Ohhh no excuses here. I just edited my other novel, so I left this alone to simmer for a while. I didn't beta it because it's too late as it is. Heres to anyone still reading.

Pat

Chapter 25 - The Inadvertent Trap

Connor had just finished piecing together Sirius's second motorcycle and was just firing it up as they returned. It was mostly black and rust colored, and sounded less healthy than Harry's, but it did ride. Natalie was sitting next to the bike, looking at a hand-written book and touching the bike in very random points. She was muttering though, and Harry got the feeling that the points were anything but random.

"S'up?" Ron asked casually, trying to dismount without doing something foolish. Natalie waved a slender finger at him, as if to shush him.

"This bike had no flying gear. She's giving it a go," Connor whispered.

"Can she do that?" Ron gazed at her touching various parts of the bike.

"She's been doing flying charms for years. Ask Harry if she's any good at it."

"She knows what she's doing," Harry agreed, watching her intently. It was interesting to see her work...it was one thing to talk about racing brooms incessantly; many people Harry knew did that. It was another to see someone who knew something about it. "I bet Sirius could have used a Natalie."

"Sirius?" Natalie asked without looking up.

"That's who made my bike," Harry responded, fighting back a wave of sudden emotion.

"Ah," Natalie replied distractedly. "Well, I'm afraid he did it very differently from me. All I know are spells that would in essence make it a funny-shaped broom-stick. Since no broom seems willing to let him within five feet, I'm going to assume that wont work for us, and we may have to find out how he did it." She jerked her thumb in Connor's direction.

"Can't you just ask Hermione to help figure it out?" Ron mused.

"Perhaps you can," Natalie replied. "You weren't there when we were trying to talk her into fixing Harry's Firebolt though." Natalie shuddered slightly. "I'm sure we can figure something out without her having to help."

Since it was a nice enough day, Harry rode his motorbike for another half-hour with various people. Maybe that would help throw the suspicion off his and Ron's earlier trip to Hogsmeade. Connor of course had a go, and Dean, and even Natalie, who admitted that it was nothing like riding a broom. She stepped off lightly after they had touched down and kicked the back tire lightly.

"There is no way that's a regular flying charm. There's at least a few different steps in there...levitation and something that gives that tire grip."

"It's not just spinning free, so it must have something," Connor agreed. Harry had never seen this part of Natalie and Connor, and it was interesting how quickly they had bonded. Even Dean was standing next to them, throwing out ideas. Hermione still abjectly refused to go anywhere near the bike, but Parvati and Lavender both went on a quick spin around the grounds with Harry.

"I like it," Lavender said breathlessly. "Only you can't hear anything. It's hard to talk!"

Parvati nodded. "It's not so bad until you take to the air," she added. To them, Harry thought, anything that made it difficult to talk was downright criminal. To Harry, it wasn't such a bad idea.

***

Harry was tossing and turning in his sleep. He hadn't had a dream like this for a while; not since he started his Occlumency. Rather than the idle dreams of most teenagers, Harry's were more like a reflection, a review of what he had done over the last several days. This wasn't the first time this had happened--he'd had this dream every few nights for some time now--but he was trying to figure out why he was having it, even as he was sleeping. Something told him he was dreaming, but he knew that this is exactly what had happened during the day, and he was aware, even in the dream, of wondering if it was like his mother's pendant. Perhaps his mind was trying to tell him something...if he could just figure out what it was!

In his head, he was going over the time he had spent with Walken during their detention. Next was the scene where Walken had very nearly taken Harry's head off with the blasting curse, and then the time bomb. As he gazed into the crystal orb, watching himself, something in him stirred, as if that was closer to the point then anything he had seen so far. What was so critical about the time bomb? It wasn't his, and he'd never use it! It couldn't be that important, could it? He'd have been more worried about Voldemort if his scar had reacted in any way to the dreams, but he didn't even get a tingle.

