Chapter 181: Cuts And Bruises

Harry told us everything that had happened during next morning's Charms lesson (having first cast the Muffliato spell upon those nearest us). About how he had gotten Slughorn to give up his memory, how he and Dumbledore looked at it, and how they had discovered that Slughorn had told a young Tom Riddle about Horcruxes. What's more, Dumbledore had promised to take Harry along, should he find another one.

"Wow," I said in awe, when Harry had finally finished telling us everything. "Wow. You're actually going to go with Dumbledore... and try and destroy... wow."

I was waving my wand very vaguely in the direction of the ceiling without paying the slightest bit of attention to what I was doing. I was too absorbed in Harry's story.

"Ron, you're making it snow," said Hermione is a calm voice, grabbing my wrist and redirecting my wand away from the ceiling from which, sure enough, large white flakes had started to fall.

"Oh yeah," I said, looking down at mine and Hermione's shoulders. "Sorry... looks like we've all got horrible dandruff now..."

I brushed some of the fake snow off Hermione's shoulder. As soon as i had done it, I heard a gasp and seen Lavender burst into tears. I turned my back on her, feeling somewhat guilty, but reminding myself of the fucked up things she said about Hermione.

"We split up," I whispered to Harry, "last night. When she saw me coming out of the dormitory with Hermione. Obviously she couldn't see you, so she thought it had just been the two of us."

"Ah," said Harry. "Well-you don't mind it's over, do you?"

"No," I admitted. "It was pretty bad while she was yelling, but at least I didn't have to finish it."

"Coward," said Hermione, with a grin on her face. "Well, it was a bad night for romance all around. Ginny and Dean split up too, Harry."

For a second, Harry had a look of shock and amazement in his eyes. "How come?"

"Oh, something really silly. She said he was always trying to help her through the portrait hole, like she couldn't climb in herself, but they've been a bit rocky for ages."

Harry and I glanced over at Dean on the other side of the classroom. He certainly looked unhappy.

"Of course, this puts you in a bit of a dilemma, doesn't it?" said Hermione.

"What d'you mean?" said Harry quickly.

"The Quidditch team," said Hermione. "If Ginny and Dean aren't speaking..."

"Oh-oh yeah," said Harry.

"Flitwick," I said in a warning tone. The tiny little Charms master was bobbing his way toward us, and Hermione was the only one who had managed to turn vinegar into wine; her glass flask was full of deep crimson liquid, whereas the contents of Harry's and mine were still murky brown.

"Now, now, boys," squeaked Professor Flitwick reproachfully. "A little less talk, a little more action... Let me see you try..."

Together we raised our wands, concentrating with all our might, and pointed them at our flasks. Harry's vinegar turned to ice; my flask exploded.

"Yes ... for homework," said Professor Flitwick, re emerging from under the table and pulling shards of glass out of the top of his hat, "practice."

We had one of our rare joint free periods after Charms and walked back to the common room together. Hermione and I went into more detail with Harry over what happened last night, and Hermione finished it up with"It's a nice day.".

The whole time, Harry looked as if he was in deep thought about something. I chucked it up to him thinking about what he and Dumbledore were going to do and didn't ask.

As we climbed back through to portrait hole, we saw a small group of seventh-years clustered together, and in the middle of them was-

"Katie! You're back! Are you okay?" said Hermione, rushing over to her and giving her a hug.

It was indeed Katie Bell, looking completely healthy and surrounded by her excited friends.

"I'm really well!" she said happily. "They let me out of St. Mungo's on Monday, I had a couple of days at home with Mum and Dad and then came back here this morning. Leanne was just telling me about McLaggen and the last match, Harry.."

"Yeah," said Harry, looking delighted to see her. "well, now you're back and Ron's fit, we'll have a decent chance of thrashing Ravenclaw, which means we could still be in the running for the Cup. Listen, Katie..."

He dropped his voice as Katie's friends started gathering up their things; apparently they were late for Transfiguration.

"... that necklace... can you remember who gave it to you now?"

"No," said Katie, shaking her head. "Everyone's been asking me, but I haven't got a clue. The last thing I remember was walking into the ladies' in the Three Broomsticks."

"You definitely went into the bathroom, then?" said Hermione.

"Well, I know I pushed open the door," said Katie, "so I suppose whoever Imperiused me was standing just behind it. After that, my memory's a blank until about two weeks ago in St. Mungo's. Listen, I'd better go, I wouldn't put it past McGonagall to give me lines even if it is my first day back."

She caught up her bag and books and hurried after her friends, leaving Harry, Hermione, and I to sit down at a window table and ponder what she had told us.

"So it must have been a girl or a woman who gave Katie the necklace," said Hermione, "to be in the ladies' bathroom."

"Or someone who looked like a girl or a woman," said Harry. "Don't forget, there was a cauldron full of Polyjuice Potion at Hogwarts. We know some of it got stolen. I think I'm going to take another swig of Felix and have a go at the Room of Requirement again."

