Disclaimer: Characters and settings property of JK Rowling and Warner.
And now let the soap opera (or should it be horse opera?) continue…

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Chapter 54: Marshmallows

"It's one of those ancient mistletoe spells. We… we… er… don't have to be naked or anything do we?" Ginny asked soon afterwards, as they stood around in the small hollow at the top of Simon's paddock. A cluster of boulders shielded them from view of the castle while being open to the light from the moon, which was still short of its zenith. Far off into the distance stretched the Forbidden Forest, a gigantic shadow smothering the hills.

Ron's mouth worked as he gaped at his sister. He made a series of noises like a goldfish eating surface food. Hermione patted him on the shoulder kindly. It was too dark to see if anyone was blushing, but Ron vibrated with some emotion that made his ears radiate heat.

"It was traditional for the wizards working this type of spell to be naked rather than the witches," Luna said.

She smiled far less mistily than usual.

"What?" said Harry. He wished he was still on Simon. Things were much too complicated down here on the ground.

Hagrid shrugged his massive shoulders. "Don't ask me. I'm not makin' this potion, so it don't apply to me, I 'spect."

"N-n-naked?" Neville stuttered in a high-pitched voice. Ron was still making his goldfish noises and Draco was scowling.

"Don't you want to be?" Hermione asked Neville, arching her eyebrows as she slanted a wink at Ron, who shut his mouth and was suddenly and intensely interested in his fingernails. "It's a nice night."

"No," said Draco firmly as Neville choked up with embarrassment. "It's far too cold. Amongst other considerations."

"Like what?" asked Luna with an innocence that didn't stack up against the small smirk she had as she eyed Harry and Draco.

Draco stared at her a moment. "Thistles," he said finally and flatly. He folded his arms.

There was a snort from Ginny, echoed by Snuffles. Harry didn't look at his godfather. He did look at Ron, whose face was stony under the moonlight. Hermione had her hand over her mouth and Ginny seemed unusually fascinated by Simon.

"Good point, Malfoy," Ron croaked.

"Thank you, Weasley."

"Let's just check Snape's notes again…" said Ginny, her face almost as rigid as her brother's as she held back her laughter.

"I'm sure I would have found that by now," Ron snapped. He clutched the book tighter. "Bloody Snape's giving me grief even now…" he muttered, just loud enough for Harry to hear.

"We're wasting valuable moonlight," Harry said. "Besides, we're all tired, and if we get any tireder we risk mucking it up."

"True," said Hermione. "Who wants to start a fire?"

Ginny started one – she was getting quite good at controlled fire conjuration without a wand, perhaps because it was the element of Gryffindor, and she soon had a small fire crackling cheerfully without sending up flames high enough to alert anyone back at the castle. Neville was banished to the rim of the hollow after Simon threatened to panic and trample the cauldron at the sight of him within ten feet of the brewing, and now sat perched on a tilting boulder, a forlorn silhouette watching the proceedings. On the rim of the hollow opposite stood the even darker silhouette of Simon. Occasionally the firelight gleamed red in the eye he kept on the students.

Hermione adjusted the tripod with her wand and balanced the cauldron at just the right height for simmering. Harry and Ginny kept an eye on it and the fire while Hermione and Ron laid out the pre-weighed ingredients in order of addition and Draco prepared the mistletoe with a small silver knife.

("Lucky not everything silver mysteriously vanished right before Simon got his new shoes," Harry said, and Draco gave back what he probably thought was an innocent smirk.)

Snuffles was sitting up next to Neville, who was taking his exile philosophically, and both of them were watching the shadows towards the Forest in case anything emerged from it.

Luna kept an eye on Simon.

And Simon's ears twitched constantly as he listened to those around the fire, those at the edge of its light, and all that was out there in the darkness.

The potion making went smoothly (Harry decided that thanks to the law of averages it was time something did), with nothing more sinister than a sudden billowing of mist out of the cauldron. It filled the hollow and spilled over the rim, over the heads of Neville and Snuffles and under Simon's belly, and then evaporated with a few twinkles, leaving behind a faint smell of peat that made everyone except Simon sneeze.

Draco, who must have felt pessimism negated any bad luck floating around, was busy arguing that the proof of the pudding was in the tasting… or in the case of this potion, in the breaking of a temporal barrier erected by a Dark Lord that the combined efforts of Aurors and Dumbledore hadn't been able to break. He had a point, but as the last twinkles of the mist sparkled out Harry suddenly decided he didn't want to worry about that right now. He didn't feel like worrying about anything anymore. Nice to stop worrying, actually. Draco sneezed as the mist washed over him then yawned mid-harangue about potion efficacy, the testing of, and broke off with a slightly confused look, as if he'd completely lost the thread of what he was saying.

