AN: As usual, I will try for a bunch of fast updates to make up for my long absence.

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Alduin had been avoiding it for all he was worth since Harry's fateful dream in the summer, afraid that he would betray the truth with his feeble Occlumency, but now he judged it was past the time he went and talked to Dumbledore.

At this point, he trusted there would be no suspicions about how he knew Riddle was coming back – all of the Death Eaters knew already, and it wasn't difficult to imagine one of them told him. And like it or not, it was important to consult with Dumbledore on strategy, since he was the most crucial player apart from Harry.

So Alduin arranged for a meeting and then trudged up to Hogwarts in the cold and the – thankfully thin so far – layer of snow.

As was becoming the norm, it was Snape who opened the gates for him, with a sour expression on is face. "Apparently Dumbledore decided I'm his personal fetch boy when it comes to you. I assure you, I could have done without the distinction."

Alduin thought about that. "So, is he angry that you went to open the gates for me on Halloween without consulting him, then?"

Snape gave one of his nasty smirks. "Not angry as such, precisely, but I was on the receiving end of a few disapproving stares and one or two comments along the lines of how I should give him note of anything I intended to do in crucial situations."

"Crucial situations!" Alduin shook his head. "As if he meant to do anything at all about Harry competing. I'm sure I wasn't the only one to notice how disappointed he'd been?"

"You were not," Snape confirmed. "Sometimes the man confounds me. I understand wanting to see what the original plan was, but surely not at the risk of your most crucial piece?"

Alduin shrugged. "We've known he's been willing to risk Harry since his first year here. I don't understand the strategy behind it either, even if we leave ethics entirely out of it, but it is what it is."

"It's easy enough for you to be philosophical," Snape grumbled after a moment of silence. "It's not you who'll risk their life to bring him crucial information. If I can't trust him to do anything reasonable with it, then what's the point?"

Alduin, who'd been asking himself what the point was repeatedly in recent days in light of his fear of the Horcrux in Harry, could relate more than Snape knew. "Have you tried asking him what his plans for the war were?" He queried instead of dwelling on senseless matters.

"I have," Snape said grimly. "He was as forthcoming as usual, which is to say not at all." They were at the castle gates now, and so Snape nodded to him and added: "I wish you better luck."

Alduin climbed the stairs to Dumbledore's office and tried not to feel hopeless about this particular mission as well.

Dumbledore welcomed him with the expression he usually wore to see him these days, one of a thin veneer of welcome overlaid over sharp wariness. Alduin infinitely preferred it to the previous 'condescending grandfather' manner.

"Are there any news?" He asked immediately. "Have you, perhaps, discovered the possible last Horcrux?"

Alduin gave an internal wince. He supposed that, if there still had been one Horcrux missing, like Dumbledore believed there was, he would have been more preoccupied with it. He should, perhaps, put some time into the performance of that – but it wasn't as if he had any time to spare.

"Sadly, no," he said aloud. "There is a different reason I'm here. I have my sources, and I've heard what is coming. I believe we need to coordinate."

Dumbledore frowned at him. "Coordinate how?"

"I have no idea what your plans for the war are, but as I am responsible for Harry and, like it or not, he's probably going to play a crucial role at some point, I can't help but think that we should have at least vague agreement on how you mean to go forward."

"The only part that concerns you," Dumbledore returned, a hint of sharpness in his tone, "is the part that concerns Harry, and I have no particular plans for him at this point."

Right. The day Alduin believed that would be the day they could just as well bury him, because with that level of naivete, he would be as good as dead anyway.

He fought the urge to rub the bridge of his nose, and instead, asked: "Do you mean to renew the Order?"

"If it becomes necessary."

Would it kill the man to give one straight answer? "And if it does, do you mean for Harry to become a member?"

"Do you mean to allow that?" Dumbledore returned.

Alduin shrugged. "Certainly not before he's seventeen, and I would think that you wouldn't allow that either. And once he is seventeen, it will be his own decision."