Tuesday morning during potions, Neville surprised everyone by announcing quietly that he had finished his potion. He had made several flasks, and they all contained what appeared to be mere smoke. The potion had to cure now, but the fact that he had conquered his abject terror at the hands of Professor Snape was soothing to everyone, even if Harry was a little on edge keeping ahead of Malfoy. His own potion was less impressive, and it looked like ordinary, very dark wine.

The next day Harry was sneaking to the kitchens for a bite to eat. He was careful to wear the cloak almost all the time in the hallways, but he didn't normally carry it with him to his D.A. meetings. Just after he turned to a lesser-used passage (which he'd been sticking to quite a bit lately) a blinding flash of light and loud pop stunned him momentarily. His wand was already in his hand, and he was very handy with a shield charm.

Before he knew it, someone was standing next to him. He almost stunned Parvati before he recognized her.

"Patil," Malfoy croaked. "This doesn't concern you. I don't want anything unfortunate to happen to you."

Parvati responded by casting a cosmetic charm on Draco's cloak...one that made it glow softly in the black hallway. Draco didn't seem to realize what she'd hit him with, because he was standing quite still, wand-hand extended.

"I'm warning you," Malfoy whispered menacingly.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted. Draco seemed shocked that they could see him, but moved to counter the curse.

"Nendyate!" Parvati shouted. Draco yelled and pointed his wand, but nothing happened. He couldn't have been silenced....he was still cursing at Harry and Parvati. Parvati leveled her wand.

"What have you done to me?" Draco demanded.

"I've encouraged you to leave," she replied. "And for the moment I'm giving you the opportunity. I suggest you take it."

Draco glanced at Harry, who was holding his wand out in front of him. Harry was making no move whatsoever. In fact, it would suit Harry right down to his toes if Malfoy would just leave. Harry was having a hard enough time trying to convince himself that he shouldn't break up with Parvati, for the greater good. Malfoy slunk around the corner, keeping his wand trained on them until the very last moment. When he disappeared around the corner, Harry didn't even bother looking. He knew Malfoy would be gone, and he was glad...whatever that little rodent might think, Harry didn't want to fight anyone, and he'd be just as happy being left alone. He turned to Parvati.

"I'm sorry, Harry, I'm sure you could have handled that-"

"Sorry?" he cut her off, then hugged her. He was trying very hard not to snog her senseless right now. "That was brilliant! What did you do?"

Parvati grinned a tiny bit, her blush even evident in the dark hallway. "It's like a silencing spell, only all it keeps them from saying are things against you. It's really handy if someone is spreading gossip...it's the first time I've ever thought to use it like that." Harry looked at her for a long time...Parvati was definitely a match for Malfoy, on the surface, at least. He was just going to have to see if she was just warming up.

The next day in potions, Draco Malfoy didn't even let on that he had been on the wrong end of Parvati's wand. He was too busy gloating over the completion of his Polyjuice Potion.

"I've been able to make it since third year, really. I was just never allowed to do it before. It would have been against the ministry's silly rules."

"And did you make some in your third year?" Snape rasped softly.

Hermione leaned in on Harry's side, "if he's not careful, he'll get blamed for nicking the stuff we did for the potions!" Harry thought she sounded amused...he was amused.

"No, Professor! I mean, it would have been against rules. You know how much of a stickler I am for the rules!"

"Indeed," Snape replied acerbically. "That is all for the day. Ten points to Slytherin for paying such meticulous attention to my instructions." They filed out of class for the week, happy as always to be rid of Snape for another four days.

Neville was grumbling under his breath. "Stupid git never gives us points, even though I know he's more interested in mine than anyone else's." Neville kicked the wall softly.

"You know how he is," Hermione said reassuringly. She was glancing around at the others, looking for agreements. "Besides, did you see how Snape looked at Malfoy when he remembered all the ingredients we nicked during the third year? It was...gratifying," she finished at last. Harry smiled to himself as well. He and Ron and Hermione had actually created that potion, and to see something that even remotely resembled Malfoy taking the blame was amusing to say the least.

