After his talk with Ginny, Theo had gone to potions. He quickly realized how awful life must be for his sister, who'd been thrust into the spotlight at only 14. Everyone he passed in the hall stared and pointed at him. And for the love of Merlin, the whispers. He'd come to learn that Hermione hated undue attention, so if this was even a fraction of what she'd experienced over the years, he felt the need to punish every single person who'd done that to her. Because of all the staring and pointing, Theo got to potions with seconds to spare before the bell went off. He quickly sat next to Pansy in the middle of the classroom, who had an open seat next to her, and then started looking around the room.

"Don't bother, she's not here." Pansy hissed, grabbing his shoulder and digging her nails in to the skin, as Professor Slughorn began the lesson.

"Take your claws off of me woman." Theo sucked in a breath at the pain. "Where is she?"

Before Pansy could answer, the door to the potions classroom swung open. Professor Slughorn stopped talking, and looked towards the door, as Neville Longbottom walked in. "I'm sorry to interrupt Professor, but I just wanted to let you know that Hermione isn't coming to class. She's not feeling well today." He said, a crimson flush on his face.

Professor Slughorn nodded. "Completely understandable after this mornings paper. I'll make sure her work gets to her."

Neville nodded, and then left, and Slughorn started the lesson again.

"Big surprise." Pansy muttered. "If I'd had my personal business put on the front page like that, I'd leave the country."

Theo resisted the urge to bang his head into the desk, he was pretty sure he'd have a head injury by lunch if he kept doing it. "I need your help with something."

Pansy looked at him. "I'm not going to get engaged to you to take the pressure off your precious sister."

"What?" Theo asked, bewildered. "Why the hell would I want to marry you? I know you too well. No, I need you to help me find out how the bloody hell Skeeter found out about Hermione."

Pansy turned to look at her notebook. "And how am I supposed to help you with that? I haven't been in touch with her since fourth year."

Theo shrugged. "Ginny has a plan. We just have to meet her after dinner."

Pansy shriveled her nose. "Never mind. Let's just get engaged."

"No. Just help me with this."

"Why me?" Pansy asked, clearly annoyed.

Theo smirked at her. "Ginny told me to get my scariest friend to help. That's you."

Pansy glared at him. "Don't think that complimenting me will get me to help you."

"But you're going to help me, right?" Theo asked with a slightly taunting voice.

"I hate you." Pansy replied.

"Thank you."

After dinner Theo and Pansy, dropped their bags off in their dorms, and changed clothes, then headed down towards the Whomping Willow. "Remind me why we're meeting Weaselette down by the murder tree?" Pansy huffed.

"She set the meeting spot. And don't call her that. She's Hermione's friend, and we need her help."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "You know, there are still some loose death eaters out there. Maybe we could just contract one of them to torture the information out of Skeeter."

Theo chose to ignore her, and instead chose to walk in silence, until they saw Ginny by the tree, holding an old piece of parchment.

Ginny looked at Pansy, and then Theo. "I said bring your scariest friend. You brought her?"

Before Pansy could respond, Theo quickly answered. "Don't underestimate her. She's been terrifying us since my sixth birthday party. She raised a hell that took two weeks for the elves to fully deal with."

Pansy smiled sweetly at him. "And I thought you'd forgotten about that."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Fine. Let's just get a move on."

She unfolded the parchment, pulled out her wand, and tapped it. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

What had once been a ragged, blank parchment, suddenly had marks all over it. "What is that thing? " Theo asked in amazement.

"It's a map of Hogwarts." Ginny said, holding up the parchment, staring intently at it.

"There's no such thing as a map of Hogwarts." Pansy said, sounding slightly unsure of herself.

Ginny kept looking at the parchment. "Clearly there is. I'm holding it. Ha!"

She grabbed a large stick that was on the ground nearby, and then slowly edged toward the tree, then quickly jabbed the stick into the roots. Suddenly, an opening appeared. "Mischief managed." She said quickly, and the map disappeared, turning into an old parchment again, and she turned to look at the two Slytherins, who were staring at her, slightly awestruck. "Well, lets go," and she quickly disappeared into the opening.

