James Birdsong: Thank you so much for the review! I appreciate you!

Chapter Nineteen

She fancied George Weasley.

There was no way around it, no denying it.

As February gave way to March and March to April and the sun melted the residual snow on the ground and the weather started warming gradually, she had been forced to come to this conclusion, despite all of her attempts to ignore it. Fred and Tori had clearly seen it first. Or maybe it had been Harry, who had been oddly perceptive of their relationship from the jump. And she hated that she'd told him there was nothing going on between them because now it felt like she had lied. Even though she hadn't, not really. There was nothing going on between them and, despite the fact that half of their group seemed very aware of the transition in their group dynamic, George did not appear to be very aware of her feelings at all.

Something for which she was extremely grateful for, considering how perceptive of her he usually was. She had never been so grateful for her proclivity to blushing because she half suspected that this was really the only thing that saved her the embarrassment of him discovering how she felt. She was even more grateful for the fact that Fred had not said anything to his twin, with whom he shared everything, about his suspicions. She'd had several moments of anxiety wondering if he would mention it to his brother as the months had passed and the feelings had not dissipated, but he seemed content to let the two of them work out whatever was happening on their own.

Nessa had zero inclination to voice her feelings to George, however. Even if she couldn't deny them anymore, she was still confused how — or even when — her feelings had changed. Somewhere along the line her feelings for George had changed from him being one of her best friends, someone who she was almost as completely comfortable with as Tori, to being someone who made butterflies erupt in her stomach every time he grinned at her and made her grin stupidly every time he laughed at one of her jokes. Even worse, she had to stop herself from staring at him when he wasn't looking. He'd caught her once and she'd had zero excuse to have been doing so, so instead of coming clean, she'd jumped up from the dinner table and raced off to the library. Something with which Tori had made fun of her for for weeks.

She hadn't voiced her feelings to Tori either, but they'd spent so much time together in the last several years, it wasn't as if she had any possible hope of keeping it from her. Tori did seem to recognize how uncomfortable the feelings seemed to make her and did not leave her much time alone with George. She'd have thanked her friend for the action, but that would have required her to admit aloud how she felt. She was learning more and more, as the days passed and she continued to say nothing, that she was a coward.

In order to distract herself completely from the turmoil in her head, she'd retreated back into the library again. The twins had grown very tired of joining her, and only rarely came with her these days, which gave her some much needed space from George. Tori, however, did join her almost every night, sighing heavily and eyeing her best friend over her textbooks wearily. Nessa suspected she was waiting for her to talk.

Instead, Nessa dived headfirst into a pile of reading material in an attempt to figure out what could possibly be causing Harry to hear voices the rest of them couldn't. She'd spoken with the twins and Tori on several occasions about the incident and her irritation that Harry hadn't said anything to her at all. None of them could think of anything that would cause that other than a serious psychological issue, which Nessa was adamantly denying could be the case.

She'd completely set aside any research on Slytherin to solve this issue, which she considered to be much more pressing. She'd pulled out several books on Healing and dived deep into symptoms that could cause this sort of reaction in someone, but had found nothing of import, considering he had no other symptoms. She'd then moved to books on Dark Magic, her thought process being that, if not biological, it could very well be something magical instead. Whatever was petrifying students was clearly some form of darkness, so it could stand to reason that Harry's response to the situation could be the same.

She'd had to use their dad's Invisibility Cloak to sneak out some of the books, as the majority of them were in the Restricted Section, but she'd found a particularly disturbing one that had gone into great detail about Voldemort and the magic he'd used when he'd been in power. Though disturbing, she had found a passage on possession that had sparked her interest at first, but again, Harry did not show any symptoms of possession, other than a voice in his head. No bouts of forgetfulness or lost memories, no nightmares, no anxiety or flu-like symptoms. Only the voice. This was something Nessa could agree to be thankful for, even though it kept her from getting an answer to the problem, because the thought of Harry being possessed by anything made her want to scream.