Harry managed to make it through Muggle Studies without anything more that a reprimand from the professor, even though Parvati had nearly broken his ribs when she held on to his hands so tightly he smacked himself when she finally let go. His meetings with Kingsley were getting shorter and more infrequent, as there was less that the Auror could have them do that they hadn't practiced already. Kingsley was happy that the Defense class was moving along so well, and that was partially due to Harry. In fact, much of what he did now was a watered-down version of the classes for the next week, so very few students who were involved in D.A. at any level found that they were at least getting a head start on work they'd have to do anyway.

The part of class that he cut from the D.A. was mostly headwork anyway. They were less into classes involving explicit curses and counter-curses now, and more into focusing on actions that could constitute a dark art. That made it a much more interesting class, and Harry had his deck of enchanted cards sitting near the top of his bag, because they seemed to enjoy hearing it as well. They couldn't give him much in the way of creative advice, and Harry was left wondering if that was the twins' concession to the 'neutrality' that had to be practiced officially. Even evil children bought sweets, and there was no way they'd sit there and listen to a card preaching about being a morally upstanding wizard without boycotting the twins, or just firebombing their shop.

That Saturday, Harry and Parvati again found themselves running from Filch. The aged caretaker was aggravatingly adept at sneaking up on them at the most inopportune of times, and Harry was trying to lick the glossy crimson lipstick off his lips as they ran down the corridor and in Natalie and Connor.

"Filch?" Connor asked. Harry nodded. "How can he be that good? He was just chasing us. Is there something about that man I don't know?" Harry was going to shrug, but at that moment, Ron and Hermione tore around a corner and almost knocked them all over.

"Spatium Sinus!" the three of them shouted at once. With a clang, a hole in the fabric of existence sprung up.

"Uhhh..." Ron started.

"What did you do?" Natalie demanded hotly.

"Spatium Sinus," Hermione sprung into lecture mode. "It's a spell we learned this year. You see-"

"I think they are more interested in the practical side," Harry began. He and Ron looked at each other.

"It's a pocket in nowhere," Ron said simply. Harry didn't have anything constructive to add, so he kept his mouth shut. Parvati had seen it before, so it was less amazing to her, though this bubble was impressively large.

Harry slumped to the ground. "You may as well get comfortable," he said.

"We could be here a while," Hermione finished.

"Isn't this…" she trailed off, rather than admit to Hermione that she had seen it before.

Harry looked over at Parvati, who had slumped against the wall of the bubble next to him. "This lasts a lot longer if you have someone to help you cast it. With all three of us..." he shrugged.

"Is there no way out?" Natalie asked, sounding slightly nervous. "I have a little claustrophobia," she added tentatively when Connor looked down at her.

"There's a way in if you can step," Ron answered. "We haven't learned that yet. I'd reckon we won't be in here more than an hour or so."

"An hour?" Natalie replied; panic coloring her voice. She moaned softly.

"If that!" Hermione added reassuringly. "Probably more like a half-hour."

"Whatever will we do for a half-hour?" Connor mused, waggling his eyebrows.

"We'll figure how how Filch tried to pinch us!" Hermione announced, trying to look stern. So far no one had mentioned how she and Ron had almost gotten nabbed like the rest of them...and they were even Prefects. It was, in Harry estimation, a nice bit of creative conversing. He could feel Parvati leaning against him…it was an awfully big bubble, so she must not be too upset with him. She had plenty of room to go off on her own, if she wanted to. The others slid down the walls slowly, following Parvati and Harry's example. Natalie looked as if she was going to be sick.

"Poor dear," Parvati whispered. Natalie was grabbing Connor's fingers so tightly that Harry could see the band of flesh around her small fist was white. Connor was wincing, which was saying something; considering the way he and Natalie treated each other, or rather, the way Natalie abused him and he seemed to like it.