Harry yawned, too.

Maybe it was just the long day, but he was feeling quite sleepy. And a strange sort of happy lethargy had fallen over him like a warm blanket in winter. He leaned back against Luna and watched Hermione decant a potion as thick and silvery as mercury into three squat stone bottles then cap them with wooden stoppers and melted wax. She muttered something and tapped the stoppers with her wand.

"There."

"Finished?" Harry asked her.

"Mm-hmm."

"We've got some mistletoe left," Ron said. He held up a few forlorn berries still clinging to their stalks. "Should we burn these?"

Padfoot yelped as Neville sprang to his feet with a small scream, standing on his tail, and Hagrid, who everyone had thought was dozing, sat up and exclaimed with a roar of horror, "Burn spring snow mistletoe? Don' be daft, Ron!"

"Besides," Draco said from where he was now sitting cross-legged on a flat rock just down from Simon, "I've got an idea about what we can use that for." He brushed away the last potion sparkles that were clinging to his robes.

"What idea?" Ron said. He had jumped and dropped the mistletoe back into the sheet when Hagrid surprised him.

"I was thinking about the spells the Dark Lord uses," Draco said. He rubbed an eye with his knuckles. "One of them is – or was – the Vivicus Charm. It loops biorhythms."

"Loops what?" Harry said.

Neville, who wasn't as sluggish as those who'd stayed in the hollow, had bounded down the slope with uncharacteristic grace and come to a stop by the mistletoe. He cast a warning look at Ron, who spread his hands in a what's everyone getting so upset about? gesture.

"Biorhythms. We learn about them in Herbology, but really they're applicable to every living organism," Neville said. He gently tucked the scraps of mistletoe into the linen, giving the bundle a reassuring pat as if the contents needed comforting. "There. You don't want that catching fire. You really don't want that catching fire. And I think I know what Malfoy might be getting at with the biorhythms." He turned to Draco and flicked a frown up at the brooding silhouette of Simon. He needn't have worried: now that the brewing had finished and the cauldron was off the flames, the horse seemed unconcerned at Neville's presence… or no more concerned than he normally was. The tail swished once. Neville shrugged to himself and sat down by the fire. "D'you think You-know-who is trying for immortality by using Vivicus?"

Draco blinked, plainly trying to organise his thoughts. "I know he's tried it in the past. But all the texts say it's not meant to work."

Harry though back to his last meeting with Voldemort. He remembered sickly skin stretched taut over a noseless face and red eyes. "Maybe it doesn't."

"Or maybe he's only managed to make it partially successful." Draco yawned again, which set everyone off, including Hermione and Ginny, who were coming back down from the lip of the hollow where they'd been checking that Hagrid's roar hadn't alerted anyone at the castle. Even Padfoot yawned, liquid tongue lolling back. Luna's arm went around Harry, which felt nice.

He reminded himself they were discussing Voldemort.

Discussing Voldemort shouldn't be so, well, nice. Even Ron and Draco were being pleasant to each other. Harry yawned again as Ginny sat next to Neville with a smile. Ron didn't look cross at their closeness; he was too busy making himself comfortable next to Hermione.

"Vivicus is tricky," Hermione said. "Get it wrong and you change sex. Or turn into a foetus."

Several people said 'Ugh,' or a variation upon such.

"Do you think that mistletoe could be used to counter Vivicus?" Draco asked Neville and Hermione.

"It might be too late for this mistletoe," Hermione said. "It had to be processed immediately into the specific base for our potion. While the temporal barrier-breaking potion isn't finished, it's not like we can take a few drams of this base and use it for another, different potion. We don't even know of any potion to counter Vivicus – if there is one."

"We won't know until we look," Ron said practically. "If we keep the stuff left over we might be able to use something. Or do some experiments if nothing else."

"Where? Here?" asked Ginny. "Nice as it is and all, I think someone might get suspicious if we keep coming up here for midnight picnics with a cauldron."

"We're not using the third-floor girl's bathroom again," Harry said as firmly as he could while Luna was stroking his hair (which wasn't very).

"Ah, you're just worried Moaning Myrtle will try and chat you up," Ron grinned.

Draco lifted an eyebrow, and in the firelight Hagrid's beard could be seen to twitch.

"I know a place," Luna said softly. "But it's special. I'll need to see a recipe and know this project is serious before I show it to you."

That silenced them. Harry could see Draco and Hermione were bursting to ask questions. Luckily, when Draco opened his mouth it was to say something completely unexpected:

"You know, we've collected mistletoe from the Forbidden Forest in the middle of the night, Potter was rescued by a horse yet again –"

"– I still don't know how that happened," Harry said.