As April drew to a close and the next Quidditch match of the season — Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff — loomed closer, Nessa sat in the library overlooking the disturbing book once more instead of making her way down to the Quidditch pitch. She'd skipped breakfast and told Tori she'd meet her after the match was over. Tori had scowled at her, but said nothing as she'd stomped off to the breakfast table to sit with the twins, who were looking up at her in concern as she'd waved meekly and disappeared. She had no intention of missing the match — everyone in her life outside of her played and it felt rude not to be supportive — but there was a sort of anxiety in her stomach, an insistent niggle in the back of her mind that she couldn't shake.

She was missing something. Something important. It was driving her insane because there was absolutely zero indication that she had come across anything substantial, but she kept reading and re-reading the same passage about possession as if it would give her all the answers she was looking for. Even though she'd already come to the conclusion that her brother was not possessed, that the people in the hospital wing couldn't be petrified due to possession, and that the idea of possession was horrible and terrifying. Voldemort had apparently been very adept at it and there were horror stories of people being shown images of the worst possible acts — their dead families and friends, the things that terrified them most, the murders and torture — until they had grown insane from the images and prayed for death.

On several occasions while reading, Nessa wondered why this book was even in the library at all. It sent chills up her spine and made it hard for her to breathe just reading it. Such an abuse of power, such depravity, did not feel like acceptable reading material for a school and she wondered if absorbing the information at the ripe age of fourteen was going to adversely affect her moving forward. She stared at the pages until they blurred and she could no longer absorb anything in front of her and she wanted to bang her head into the table repeatedly to knock the images out of her head.

"What are you doing?"

Nessa flailed in a panic, pointing her wand immediately at the voice and coming face to face with a very startled George Weasley.

"Merlin, Nessa, what the hell?" he exclaimed, his palms facing her in placation as he took a step backward in surprise.

She huffed a breath of air, realizing suddenly, as her heart pounded hard against her chest, that she had been holding it. Her wand hand shook slightly as she lowered it and shot George an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I — I was just reading this horrible book and you scared me half to death," she admitted, sitting down again and trying to bring her heart rate back down to an acceptable level.

George came up behind her, his chest pressed to her back as he leaned over her shoulder to take a look at the book in front of her. Her heart started pounding for an entirely different reason as he lingered and the smell of gunpowder and cinnamon flooded her senses. Her head started to spin a little as he continued reading and his body tensed up slowly. Reaching around her, he shut the book with a snap and took a seat next to her, eyeing her disapprovingly.

She exhaled a sigh of relief at the increased space between them and tugged lightly on her Gryffindor tie to give her some more space to breathe. Christ, it was getting worse by the day.

"Why in Merlin's beard would you be reading a book like that?" he said sharply, clearly as uncomfortable with the content as she had been.

She avoided looking at him because he was already wearing his Gryffindor Quidditch robes and she had no idea why, but she really liked when he wore them because they clung to his arms in a way that accentuated his musculature, and really, she did not need to make it any harder for herself to concentrate where he was concerned. And why was his hair always messy? And why did she like that because what difference did that make?

She did bang her head on the table this time and George started next to her.

"Vanessa, what is going on?" he said, clearly concerned. "Whatever you're doing in here really isn't worth this level of upset."

Nessa thanked her lucky stars that he was so daft and sighed heavily.

"It's nothing, I just — there's something about this book that's making me feel like I'm missing something. I've read it a hundred times by now, but I feel like I'm no closer to figuring out what's going on with Harry than before," she lifted her head and glared at the book now. "But there's something, George."

"Something about possession?" he said, staring at her incredulously. "Maybe that feeling you're having is the realization that You–Know-Who was a horribly sick bloke and you're confusing that with something else."

She rolled her eyes and finally let them settle on him, breathing slowly when their eyes met. Blue was her favorite color. That really did not make it easier.

