Disclaimer: Characters and settings belong to JK Rowling and Warner.

ooOOoo

Chapter 71: Keeping Up Appearances

Dumbledore and Sirius and most of the Hogwarts staff had summoned the students into the Great Hall for a meeting to explain why Hogwarts was harbouring a wanted man.

Harry decided to leave them to it in favour of getting on with something for the cause. He was about to go and start work on the anti-Voldie potion when he suddenly changed his mind: he had watched Draco lead Colin out of the castle (Draco kindly condescending to explain to Colin the story behind Sirius' miraculous – or dastardly, depending on standpoint – exposure) and got a bad feeling from the sight. Harry was thinking that Draco probably wouldn't kill Colin, but…

There was always that 'but'.

Best to go up to the paddock with them just to make sure things began smoothly.

He caught up with them before they rounded the corner of the castle. Colin seemed to appreciate having him there, although Draco gave him a raised eyebrow look that asked why Harry wasn't off brewing a certain potion Draco couldn't mention in the presence of Creevey the Uninitiated.

So Harry only stayed for the first few photos, just to make sure Colin didn't do anything daft (and that Draco didn't kill the young Gryffindor). He even grudgingly agreed to pose for a couple of photos, although it went against the grain. Harry had developed a phobia of cameras after Rita Skeeter and Colin's last attempts. Luna showed up briefly, simply standing there for a short while before leaving as silently as she'd arrived; there one minute, gone the next. Harry didn't see her arrive. He didn't see her leave. It was marginally more unnerving than Colin aiming a camera at him.

"Better get on with things," Harry muttered as soon as he felt he could safely leave Colin in Draco's hands.

Draco nodded. "I won't be too long, I hope."

Back in the castle, Harry paused in the Entrance Hall. There seemed to be quite a commotion coming from behind the heavy doors of the Great Hall. He shook his head, deciding he was better off out of whatever was going on in there, and turned and went down the stairs towards the Dungeons. Instead of carrying on down in the direction of the Potions classrooms or the Slytherin dormitory, he turned right through a small door and found himself in a narrow corridor. He walked along it, past chilly walls scantily clad with condensation and portraits of people wearing winter-weight furs, through an area where the standing wave of magic made the hair down his neck prickle, until he found a door where darkness swam through ancient wood, leaving barely a hint of eyes leering at him and the threat of sharp, ripping teeth.

It was pleasant to find something familiar down here. Harry spoke the key ("Hello, my name is Harry Potter"), and felt his name tingle like sherbet on his tongue. Being careful to touch only the handle, not the wood, he pushed the door open and entered Snape's personal laboratory.

"Hello," said Luna, who was already chopping up bracken tips. Had she come down straight after her visit to the paddock? She looked up and gave him a small smile, a vague smile, a brittle smile aimed at his left ear rather than at him personally. "I thought I'd get started on the secondary infusion blend for the barrier potion while everyone else is busy being distracted. This way Bad Luck Nargles will be all in the Great Hall rather than down here. Have you brought a bone-handled knife?"

Harry's heart sank. He'd lost something without knowing he'd ever had it. He'd lost Luna. "Er, no. I didn't." Perhaps Dumbledore had pulled some strings to get Luna off her detention. Unless this was McGonagall's way of punishing her, which Harry doubted.

"Never mind. I'm sure there'll be one around here somewhere…" She opened a drawer and slammed it shut quickly as something inside it snarled. "Oops. I forgot you were there. Sorry, Bertram."

The thing inside the drawer grumbled to itself.

"Here we go," she said, after kneeling and almost crawling into a cupboard. "Professor Snape had to use it as a lure when there was a Greckle in here…"

"Greckles don't exist," Harry said, and could have kicked himself. It wasn't anything like what he'd wanted to say. What, indeed, did he want to say?

Luna held up the knife. There were small toothmarks in it. "That's what my uncle used to say. Then we found some in Bulgaria the other year… or they found us. My uncle gave one of them one of his sandwiches – it turns out Greckles are crazy for peanut butter. And bones, because we had a roast chicken and they de-boned it and refused to touch the meat. I wish Uncle had… well. One must have followed, um, me back to Hogwarts. There wasn't any peanut butter handy, so Professor Snape lured it into the cupboard with the knife."

"What happened to it? I suppose it ended up in a potion," Harry said, half-heartedly trying to make a joke.