"No, no, no…" Natalie was mumbling.

"Nattie, this is a big space…does it bother you that much?" Parvati asked.

"Yes! If the wall was see-through it might not be so bad!"

The walls in this bubble were a swirly greenish blue, and shimmering slightly. Harry remembered the first bubble he had created with Nott. "You don't want that," he remarked, remembering how the partially translucent wall had made him feel ill.

"Maybe this will help," Parvati said, activating the Skyball. Immediately, it was as if they were floating through the cloudless inky sky on a calm summer day. Natalie gazed with wonder. "Thank Harry," Parvati said, patting Harry's head. The transformation in Natalie was amazing. She had stopped murmuring and gotten some color back after only a few minutes. A while later she appeared to be breathing a little more normally as well. She still had a death grip on Connor's hand, but she leaned back against him, staring at the multitude of dots and sprays, eyelids drooping tiredly. Really, Harry thought the smartest thing she could do right now was fall asleep, but he wasn't going to say anything. Harry could see her looking up at an area with Mars...or at leas he assumed it was Mars. It was red anyway. Even Ron, who was quite capable of entertaining himself, looked a bit taken in. Hermione was pointing and whispering in his ear, and for a while, it was very quiet in the bubble. The Skyball gave them all a nice blanket of darkness, but frankly, Harry didn't have the guts to snog when there were so many people around. It didn't help that he was attracted to two of them.

He did notice after a while that Natalie was asleep on Connor's lap, and that Parvati was so securely lodged against him that she might have been asleep as well. Ron and Hermione were huddled up, and time was creeping by. Harry wouldn't have imagined a situation like this in a thousand years, but he wouldn't have traded it for anything either. In his estimation, sitting here with Parvati and his two best friends made the night almost a completely perfect experience. He could take or leave Connor, but Natalie was okay.

He was just starting to nod off himself when there was a resonating thrum and he suddenly found himself lying on the carpeted stone floor of the hallway. Looking around, Hermione and Ron were dazedly glancing around and Parvati had sat up suddenly. Only Natalie seemed unaffected, as she was deep asleep in Connor's arms. His bulk next to her lack of any bulk whatsoever made her look like a toy. Usually, a temporalist would have some warning that his or her bubble was about to collapse--Harry had gotten pretty good at noticing the barely-perceptible flickering that signaled the impending demise of the Spatium Sinus--but in this case, the SkyBall had masked the iridescent wall from view.

"We'd better get back to the common room," Hermione announced quietly. Harry looked at his watch. They had been in the bubble for over an hour...Professor Walken would have been proud, if they wouldn't have been using magic he taught them to flaunt breaking the rules.

"We should be okay. As long as..." Hermione never got to finish, as they turned the corner and literally ran into Professor Shaklebolt. "Professor!" she squeaked.

Kingsly looked them up and down appraisingly. Connor was still carrying Natalie, who had her arms wrapped around his neck loosely and her face buried in the crook of his neck and shoulder. Harry licked his lips; acutely aware of the crimson lipstick that Parvati had gotten all over him. Hermione's hair was even worse than usual, owing to the fact that she had just spent an hour leaning against Ron. It could not have looked good.

"Miss Granger," Kingsley replied, cautiously, and with a slight nod.

"I was just escorting some students from the Astronomy tower..."

"Oh, really?" he asked, except it wasn't a question.

"Yes, I mean to and from the tower...they were doing work," Hermione added, nervously.

"It's one of the first nice nights we've had...cloudless, but warmer," Parvati added smoothly. "We have a great view of-"

Shaklebolt threw up his hands. "If you say so. What's wrong with her?" He Nodded at Natalie, still managing to look each one of them sternly in the eye.