"It isn't," she huffed and waved him away when he opened his mouth to reply. "I don't think Harry's possessed, but there's something…something bothering me about the whole thing. And it gets worse every time I read it."

"Okay, fine," he said, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows into his hairline expectantly. "Walk me through what's bothering you."

"That's just it! I don't know!" she said, standing up and pacing back and forth. "The voice…I mean, he hears this voice that no one else can hear. And that would make sense if he were being possessed except there's nothing else in here that makes any sense. Nothing else that indicates that's what's happening to him. Which, I mean, thank God, George, because Voldemort was a really horrible human being. I mean, can you even call him a human being? The thought of Harry being subjected to any of that is enough to send me completely over the edge." She was pacing faster now and grabbing at her hair and George looked torn between forcing her to stop and allowing her to get it all off of her chest. "But I just…I mean, is there a chance that he still could be? I mean this is Voldemort in full power and capacity, yes? Which he clearly wasn't last year so maybe he isn't totally able to cause this same sort of – of – of distress at this level. And I'm aware that I must look or sound like a lunatic, but something about this is rubbing me the wrong way, George."

"Alright, okay," he said, suddenly, standing up and pulling her to a stop by her shoulders, looking down at her seriously. "Nessa, you can't keep doing this, alright? You've been in here non-stop for months and reading this sort of…depravity…it's not healthy. Clearly."

"I know that," she said, softly, letting him pull her into him for a hug and relaxing immediately against him as his arms tightened around her. This was the other thing she hated about avoiding him so much. Despite how she felt about him, it was so easy to relax around him and forget her problems. And at the moment she had a lot of problems. "I just…there's something wrong, George. I can feel it in my gut. And I don't know how to fix it. I hate not knowing how to fix it. I'm scared."

She felt weak for the admission, like she should have been holding it together because no one else — other than perhaps Ginny, who had unfortunately regressed back into her odd behavior despite a month of looking better — seemed to feel stricken by what was happening anymore. There had been no more attacks, the teachers were looking more relaxed each day, and the students had stopped whispering about her so much — she should have felt relieved. But instead she felt more on edge than ever.

George sighed into her hair. "Love, please just come to the pitch, okay? Whatever this is…it can wait a bit. Let's just get some fresh air and maybe it will help clear your head a bit and we can figure out what's bothering you about all this after?"

"And if it doesn't?" she said hopelessly. He pushed her away from him and looked her hard in the eye.

"Then Fred, Tori, and I will be down here to help you figure it out," he said firmly, "But you're done with looking at all this alone, are we clear?"

She huffed at him. "I don't like being bossed around, did you know?"

He smirked at her. "You should take better care of yourself then, and I won't have to. Now come on. If I'm late you get to explain it to Wood."

She let him drag her through the castle, smiling weakly at Hermione as she rushed into the library, and didn't fight as he pulled them out onto the grounds.

There was something else about the whole thing that really bothered her. She hadn't mentioned it to him because it was more personal than what she'd said was bothering her about the book.

Reading about Voldemort was something she had always avoided doing because she didn't like to think about the pain and the fear he'd caused. Even now, when he was dead — or mostly dead, she assumed, because how could he have attacked Harry last year if were really dead? — the fear of him lingered. The Wizarding World couldn't even say his name aloud, as if it would cause him to appear again before them.

And that was part of the reason she'd been holed up in the library, wasn't it? Because, while her feelings for George made her incredibly nervous, they were manageable. No, the bigger reason was because she'd known when she'd chosen to look into this subject in an attempt to help her brother that Voldemort would surely be part of the conversation. He was the darkest wizard the Wizarding World had ever seen and he'd used magic that was great and horrifying. And now that she'd read it, she'd opened up her past trauma and her darkest fears all in one go and the thought of explaining that to her friends, only one of which would truly understand how she felt, was just something she really didn't want to mention.

But maybe she should tell one of them. It felt like it was eating her alive. She'd had her own trouble sleeping lately because every time she closed her eyes, she could see it all happening again. She'd been much older than Harry when her parents had been murdered, and remembered more of that night than she'd have liked.