"Luna unclipped his leadrope and sent him after you. Simon just… jumped. And then came back with you. Where did you go…? And just for the record, Luna, I think it's highly hypocritical of you to belt me after I took Simon through the barrier and then send him running off after Potter…"

"I know, and I wasn't thinking," Luna said. "I'm really sorry I did that, but I'm not sorry it saved Harry."

"Hmph." Everyone waited to see how Draco would phrase you were ready to send a perfectly good horse after Potter? but he surprised them by passing that over and continuing with, "Where did you go, Potter? These near-death escapades of yours are getting stale."

"You're telling me… and you're welcome to take over any time you like, Malfoy.

"I rather thought Weasley could."

"Huh," Harry snorted, catching Ron's eye. "Well, when I put the Sickle in my pocket it touched a sprig of mistletoe and, bam. The continuing story of my life. I went back into Helga's Glasshouse of Secrets. It's in a hell of a state. Or it just doesn't like me – gravity was all off. I couldn't stand up. Simon seemed fine with it, although he didn't like it there. I think we need to find a way to put the Sickle back at some stage… but let's talk about that tomorrow. Tonight is, well, it's been long." He pushed his head against Luna's hand, which had paused in stroking his hair. He felt her move like she was laughing silently, but if she was laughing at him he didn't care: her hand started stroking again. Now he knew why Simon was always nosing around for attention.

"True," Draco said. "And, as I was saying, we've just finished using a magical implement we're not meant to know about let alone possess, then made a potion we're also not meant to know about from a recipe written after a time-travel experiment we – ditto – weren't meant to have carried out – a recipe Snape had written down in a library book, might I add. We're out of our dormitories well after curfew and fraternising in a way that Hogwarts has frowned upon for centuries… I mean, here I am, a good little Slytherin, out here with a Ravenclaw and a rabble of Gryffindors…"

"I was a Hufflepuff," Hagrid put in unexpectedly, not opening his eyes from where he'd fallen back into an apparent doze after seeing that no-one was going to throw spring snow into the fire. "Don' mention it much. Embarrasses the other Hufflepuffs… probably a'cause I got chucked out."

"Oh. That rounds out the full diabolical…ness of our dangerous fraternising, I guess. That's quite a tally we've got going. Before we get caught and have a zillion years detention with Filch dumped on us, I think we should take the rest of the night off from worrying about the rest of the world. In the meantime, a campfire's a dreadful waste without marshmallows. Anyone want one?"

To their continued astonishment, he pulled a tiny crinkling packet out of his robes and tapped it with his wand. It mushroomed into an enormous crinkling packet with the words Miss March's Marshmallows – no frogs, only puffy fun! – written on it in huge fat letters. Smiling happy children dancing in a ring looked like they'd eaten far too many. Harry's eyes widened: one looked like Dudley on a sugar high. Another waved at Snuffles. Draco wrinkled his pointy nose. "Terrible packaging, but it was the biggest packet Honeydukes had." He ripped it with some satisfaction, sending the fat children scrambling for cover.

"You carry marshmallows around on a regular basis?" Ron asked, eyebrows raised, looking like Harry felt, mildly concussed at this sudden Draco-induced turn of events.

"Be prepared for any emergency."

"How do marshmallows work when there's a troll bearing down on you?"

"Ah. Trolls have sweet tooths. Or should that be teeth?" Draco yawned and scrubbed at his face with the heel of his hand. "And if all else fails, you can turn them into wicked fireballs… with the right charm, of course."

"Going to show us tonight?"

"Are we expecting any trolls?"

Yikes. The rudimentary banter between Malfoy and Gryffindors had expanded to include Ron. Harry was amused to see his bewilderment mirrored on Hermione and Ginny's faces. Something odd must definitely have been in the cauldron mist.

Snuffles snorted and lay down by the fire. When he yawned, so did everyone.

Again.

"The contagious yawn strikes again," said Hermione.

Just the word set another round of yawns going. Even Simon was hit.

ooOOoo

They found some sticks. Harry took two – one for him, one for Padfoot. Draco argued it was a waste of good sweets giving them to a dog, and why didn't Simon get some if Lupin's damned dog was? It was the closest anyone came to having an argument since Draco had queried Luna over her sending Simon after Harry, but it, too, didn't escalate. The mist from the potion had left everyone feeling amazingly mellow. The argument was derailed when Luna said she didn't want Simon to risk burning his tongue.

Why she thought Snuffles wasn't in danger, Harry didn't find out until the next day.