Theo and Pansy looked at each other, and then quickly scrambled after her, into a tunnel. "What is this place?" Theo asked, looking around in amazement.

Ginny started walking forward. "It's a tunnel out of the school. It leads up to the Shrieking Shack," she explained. "Harry and I used to sneak out here when we first got together. We figured Ron wouldn't follow us, plus there was a bed that we could use." She said smirking back at them.

After a few more minutes, the tunnel started to curve up and led into a dusty room. "Right, we can leave from here. We aren't on school property anymore so we can apparate." Ginny said matter-of-factly. She grabbed both their arms, and then without warning, Theo and Pansy felt the familiar, but still disconcerting pull of apparition.

When the odd trio landed, Theo looked around. They'd landed in a field, with some trees on one side, and an odd looking house at the opposite end. "Where are we?" He asked Ginny.

"My place. This is where we're going to find help. Come on." Ginny grinned. "Oh, and watch out for gnomes. They're nasty little fuckers."

Pansy glared at Theo, who shrugged, but trudged after Ginny nonetheless.

After a minute, they reached the house, which, the closer they got, Theo found himself questioning how the house was even standing. It looked like it was just a bunch of different houses stacked on top of each other. When they reached a door off to the side of the house, Ginny opened the door, and ushered him and Pansy in. He noticed a sign that read, The Burrow, nailed next to the door. Ginny followed them in to an eclectic living room, and yelled out, "MUM! Guess who?"

She walked in between the two, and headed through the crowded room, towards a doorway that led towards some of the most inviting smells Theo had ever smelled.

"Ginevera Molly Weasley! You are supposed to be in school!" A short woman with red hair, was admonishing Ginny, in what was clear to be the kitchen as Pansy and Theo walked in behind her. "If you were caught leaving school grounds, you could be suspended, and then where would you be?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I missed you too, Mum. And I brought some…" She turned to look at the two snakes standing in the entrance, clearly trying to come up with the right word to describe them. "I brought some people with me."

Molly looked up, and noticing Theo and Pansy for the first time, drew her wand quickly, and pushed Ginny behind her. "What the hell are two death eaters doing in my house?"

Pansy threw her hands up in the air, and went to go sit in one of the chairs, clearly unafraid of the wand pointed at her.

Theo, slightly more wary of the woman who had killed Bellatrix Lestrange, answered. "We weren't death eaters."

Ginny scoffed, and then pushed past her mother to stand in front of Theo. "They aren't death eaters, Mum. Besides, didn't you see the paper this morning and get my note?"

Molly lowered her wand, but still kept it tight in her grasp. "I saw it, but we all know that the prophet publishes nothing but trash, especially that Skeeter woman."

Pansy crossed her legs. "Normally, we'd agree with you, but this time, Skeeter got it right."

Molly looked from Theo to her daughter. "Skeeter was telling the truth?"

"About Hermione being related to the Notts? Yes. Her dating history. Dreadfully wrong." Ginny answered. "That's why we're here. No one was supposed to know except a select group of people. We need help figuring out who Skeeter's source is."

Molly looked at her daughter, then glared at Theo with a ferocity that made him want to run back to the school.

Ginny ignored her mother's expressions, clearly used to them. "Is George in his room?"

"Yes. You know that he only leaves his room when he absolutely has to." Molly replied, in a much softer voice, turning to the kitchen counter, picking up a knife, and chopping onions with a bit more viciousness than entirely necessary. "If you want his help, I don't know how much use he'll be to you."

"I have to give it a shot. Hermione's been ignoring everyone all day. Won't come out of our room. Without her help, I need George's."

Molly sighed. "He won't stop you from going in, but I'd be shocked if he did anything to help."

Ginny nodded solemnly, and then turned toward the stairs. "Right, come on you two."