They'd made it halfway across the grounds before she was pulling him to a stop by the hand. George turned to look at her curiously and his face dropped when he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Do you think that's what he did to my parents?" she whispered brokenly. His heart clenched. "Before he killed them I mean? Made them so miserable that they prayed for it to be over?"

It was irrational. She remembered enough to know that it had been quick for both of them — or at least she was fairly sure it had been. But she'd been three at the time, in a clearly traumatic situation. Maybe she was blocking bits out. Forgetting the horrible parts to save herself the pain.

"Sweetheart," he whispered roughly, pulling her back into his arms again and squeezing her so tightly he was concerned he might have been hurting her except she was squeezing back just as tightly and didn't seem to want him to let her go.

There were no words he could say to ease the horrible thought because he didn't know for sure what Voldemort had done to them that night any more than she did. A part of him wanted to tell her that he hadn't — that whatever had happened had been quick and painless — because even though that changed nothing, at least it wasn't the alternative. But it would have been a lie and that seemed disrespectful for a lot of reasons.

So instead he just stood there and held her as the rest of the students walked around them and looked at them strangely.

-o0o-

He was late to the match.

He ignored his other teammates completely as he rushed into the locker room and didn't offer any excuses to Wood, who was glaring at him fiercely. They couldn't have started without him anyway and it had taken him several minutes after Nessa had let him go to convince her to come to the match still. She'd wanted to go back to the castle — to hide away until the darkness in her head dissipated — but he'd made her promise him that she wouldn't. In all the time he'd known her, which to be fair hadn't been that long, he'd never seen her that distraught. Never seen her teetering so close to the edge. The thought of her being alone to deal with it all put him curiously on edge. He'd been half-tempted to skip the match completely.

Fred and Tori stood on either side of him, Tori totally out of her formation with the other Chasers, as they prepared to walk out onto the field. His body was present and prepared for the match ahead, but his head was still back with Vanessa and he was entirely sure they could tell he wasn't totally there. The two people who knew him better than anyone else in the world — and suddenly he wished they didn't because he didn't want to be forced to explain something so utterly private, something Nessa had trusted him with, to either one of them.

"What's wrong?" Fred whispered harshly.

"She's not allowed in the library alone until this is over," was the only thing he said and he ignored the concerned look the two of them shared as the two teams walked onto the field to tumultuous applause.

Wood took off for a warm-up flight around the goal posts; Madam Hooch released the balls. The Hufflepuffs, who played in canary yellow, were standing in a huddle, having a last-minute discussion of tactics. George resisted the urge to look up into the stands to see if he could spot Nessa and was making to mount his broom when Professor McGonagall came half-marching, half-running across the pitch, carrying an enormous purple megaphone.

George felt his stomach drop out and he looked into the stands, praying to see auburn hair — praying she hadn't gone back up to the school, back to the library or hiding in her dormitory or the loo or anywhere else where she could be alone. Because he could tell she'd wanted to and he'd made her promise to him over and over that she wouldn't. That, even though she hated being around other people when she was as upset as she had been when he'd left her, she needed a distraction like a Quidditch game for the next hour or so.

"This match has been canceled," Professor McGonagall called through the megaphone, addressing the packed stadium. There were boos and shouts. Oliver Wood, looking devastated, landed and ran toward Professor McGonagall without getting off his broomstick.

"But, Professor!" he shouted. "We've got to play — the cup — Gryffindor —"

George hardly noticed because his panic was building. He couldn't see her. Where the hell was she?

He couldn't tell why he was so nervous, but he knew, just based on the look on McGonagall's face, that something had happened. And whatever it was, it was different this time. She looked as though she were trying to hold herself together, stricken, and he knew there had been another attack.

Merlin, please do not have let her have gone back up to the castle.

"All students are to make their way back to the House common rooms, where their Heads of Houses will give them further information. As quickly as you can, please!"