They woke Hagrid up. Neville's marshmallow caught fire but Ginny put it out so quickly it was only lightly crisped, and the delicious smell of scorched sugar filled the hollow. "Imagine what their children would be like," Luna murmured to Harry as Ginny and Neville whispered to each other shyly.

Ginny giggled as Draco handed them some more marshmallows. Ron took a handful slightly warily, as if he still wasn't sure Draco hadn't spiked them with some nastiness which would manifest itself later on. Draco took several marshmallows and stuffed them in his own mouth, cocking his head to the side as if to prove a point. As Ron rolled his eyes and swallowed a marshmallow, Draco smirked and said: "I took the antidote after dinner."

Ron choked. Hermione laughing as she slapped him on the back couldn't have helped his pride.

Luna's words caught up with Harry and smacked him in the back of the head. "Huh? Children? What?" Harry didn't want to imagine anyone having children – he knew for a fact Neville was sixteen because they shared a birthday, and sixteen was far too young to be worrying about having a family, especially with maniacs like Voldemort and Fudge ruining the world.

"Well, Ginny's a sorceress and Neville's got to be at least as powerful as you or Dumbledore. When he's not wasting time mucking about with a wand, of course. Do you think that dreadful thing about his parents being in St Mungos might have made his powers so quixotic?"

She was whispering, but that wasn't why Harry was finding it difficult following the conversations. "Neville? Powerful? Why can't he put out his own flaming marshmallows, then?" As if on cue, Neville squeaked and began waving his stick frantically. His burning marshmallow lit up the hollow until Ginny scolded him and put it out. Harry tuned out Draco's "If you can't cook them properly you shan't have any more… here, Weasley, you'd better take over from him…" and frowned at Luna.

Luna shrugged. "Your marshmallow's going to catch fire."

"Huh? Oh, bugger!"

Harry blew on the marshmallow until the flames went out. It had gone only a little bit black on one side, and the lovely golden bubbles and aroma more than made up for it. He bit into it cautiously – for some reason melted sugar managed to hang on to heat better than water and Harry didn't want his tongue to get scorched. Luna nibbled on hers with delicate teeth. The tip of her tongue was incredibly interesting for some unknown but deep and primordial reason Harry couldn't fathom, and when it flickered out and licked off the last crispy shell of cooked marshmallow from her upper lip, Harry's world narrowed down to Luna's mouth. It –

The muffled clumping of hoofbeats interrupted his thoughts (or lack of such). "Simon! Bad horse!" exclaimed Luna. "Draco, he's going to steal the bag!"

"Don't let him stand on the bottles!" Hermione gasped, jumping up.

Lured by the irresistible smell of hot burnt marshmallows, Simon had come down to investigate. They shooed him away, back up to the top of the hollow. He stood there with his rump to them and sulked. Harry resolved to give him an extra apple the next day, and suspected he wasn't the only one planning that by the guilty looks he saw on Draco, Luna, Hagrid and even Hermione's faces.

Even Snuffles shot an apologetic look at the horse's backside as he licked his gooey marshmallow off the stick Harry held for him.

They took a quick vote and, with Hagrid's permission, agreed they would stay outside for the rest of the night (not that there was much left of it). Hagrid magnanimously offered to say he'd taken them out for an early collection of dew. The students thought that was a fine idea, although they'd only admit to it if anyone actually asked. Hopefully no-one would notice they'd been away. Luna said she had slept outside the dormitory on several occasions without anyone noticing, and Draco said that he'd already told Millicent what he was doing and she would cover for him… and if Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini or Nott said anything, he'd personally make their lives hell.

Ron said Seamus and Dean wouldn't say anything. They were good mates, even if Seamus had been acting like a bit of an arse lately.

Hermione said she'd charmed the curtains around her bed closed and soundproofed like she did every night – her room-mates would think she was still there.

Ginny smiled and said she'd done exactly the same thing.

They toasted marshmallows until the fire burned down to embers and, one by one, drifted asleep where they sat. Hermione transfigured leaves into blankets, her wandwork earning herself a sharp glare from Simon, who'd recovered from his sulk enough to go and graze for a bit then return to watch those down by the fire ("I swear I thought I was going to lose points there," she giggled nervously) and grateful thanks from all the others except Draco, who turned a handkerchief into a duvet and sent a glare so poisonous around the hollow that nobody dared laugh at the happy skipping bunnies on the cover… bunnies Luna shuddered at.

"I'll protect you from the evil Space Bunnies," Harry whispered in her ear.

"Yes, but who'll protect you?" she replied solemnly as they snuggled down side-by-side to watch the embers.

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