This update is dedicated to fhl1234, thank you for leaving so many comments, they made me smile :)


"… Vane?!" was the first thing Harry heard when he jerked awake the next morning. It seemed Dean and Ron were in some sort of argument. Harry quickly opened up his curtains and peeked out, simultaneously reaching for his glasses.

"I just wanted to know," Ron said through gritted teeth, "why you decided sucking Romlida Vane's face off was a good way to get my sister back."

"And I said," Dean responded back, as angry as Ron, "what the fuck are you talking about?"

"You don't remember?" Seamus' voice came from his bed, and Harry saw his head pop out of his curtains.

"Don't remember what?" Dean asked, turning around to look at his friend.

"Snogging Romilda Vane!" Seamus and Ron said together.

"I… - what? I…" Dean said, and Harry could see that something dawned. Dean's eyes grew wide and he looked shocked, or… scared?

"I… I don't remember anything!" he whispered.

Seamus laughed, "Well, that's what you get when you drink too much, my friend." He rolled out of bed to give Dean a high-five, but Dean didn't respond.

"The last thing I remember…" Dean said, and his eyes moved over to Harry before looking away in shame.

Harry swung his legs over the side of his bed and made to stand up. His left foot, however, made contact with something sticky and he looked down curiously at the box of Chocolate Cauldrons his foot was now covered in.

The box of Chocolate Cauldrons that Harry had gotten from Romilda Vane. The girl Ginny had warned him about. Who was rumoured to be looking to dose Harry with Love Potion.

"Fuck!" he swore loudly.

Harry stood up quickly and hurriedly asked Dean, "Dean! Did you eat one of my chocolate cauldrons?"

"I – what? No, of course not," Dean tried to lie, but Harry interrupted him. "Dean, I don't care about the cauldron, but I'm almost positive that Romilda dosed them with Love Potion!"

"But… Love Potion?" Dean said like he didn't understand.

"Would that explain the memory loss?" Neville asked as he joined the other boys.

"Love Potions don't cause memory loss," Seamus answered, shaking his head.

"But I got these for Christmas, maybe it went bad or something?" Harry argued.

None of the boys knew the answer to that.

"Is there a way, a safe one that is, to test whether there's Love Potion in there?" Neville asked, eying Dean carefully. Dean seemed to slowly be overcoming his shock and was beginning to get angry, but this time at Romilda.

"I'll take them to Professor Tonks," Harry offered. He quickly dressed himself, grabbed the Cauldrons and made his way to the door. Before he could leave, Seamus stopped him.

"Be quick, I don't know how long we can keep him from confronting Vane, or at least making a scene," he urged, looking warily at his best friend. Harry nodded.

As he ran towards Professors Tonks' private quarters, Harry wondered whether she would even be there. It was Valentine's weekend, so she might be at home with Ted.

This turned out to not be the case, as when the door opened after Harry knocked on it, he wasn't greeted by the woman he had gotten to know as Aunt Andy, but by a fair-haired, jovial-looking man that could only be Ted Tonks.

"Hello, can I help you?" Ted said in a puzzled voice.

"Hi!" Harry said, secretly glad he had been training with Neville as he wasn't much out of breath from running all the way, "You must be Ted Tonks? My name is Harry Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Ted beamed at him. "Harry! How nice indeed! Please, come in."

Harry entered the room and saw Andy at her table, eating a leisurely breakfast. She frowned as she saw him. "Harry, dear, is everything alright?"

Harry had a small flashback to Mrs Weasley, the only other person that had ever used that term of endearment in that way. He nodded and swallowed.

"Fine. I just wanted to know whether you can somehow determine whether these cauldrons have been dosed with anything."

"Why? What happened?" Andy said, standing up quickly.

"I'm quite sure there's Love Potion in there, I think my roommate Dean got accidentally dosed last night," Harry explained.

Andy and Ted shared a look.

"Give me five minutes and we'll know," Andy answered, as she began to rummage in her Potions cupboard.

"Are these his? Your roommate's? You said he got dosed 'accidentally'?" Ted asked.

"No, sir. They're mine. I got them from Christmas, they've been under my bed since then."

"So you got them as a gift?" Ted asked.

Harry nodded, "Why does it matter, sir?" he asked curiously.