Then she lowered the microphone and beckoned Harry over. George felt like his entire chest was going to explode from the panic — Merlin, please no — and he saw Tori tense beside him because why on Earth would she be asking for Harry, because there was not a single chance he had caused the attack when he had been with the team the entire time, and —

His breath came bursting out of him in a whoosh as he saw her detaching herself from the crowd of complaining students and she came running up to them, her face a mask of anguish as her brother and Ron walked with McGonagall back toward the castle.

"Nessa!" said Tori in relief and George tried to calm his racing heart. Fred and Tori threw him a confused look, but he ignored it as Nessa drew up to them.

"Hermione never showed," was all she said, and suddenly it made sense why McGonagall had disappeared with his brother and Harry.

-o0o-

"All students will return to their House common rooms by six o'clock in the evening. No student is to leave the dormitories after that time. You will be escorted to each lesson by a teacher. No student is to use the bathroom unaccompanied by a teacher. All further Quidditch training and matches are to be postponed. There will be no more evening activities."

The common room was packed with people as Professor McGonagall spoke, but the silence was heavy. It weighed on her shoulders and pressed up against her chest in a way that made it hard to breathe.

She was numb. It was the shock of it all — Hermione and some Ravenclaw prefect had been found just outside the library. A library that she and George had left only moments before and she couldn't help but wonder how close she'd come to being in the hospital wing herself. Even if it were muggle-borns that the monster was attacking in particular, she doubted whatever monster it was would have passed the opportunity to have petrified her too if she'd walked past.

The twins and Tori seemed to agree because the three of them were crowding around her on the couch and shooting her furtive glances every few minutes.

Her brother and Ron were looking pale and depressed and she had no idea what to say, no idea how to fix it. It always came back to that, didn't it? She had to fix everything and it just didn't feel like this was anything she could fix.

Harry shifted in front of her from where he was sitting, on the floor in front of the sofa, between her legs, and she paused in her repetitive motion of running her hand through his hair. She was unable to tell if she was comforting herself or him at this point, and she made to pull her hand away from him, except he shot her a beseeching look and she sighed heavily, continuing the ministrations.

Professor McGonagall rolled up the parchment from which she had been reading and said in a somewhat choked voice, "I need hardly add that I have rarely been so distressed. It is likely that the school will be closed unless the culprit behind these attacks is caught. I would urge anyone who thinks they might know anything about them to come forward."

She climbed through the portrait hole somewhat awkwardly, and the Gryffindors began talking immediately.

"That's two Gryffindors down, not including a Gryffindor ghost, one Ravenclaw, and one Hufflepuff," said Lee, counting on his fingers. "Haven't any of the teachers noticed that the Slytherins are all safe? Isn't it obvious all this stuff's coming from Slytherin? The Heir of Slytherin, the monster of Slytherin — why don't they just chuck all the Slytherins out?"

There were cheers and applause from the upset crowd, but Vanessa was in no mood for the debate. Percy Weasley was sitting in a chair behind Lee, but for once, was not voicing his opinion at all. Instead, he looked pale and stunned.

"Percy's in shock," George told them quietly. "That Ravenclaw girl — Penelope Clearwater — she's a prefect. I don't think he thought the monster would dare attack a prefect."

Harry didn't seem to be listening. He shared a look with Ron before the two of them turned to look directly at Nessa.

"I need to talk to you," he said suddenly. She shared a look with Tori and the twins and nodded toward the dormitory steps. If Harry was surprised that the twins and Tori followed her, he didn't say much of anything. He didn't speak again until they were all shut in the third-year boys' dormitory. "I need the cloak back."

"No," she said immediately as Tori scoffed from beside her. She had never been so grateful before that she had been holding on to their father's cloak because of her research in the library. "What part of that speech did you not understand?"

"Nessa, this is important," he beseeched. "We have to talk to Hagrid."