Luna went boot-faced. Something gleamed in her eyes – something Harry was more familiar with in Draco's, and that was from the days they'd hated each other. She blinked, and Harry decided he'd imagined it. "No. We sent it back to Bulgaria, of course." She turned back to chopping ingredients. "The cauldrons are over there," she said without actually indicating which there she meant. "Professor Dumbledore asked me to start making the base for Draco's potion. Granger is meant to be coming down soon – we're going to do the third stage of the mistletoe potion tonight. I thought it might be best to do that before Professor Dumbledore arrives, even though Draco probably won't mind too much if he's involved… but you know what he's like. As a matter of fact, I've been making a little potion of my own, because I've been thinking about what Draco said about the spells he put into the shoes and some of them seemed really…"

Harry let her ramble, not really taking anything in rather than the news Hermione would be here soon, a welcome chaperone.

"… Simon?"

Harry realised a response was required. And he'd just missed something important, more important than mere words. "Simon. Er. Sorry?"

Luna's pale eyes stared at him as if he was something new and strange and markedly less cuddly than Bertram-In-The-Drawer. Harry was glad he was on the other side of the bench. "Is Draco still up with Simon?"

"Er, yes." Harry decided not to mention that Colin was up there too. Luna had given him and his camera a very sour look, her lip going very tense.

Much like now, in fact. Harry felt a chill settle in his stomach as Luna nodded. Then she leaned forward to concentrate on shredding some roots, letting her hair fall to curtain her face and cut her off from Harry, and a silence fell between them.

It was the longest twelve minutes and twenty-eight seconds of Harry's life. Every thunk of the knife against the chopping board, every tap of the stirrer against the rim of a cauldron, made him start. Then Hermione arrived to help with the barrier potion and, like a spanner dropped off a harbour bridge, broke a dangerous tension. Harry could have hugged her.

Draco arriving quietly an hour later didn't manage to make things uncomfortable again, even if he was forced to work with a Muggle-born and visibly cross with Luna, who seemed to be just as cross with Draco, if less inclined to show it.

Yup, thought Harry: she didn't approve of the camera.

The tension rose a degree when Dumbledore joined them, just in time to say good night to Luna, who had to finish a Herbology essay and was leaving with a small bottle in one pocket. The headmaster had come to help with the tricky spells needed to stabilise the anti-Voldie potion, as they were calling it (the mistletoe one had already been rebottled and hidden behind some yellowing papers in a special safe by Hermione). The ancient wizard patiently answered several dozen of Hermione's questions and two or three of Harry's (Harry had had some thoughts on phoenix tears, but unfortunately Dumbledore pointed out that the revitalising effects of the phoenix tears would counter the mistletoe in the anti-Voldie potion). Dumbledore had the sense to allow Draco to set the pace, and eventually the Slytherin's discomfort eased enough for Draco to ask a few questions of his own. Harry found it much more comfortable now Luna had gone, and felt guilty for it.

They called it a night at quarter to midnight, everyone pleased with the progress of the anti-Voldie potion, although the reference to 100C, which was the strength the potion was meant to be used at, apparently, remained a nagging mystery. Dumbledore promised to give it as much attention as he could spare (apparently it wasn't much, as things were still tense over Sirius and the failing wards, not to mention the perennial problems of plumbing and leaks in the roof).

On the way back to Gryffindor, Hermione and Harry popped in briefly to Lupin's rooms to check on Sirius. Sirius was asleep, his snores vibrating through the wall of the spare bedroom into the cosy sitting room, but Remus (in his dressing gown with purple rabbits) assured them that everything was fine. Telling the prefects earlier had been a good move – they had calmed the rest of the students by telling them that everything was under control and Sirius hadn't been revealed sooner because he was an integral part of the defences Dumbledore had wanted kept secret, blah blah blah. And some other reasons Harry didn't really take in because he was so tired. The fact that the Slytherin prefects had backed up Dumbledore's story went a long way to muting any student paranoia, although the teachers would need to be extra vigilant for the next wee while.

Harry thanked Remus, found his own dormitory, his own room, his own bed, and tumbled into sleep and his own dreams.

He dreamed of an eclipse which turned into Simon's frightened eye.

ooOOoo

Tuesday morning, Harry woke early, wondering if he'd dreamed the sound of thunder. Deciding it best not to wake anyone (knocking up someone at five in the morning wasn't a good way to keep your mates, no matter how badly he wanted to talk to Ron and Hermione), he dressed quietly and crept out of the castle. Or tried to – Professors Lupin, Sprout and McGonagall were hurrying down towards the Dungeons, where a thin green smoke was curling up from the stairwell.