The trio walked up about two flights of stairs, and then stopped on a landing, with two doors on either side of them. She banged on one of the doors with an open hand. "Hope you're decent in there! We're coming in!" Without waiting for an answer, she opened the door, and strode in.

When Theo and Pansy walked in, the first thing Theo noticed were the stacks of boxes with the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes logo on them. It took a beat for Theo to notice the body lying on one of the beds. Ginny crossed her arms over her chest, and started tapping her foot.

"You're supposed to be at school." George said without looking at his sister.

Ginny scoffed. "Bit rich coming from you, isn't it?"

George shrugged his shoulders, still lying down, staring at the ceiling.

"Did you see the prophet this morning?" Ginny asked.

"No. I choose not to read that horse shite." George said with a tinge of bitterness in his voice.

"Well, Rita Skeeter published a delightful little article about how Hermione isn't a muggleborn, but is instead the sister of Theo Nott, and is engaged to Draco Malfoy." Ginny said in a mockingly cheerful voice.

That got George's attention. "That's a load of crap."

Ginny shrugged. "Normally, I'd agree. But unfortunately, Skeeter got this one right for once."

George sat up slowly, and looked at Theo and Pansy for the first time. "So why are they here?" nodding at them with his chin.

"Hermione and I weren't ready for this information to get out." Theo answered. "We thought we were being careful, but Rita got her information from somewhere, and Ginny says you're the best person to get help from."

George turned his attention to Pansy. "And you?"

Pansy smiled angelically. "I'm the big bad bitch that's supposed to be helping apparently."

George turned to face his sister. "So this is serious then?"

Ginny sat on the bed next to him. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't."

"I don't know how much help I can be, Gin." George answered softly. "I'm just not sure I'm up to it."

Pansy glared at him. "Seriously, I wasted sneaking off of school grounds to come to this hovel you call a home, to get help for Theo's precious big sister, only to get told by him," she pointed at George, "that he can't help us. Thanks for nothing."

As she turned to walk out of the room, George stood up indignantly. "I can get the name of Skeeter's informant. Are you questioning me?"

Pansy turned to look at him, a condescending look on her face. "Yes."

George growled. "Go back to school. I'll get to the bottom of this," he said glaring at Pansy, not looking at his sister.

Pansy raised her eyebrows. "Won't you need my help?"

"I can do this all by myself." George responded, anger evident on his face.

Ginny jumped up off the bed. "Thanks Georgie!" She kissed him on the cheek, then turned to her companions. "Lets get back to the school then."

She led the two back down to the kitchen.

"Is your brother going to help you?" Molly asked, holding a pair of knitting needles, while a spoon stirred something in a pot on the stove, with magic.

Ginny smiled. "Yep. Anyways, should get back to school. See you at Christmas, Mum!"

Theo and Pansy started out the kitchen, when Molly called out. "Ginny, stay behind a moment."

Ginny nodded to the other two teens, letting them know it was alright. After the two were out of the kitchen, and it was just Ginny and her mother, she started the brief conversation. "What is it mum? If you're mad at me for getting George involved, at least he's out of bed."

Molly shook her head. "I just want you to pass a warning onto Hermione. And you should pay attention to this too. The Notts are not to be trusted. Make sure that that Nott boy doesn't do anything to Hermione."

Ginny looked at her mother, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Never you mind dear. Go back to school."

Ginny stared at her mother quizzically for a moment, but realizing that Molly wasn't going to say anything else, she left the house to join Theo and Pansy. She grabbed their arms, and side-alonged them back to the Shrieking Shack.

Pansy glared at her. "Why the hell did you bring me along? He's clearly not going to let me help."

Ginny smiled at the blonde girl. "I needed you, so that he'd get off his arse, and do something. I figured an outsider, who issued a challenge on your scale, would get him out of bed, and doing something. Thanks for being the bitch you are."

With that, she led the odd trio out of the shack and back up to the school, confident that they'd have answers within a couple of days.