"Right now? Talk to him in the morning, Harry!" she exclaimed.

"He's the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years ago, Vanessa."

The shock of the statement was enough to cause even the twins and Tori to still completely and blink at him in silence. She didn't think that she'd ever see the day that that would have been the case. Harry seemed to take this as his opportunity to plow ahead — the book he'd had in the library had shown him what had happened 50 years ago when Hagrid had been expelled because he'd been keeping a giant spider within the castle, how a girl had died and the school had been on the verge of closing, how they'd avoided asking him about it because there had been no other attacks.

The absurdity of the entire thing was beyond anything she'd ever been presented with before and as the silence weighed in the room again she had absolutely no idea what to say.

"There's no way it's Hagrid," said Fred finally. Nessa jumped when the silence was broken.

"I don't want to believe it either, but there's no way to know for sure, if we don't ask him," said Harry determinedly. "Nessa, give me the cloak."

"I'm going with you," she said immediately because she really didn't know what else to say and what was she supposed to do anyway? Hide it from him or continue arguing? If Hagrid was the cause of any of this, she wanted to know. She wanted this to be over. And if it wasn't Hagrid then he at least had some idea of what had happened before. Maybe that would help her narrow it down.

The words caused an uproar from the twins and Tori as they immediately said that they were going if she was going and Harry argued that they couldn't all go or they'd certainly be caught. The cloak wouldn't fit all of them.

"Tori can come," said Nessa. The twins glared at her and opened their mouths to argue, but she looked directly at George and implored with her eyes. "I'm not letting him go alone. And you lot won't let me go alone. This is the best option. We won't all fit under the cloak and if I take one of you two, then I have to take the other."

There was a long silence as they stared at each other. She could tell that he wasn't fond of the idea, but at least he wasn't immediately shutting her down. It'd be so much easier if she could get the twins to agree.

"I don't like this," said George after a moment of silence. Fred looked less than happy himself, and the fact that his twin was so close to acquiescing did not seem to improve his mood.

"Neither do I," she said, her eyes never wavering from his. "But I'm tired of this. If Hagrid is our best chance at telling the teachers what's going on, then we should take it. Besides, the two of you can keep an eye on the Map while we're gone. If we aren't back in an hour, you can get McGonagall."

"No, this is mental," said Fred hotly. "What good is McGonagall going to do if you lot are petrified?"

"George."

He stared at her for a minute and neither one of them spoke as he considered the scenario. He did not look pleased — not even close. There was a sort of anxiousness about him that she did not like and it made her stomach lurch because she knew exactly how he must be feeling and she hated everything about it.

"One hour," he said firmly. Fred threw up his hands in irritation. "I'm serious, Vanessa. Any longer than an hour and I'll march up and down this bloody school and tell every teacher we see."

"One hour," she promised.

The six of them dispersed just as Dean, Neville, and Seamus entered the dormitory. Nessa left her bag with George and grabbed the cloak out from it, sharing a comforting look with him, before he dragged Fred up to their own dormitory to keep guard over the map. Fred went unwillingly, swearing violently the entire time and glaring at her and threw the cloak over the four of them and they walked as closely as possible without tripping. She was thankful for the sheer size of the cloak — and the fact that none of them were horribly tall — because they didn't even have to crouch to hide their feet.

The journey through the dark and deserted castle corridors wasn't enjoyable, however. It was crowded with teachers, prefects, and ghosts marching along in pairs, looking for any unusual activity. They had to be particularly careful not to make any noise or shuffle their feet too loudly and there was a moment, where Ron stubbed his toe only yards from where Snape stood, when Nessa was entirely certain they were going to be caught. By some stroke of luck, Snape sneezed at the same time that Ron swore.

She had never been so relieved to see the clear, starry sky as they stepped outside of the castle. They hurried to the clearly lit windows of Hagrid's hut and only removed the cloak once they'd reached the front door.