"Is everyone all right?" Harry called out as Lupin, even the purple bunnies on his dressing gown looking harried and especially rumpled, hurried past. The menace of a stalking werewolf was diminished by purple bunnies.

He shook his head. "Slight accident. Not Elmsworthy this time. Luna, if you can believe it. Turns out she'd found Snape's private laboratory, and –"

"Is she all right?"

Remus rubbed his hand across his face and breathed in loudly. "Ungh. She'll be fine. Pomfrey's trying to restore her to her proper colour now. The rest of us are trying to reassure the Slytherins. That's the difficult part. They're taking umbrage at being woken up so early – someone's trying to organise a committee for proper hours or something. Merlin help us… What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep."

"Fair enough." He gave Harry a lopsided smile and disappeared down the stairs. Harry stared after him a moment, then shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans and slouched off outside.

The sky was light but the dew was heavy. Harry waded through the long grass. The cold wetness didn't bother him – discomforts were easily dismissed when there was a convenient drying spell to hand.

Simon was already out grazing, but he put his head up and whinnied when he saw Harry and walked, lanky-limbed and carefree, down towards the gate where he waited, ears pricked.

Harry smiled. "And a good morning to you, too," he called back.

Simon followed him up to the little stable, where Harry found brushes and a headcollar. He decided to leave the headcollar off, trusting Simon to stay nearby. Which Simon did, as Harry took off the heavy cover and dropped it onto the bare ground. Simon found a patch of grass in need of attention, and set about cropping it as Harry picked up the brushes and set to work. As he worked, Harry began talking in half-sentences, not sure what he was really trying to say, only that the words fitted into the rhythm of each stroke.

"It's a nice day. Or will be. Maybe." He found a rough patch under the belly and leaned over. "If – Luna – will – ever – talk – to – me – again." He straightened. "For Merlin's sake – she turned herself green? I hope she didn't destroy the lab – lucky Hermione stored the potions in the safe… that should have kept them, um, safe." He ran the brush along Simon's back. "I wish she had more sense. Horse sense." He laughed – easy enough to laugh at your own jokes when you were alone, even if they weren't funny. "But then if she had regular sense. She wouldn't be Luna. She'd be. I don't know. Someone else." He picked up a different brush and started in on Simon's tail, putting a good swing from the shoulder into each long stroke through the long tail. "As for Draco. I wish I knew what he. Wants. After. This. Is. All. Over." He paused, realising something. "Why am I telling all this to a horse's bum?"

Maybe the tail didn't need any more work. He moved around to Simon's other side. The horse couldn't understand, of course – it was probably all just noise to him – but Harry liked to think someone was listening to him. It wasn't as if Simon was a captive audience, either. There was no rope on him, and he –

He was moving away.

"Hey, hold on. Whoa."

Harry stepped in front of the horse and put his hand under the chin. Simon stopped and allowed Harry to brush his forelock, blinking drowsily as the brush skimmed above his eyes. The dark eyes reminded Harry of his dream of the eclipse – in the dream he'd looked into one of Simon's eyes, which had been rimmed white with fear. Just a dream, Harry told himself firmly. Just a dream. The forelock didn't really need brushing, either. Harry dropped the brush and began to pull at Simon's ears. Simon yawned and closed his eyes. The lower lip drooped. Harry spoke softly.

"I know Dumbledore says you'll take him through the barrier, but, y'know, I think he's being a bit optimistic, don't you? And he says the prophecy is overrated and I don't need to go up against Voldemort. Part of me, a cowardly part, is really glad to hear that. But it's arguing with the rest of me, which knows that if Death Eaters break through into Hogwarts then the best defence this place can have is Dumbledore. Not me. So… what I really want to know is, what do I do?"

Simon yawned again.

"Relax, you say? Yeah, why not."

He finished off with a scratch behind Simon's ears, which the horse leaned into appreciatively, then threw the cover back on and buckled it up. "There you go."

Simon followed him down to the gate. Harry considered going back to the castle, but it was too early for breakfast. He might be able to get in another hour of sleep. But he wasn't tired. Groggy, yes, with an underlying nervousness, but not sleepy.

Harry sat on the gatepost, with his feet on the top rail of the fence and his arms around his knees. The sun rising behind him was warm on his back. He watched Simon as the horse moved off and began to graze his way along the slope, and let his mind drift.

