Disclaimers: See Chapter 1 for more info.

Frodo was exhausted by the time he returned to the Ravenclaw common room. Aria was still up and delighted when she learned that he got Slughorn's true memory, as well as Dumbledore's promise that he and Harry could come with him to find another Horcrux.

"So the One Ring was a horcrux this whole time." Aria said, impressed. "Wow. So we are living in an alternate reality, where the One Ring is destroyed. Who would have seen that coming?"

"My future self, the original future self, must have destroyed the Ring. But how could my books end up in this timeframe?" Frodo asked, confused. "It doesn't make sense."

"You know what this means?" Aria asked. "It means that whatever our futures were have changed."

"I guessed that, too." Frodo said, changing the subject. "So, any news?"

"Katie Bell is back. Whoever cursed her must still be in the school." Aria told him.

"Lotho and Malfoy." Frodo answered.

"You don't even know if its them." She told him, sharply.

"Still, I'm going to find out for myself." He said, clutching his potions' book for a moment. "Still, it's a nice night."

Aria looked up at the window. "It is. I'm glad you noticed."

"Yeah, me too." Frodo said, keeping his gaze on the window for a second.

.

Days passed and already he noticed a change in the air. Ron and Lavender split up, as did Dean and Ginny. Given the look on Harry's face, he either was about to explode or go ahead and talk to Ginny. Mostly, everyone's interest was focused on the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Frodo was most likely going to cheer on both teams. It didn't matter to him anymore who won. Just that he had friends from both houses to celebrate with.

He happened to follow Harry into the boys' bathroom when he heard crying from Malfoy. Lotho was in the bathroom, too, as was Moaning Myrtle, who were doing their best to calm Malfoy. This was the right opportunity to coax Malfoy into telling the truth.

"You hexed Katie Bell, didn't you?" Harry spat at Draco.

"Why you two—" Lotho jetted a few spells towards Harry and Frodo.

Frodo dodged the spell. His heart raced inside his chest. He snaked on ahead after Lotho, hoping to catch him in the act. Harry was behind him, firing spells at Draco. Frodo turned around the corner. Lotho flung a spell right at him. Frodo barely missed the spell and tried again.

Smoke flew in the air. Toilets spouted water, dripping across the floor.

More spells shot off. Frodo dived on the floor, using his hand magic to throw another spell at Lotho. He missed again. He repelled another spell away from him as he turned the corner. Time for a new spell, which he and Harry said at the same time.

"Sectumsempra!"

The spell smacked into Lotho and Draco's faces. They collapsed on the floor. No! This wasn't supposed to happen. A lump filled inside Frodo's throat. He didn't want this to happen, but it was there. That spell meant killing. It was a bad spell.

Frodo moved out of the way as Snape entered the scene. He regrouped with Harry, hoping friendship would solve this crisis. It didn't. Lotho and Malfoy were still drenched in blood. Snape calmed them down and cast a spell to heal their wounds, before turning on Frodo and Harry.

"Bring me all of your schoolbooks. All of them!" Snape fired at the two.

Frodo didn't bother sticking around. He walked off in search of his potions' book, back in the common room. Instead, he had a better idea. He waved his hand, causing a clean potions' book to fall into his hands. Once he was done and grabbed his satchel, he took the Sorcerer's book and made a beeline for the seventh-floor corridor.

He needed a place to store the book, somewhere where not even Snape could find the book. The wall transformed into a door. He made it in the Room of Requirement. Harry joined him. Together, they went inside and searched for a spot to hide the books. Perfect! Now to meet up with Snape….

"What is this?" Snape asked Frodo, as soon as he handed him the new potions' book. "This book has been tampered with. What did you do?!"

"Nothing. It's the right book." Frodo lied.

"Detention this Saturday at ten o' clock." Snape turned on Harry. "You too, Potter."

Harry stammered. "But Quidditch… the last match…"

"Ten o' clock." Snape repeated. "Poor Gryffindor will have to make due with last place this year."

.

Word have traveled fast around the school what Frodo and Harry had done. Moaning Myrtle made sure of it, as did Draco, Lotho and Snape. Flitwick and McGonagall agreed wholeheartedly with Snape that Frodo and Harry should have detention every Saturday until the end of term.

Frodo found it unfair that he had to miss the Quidditch match for this, but understood what he did was wrong. He was lucky to have gotten rid of the Sorcerer's book. Now he was serving detention for simply using the notes the Sorcerer wrote.

Frodo waited until after dinner before spilling everything to Aria. She reacted in the way he expected from her, what he was used to seeing her as.

"You shouldn't have done it!" Aria griped. "Lotho could have been killed! You would be in more trouble if he had died."

"I know, Aria!" Frodo said, tensely. "I know."

"Well, what are you going to do now?" she asked him.

"Go to detention. I have no choice. I'm going to miss the match." He told her.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"At least let me do something…."

"There's nothing to be done!" He said, calming down. "I did it. I really did it. Now I have to pay for what I did. It's what any responsible student does when they're in trouble."

"And you know a thing or two about being responsible?" She asked, serious.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked her, curtly.

"Well, I'll admit Frodo that when we were younger, you got into trouble an awful lot. You weren't always like this, you know." She said. She admitted, calming down, "Good luck with detention. I hope it goes well for you."

He sighed. "Me too."

.

All the happiness he had towards the next day melted. Frodo could see the infuriated looks on people's faces when he and Harry marched towards Snape. They were in Filch's office with a lot of filing cabinets and boxes. There were so many boxes. What exactly was their detention this time?

"The files that are faded I want you two to write afresh. These files have students who were nothing more than troublemakers. I think you will find some interesting. Such as James Potter and Sirius Black. But look! There's also Drogo Baggins and Everhart Boffin!" Snape cried, showing off a wicked grin.

Frodo's blood boiled. How he loathed Snape!

"And no magic for this task." Snape told him and Harry.

No magic?! This was the last thing Frodo wanted to hear. The fact that he had to write out all these papers new was a chore in and of itself. He watched the clock go by. An hour… an hour and a half…

"Stop!" Snape told him and Harry. "That's enough for today. We'll do this again next Saturday at ten o' clock. You two may go."

Frodo said no words to Snape as he left Filch's office. He followed Harry out into the corridor and towards the Great Hall. There was a crowd of people talking amongst themselves. He looked around in search of Harry. Harry had already gone up the marble staircase. He followed him without hesitation, only managing to stop when he reached the Ravenclaw common room.

The whole room fell silent by the time he arrived. Many faces looked disappointed. His attention returned to the present when Aria walked up to him, holding his hand and bringing him over to an empty couch.

"We lost." Aria said, a tear ready to stream down her cheek. "Gryffindor won." She sighed heavily. "The good news is everyone's more focused on the match. That doesn't mean they haven't remembered what you did to Lotho."

"This again." Frodo said, sharply. "Aria, it was an accident. I promise." He added, "Look, I'll make it up somehow. I just need to figure out a way to get my reputation back in order. I can't do it alone. Can you help me?"

Aria gave it some thought. She nodded, much to Frodo's delight. "Of course, I'll help you. Just tell me the time and place, and we'll get started."

"Great." He leaned in and kissed her on the lips a few times. They released. He sighed. Aria giggled. He was already feeling better. That was good. Now, at least, he could focus on finding the next Horcrux with Dumbledore, wherever that object was hiding.

Thanks for reading. :)