Chapter 9

Draco Malfoy was seething.

The incident at dinner had made him ridiculous, and cost him much of his influence in Slytherin.

As for other houses, he was only too aware of the sniggering that followed wherever he went.

"Right, time to get even!" He told his crew. "We know who's behind this: Potter and his lot!"

"Which includes the Weasley twins!" Pansy had arranged a thick fringe to cover the word on her forehead….it was not becoming but it looked better than the inscription, which showed no sign of fading.

"Potter's been coaching them, in one of the empty classrooms," Theodore Nott said. "We can ambush them!"

"Yes!" Pansy hissed viciously. "Think they can disfigure me, and get away with it? I'll scar them so their own mother won't recognize them!"

Tracey Davis pouted as she watched Daphne's greenfinch fly around the class.

Harry Potter had taught quite a few people how to cast the charm. Not Tracey, though. Try as she would, she could not create anything more than a pale mist.

"Daphne," she said urgently. "How did you finally get it? This is so hard!"

Her friend leaned over to whisper in Tracey's ear.

"Really?" Tracey was thoughtful. "That's what worked for you?" She glanced around the room, and selected her target.

She tapped Fred Weasley on the shoulder. "Huh?"

Tracey said nothing; she simply drew his head down and gave him a passionate kiss. The rest of the class looked on in surprise, before the whispers and giggles began.

"Whoa!" George doubled over laughing.

Fred just stared at the Slytherin girl who beamed happily.

"I needed a good memory," Tracey said by way of explanation.

Angelina Johnson studied her cloud of fog, then nodded. She grabbed the still-chortling George and kissed him thoroughly.

Then she cast again, and a large heron formed. "Yes!"

Tracey scowled at her unchanging mist. "Guess you can't compare with your twin," she told Fred, feeling a trifle disgruntled.

He only grinned at her. "Maybe we just need more practice?"

"Maybe," she conceded. But a tiny smile played around the corners of her mouth.

The laughing group exited the classroom, and the Gryffindors turned off to go to their tower.

"Coming, Harry?" Fred called.

Harry shook his head. "Going to walk Daphne back to the Slytherin dorm."

"Oh, the perfect gentleman! Can't have you showing me up…Miss Davis, may I escort you?"

Tracey smiled flirtatiously. "Such a polite offer…how can I possibly refuse?"

She took Fred's arm, and they strolled off together.

"This I've got to see!" George grabbed Colin Creevey. "Got your camera? Perfect blackmail material!"

Hermione shook her head. "The twins will never change!"

"I don't want them to," laughed Angelina Johnson. "I like George just the way he is."

"Yet you went to the Yule Ball with Fred?"

"Yes, but just as friends," Angelina explained. "George and I got together afterwards."

They were in the long corridor leading to Slytherin when Harry sensed a flicker of movement to his left.

Instantly he raised a shield. "Take cover!"

He dragged Daphne behind a bronze statue of Belinda the Befuddled, while Fred and Tracey took shelter in the shadows cast by a suit of armor.

Harry was pleased to see they were on opposite sides of the corridor, and took aim with a bone-breaker curse directed at the spot where he'd glimpsed the movement. A shrill scream resounded.

"One down," Harry declared grimly.

Daphne studied the hallway. "Someone's lurking behind that tapestry." She sent a severing spell straight on, and a body collapsed onto the floor.

The spells from their assailants changed from vicious to lethal, and Tracey lost her temper and poured all her power into a blasting hex that sent a hidden figure straight through a window.

Just then George and Colin, still chuckling, rounded the corner.

"What…"

An ugly yellowish spell shot at him; Fred dashed out and pushed George down, screaming as he was hit by the curse.

"Daphne!" Harry commanded. "Shield Colin!"

She obeyed him instantly, as Harry took an instant to dispatch Prongs for help.

The first person on the scene was Dumbledore, who arrived just as someone hit him with a debilitating withering curse.

The old wizard staggered, and Draco Malfoy took that second to disarm him.

Harry retaliated, and both wands flew towards him at the same moment that Daphne's stunner dropped the Slytherin boy.

"How bad?" Hermione gasped, staring around the infirmary. "Oh Fred!"

Fred Weasley, his head bandaged where he'd lost an ear, managed a weak smile. "Don't fret, Hermione. As the muggles say, you ought to see the other blokes!"

The Headmaster glanced up from where he was seated on a hospital bed. "Most of the injuries were minor, Miss Granger. The exceptions were Theodore Nott, who lost an arm, and Pansy Parkinson, who fell through a window and was killed by the impact."

"Harry?" Hermione said urgently. "Is he…"

"Fine, Hermione." Harry walked around the screen. "I wasn't hurt at all; Daphne, Tracey, and Colin are all fine. George has a few scrapes and bruises, but Fred got the worst of it."

"What a relief!" Hermione sighed.

"Yeah, when I think what those snakes could have done…no offense, Daphne and Tracey, I didn't mean you." Ron added hastily. "It could have been a lot worse!"

"Did you hear me mention that Miss Parkinson was killed?" Dumbledore asked pointedly.

Ron opened his mouth to say she deserved it for attempting to kill his brothers, but Hermione elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

Ginny, entering the infirmary that instant, was not so restrained. "She tried to kill Fred! And Harry! I won't shed any tears for that lot, believe me!"

Aurors followed her in, accompanied by McGonagall.

"Is this necessary, Minerva?" Dumbledore objected wearily.

"It certainly is!" Amelia Bones, Head Auror, was livid. "It's high time this school was gotten under control! My own niece is a student, and some of the things she tells me are a cause for concern. Now, what happened tonight?"