It drifted to Luna.

Luna: Luna and this almost symbiotic relationship she'd formed with a horse.

Luna must miss her dad, but it was her uncle-who-owned-a-horse she talked about, worried about. She'd latched on to Simon because of that. And Draco – how conflicted must you be when your father kills your favourite teacher? Simon had saved him (Harry did a quick mental tally) three times now, not counting the Dementors beyond the barrier, and Malfoy seemed to have grabbed hold of this unaccountable loyalty from a Muggle beast like a lifeline. As for Harry – what was his excuse? Was Simon some sort of reassurance? A way to ignore other, larger threats in favour of checking hooves for stones and a glossy black coat for scratches? Or was Harry, like Luna and Draco, trying to make Simon out to be something he wasn't?

Wasn't that what Dumbledore had tried to warn Harry about?

He'd been convinced the horse was Snape! It was embarrassing to think back on. How much of that had been some weird hope that it wouldn't be Snape Simon turned back into but Severus, and Severus would help them stop the Blockade? Harry opened his eyes just in time to see Simon (the horse not pausing in grazing) lift his tail and go to the toilet.

Well, Harry decided with a chuckle, that was pretty good as reality checks went.

He sat there and let his thoughts dissolve into nothingness, let the sunrise warm him and the birds sing to him and the presence of a horse keep him company, until the sun was well up and he turned as movement out the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was Ron and Hermione coming up the hill.

"Thought you might be here," said Ron.

Harry nodded. "Predictable Potter."

"Mad as a hatter Potter," said Ron, smiling serenely.

"Thanks. Friend."

Ron's grin widened, stretching freckles.

Hermione eyed Simon. "Do you think he'd come down?"

Harry smiled. Hermione's bravery expressed itself in strange ways.

"Have you forgiven him, then?"

"For what? Oh." She blushed. "Um. Well, it was hardly his fault he's got a bony, er, back."

Ron was carefully pretending he was grimacing because the sun was in his eyes, not because he was trying not to grin.

Harry clucked to Simon, trying to coax the horse back. Unfortunately the horse had lost interest in company in favour of breakfast.

Simon had a point. Harry stretched as best as he was able on the fence-post, then jumped down, stumbling only slightly.

"Getting old there, Harry."

"Still four months younger and less decrepit than you," Harry told Ron. "So what are you two doing up at such an early hour?"

Hermione shrugged. "Just… I don't know."

"Picking up on the general feeling of restlessness permeating the castle, resulting in lack of sleep and too much time brooding over the stalemate matters of politics and war, culminating in yet another night of broken sleep at the end of which you wake, go forth to the common room, and meet up with a fellow-traveller in this odyssey of patience and fortitude and sapping tension, and she in her wisdom suggests walking in the still hour of dawn to soak up enough of its peaceful state in an effort to counterbalance the upcoming day of tension to follow. As luck would have it, we noticed a familiar silhouette perched upon a fence. And here we are."

Harry and Hermione stared at Ron.

He glared. "What? I'm allowed to have feelings and intuitions too, you know. Girls don't have the monopoly on those. And Harry isn't the only one who's concerned about the fate of Wizarding society."

Hermione grinned and squeezed his hand. "Yeah, but… Never mind. I don't think that horse wants to come down, which is a shame. I wanted to have a look at his feet."

"His… feet." Harry rubbed his scar.

"Yeah. His feet. Come on, let's go harass the house elves for something to eat," she said.

Harry had had too little sleep and this was far too surreal.

He yawned, raised his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He was probably still dreaming.

ooOOoo

At breakfast, Colin, singed eyebrows a new look for him, was in a chipper mood. He'd finally managed to make his own potion to develop photos. Harry overheard him telling Luna about how he'd approached Draco yesterday to ask for help with taking photos of Simon again, then after snapping a few shots he'd gone and tried out a theory he'd been working on for developing the film.

Luna shot Harry an indecipherable look, made especially alien by the green tinge to her skin. Harry's hindbrain must have picked up on something, because it sent a shiver down his spine. Luna finished her breakfast, threw down her napkin, and left the Hall. By her clothing and the apples she stuffed in her pockets on the way out, she was going up to the paddock.

