron his present, a soft, bulky package; he quickly unwrapped it to reveal a hooded sweatshirt, orange with a pair of black C's and a cannonball on it. Instead of saying "Chudley Cannons," however, it said "Chuds 'n' the Hood." "Excellent!" Ron said, beaming. "Thanks, sis!"

Dean was next with a large box of Chocolate Frogs, which Ron reacted enthusiastically to, but set aside to sample another time. Ritchie Coote and Jimmy Peakes, the Gryffindor Beaters, had gone in together and bought him a small Quidditch trophy cup with the inscription "World's Best Quidditch Player – He's a Keeper!" Demelza and the other team members cheered as Ron held it up. Demelza and Natalie had also gone in together on their present, a broomstick sock, or cover, hand-made from medium-grade wool from Edinburgh.

Jon, who'd arrived in the common room a few minutes after the celebration started, gave Ron an enchanted mug that kept whatever liquid one put into it at the same temperature no matter how long it sat. Ron, who'd never cared for lukewarm tea or pumpkin juice, thanked him heartily for the gift.

"Let's start eating this cake," Hermione said, and soon everyone was happily devouring the rich, moist chocolate.

"This is so good!" Ron exclaimed as he took his first bite. "How'd you ever come up with this?"

"Dobby made it," Harry said between bites of his own piece of cake. Ron was right; it was about the finest chocolate cake he'd ever had. "Said he slaved over a stove almost the entire night to come up with just the right recipe."

"'Slaved?'" Hermione said, looking at him quickly; her eyebrow had risen, but there was a lightness in her voice that took the edge off her comment. "I hope you paid him a fair price, Harry."

"Well, he ran a pretty hard bargain," Harry said plaintively. "Asked for four pairs of socks, each a different color."

"Four?" said Ron with a look of mock surprise on his face. "He's rich!"

"Very funny, Harry," Hermione said.

"No, that's really what he wanted, Hermione," Harry insisted. "But he did say," Harry added with a smirk, "he'd gladly trade all those socks for another one of your knitted hats."

"Oh, stop it," Hermione said, sounding severe, but she was unable to suppress a giggle.

Soon the cake was gone and everyone in the common room drifted into other activities until only Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Jon were left standing around the crumb-strewn table and chairs. "I suppose it's time for my present," Harry said, picking up a present from behind a large chair and setting it on the table. "Happy Birthday, Ron."

Ron tore open the wrapping to reveal a finely-detail, one-twentieth scale model of the Mystery Vault. "Whoa," Ron gasped, examining every square inch of the surface. "Wow, Harry! Where did you ever come up with something like this?!"

"Fred and George made it for me," Harry said. He pointed at the tiles on the front. "They've been using the Omnioculars to record all the turns and moves of the dial on the front of the Vault, and what the tiles did for each motion. As far as they can tell, this model will act just like the real one when you turn the dial, except for actually opening, that is. And you can open that," he said, pointing to a small switch under the front edge of the door. "by flipping this switch to the left; the dial then acts like a combination lock. I'll give you the combination later."

"Thanks, Harry, really," Ron said sincerely. "I'm glad you appreciate what I'm trying to do, wanting to figure this out on my own. This will really help me out – it's much nicer than that little handheld Vault."

"And here's my present," Hermione said, handing Ron a small gift-wrapped box. Ron removed the wrapping to reveal a black, felt-covered box, which he opened to see a pair of silver charm bracelets, each with a single charm on them, a silver train engine. "If you look very close," Hermione said, pointing at the engine, "you'll see that's it's an exact copy of the Hogwarts Express, where we first met." They both smiled affectionately at each other, and Ron folded her into a long embrace. After a few seconds of watching this, Ginny poked Harry and Jon in the arm and pointed to the common room exit. They followed her out and into the corridor beyond.

They walked along in silence for a minute or so before Ginny turned to Harry, frowning. "I'm not very happy with you, you know."

"Me? What for?" Harry wanted to know.

"Because you went to Diagon Alley without me," she said crossly. She turned to Jon. "And I heard you had a big adventure with Aurors and strange rooms and I didn't get to see any of it!"

"You can blame me for that," Jon said. "I didn't want too many–"

"Jon," Ginny said, "will you excuse me and Harry while we have a private conversation?"

"Okay," Jon said, and walked away.

"Are you upset about something?" Harry asked, after Jon had gone, concerned about her uncharacteristic rudeness when Jon had done nothing wrong.

"Harry, I – I don't know!" she said, turning away, covering her mouth. When Harry turned her to face him again, her eyes were bright with tears.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" he asked, looking at her intently. "Please, tell me!"

But Ginny just shook her head sharply, almost as if she were awakening from a persistent dream. "Really, Harry – I – I don't know," she said wearily. "Maybe I'm just – I don't want to say – jealous, I guess, of Hermione and Ron. Of what they have. What we can't have."