Harry knocked loudly and Hagrid flung the door open seconds later, aiming a crossbow at them. The four of them cringed backward as Fang started barking loudly behind him.

"Oh," he said, lowering the weapon and staring at them. "What're you lot doing here?"

"What's that for?" said Harry, pointing at the crossbow as they stepped inside.

"Nothin' — Nothin' —" Hagrid muttered. "I've bin expectin' — doesn' matter — Sit down — I'll make tea —"

Nessa watched as Hagrid stumbled around the house, nearly extinguishing the fire, spilling water from the kettle on it, and then smashed a teapot with a nervous jerk of his massive hand. She shared a concerned look with Tori, who was currently squatting next to Fang and soothing him quietly. It was so hard for her to believe that this man would be the cause of anything foul happening up at the school.

"Are you okay, Hagrid?" said Harry. "Did you hear about Hermione?"

"Oh, I heard, all righ',' ' said Hagrid, a slight break in his voice.

He kept glancing nervously at the windows. He poured them all a large mug of boiling water, having forgotten about tea bags completely, and was just putting a slab of fruitcake on a plate when there was a loud knock on the door. Hagrid dropped the cake. The four of them shared panicked looks and huddled close together, backing as far away from the door as possible and throwing the Cloak back over themselves hastily. Hagrid looked back to make sure they were covered, seized his crossbow, and flung open his door once more.

"Good evening, Hagrid."

Nessa's breath hitched. It was Dumbledore. He entered, looking deadly serious, and was followed by a second, very odd-looking man that Nessa had never seen before. The stranger had rumpled gray hair and an anxious expression and was wearing a strange mixture of clothing: a pinstriped suit, a scarlet tie, a long black cloak, and pointed purple boots. Under his arm, he carried a lime-green bowler.

"That's Dad's boss!" Ron breathed. "Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic!"

All three of them elbowed Ron to get him to shut up. Nessa held her breath. She could have sworn Dumbledore had flicked his eyes over to look at them.

Hagrid had gone pale and sweaty. He dropped into one of his chairs and looked from Dumbledore to Fudge.

"Bad business, Hagrid," said Fudge in a clipped tone. "Very bad business. Had to come. Four attacks on Muggle-borns. Things've gone far enough. Ministry's got to act."

"I never," said Hagrid, looking imploringly at Dumbledore. "You know I never, Professor Dumbledore, sir —"

"I want it understood, Cornelius, that Hagrid has my full confidence," said Dumbledore, growing at Fudge. Nessa felt some of the tension leave her shoulders at this sentiment — Dumbledore had always been a fantastic judge of character.

"Look, Albus," said Fudge, frowning at Dumbledore. "Hagrid's record's against him. Ministry's got to do something — the school governor's been in touch —"

"Yet again, Cornelius, I tell you that taking Hagrid away will not help in the slightest," said Dumbledore. His blue eyes were filled with a fire that Nessa had never seen before. Looking at him now, she understood perfectly how powerful of a wizard he must be.

"Look at it from my point of view," said Fudge, fidgeting with his bowler. "I'm under a lot of pressure. Got to be seen to be doing something. If it turns out it wasn't Hagrid, he'll be back and no more said. But I've got to take him. Got to. Wouldn't be doing my duty —"

"Take me?" said Hagrid, who was suddenly trembling. "Take me where?"

"For a short stretch only," said Fudge, not meeting Hagrid's eyes. "Not a punishment, Hagrid, more a precaution. If someone else is caught, you'll be let out with a full apology —"

"Not Azkaban?" croaked Hagrid.

Nessa looked at Tori and Ron curiously as they both tensed in shock, but it wasn't as if either one of them could answer when they were all so desperately trying to remain unnoticed.

Before Fudge could answer, there was another loud rap on the door. Dumbledore answered it. It was Harry's turn to be elbowed in the ribs by all of them as he had let out an audible gasp. Nessa bit her lip to keep silent as Lucius Malfoy strode into Hagrid's hut, smiling a cold and satisfied smile. Fang started to growl.