Harry hadn't been planning on going up to the paddock again, but the staff had cancelled morning classes while they sorted out a few lingering questions over Sirius, Seamus and Dean were glaring at each other and Neville was wearing a bewildered expression, Draco wasn't in sight and Ron and Hermione were off in their own little world, leaving Harry adrift. It had been a while since he'd felt quite so alone while surrounded by friends. He bit back on a twinge of jealousy at the sight of Ron feeding Hermione toast, Hermione laughing around crumbs and strawberry jam, and, deciding to risk saying something dumb to Luna, so long as he said something, he took some bread to coax Simon back for a chat and set off outside. Ron was right about the tension under the roofs of the castle – Harry was better off outside.

Luna had certainly had a funny look on her face after talking to Colin. Not funny-ha-ha, either, nor amusing thanks to her green skin. Maybe Colin should have gone through Luna instead, Harry thought as he trudged up to the paddock, hands in his pockets. A breeze had moved in from the north, turning the day chilly even though it was, theoretically, high summer.

Draco and Luna had arrived before him. As Harry drew closer, wondering if he was up to Luna treating him like a stranger again, he could hear the argument. For her part, Luna seemed to be trying to argue. The forced calm tone required around the horse combined with Draco's apparent indifference made it appear on the surface that she was passing comment on the weather. Until you heard the words, that was…

"…And letting a complete plonker like Colin near Simon with a camera again… after the last time. Simon could have been killed…"

The weather? And on the other side of the world, typhoons wreak havoc in South East Asia.

"I remember quite well." Draco bent down to pick up a forefoot, and cleaned it out with the hoofpick. He moved quickly around the other three hooves one after the other, as he continued with, "You seem to have forgotten who was on Simon's back at the time as he went charging through the castle, up the stairs and into a Charms class full of shrieking idiots. I'm quite aware of who was in danger, thank you. Especially now I know about the jumping from staircase to staircase bit."

Draco was listening after all.

"You're a wizard. You'd bounce. He's a horse. He'd splatter."

"I was blind," Draco reminded her with a touch of acid. "Don't count on the bouncing. I don't think the auto-protective response magic would have kicked in until after the fact. Then magic would have been a tad beyond my abilities. By that time my magic would have been a bit late. Literally and figuratively."

Simon shifted. Draco moderated his tone back up the pH range to neutral.

"I made sure he used the camera without the flasher," he said. Harry presumed he meant 'flash'. He certainly hoped so. "I saw to that personally. I don't quite understand why he didn't keep using that one after he took the first few photos when I was blind…"

"Trying for different light exposure effects perhaps," Luna said. "Different camera, different usage… But that still doesn't –"

"Anything the matter?" Harry asked. He received twin glares from Draco and Luna – Draco, well, Draco was indiscriminate in his glares when he was feeling cornered, but when had Luna started giving glares like that? – and a small, welcoming whinny from Simon, whose threatened sulk when peppermints didn't materialise eased when Harry gave him the bread and scratched behind his ears.

"Is this about Colin last evening? Colin did behave himself, didn't he?"

"Oh, that's right, you knew about it too." Luna threw the brush back into the bag. Shadows around her eyes deepened. She was still faintly green and looked like someone who hadn't had much sleep in the last few days. "Fine. Take Malfoy's side. Don't take Simon's safety seriously."

Two students and one horse, all wearing puzzled expressions, watched her stomp off down the hill. Then Simon shoved his head against Harry's shoulder, scrubbing up and down to deal with the latest itch.

"Ouch," said Harry, trying to sound happier than he felt at having Luna blow up at him. He was used to good concrete reasons for her being annoyed. Photos didn't really rate as reasons to be hacked off. "Stop mistaking me for a post."

Draco smirked, reining in the obvious comment with, Harry could tell by the look of near constipation, a gargantuan effort, picking up a brush and turning to Simon instead.

"Don't rupture yourself keeping your mouth shut," Harry said, annoyed.

"Pomfrey knows the symptoms, especially when I've been around you. So. Trouble in Paradise?"

Harry would have preferred a snide comparison between himself and a wooden post. "Er. Dunno."

"Lovegood's been a bit weird…er lately. Since those clowns tried taking Simon out of the paddock. Really moody, which is totally unlike her. I overheard her talking to Dumbledore…"

"After breakfast yesterday? I already know ab-"

"No, before breakfast this morning. I was in early – early enough to interrupt her as she was following Dumbledore around and hissing at him. She was even greener an hour ago… I hear she was involved with that explosion this morning. Know anything about that?"

"Not much. I'm a bit worried about our, er, projects."