"Not feeling good, sir," Connor managed, through a mouthful of her silky hair. Shacklebolt didn't like Connor very well, a fact Harry was aware of because of a conversation they had earlier, regarding whether he was always so quick with a wand. Kingsley had suspected the quiet American of cheating until Harry had managed to convince the professor that yes, Connor was that fast with a wand. Harry had lied and said he knew because of D.A., though. In reality he knew the American was that fast with a wand because he had seen Connor and Malfoy duel from under the invisibility cloak.

"You know, if I was her father, I'd be very tempted to do something rash to you, Mister Colier."

"I know sir. I'm glad you're not him."

Kingsley looked as if he was trying to decide how to take that last statement. "Do you need an escort to the infirmary?"

"Naw," Ron said. "She's just a little light-headed...sick to her stomach, that sort of thing. Way I figure it is that if she's gonna 'ralph, better on him than me. Hermione and I are both prefects."

"It may be just a bad reaction to the Flu potion. I had a bad one myself," Hermione added, helpfully. "You can ask Professor Snape if you need to."

Kingsley actually flashed a brief smile at that. "I'll take your word for it, Miss Granger. I will take the liberty of escorting you to your common room, however." There wasn't much they could say to that, so they walked to the Gryffindor common room, Kingsley leading the way. With one flight of stairs to go, a cold voice stopped them all, and Harry spun around, hand at his wand. Snape looked as if it was amusing that Harry had almost pulled a wand. He had an aggravating smirk on his face.

"Professor," Snape oozed. "Is there a problem here? I notice these students are out of bounds. Those are grounds for..."

"I have it, Snape," Kingsley replied, emotionlessly.

"That American is being ridiculously improper with a student, at least..."

"She's ill," the Auror-turned-professor cut off Snape pointedly. "Perhaps she has the same thing Miss Granger had the other day. I understand you sent her to the infirmary."

"I sent her to the hospital wing because she complained of being ill. She could have been....exaggerating." Snape remarked coldly. Even Snape knew when it was a bad time to accuse Hermione of lying directly. Instead he stared at Natalie. "The hospital wing is the other way," he said finally.

"'We don't have time for this, Professor Snape. These children need to get to bed. If you'll excuse us," Kingsley passed by Snape with an air of authority and Harry was smart enough to follow him. Snape watched them pass, then turned around with a flourish of his robes, and faded into the inky blackness.

"I'm not sure I like that man," Kingsley said quietly as they were just out of earshot of the Fat Lady.

"Well, I'm sure," Ron announced proudly. "I'm certain he's a tremendous..."

"You should probably stop there," Professor Shackelbolt cut Ron off. "You're a prefect, and you should act like it, at least until I'm gone." Kingsley glanced at the fat lady, who was inspecting them all with beady eyes. "I was escorting these students; they had work to do. The young one is a little under the weather."

The fat lady nodded understandingly as the portrait swung open. They filed through, and though Connor got a long look from Kingsley, he was allowed to pass, still carrying Natalie, who had slept through the whole ordeal. As soon as they were in, Hermione moved to escort Natalie up the stairs, but only after Connor had set them off which woke up half the tower. He was on the receiving end of more than one aggravated sneer.

After things had calmed down, Harry found his way to the lounge in the common room more out of habit than by design. Parvati was still next to him, which was good, because it meant that she hadn't gotten sick of him yet. Harry was awkwardly been trying to decide what to do with his hand as they leaned together for another kiss, we he happened upon something round and bottle-like. As he fished the small vial up, he saw the miniature Harry and Parvati flop onto the couch. The cards were taking up his breast pocket, or he'd put the bottle in there! At least he'd always managed to retrieve it before Hermione found it.

Monday, during Muggle Studies, Parvati had to leave in the middle of class. Hermione may have been right, when it came to adverse reactions to the flu inoculation. After class she cam sprinting up to Harry.