"We've talked about this –"

"I know that!" she said loudly, then looked around to see if anyone might have heard. "I know we've talked about it, Harry," she continued more quietly. "I agree with you. At least," she said, pointing to her head. "I agree with you up here, but not –" she pointed to her heart "– here."

Harry didn't know what to say to her. He took her in his arms, and together, for at least a few minutes, they enjoyed being with each other, heart to heart, because Harry knew, deep down within himself, he felt the same way.

Later in the afternoon, after getting back together, to celebrate Ron's birthday Harry and Hermione decided to let him decide what they should do the rest of the day. Ron elected to, as he put it, "Skive off everything." No schoolwork, no looking through old magic books for ancient magical relics or playing with Vault models – all he wanted to do was sit around drinking butterbeer and talk, or play Exploding Snap or wizard chess or do whatever else came to mind – as long as it was fun.

And when Hermione began to look restless, as if she missed pouring over page after page of textbook and writing scrolls of essay, Ron wagged a finger at her, saying, "Remember, it's my birthday – don't ruin it for me!"

The mood was infectious; as other students heard about what the three of them were doing, they began putting away their books as well and joining in the fun. Soon the common room was filled with card games and laughing conversation. Dinner came and went – some students went down, bring back trays full of sandwiches made of roast beef, turkey or baked ham, and pitchers of cold pumpkin juice.

Ron won nearly every game of Exploding Snap that night, and beat Harry in a late game of badly-played wizard chess, with both of them making silly moves just to watch the pieces battle each other, which annoyed the chessmen to no end. "You're better than this!" one hapless knight shouted at Ron just as Harry's queen knocked him off his square.

Finally, the day drawing to a close, the common room began to thin out as students waved goodnight to one another and went up to their dormitories. "I think I'm going to sleep until noon," Hermione said, yawning, as she stood and walked over to hug Ron goodnight. "Goodnight, you," she said, giving him a quick kiss, then turned to go up the girls' staircase. "Goodnight, Harry. Sleep safe."

"Thanks," Harry said, bemused by her choice of words. Safe.

Safe?

"Oh," Harry said, his jaw dropping at the idea he'd just had. "Why didn't I think of that before! Safe!"

Hermione had stopped on her way up the staircase. "What are you talking about, Harry?"

But Harry, saying nothing, motioned for Hermione to rejoin him and Ron, then pulled them over to a quiet spot in the common room, away from everyone else.

"I think I just realized the perfect place for Voldemort to keep his Horcruxes," Harry whispered excitedly. "In Gringotts!"

Hermione and Ron both looked at each other doubtfully. "That's an interesting theory, Harry," Hermione whispered back. "But I can't see Voldemort walking into Gringotts and getting a vault to store his Horcruxes in."

"He doesn't need to!" Harry pointed out quickly. "That's why he's got Death Eaters – they can do it for him!"

"And what happens if they get killed, or captured by the Ministry?" Hermione pointed out. "If they were forced to confess, the secret of his Horcruxes would get out."

"Not if he didn't tell them what they were!" Harry pointed out. "You have to admit, it's a pretty secure place, right? When was the last time you heard of it being broken into?"

"A long time," Ron said. "Years, I reckon."

"I remember the day!" Harry said. "The only time anyone ever tried to break into Gringotts was the night of July 31st, on my eleventh birthday! And who was it tried to break in?"

Harry answered his own question before either of them could. "It was Professor Quirrell," he said, "who was being controlled by – Voldemort!"

"But he was trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, Harry," Hermione pointed out. "Not a Horcrux!"

"But it shows he could get in there if he wanted to!" Harry argued.

"Yes," Hermione conceded. "It does."

"So," Ron asked, "assuming your guess is right, Harry, how would we go about proving it?"

"I've got to think about that," Harry admitted. "But it's almost certain, isn't it, that even Death Eaters will have vaults at Gringotts. There has to be a way to find out what's inside them.

"For now, though, we'd better get to bed," Hermione said, ever practical. "We're all too tired to think effectively about this tonight. Goodnight," she said again, and after a final quick hug with Ron headed up to the girls' dormitories.

Harry and Ron made their way upstairs to their own room, quickly changed and flopped into bed.

"That was about the best birthday I can remember," Ron said happily. "And now just three more months, our N.E.W.T.s are over, and we're done. Kind of hard to imagine, isn't it, Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry said, laying in bed, his arms behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. "Hard to imagine it's almost over…"

"Do you know what you're going to do, Harry?" Ron asked. "I mean – you know – after…" he trailed off, not wanting to say aloud what Harry had to do, not with Dean, Seamus, and Neville asleep in the room with them.