"Me too. So who blew up the workroom?"

"Well, I bumped into Lupin – he said it was Luna. She was arguing with Dumbledore, though?" That made at least two conversations with Dumbledore she'd had in the last day or so. Harry's forehead wrinkled. "Really? What was it about?" Although he could guess.

"What, you think I was eavesdropping? Okay, maybe I was, but it was almost totally accidental. Let's say thirty percent accidental. Apparently she feels she's not doing enough for Simon. I wonder if she was cooking up something to make him smarter? I saw red ergot and tarantula root out on the bench last night."

"Those are for…?"

"For smart-potions. Banned in tests, before you ask. And quite illegal. But since when would that stop Luna?"

Harry shrugged, not wanting to agree out loud, even though he did privately.

Draco continued, "And Dumbledore isn't doing anything to help, either, according to her. She's pretty upset about him wanting to ride Simon through the barrier."

"Fair enough. I'm not exactly sanguine about it myself. What do you think? About Dumbledore and Simon?"

Draco straightened, resting the brush on Simon's shining back. "Not that I like to say anything positive about the man, but he's done all right by Simon. It's not as if he can house him in the castle. It wasn't his fault the wards around the paddock failed – apparently someone was fiddling with them, putting extra monitoring spells on top of the pre-existing ones…" His gaze bored into Harry.

Harry's eyes found a really, really interesting clump of grass.

"But," Draco continued more severely, "I don't want him taking Simon through the barrier."

"Don't tell me you want to go again."

"Of course I don't. Do you think I'm insane? No – don't answer that. Neither of us will profit from what you're trying not to say. But the thing is – stand still, Simon – the thing is that it's not going to work. Simon simply isn't going to accept him as a rider. Not without some heavy-duty mind-control spells, which will slow Simon's reflexes." He rubbed his hand over the black coat and checked his palm for dirt. There was none. "To tell the truth, the best rider would be Luna. But that wouldn't work for the simple reason that she would be too worried about Simon to tackle the Dark Lord. That's if she's not too busy looking for three-toed hornswogglers, of course." He looked down, then up again, meeting Harry's eyes, and said exactly what Harry was thinking: "Simon needs a rider he trusts and likes – a rider he understands and will look after. That's one of us."

"I know. And I agree completely. So what now – rock, paper, scissors – the winner gets to not go through the barrier?"

Draco lifted a corner of his mouth in half a smile. "It's not like we're going to have much choice in the matter – you don't seriously think they'll let one of us go, do you?"

"I don't think they will. I think we'd have to, let's just say, arrange something ourselves. And to be honest, I think we both need to go," Harry said quietly, butterflies in his stomach as he put into words something he'd only subconsciously entertained. "There's the prophecy –"

"What prophecy?"

"You know, the prophe-" Harry blinked. "I… thought you knew it. Sorry." But then, how could Draco have known it? He quickly explained.

There were a few minutes silence as Draco ruminated on it, looking progressively more and more unhappy. Finally:

"You didn't think of telling me this sooner?"

Harry shrugged. "Like I said, I sort of assumed you knew it. The child born at the end of July who defeats him – the child he marks – that's assumed to be me, although you get some credit for vomiting on him. Neville's the only other one who might possibly fit into the prophecy."

"But you're the one with the scar."

"Yes. Although I think you've got an outside chance of being the one from the prophecy."

Draco paused, seemingly turning the idea over in his mind, weighing up the pros and cons. The cons won. "No, thanks. I think it's you. So… what now?"

Harry sighed and rubbed his scar with the heel of his hand. The plan fell into place almost fully formed, word following word. "We need to leave a lot earlier than we expect the Death Eaters to arrive at Hogsmeade. First, we warn the people in Hogsmeade, just in case we – in case something happens to us. Then we go for the trees. We put the potion on the trees – we need someone on this side of the barrier, ready to put it on the tree here at the same time, compensating for the time difference…"

"Granger, Weasley and Longbottom, though I hate to say it…"

"…Yes, them. If it's too dangerous or there's a chance it won't work, we go straight back through the barrier to Hogwarts and alert Dumbledore. But if it does work – er, how will we be able to know if the mistletoe potion's working or not?"

Draco sighed. "We'd better get Elmsworthy on board."

"Yes. Dammit. So, if it's working we go after You-Know-Who. Do you think one of us could distract him while the other puts the anti-Voldie potion on him? If he saw me, he'd never suspect you. And vice versa. No-one outside Hogwarts would ever think we were working together. Well, except for those in the Order and your mum, and I can't see any of those people snitching on us. We're light. Simon will accept either of us as the rider."