"Hopefully," Dumbledore said evenly, "if it even starts, this new war will be over by the time Harry is seventeen."

Under the circumstances, Alduin couldn't help but find the pronouncement a bit ominous.

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Harry understood why his cousin had insisted so much on him learning to dance when Professor McGonnagal announced there would be a Yule Ball as part of the tournament, and that they were all expected to come in pairs.

Ron, in particular, looked like this was worse news than Voldemort possibly coming back.

"Come on, cheer up," Harry said. "If you don't have anyone particular in mind, just ask someone you know."

"But who? I can't ask either Parvati or Lavender!"

That was probably true. "Well, what about Sophie?"

Ron seemed surprised by the suggestion. "You're right," he said, "I guess Sophie is a girl too."

Harry rolled his eyes at him. "You only realized that now?"

"I dunno, she's not the most girly girl, is she?"

Harry shrugged. "I suppose not, but you don't seem to have anyone in mind, so you'd be going as friends anyway, wouldn't you?"

Ron shrugged, but didn't seem to have a better idea. "What about you?" He said instead.

"I don't have anyone particular in mind either," Harry confessed, "so I guess I could ask Parvati?"

Ron grimaced. "Well, good luck."

Harry didn't reply. He really did think he could have a better conversation with her than Ron had, and in fact, better than with Lavender, in spite of Parvati's lack of interest in Quidditch.

"Neville?" Harry turned to him, curious.

"Well, um...I was thinking maybe Ginny? If you don't mind, Ron...I don't mean anything by it, and it seems less intimidating when she's younger."

Ron seemed a little thrown, but then shrugged. "Hey, go for it. You have a point with it being less intimidating – if the only girl in that year wasn't my sister, I'd go for it too. But the second-years are just too little."

Harry wholeheartedly agreed, but took care to catch up with Dean that evening to make sure he wasn't crossing the boy's plans if he asked Parvati. Seamus, he expected, would be going with his new girlfriend – he'd found someone in Huflepuff as well, and had started to date Sally-Anne Perks, a quiet girl Harry sort of vaguely knew off from their Herbology classes. They'd been paired up in one class when Professor Sproud wanted to shuffle them around a bit, and romance had bloomed.

"No, it's fine," Dean assured him. "I haven't asked anyone. Don't have a clue who I should ask, to be honest..."

"Lavender?" Harry suggested.

Dean grimaced. "To be honest, after what I've heard from Seamus, I don't really feel like it."

Well, if Dean had some unknown details, Harry could understand. At any rate, his way forward was clear, and so he went and asked Parvati the very same evening.

"Oh!" She seemed taken aback. "Sure, gladly. Um...meet you here just before, I guess?"

Harry simply nodded and, after a short and slightly awkward silence, left. Well, he mused, he was still very far from smooth, but he was getting a little bit better at least.

Ron managed to gain Sophie's agreement only a day later, but Neville found it more difficult, and in fact needed a few days of persuasion and support by Harry to work up the nerves. It was unnecessary, because Ginny just smiled at him and said: "Of course! Thanks for giving me this chance to be there. It's gonna be great!"

Harry sincerely hoped she was right. He wished he could meet up with his cousin to practice the steps a bit more. It's been too long since he did.

When he mentioned this aloud in the dormitory one evening, though, Seamus gave him a look. "Mate," he said, "be glad you know something. I've never danced in my life." He hesitated. "Um...I know it's weird, but could you maybe teach me? I don't wanna completely embarrass myself."

"Yeah, might be a good idea," Ron agreed. "I don't expect Sophie will want to dance much, but just in case there was some other girl..."

Harry was beginning to think he had done Sophie a real disservice by suggesting her to Ron.

"I'd appreciate refreshing it too," Neville said. "But it'd be kinda weird practising with the girls, wouldn't it?"