"I dunno," Harry said. "I thought about being an Auror, you know." Ron nodded. "It takes five N.E.W.T.s to be considered for Auror training, so I'll have to pass every subject I sit for."

"You passed every O.W.L. with an E or better," Ron pointed out. "And an O in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Should be a doss for you."

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, right. Well tomorrow I guess I'd better get back to studying for those five N.E.W.T.s. Goodnight, Ron."

"Night, Harry."

Harry rolled onto his side, feeling sleep ready to overtake him, and it did. But seemingly only a moment later, he was awakened as something brushed past him. He was on his back, his face turned toward Ron's bed, and as he watched, a parchment airplane, which had apparently flown right over him, wafted over Ron's bed, landing on his forehead.

Ron jerked, sitting up suddenly and clutching the small object, looking at it for a moment. Harry narrowed his eyes to mere slits just as Ron looked at him. Satisfied Harry was asleep, Ron opened the airplane, reading something written on it; then, glancing around at the others in the room, slid out of bed, stepping into his slippers and shrugging on a robe over his pajamas. He walked stealthily to the door, opened it silently, and slipped out.

Harry sat up in bed. He had an idea where Ron was going, and he very much wanted to be in on whatever conversation there might be. Reaching under his pillow, he brought out his Invisibility Cloak. He pulled it over him, leaving his slippers, which might make too much noise on the stone floor, and followed Ron.

Exiting through the portrait, he headed as silently as possible to the place where he knew, somehow, he would find Ron: the corridor outside the Room of Requirement. Sure enough, when he arrived, he found Ron facing Severus Snape, who undoubtedly in Harry's mind, sent the message telling Ron to meet him here.

"You failed to meet me at the appointed time last night," Snape was saying as Harry came within hearing distance of them.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Professor," Ron replied; even though there was a quaver in his voice he sounded annoyed. "Unless you mean the hypnotic suggestions you've had me under for the past several months."

Harry was close enough now to see Snape's face, illuminated by his lighted wand, now frozen in cold fury at being caught out. "So – Potter figured it out, did he? A shame, really. I was half-hoping he'd accuse me of using the Imperius Curse on you, destroying any credibility he might still have with the Ministry once they determined that accusation was baseless."

"The Ministry wouldn't like you using Muggle psychological tricks on students either, I reckon," Ron said, pointedly.

"They don't like students driving illegal Muggle artifacts about London, or sneaking into Azkaban to question their prisoners, either," Snape replied smoothly. "Oh, don't bother denying it, Weasley!" he snapped, when Ron opened his mouth to protest. "You know perfectly well what was going on; only the lack of key physical evidence prevents the Ministry from charging you and all your silly little friends with complicity in the whole sordid affair! Isn't that right, Potter?"

Harry froze. Snape, looking past Ron, stared directly at Harry through his Invisibility Cloak. "Haven't you figured out by now that I've acquired the ability to see through Invisibility Cloaks? Pity. Perhaps I shouldn't have let that out just now. It might have come in handy at some particularly critical time for you."

Ron was looking around behind him, guessing by following Snape's gaze where Harry must be. Ron's face was in shadow; he was facing away from Snape's wand, the only source of light at this part of the corridor. Snape went on, almost conversationally. "We are at something of an impasse now, are we not? I am unable, for some reason, to gain entry to the Room of Requirement, while you, on the other hand, are unable to leave Hogwarts without risking detection by Ministry Aurors, who will question you, if caught, about Crown's illegal vehicle. Likewise, if Crown or any of your friends are found outside Hogwarts while seventh-year liberty is revoked, they will be arrested and questioned as well."

Snape smiled humorlessly. "Perhaps you should concentrate on your N.E.W.T.s. As I recall reading in your fifth year career counseling session, you contemplated being an Auror. Considering your proclivity for breaking rules, that may not be the best career choice you could make." Extinguishing his wand, Snape spun on his heel and strode away down the corridor in the opposite direction.

"Harry?" Ron said, looking around nervously. "Are you really here or was Snape just trying to trick me?" Harry pulled off his Invisibility Cloak and, raising his own wand, murmured "Lumos," lighting it.

"So you were here!" Ron hurried over to him. "Sorry, I should have asked you along, Harry, but when I got that note I was just so mad at Snape I wanted to come and give him a piece of my mind." He looked down, ashamed. "But I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"It doesn't matter," Harry said, and they started back toward the Gryffindor common room. "You came and stood up to him, and he doesn't like that. Plus, he knows now that he can't use you against us any more. I'd say you did pretty well against him."

Ron smiled, encouraged. "Thanks, Harry."

"Now we'd better get back to bed," Harry said. "Before some other teacher comes along and catches us out past curfew." They made their way back through the Fat Lady's portrait, into the common room, and up to their beds.