"The use of Love Potions is legal, but only with explicit consent from both the subject and object of its magic," Ted explained. At Harry's puzzled look, he elaborated: "Love Potions are legal as long as there is consent involved, given by both the one taking the potion and the object of their magically induced or enhanced desire. They used to be legal in general, but we passed a law some ten years ago that makes it so that Love Potions are only legal when they are consensually used to er… spice up a couple's love life so to say."

Harry turned a bit red and Ted chuckled.

"Ted works as a liaison between the Ministry and St Mungo's on the topic of Potions and Charms Abuse," Andy explained fondly. "He was one of the driving forces behind the law change. Ah, there we go," Andy finished waving her wand.

"Now, if you could drop a Chocolate Cauldron in this cauldron, Harry," she asked.

Harry looked on as the colourless potion Andy had brewed slowly turned green as the Chocolate Cauldron dissolved.

"Green means positive, which means that the Cauldron was indeed dosed with Love Potion," Andy explained with a frown. She turned to her husband, "I think it's best if you went to get Minerva as well, Ted."

Ted nodded and quickly made his way back to the bedroom area to dress.

"I think it's best if you go with Ted, Harry, so you can explain to Professor McGonagall what has happened. Who gave you the Chocolate Cauldrons, Harry?"

"Romilda Vane."

"And Dean ate one without knowing?" Andy clarified.

Harry nodded, " when I left the dorm room he was beginning to get angry."

"Understandable, wouldn't you say?" Ted said, entering the room again. "The cases I've seen…" he muttered. "Come along, Harry, please," he said.

Together they made their way over to the Great Hall, where breakfast was being served.

They walked up to their head table, making many heads spin to look at them. Dumbledore wasn't there, again, so they went straight to McGonagall.

"Ted?" she said in surprise, "Mr Potter? What on earth?"

"Good morning, Minerva," Ted began, "it seems your Gryffindors have encountered a bit of an incident involving a Love Potion," he explained in soft tones, not wanting to be overheard.

Professor McGonagall narrowed her eyes, "I see," was all she said before standing up.

The three of them walked out of the Great Hall. As soon as they were out of hearing distance McGonagall asked Harry to explain what happened, which he did.

"So, the Love Potion was meant for you?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, Romilda gave me these Cauldrons for Christmas."

"And Professor Tonks tested them?"

"Yes."

"Alright, thank you, Mr Potter."

A brisk walk later they made their way through the portrait hole, to see Dean standing at the beginning of the staircase to the Girl's side of the common room. The staircase currently resembled a slide, meaning Dean had tried to get up there.

"Mr Thomas!" McGonagall called loudly.

Dean turned around. "Professor, I – Professor?" He looked at Ted questioningly. Ted for his part made his way to him and offered his hand for Dean to shake.

"Hello Mr Thomas, my name is Ted Tonks. I work with the Ministry of Magic in the Regulation and Control of Dangerous Potions office. I understand you may have been unknowingly dosed with Love Potion."

"I, what? So it was Love Potion? I'll kill that bitch!" Dean yelled.

"Mr Thomas!" McGonagall said sternly. "I understand you are upset and angry, but let us not do away with our sense of civility!"

Dean didn't respond but none of his anger had abated.

"Now, Mr Thomas, I suggest you and Mr Tonks head to my office. I'll see if I can locate Miss Vane," McGonagall ordered rather than suggested.

As Dean made his way out of the common room, McGonagall turned to Harry.

"Mr Potter, the next time you suspect someone is trying to dose you with whatever, please come to me. I don't think I have to remind you what happened the last time someone in Hogwarts unwittingly was dosed with something."

Slughorn. Sure, this wasn't even close to being the same kind of case but it could've been Draught of Living Death rather than Love Potion in that cauldron.

- In Her Memory –

In the end, even though she had broken the law, Romilda wasn't arrested. Because of the war, the ministry deemed it safer for her to stay at Hogwarts. She did get a lot of detention, and a suitably embarrassing howler. The student population, fourth year and above, got a mandatory lecture on the dangers of Love Potions, given by Ted Tonks.

Dean had gone back and forth with his emotions. He was understandably angry at Romilda, but also angry at himself because, according to him it was his pettiness that had gotten him in trouble indirectly. After a couple of days, he had come clean on eating the Chocolate Cauldron because he had been mad at Harry. He didn't blame Harry for his and Ginny's breakup, as it had been relatively friendly if such a thing was possible, but said the article in Witch Weekly had messed with his head.