Draco shook his head. "We can't double all the way around the countryside on the one horse, hoping to…" He paused and the morning sun sparked in his grey eyes. "We take a broom," he breathed.

"Yes. It's inert magic – it could go through the barrier. Simon –"

"– Can take us and the broom, then one of us can ride the broom, the other Simon –"

"–We need at least two people to apply the mistletoe potion to the anchor trees. And if we have the route planned out –"

"– We can plot the tree sites before we leave with the location spells I learned from the Mendeleev gloves –"

"– Then we meet up using a locator spell with really high privacy rating – Hermione taught me one –" They'd used it on the coins last year.

"– And while we're still on that side of the barrier –"

"– Because now we know where Voldie is going to be –"

"– We can ambush him with the potion. Potter…" Draco looked suddenly frightened. "You – we can't be serious. Ambush the Dark Lord?"

Harry held his gaze. "Yes. If you can deal with the barrier, I'll take on Voldem-ie."

"You're really serious." Draco leaned against Simon, glaring over his back at Harry. "You're a fool. If he doesn't kill you, the Death Eaters will."

"Remember how I said once that I couldn't really see my future beyond Voldemort? I meant it. If I can stop him I will – I'd rather live, but the thing is that if he's alive and beats me then I probably won't live. Or want to. Not for long. Not once the barrier comes down, which it will when he's strong enough to decide to break it. Me and Simon, Draco. We're in the same boat. When the barrier comes down, we're both targets. And so are pretty much all my friends."

Draco's eyes flickered with suppressed argument. Then he nodded. "But you can still run once we're through the barrier and past all the traps of the Barricade. And hide. I could go back and get Dumbledore…" He grimaced, possibly at the thought of any extra trips through the barrier, possibly at the thought of providing a taxi service for a Gryffindor.

"You know I can't." Harry shrugged. "And if I could, how long would I last? And to what point? As the man said, I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees."

"He had it backwards. Live on your feet and die on your knees." Draco snorted and shook his head. "My, aren't we cheerful this morning? Right, he's not going to get any cleaner and I wanted to ask Granger about some details involving the potion. Providing Luna didn't cremate it."

"Hermione put it in the safe. D'you think it'll be okay in there?"

"It looked like a top-of-the-line temporally buffered safe. Not much can happen inside it once the lock is activated."

"Good. Did you find out about the 100C thing?"

"Nope. Dammit. Granger's at a loss, too. Got to be a first for the bookworm." It didn't sound like an insult.

"What about some of those weird ingredients?" Harry asked. "I mean, Sasquatch Poppy resin? What the hell is that?"

"It's a class-A restricted substance. I'm keeping it in my trunk until this evening, when we finish the potion. Remember that little bag that came with the scroll? Almost everything we need is in there. Mother even included some mistletoe, but I'd rather use the stuff we harvested. It's fresher."

"Hmm. Good idea. Hang on – are we using mistletoe in both potions?"

"Yup. Versatile stuff for stabilising the sort of temporal magic we're dealing with."

"Okay. Anything we need to find?"

"Mayfly antennae and tortoise tears. I don't have either in my potions kit, although Elmsworthy might."

"Let's ask Dumbledore to have a look in Snape's stores."

Draco nodded. "Okay."

"You don't have to come. I could take Flitwick…"

Draco was already shaking his head. He patted Simon's back. "It needs two of us. And the horse. Simon – Simon considers us his property. There's no-one else suitable."

Harry nodded, massively relieved. "If you're sure."

Draco gave him a wry semi-smile. "No. But sometimes you have to take risks. If the Dark Lord finds out my mother sent that letter, he'll…" He swallowed, and his expression was fierce. "He needs to be stopped."

"Yes."

"Yes. And Harry…"

"Yeah. How do we make sure it's us who take Simon rather than him and Flitwick."

Draco pulled at his lower lip. "Say nothing. Don't argue. Suggest ways he can control Simon without mind-altering spells. Give him all the information he'll need to run the Blockade – getting through the barrier and avoiding the traps on the other side."

"Appear to comply, you mean? Appear to agree with his plans? Appear to be happy I'm not going?"

Draco smirked. "Appear. It's a very Slytherin word."

Harry snorted. "So it would appear."

ooOOoo