"You've changed your robes!" he said, falling in beside her. She was taking a way back to the common room that passed through several empty corridors and by some disused classrooms. One of them was, in fact, where he had watched the memory of his mother's...the one that Hermione had noticed and separated. He hoped she wasn't planning on getting frisky, as he really didn't want to catch what she had. She'd looked violently ill before she'd left class. On the plus side, she was keeping well away from him, so he had to assume she was worried about him catching whatever she had.

"I was sick on the others," Parvati shrugged. She wasn't wearing as much jewelry either, probably because she didn't want to get vomit on it. She did have a new ring that Harry had never seen before. It was some kind of white metal, and looked out of place on Parvati's dark hand. Harry was no expert on fashion though...for all he knew, that white metal was the next in thing. They walked in silence for a while, until Parvati pulled a small bottle from her pocket.

Harry looked over. "Getting some fluids in? Madame Pomfrey would be proud."

"Pumpkin juice," Parvati said. "I just can't get enough...I feel like I'm burning up!"

Harry smiled as he tried to work his wand out of his pocket without being noticed. Parvati was faster though, and she had her wand out and leveled before Harry could get his hands free.

"Who are you?" Harry asked, as the pause at in intersection that was dim, even during the day. Parvati said nothing. "Who are you?" Harry demanded again.

"Why, whatever do you mean?" Parvati said eyeing him with a stern look on her face.

"You're obviously not Parvati," Harry's eyes flicked to the wand.

"Maybe I just realized what you really deserve," said Parvati, as she made a jabbing motion at him.

"Come on," Malfoy said, from the shadows of a dust-filled classroom in front of him. "Have some pride, Parkinson. These Gryffindor scum have to see that they aren't the only ones who know what sticking together is."

"Pansy," Harry said, glowering at her.

"Oh I didn't want to use the potion myself, though maybe I should have, just to see what was...under wraps."

"Shut your mouth, you maggot!" Harry hissed.

"Maybe you'll still get to see," Pansy purred. Seeing Parvati hit on Malfoy made him feel like throwing up. He was not going to take this lying down...his mind feverishly worked over the aurors' texts he'd read. Draco was probably the more dangerous of the two but Pansy was in between them, and Harry was willing to bet Draco wouldn't risk hurting her. He could probably disarm her and by the time she got out of the way he'd be ready to deal with Draco. His eyes flickered to Malfoy, and Pansy started to move.

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted, and Pansy's half-drawn wand flew from her fingertips and clattered on the stones of the floor.

"Reducto!" Malfoy shouted, and a searing pain spread through Harry's chest. He got his wand up in time to block the second curse, and Malfoy fell to the ground, twitching.

"What did you do?" Pansy screamed, as she knelt over Draco's convulsing form. Harry briefly wondered that himself. Had the cure rebounded on Draco? Then with a sucking sound, Malfoy vanished, and in his place was a large, white rat. It turned and attempted to bury itself under Pansy, who was squealing. Harry had to laugh in spite of himself.

"Oh you think it's funny, do you?" Pansy started, reaching for Draco's wand. Harry banished it before she could touch it, and it rattled noisily down the hallway. "I'll have you-"

"You'll have me what?" Harry said loudly. "You're the one polyjuiced up like an innocent girl; one you probably poisoned. D'you think you can just go and tell on me? Well good luck!" Harry spat on the ground and looked down at his chest. The curse had nearly blown the cards to pieces, but had missed by the smallest of margins to blow the top off his genuine Collibri flask; the one Arthur Weasley had given him for his birthday and that he had been using to keep his potion safe. At least three quarters of the potion was still in there...if he hurried to re-bottle it, it might even be usable. The dark red potion stained his shirt as though he'd been shot through the heart, which he very nearly had been. Harry was thinking quickly now.

"And tell your boyfriend that it will take more than a blasting curse to the chest." He spit on the ground again, let Pansy get a good look at the blood-like splotch of potion, and hurled her wand after Malfoy's.

"Fetch, or better yet, have your trained rat get it for you." With that, even though his heart was pounding, he calmly walked away.