Ginny herself had been in the weird position of wanting to help Dean deal with the incident, while simultaneously feeling the need to stay away from him for a bit as they had just split.

In the end, no one could say they were surprised that a large-scale Valentine's party had stirred up trouble. And with how used the Hogwarts population was to things going wrong, they quickly went back to business as usual.

For Harry and Ron, this meant they were back to their usual schedule. Ron was now back on track and doing everything he had been doing before his burnout. But on Ginny's orders, they both made sure to at least have half an evening left open for fun. Ron had continued his Animagus training and while he said he wasn't even close to being able to transform, McGonagall had apparently given a rare compliment. The increased skill in Transfiguration had shown in class as well, as Ron was now clearly getting better at it than Harry. Of course, Harry had put his Animagus training on the back burner, seeing as he probably would never be able to finish it. Or so he sometimes feared, when alone in bed at night.

Harry had realized that the high work pace he had set himself had the added benefit of giving him no time to think about everything that could go wrong. But late at night in bed, doubts and fears crept into his mind anyway. And when he did manage to fall asleep, he was still plagued by nightmares. The only things he knew could stop them were either highly addictive or something he just couldn't get to work.

Someone he could talk to about his nightmares was Ginny. Ever since Harry had told her about the plan to back into the Chamber to look for clues and to help Luna, he noticed she looked like she was sleeping badly. He figured the idea alone had increased her nightmares.

Which is why he was so amazed when she told him she wanted to join them. He could tell it took a lot of strength to do so, but she got that blazing look in her eyes and just like with quidditch, she managed to turn her nerves into determination.

The next time Harry had seen Dumbledore he had told her that Ginny was coming too and they had planned their venture for the third Saturday of March. This was because it was Ron's birthday the first weekend and the Quidditch game against Hufflepuff during the second weekend.

The other huge news broke on Friday, the last day of February. Harry had just swallowed a spoon of his porridge, going over what they were going to focus on in their upcoming Defense self-study session, when an unknown owl landed in front of him, carrying a Quibbler.

"I asked Daddy to send you a free copy," Luna's dreamy voice came from behind him.

Harry turned around, "So the article's been published then?"

Luna beamed at him.

Harry took a deep breath and opened up the magazine, flipping past an article on Blimpy fishing to get to the article.

There it was.

Naming He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Last year The Quibbler was the first news publication to tell the truth about the fact that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Namedhad indeed returned. The harrowing eyewitness account given to us by nonother than Harry Potter himself may have been the single most important article we have ever published.

Until today that is.

We all know who You-Know-Who claims to be. And with a name feared so much even this newspaper prefers to stick to the references you have seen printed before you, there is no reason to doubt any of his claims.

OR IS THERE?

After weeks of research, The Quibbler can now exclusively reveal that He-Who-Must-Be-Named is actually a Half-Blood wizard who was born to the name Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Tom Riddle was born in an orphanage in London on the 31st of December 1926. His father, Tom Riddle Senior, was a wealthy Muggle living in the village of Little Hangleton. Also living in that village was the last of the Noble and Ancient House of Gaunt. Part of the so-called Sacred 28, the Gaunt family claimed to be the last living descendants of Salazar Slytherin.

The connection between Tom "Marvolo" Riddle and Marvolo Gaunt is easily made, and it was Marvolo Gaunt's daughter Merope who would have to be Tom Riddle's Jr's mother. Viewers with a more conservative approach to these types of questions, might wonder why the daughter of such a prestigious family would fall in love with a "common muggle".

THINK AGAIN!

According to the elderly muggle inhabitants of Little Hangleton, that view is the exact opposite of reality. They still remember the town questioning why the Heir of the Riddle Family would ever mingle with "the Tramp's daughter". See, the "Noble" family of Gaunt lived in squalor, Marvolo Gaunt and his son Morfin coming into contact with the MLE time and time again.

Whatever happened between Tom Riddle Senior and Merope Gaunt, it didn't last long. Mere months after leaving everything behind to go with Merope, he returned to Little Hangleton with tales of being "taken in" and "hoodwinked".

Long-time readers of the Quibbler will undoubtedly suspect the use of Love Potions.

Supporters of Love Potion prohibition have long argued that these potions interfere with the natural magic that is love, and that would one procreate under the effects of solely these potions, any resulting child would suffer from unquestionable emotional damage. This might very well explain the vile nature of the man Tom Riddle Jr would grow up to be.