"Already here, Fudge," he said approvingly. "Good, good."

"What're you doin' here?" said Hagrid furiously. "Get outta my house!"

"My dear man, please believe me, I have no pleasure at all in being in your — er — d'you call this a house?" said Lucius Malfoy, sneering as he looked around the small cabin. "I simply called at the school and was told that the headmaster was here."

"And what exactly did you want with me, Lucius?" said Dumbledore. He spoke politely, but there was still a fire in his eyes.

"Dreadful thing, Dumbledore," said Malfoy lazily, taking out a roll of parchment. "But the governors feel it's time for you to step aside. This is an Order of Suspension — you'll find all twelve signatures on it. I'm afraid we feel you're losing your touch. How many attacks have there been now? Two more this afternoon, wasn't it? At this rate, there'll be no Muggle-borns left at Hogwarts, and we all know what an awful loss that would be to the school."

Nessa had to hastily cover Tori's mouth with her hand before she could release the swear she was holding in. Nessa's own stomach rolled with fury at the clear abuse of power. Lucius Malfoy couldn't have cared less about the Muggle-borns petrified up at the castle. Without Dumbledore at the school, she could only imagine how much worse it would get and she was certain Malfoy knew this too.

"Oh, now, see here, Lucius," said Fudge, looking alarmed and clearly thinking along the same lines. "Dumbledore suspended — no, no — last thing we want just now —"

"The appointment — or suspension — of the headmaster is a matter for the governors, Fudge," said Mr. Malfoy smoothly. "And if Dumbledore has failed to stop these attacks —"

"See here, Malfoy, if Dumbledore can't stop them," said Fudge, whose upper lip was sweating now, "I mean to say, who can?"

"That remains to be seen," said Mr. Malfoy with a nasty smile. "But all twelve of us have voted —"

Hagrid leapt to his feet, his shaggy black head grazing the ceiling.

"An' how many did yeh have ter threaten an' blackmail before they agreed, Malfoy, eh?" he roared.

"Dear, dear, you know, that temper of yours will lead you into trouble one of these days, Hagrid," said Malfoy. "I would advise you not to shout at the Azkaban guards like that. They won't like that at all."

"Yeh can' take Dumbledore!" yelled Hagrid, making Fang whimper and cower in the corner. "Take him away an' the Muggle-borns won' stand a chance! There'll be killin' next!"

"Calm yourself, Hagrid," said Dumbledore sharply. He turned to Lucius Malfoy. "If the governors want my removal, Lucius, I shall of course step aside —"

"But —" stuttered Fudge.

"No!" growled Hagrid.

"However," continued Dumbledore, his eyes never wavering from the cold gray ones of Lucius Malfoy. "You will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."

Nessa stilled and bit her lip again because this time she was entirely certain — yes, absolutely — that Dumbledore looked directly at the four of them huddled in the corner. She felt Tori tense beside her as she came to the same conclusion.

"Admirable sentiments," said Malfoy, bowing. "We shall all miss your — er — highly individual way of running things, Albus, and only hope that your successor will manage to prevent any — ah — killins."

He strode to the cabin door, opened it, and bowed Dumbledore out. Fudge, fiddling with his bowler, waited for Hagrid to go ahead of him, but Hagrid stood his ground, took a deep breath, and said carefully, "If anyone wanted ter find out some stuff, all they'd have ter do would be ter follow the spiders. That'd lead 'em right! That's all I'm saying."

-o0o-

You know, I can't really say what happened here. The first part — the realization about George — that was supposed to happen. The rest of it…just sort of took on a life of its own. We're a bit heavy on the emotion part for this one, but we're getting closer and closer to the end here so the emotion is sure to ramp up.

It also was not in the plan to have Nessa and Tori go with them to Hagrid's, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if Nessa knew what Harry wanted to do, the likelihood she'd let him go without question was pretty slim, so here we are.

I hope you enjoyed!