Harry considered. "It'd be weird to practice with the ones we'll be taking," he agreed, "but maybe I could ask someone else? Kiara, I guess...and Daphne...and maybe Hermione and Su? We're still one girl short, so maybe Daphne's friend Tracey would come too..."

Ron grimaced. "I dunno if I want to dance with that many Slytherins."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Suit yourself. You're free to embarrass yourself in front of the school. What do the rest of you think?"

They rather enthusiastically agreed, and so in the following days Harry hounded his female friends around school. In the end he got everyone's agreement, and so that Saturday, they met in an empty classroom and Harry tried to remember what Alduin had taught him.

Daphne and Kiara were crucial, knowing the dances better than him and filling up his blanks, but to his surprise they left him with the role of the chief teacher for some reason, though Daphne, dancing with him, was almost equally involved.

Her friend danced with Neville – Harry suspected because he was the least objectionable from a Slytherin point of view, but he didn't want to ask and have his suspicions confirmed –, Kiara with Ron and Hermione and Su with Dean and Seamus. It was, to Harry's rather profound surprise, not a complete disaster, and in fact they met again every day for an hour until the ball, to be as well prepared as they could be. At least the schoolwork has eased off before the holidays, so they could actually afford it.

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Theodore and Perpetua came over with the children in mid-December, and as they all settled in the nursery to watch them play – or rather, to watch the Burke children attempt to play with Wynn, to limited success, and to mostly try and carry Edric around as much as they could, which wasn't all that much, given the youngest Travers was almost a year old and getting too heavy for Placidia by half.

In any case, it mostly meant they made their own amusement and only required an occasional intervention to prevent an injury, the adults were given some time to speak in private.

"I've found a way Moody could be controlled by Dark magic," Theodore said in an undertone as Wynn ignored little Dan's attempts to explain a game to him. "It's a fairly elaborate spell, but if the attack on Moody in August was really an attack, and they actually managed to immobilize him, then there's no reason it couldn't be done."

"It still means immobilizing Moody," Alduin pointed out. "I had trouble enough accepting Pettigrew could become an Animagus with the help of three of his friends, there's no way I'm accepting he defeated Moody in a fight."

"Well, if Riddle is involved..."

Alduin sighed. "The- source we have is not exactly clear, but it seems very strongly implied, at the very least, that Riddle is not in any state – yet – to be going out much, let alone doing something as complicated as defeating Moody. There really must be someone else, which is extremely disturbing. How obscure is the spell? Who could know about it?"

Theodore considered. "Well, it's not an 'only mentioned in our family grimoire' kind of thing, but it's not exactly common knowledge either. I'd say it would require someone who took a deeper interest in the field. If the Rosiers were still alive, they'd be the obvious candidates for the job. As it is..." He shrugged. "Can't really think of anyone else off the top of my head, but I'm sure there must have been someone."

Alduin considered it, taking into account what Lucius had said about people he either didn't even known about, potential spies, or people who'd faked repentance. Since he was completely confident Snape wasn't actually a loyal Death Eater, there wasn't really anyone else who'd faked repentance particularly well. Except, he supposed, Ludo Bagman, who'd been present at the Cup and had easy access to Hogwarts, but that would have meant faking his entire life, since he was fifteen at least. Alduin seriously doubted such complete dedication to constructing an illusion of being a complete buffoon. No.

But who else was there? Alduin kept running his mind around people who could take Moody on and who, at the same time, were studious enough types they might have come across a relatively obscure Dark spell, he ran his mind over seemingly upstanding citizens and known Death Eaters both...and suddenly he froze, thinking of Winky the house-elf and of what they'd discussed with Kingsley.

Surely not?

Surely that was impossible?

Still. He needed to talk to Kingsley again as soon as possible, make sure he got some information out of that elf. Just as he'd feared, his ethical concerns would have to be put aside. This had the potential of being even more of a disaster than he had thought.