Those readers that attended Hogwarts between the years of 1938 and 1945 might remember Tom Riddle as a handsome and smart boy. A model student who first became Prefect and then Head Boy for Slytherin and who received a Special Award for Services to the School for his role in stopping the attacks on Muggleborns in the 1942/1943 school year.

BUT WAS HE?

The Quibbler can now exclusively reveal that it was Tom Riddle himself that opened the Chamber of Secrets, and set Slytherin's Monster on the Muggleborns at Hogwarts, resulting in the eventual death of Myrtle Warren, nowadays better known as Moaning Myrtle. He then framed another student for the attacks, after which he stopped the attacks, resulting in his Special Award. That wouldn't be the last time Tom Riddle framed someone else for his crimes. During the summer of 1943, the entire Riddle family was murdered in their manor, in Little Hangleton. Tom Riddle's uncle, Morfin Gaunt, freely "confessed" to the murders. Was this the work of Tom Riddle? Knowing what he would become, it would not be surprising.

Hogwarts peers of Tom Riddle Jr might also remember the relationship between Tom Riddle and the late Hogwarts Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin House, Horace Slughorn, who was known to dote on promising students. What secrets did the old Potion Master know of his former star pupil? What role did he play in the evolution of Tom Riddle, from poor orphan to Dark Lord? Most likely a significant one, considering the fact he was assassinated not four months after being back at Hogwarts, where he could spill everything he knew about Tom Riddle to Albus Dumbledore himself.

The Headmaster was and is widely known as the only person the Dark Lord ever feared. And with good reason, considering they duelled to a standstill in the very Ministry of Magic itself, just last spring.

BUT IS HE?

Albus Dumbledore has never defeated the Dark Lord. Harry Potter has.

Whether Harry Potter is indeed the "Chosen One", we may never know. The answer to that question is most likely stored at the Department of Mysteries. (For an overview of Quibbler articles on the Department of Mysteries, see page 7).

BUT DOES THAT MATTER?

The Quibbler firmly believes that it is the duty of any citizen to stand up to those who threaten the freedom of any individual, be they magical or not. This war is not fought between the Dark Lord, Dumbledore and Harry Potter alone. As Albus Dumbledore is known to say, we all have to choose between what is easy and what is right.

The easy choice for me, for my family, would have been to not write this article.

The right thing would be to expose the lies He-Who-Is-Now-Named-Tom Riddle has cloaked himself with. The Quibbler has always strived to tell the stories others were too scared to explore. Dismantling the legend the Dark Lord has created around himself is a clear part of that.

We at the Quibbler want to leave you with the following.

Dear readers,

we live in dangerous and scary times. It is logical to be afraid, but ask yourself what you can do to support the fight against Tom Riddle and his Death Eaters. Remember, even Blibbering Humdingers are known to challenge stronger opponents if they feel they should.

And if the Blibbering Humdingers can, so can we.

Especially when WE are on the right side of history.

Harry exhaled forcefully. He was most amazed by the serious tone the article had taken. It seemed Luna's Father, who he presumed had written it, had taken inspiration from Harry's interview with Skeeter, which was by far her best piece of writing if you'd ask Harry. Until it came to the Blibbering Humdingers, of course.

Nothing was factually wrong as far as Harry knew, and the speculation of the effects of Love Potions was topical, of course, as Ted had mentioned it in the lecture he had given.

He felt a foot nudge his own and he looked up to Ginny motioning her head toward Luna. The blonde girl was waiting patiently for a reaction.

"It's great, Luna," he said with a smile, earning one in return.

"What does your father mean with that last part?" Neville questioned her, "That the war isn't between You-Know-Who, Dumbledore and Harry?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ron cut in, "The Death Eaters aren't just not going to kill you if you aren't with Harry and Dumbledore. It's a call to arms. Everyone should be ready to fight because whether you like it or not, chances are the fight will come to you."

"That's right," Harry agreed.

They all looked at each other solemnly for a moment.

"It is also meant as clear and public support of you Harry," Luna added. "Whether you are or aren't 'the chosen one' is irrelevant, we are all in this together. We shouldn't do nothing and wait for someone else to do the fighting for us. Daddy thinks the Daily Prophet played a dangerous game last summer, fanning all those flames about you being the 'chosen one'."

Harry grimaced. He knew what Luna was trying to say, but he couldn't help but think about it differently. To him, being the chosen one was very relevant, considering he was the only one who could actually finish this battle.

"Because people will just wait for someone else to finish the job?" Ginny questioned. Luna nodded. They shared a look Harry couldn't translate.

"But," Seamus began, and Harry realized most of the Gryffindor table was looking at him, but was unsurprised, "are you the Chosen One? You never said at the HA,"

Before Harry could answer that, Neville spoke up. "Didn't you listen to Luna? It shouldn't matter whether he is or isn't."

"Yeah, but…" Seamus tried, clearly thinking it did matter.

"Oh, come on, Neville," one of Ginny's dormmates said, "you can't actually expect us to fight?"

"We don't, I don't," Harry tried, but Ginny had shot up to her feet.

"Oh come on, Laura, what else are you going to do? Just surrender? What kind of Gryffindor are you?" she said, outraged.

Different voices spoke up then, both agreeing with Ginny and defending Laura.

Harry let the discord swell, but he looked up toward the Head Table to see whether Dumbledore was there. He was. And he was looking at Harry as well, from over his intertwined fingers. His blue eyes bored into Harry.

Maybe it was legilimency, maybe it was just intuition. But Harry knew those eyes held a test, a challenge. And Harry wasn't one to back down from a challenge.

As he stood up, the last thing he heard was, "…but it's not fair!"

He didn't know who had said it, but it was a good start.

"No," he said loudly, "it isn't fair. Nothing about this is fair," he declared and he looked down the table, where most of the discussion had taken place. They fell silent and looked up at him.

"It isn't fair," he repeated, "but it is what it is. The only thing we can do if we win, is to make sure it can never happen again," he said.

"If? Don't you mean 'when'?" someone called out.

Harry grimaced. He hadn't meant to let his own doubt seep through. What should he say now?

Luckily, Luna was there to help him out.

"Being brave is not about the absence of fear," she said in a soft tone that nevertheless carried, "it's about being afraid and not letting it control you. Just like the Dabberblimp!"

"I suggest you read the article," Harry said at last, "It is like Luna's father writes. This war isn't fought between Voldemort, the Headmaster and me. Each of you could be walking in Diagon Alley this summer and encounter the wrong person," he started explaining, but he saw most attention had shifted to his right. He looked around and saw Dumbledore approaching the Gryffindor table.

"Mr Potter is right," the Headmaster said, his voice carrying throughout the entire hall. "Does anyone know what happened when I defeated Grindelwald in 1945?"

A voice from the Ravenclaw table was the one to answer, "The conflict continued for another year before his army was defeated,"

"Quite right, Miss Cross," Dumbledore said, inclining his head toward the 7th year who had answered.

"Voldemort is just a figurehead for his movement. Most of the violence we sadly read about in the newspaper every morning is done in his name yes, but not done by himself. By our latest intelligence, he currently commands somewhere around 300 magical beings. Only a small part of those 300 are his death eaters. Most of his forces aren't as distinguishable. We must defeat Voldemort, yes. But as in every war, soldiers are much larger in number. And while I wish I could shield you all from this conflict, I can only hope to do so while you're at Hogwarts."

With that, he walked passed them, leaving a stunned and frightened silence behind.

- In Her Memory –

Unsurprisingly, the Quibbler article, the discussion at the Gryffindor table, and Dumbledore's words were the most discussed topic in the Hogwarts corridors that week. Everywhere Harry went he caught snippets of discussions and quotes from the article. He had also noticed some Slytherins shooting dark looks towards Luna.

He had discussed the potential repercussions that Luna's Dad would face with Dumbledore before, but of course, Luna would be a target as well.

He wasn't sure whether it was because Malfoy wasn't at Hogwarts anymore, but there seemed to be no outward threat. During lunch, Harry talked with Ron, Ginny and Neville. They felt the need to keep an extra eye on Luna, to make sure she was safe from harm.

At this moment he was walking with Ginny through the corridors. They were looking for Alison and Edward, the Ravenclaw fifth-year prefects. Harry had only talked with Alison that one time when she tried to flirt with him, but this time he had Ginny to protect him. He hadn't talked with Edward much, but he did show up at the HA from time to time.

Harry and Ginny made comfortable small talk as they used the Map to locate them.

"Hey, Alison! Eddy!" Ginny called when they saw them turn a corner. They hastened to catch up to them.

"Weasley?" Edward, or Eddy apparently, asked nonplussed, when they turned the corner. He then did a double-take. "Mr Potter?" he asked, with a bit of a squeak.

Ginny snorted a laugh and Harry raised a confused eyebrow. Eddy flushed a bit, "Sorry" he mumbled.

Alison laughed at him as well before turning to Ginny and Harry.

"You do know we ought to give you detention right?" she began. But Ginny cut her off.

"Yeah, but we both know you won't," she said self-confidently.

Alison looked at her and rolled her eyes. Then she squinted at the two of them suspiciously, "What are you two doing out here alone at night? Looking for a nice broom cupboard?"

Harry flushed at the implication. "Ha! In his dreams maybe," Ginny joked, making Alison and Eddy laugh. She then turned serious.

"No, we chased you down to talk about Luna," she began.

"Because of the Quibbler article?" Eddy cottoned on immediately.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "We're afraid there might be some repercussions. There were some rather, er inflammatory statements."

"You mean inflammatory lies," Alison countered.

"The facts as they were presented were mostly true, especially the stuff about Riddle's blood status," Harry said calmly. Honestly, he'd expected pushback far earlier than he had. "You could easily look up Tom Riddle's history."

"True, so I did," she said, "But there's no actual proof that this Tom Riddle person is the same as You -Know -How. Only theories and the Quibbler is full of theories." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Theories that Dumbledore agrees with," Harry shot back.

Alison shrugged, "That's not the strong rebuttal you seem to think it is."

"Why not?" Ginny asked aggressively.

"Because he's old and clearly senile," Alison said simply.

"You take that back," Ginny growled, taking out her wand.

But before Alison could argue back, Eddie stepped in. "Okay, well, this is not going anywhere. What did you want to ask?"

Harry put his hand on Ginny shoulders, as she had stepped up to Alison, to help her calm down. She looked over her shoulder at him and stepped back.

"We wanted to ask you two to keep an eye out for her. And if you don't want to step in, alert us if you think something is wrong," Harry said.

"We'll do that, Harry," Eddie said. "You can count on me, er, us," he corrected quickly, before blushing and quickly turning around, pulling Alison with him.

As Ginny and Harry walked back, Ginny bumped into Harry.

"You have a fan!" she teased.

"Who? Eddie?" Harry questioned nonplussed.

"Duh," Ginny said, "didn't you see him blush?"

"Was it like looking in a mirror to the past then?" Harry quipped with a huge grin. He jumped forward to dodge Ginny's punch to his shoulder and he ran away laughing, while Ginny cursed him something foul. But he could hear the smile in her voice.

- In Her Memory –

As Ron's birthday approached, Harry realized something was wrong. He had given Ron those fixed Chocolate Cards months ago. Why hadn't Ron celebrated finishing his chocolate card collection? Had the company screwed up? Had Ron by chance given away the card that held Ptomely?

He asked Ginny to investigate. She teased him mercilessly about abusing his fame, but he knew she supported the cause. She reported the next day that Ron had indeed finished his collection but he hadn't wanted to celebrate it because it was such a meaningless achievement in light of what was happening.

Harry understood the sentiment, so he let it slide, even if he was sad that his ploy to give his friend's mood a boost had failed.

Ron's birthday passed quietly. Like with Luna, they held a small birthday dinner in the kitchens and exchanged gifts. The two weeks after passed quickly, with the only distraction being the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff. The match was over quickly. Harry had caught the snitch so quickly that Ginny complained that she hadn't even gotten into her stride yet. Harry reminded her that she had scored all four of the Gryffindor goals, but Ginny hadn't been satisfied with that response. Harry got the feeling there was something she wasn't saying about it, but let it slide.

The quidditch party had been fun, as always.

This time it featured a quite spectacular, and quite public, first kiss between Julia and Andrew, the fifth-year prefects.

Ginny had had a field day teasing them for not using the privacy of Prefect duties to perform their first kiss. Harry had thought it was really sweet and happily joined the others in taking the mick. The two looked embarrassed, but happy when they left the common room shortly after.

It did Harry good to see that life continued on.

He and Ron spend most of the evening in their favourite armchairs by the fire, talking a bit about everything and nothing, sitting in contemplative but comfortable silence from time to time. Before Christmas, Harry would have probably been stressing about not using this time to practise. But Ginny's word had wrung through. He, and Ron especially, needed rest and relaxation. He had noticed it had actually improved his concentration, which really shouldn't have come as a surprise.

He was reminiscing on how Hermione had done it, when with an oof, Neville sat down heavily in the chair next to him.

"Hey, Neville," Harry greeted, "Done being talked up by Seamus?" Seamus had continued his practice of talking Neville up to the ladies. Considering Harry had seen girls give second looks at Neville in the corridors between classes, he wondered whether the lack of success was due to Neville not being willing to actually do something, or whether Seamus was actively hurting Neville's chances.

Neville snickered. "You know, it's actually quite fun once you get over your own embarrassment," he said. "You should try it, Harry," he said, with a grin.

Ron and Neville both laughed as Harry grimaced.

"No, thanks, I don't need any more articles wondering who my "chosen one" will be," he said, joining them in laughter.

"Seamus isn't really that good at it, right? You never have success," Ron remarked.

Neville shook his head. "Well, first of all, he only ever does it with Ginny's roommates. He's lucky they think he's funny because I imagine they'd be tired of it by now otherwise." Neville rolled his eyes. "Luna described it as performance art."

They nursed their drinks for a moment.

"I've seen girls in the halls follow you, you know," Harry told Neville, "with their eyes I mean," he added when Neville looked at him warily.

"Oh, well," Neville said, flushing. "You know, I – er," he began, before taking a breath and staring over. "I've noticed as well. I guess it's good for the self-confidence."

"But?" Ron prompted, "There's definitely a but there."

Neville just shrugged, but he flushed again and looked away.

"Neville?" Harry said, sitting up, "What is it?"

"Neville, you sly dog!" Ron said, grinning at their friend, "Has your eye caught someone as well?"

"Is that true, Neville?" Harry said grinning as well.

"Maybe," Neville said, scratching the side of his head, suddenly looking quite goofy. "But I'm not saying anything," he said decisively. "Now, if you'll excuse me," and with that he fled, leaving to Ron and Harry to share a laugh.

"You could probably find out in a week with the map," Ron said.

"Nah, wouldn't that be a breach of privacy or something?" Harry questioned.

"Probably," Ron shrugged carelessly. Harry just shook his head, he'd never do that to his friends.

- In Her Memory –

"So, she morphed her nose to look just like Max's and asked if she could have a cookie," Ted said with a huge smile.

Harry laughed as well, feeling as content as was possible. These dinners with Andromeda had been a great idea. He loved talking with Ted, who joined increasingly often, as he had a great sense of humour and could tell great stories. Especially the ones about Tonks and her antics were funny. And Ted had a lot of stories to tell.

Meanwhile, Tonks wasn't as amused. She didn't join as often as Ted did, her being an auror meant she was constantly working during this time of war. But when she had her shift at Hogwarts, Andromeda often invited Ted, Tonks and Harry to share a dinner.

It had caused Harry to think of what could've been. Tonks might have been like a big sister to him. He looked at her, sitting across the table playing with her food.

Some of the colours had returned to her, which had instilled hope in Harry that she was starting to feel better over whatever was going on between her and Remus. But that hadn't seemed the case, considering the way she always redirected any question that might hint at Order activities and thus one Remus Lupin.

Harry didn't understand what was happening there, but he didn't feel the right to pry. What did he know about matters of the heart anyway?

Nothing.

At least that was what Fleur had said in her latest letter. She kept nagging him about finding a date, and said he had to live a little. When he had tried to explain that he didn't want to put some poor girl on Voldemort's to-kill list, she had sent an angry letter back saying he was stupid.

Harry wondered about the discussion he would have with himself if there had been someone he fancied. He still had not found out who he had smelled in the amortentia back in Slughorn's first class. But if he had, would he have thought differently about what he said to Fleur? Harry hoped he wouldn't. After all, giving in would be easy, and not doing what his heart might have wanted was the right and hard choice. And like Dumbledore always said, the harder choice was often the right one in cases like these.

Only Harry had the sneaking suspicion Dumbledore wouldn't agree with that sentiment in this case.

He focused back on the conversation at the dinner table. Tonks was sharing something about what was going on at the Auror's, something Harry was quite interested in.

"It's getting tense, Mum," she said dejectedly. "There's almost certainly a spy in the ranks, but we have not yet found a way to figure out who it might be. They wouldn't be so stupid to actually brand them. I keep overthinking everything. Two days ago, I even suspected Kingsly for a moment because he was a bit late and had no excuse!"

Andromeda reached out to caress her daughter on the shoulder.

"Have the older Aurors told you anything about how they dealt with it the last time? Robards would've been around back then, right?"

Harry perked up.

"He was," Tonks confirmed, "He's one of the longest-tenured Aurors, very experienced and it shows. He keeps a cool head."

Harry pulled a face and Tonks noticed. "But, he has his problems as well, doesn't he Harry?"

Harry shrugged, "I think he symbolizes a lot about the ministry."

"That sounds like you aren't the biggest fan?" Ted asked curiously.

"That's one way to put it," Harry said grinning, "There are a couple of issues I have with the Ministry," he explained.

"Like the way they treated you and Dumbledore last year?" Andromeda asked.

"For example," Harry nodded, "but there's a lot more than that. The only issue is I sometimes can't figure out which is due to a fundamental flaw of the Ministry, or because of Fudge being Fudge."

"What happened with the Prophet last year was mostly due to Fudge," Ted said. "Things didn't happen like that during the first war."

"Not on Ministry orders, no," Tonks countered, "There were more than enough pieces of "journalism" published that said the Death eaters weren't all that bad, and that the most productive solution would be to listen and discuss their problems," she said with heavy sarcasm.

"Of, course their actions were and are abhorrent," Andromeda said, "but most people agree with the idea that talking is better than fighting. Most people wanted a peaceful resolution."

"Maybe," Harry said, "but is that because they are against violence in principle? Or just because they felt wrong about fighting with the purebloods who make up most of Riddle's forces? Something tells me they wouldn't be as interested in talking or a compromise if the Death Eaters had been pro-Muggleborn or pro-Goblin."

Andromeda looked uneasy but Ted nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised if that was true, Harry. But there's nothing much we can do about that."

Harry didn't respond to that. That might indeed be the case, but Harry didn't think it mattered.

"I'd be willing to discuss your misgivings with the ministry with you, Harry, I'm always interested in talking politics," Ted offered. "I assume you're having these kinds of discussions with the Headmaster also?"

Harry nodded.

"What else is on your fuck-the-ministry-list, Harry?" Tonks said, grinning when her mother admonished her.

"Oh, a lot," Harry said carelessly. "Actually, there is something you might know something about."

"When Sirius broke out of Azkaban, it was widely reported he was the first one ever to do so, right?" he asked rhetorically. "So, why then, did they give a Kiss-On-Sight order? Wouldn't they want to know how he had escaped? Or, shouldn't they want to know?"

Tonks nodded approvingly. "Great question, kid! And you're right, they should have wanted to know. There are a couple of things at play here, though. First of all, they all thought Sirius was a dangerous murderer before he went into Azkaban. When he escaped, it was presumed he was insane as well."

"That's not true," Harry said, "I overheard Fudge saying he had thought it strange that Sirius had seemed so lucid, even after all those years in Azkaban."

"You overheard?" Andromeda asked, "How can you just overhear the Minister?"

"I followed him in my Invisibility Cloak during an illegal Hogsmeade trip," Harry said nonchalantly, shooting Tonks a hidden smirk.

Andromeda put her face in her hands, while Tonks laughed out loud and Ted shook his head as if he couldn't believe it. He thought he heard Andromeda mutter something about his father. Harry chuckled as well.

"But, to come back to it, they were afraid he was going to kill a lot of people if they tried to arrest him. And the fact Fudge thought he was lucid only adds to that belief. You could argue they should've sent the Dementors in to apprehend him, but clearly, they didn't have enough of an effect. According to Fudge that is," Tonks added sadly. "With that in mind, you can understand why they didn't want to give him the opportunity to try something," she finished, shrugging like she didn't know what to think of it.

"Okay, that logic I can follow," Harry said slowly, "but that doesn't explain why they Kissed Barty Crouch Junior."

"The only reasons I can think of are PR-related," Tonks said. "That's why it didn't make the papers at all, which of course, comes back to your issues with the Prophet."

"Well, it's clear now why you prefer the Quibbler, dear, besides the obvious one," Andromeda said with a smile and wink.

"Oh?" Tonks said, smiling wickedly, "Have you decided Luna is to be your chosen one?"

"Oh, shut up," Harry said with a groan.