"That would be a complete waste of potion," said Hermione flatly, putting down the copy of Spellman's Syllabary she had just taken out of her bag. "Luck can only get you so far, Harry. The situation with Slughorn was different; you always had the ability to persuade him, you just needed to tweak the circumstances a bit. Luck isn't enough to get you through a powerful enchantment, though. Don't go wasting the rest of that potion! You'll need all the luck you can get if Dumbledore takes you along with him ..." She dropped her voice to a whisper.

"Couldn't we make some more?" I asked Harry, ignoring Hermione as she gasped. "It'd be great to have a stock of it... have a look in the book... "

Harry pulled his copy of Advanced Potion-Making out of his bag, and looked up Felix Felicis.

"Blimey, it's seriously complicated," he said, running an eye down the list of ingredients. "And it takes six months... you've got to let it stew..."

"Typical," I grumbled.

The only person who was not particularly pleased to see Katie Bell back at school was Dean Thomas, because he would no longer be required to fill her place as Chaser. He took the blow stoically enough when Harry told him, merely grunting and shrugging, but Harry had the distinct feeling as he walked away that Dean and Seamus were muttering mutinously behind his back.

The following fortnight saw the best Quidditch practices Harry had known as Captain. His team was so pleased to be rid of McLaggen, so glad to have Katie back at last, that they were flying extremely well.

Ginny did not seem at all upset about the breakup with Dean; on the contrary, she was the life and soul of the team, at my expense sometimes unfortunately. Her imitations of me anxiously bobbing up and down in front of the goal posts as the Quaffle sped toward me, or of the moment when Harry was bellowing orders at McLaggen before being knocked out cold, kept us all highly amused.

There had been a new development, however. Ever since Dean and Ginny had broken up, it seemed as if Harry had started to take more notice of Ginny. He seemed to laugh at her jokes more, talk to her way note than he used to, and a couple times walked her to class if we had a free period. A fact that I had brought up to Hermione once while we were studying in the library.

"So what are you thinking?" she asked me, as I voiced my concerns.

"I really don't know what to think, Mione. That's why I'm coming to you." I said impatiently.

"Oh no you don't, Ronald Weasley," said Hermione playfully, "you just want me to gossip because you think I know something."

"Oh come on, Hermione, you know you know something." I whined. "Do you think Harry fancies her?"

Hermione put her quill down and looked at me, her beautiful chocolate frog eyes twinkling. "Would you care if he did?" she asked me.

I picked with the end of Hermione's parchment. "I dunno, Hermione. I mean, Harry is my best mate. He would be an alright bloke to her, I believe. But I can't really tell if he just fancies her, or if he is just being nice to her more because she plays quidditch with us."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh honestly Ron, how can you not see that Harry fancies your sister?"

I grinned. "How can you ask that question when I couldn't even see that you fancied me?" I said.

Hermione opened her mouth to retort, and then quickly shut it.

"Touche, Weasley." she said, shaking her head and going back to her work.

The balmy days slid gently through May, and I started to see even more signs of Harry being into my sister. Even though I knew that Harry was a good bloke, it still sort of bothered me a bit, so I stayed on their asses like that muggle saying white on rice. Part of the reason was indeed my sister, but a lot of it had to so with the final Quidditch game of the season that was coming up, as I spoke tactics with him on almost an hourly basis.

I was not the only one all about the game; interest in the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game was running extremely high throughout the school, for the match would decide the Championship, which was still wide open. If Gryffindor beat Ravenclaw by a margin of three hundred points, then we would win the Championship. If we won by less than three hundred points, we would come second to Ravenclaw; if we lost by a hundred points we would be third behind Hufflepuff and if we lost by more than a hundred, we would be in fourth place and nobody would ever, ever let Harry forget that it had been he who had captained Gryffindor to our first bottom-of-the-table defeat in two centuries. Or so he stressed.

The run-up to this crucial match had all the usual features: members of rival Houses attempting to intimidate opposing teams in the corridors; unpleasant chants about individual players being rehearsed loudly as we passed; the team members either swaggering around enjoying all the attention or else dashing into bathrooms between classes to throw up. Felix Felicis was sounding like a good thing to do as each day passed.

Unfortunately, despite all the pressure, Harry had not forgotten his other ambition: finding out what Malfoy was up to in the Room of Requirement. He was still checking the Marauder's Map, and as he was unable to locate Malfoy on it, deduced that Malfoy was still spending plenty of time within the room. Although Harry was losing hope that he would ever succeed in getting inside the Room of Requirement, he attempted it whenever he was in the vicinity, but no matter how he reworded his request, the wall remained firmly doorless.

A few days before the match against Ravenclaw, as Harry went about his usual monster hunt for Draco and Hermione was in the library, I sat in the crowded common room and read the letter that Fred and Bill had sent me. I had written them after the whole breakup occurred, asking them for advice on exactly what to do with Hermione.

When I opened the envelope up, I was shocked to see different handwriting that was not Bill's. Great. The wankers had told George.

Ickle Ronniekins,

As your other brother, it distresses me that you decided not to share about you turning down snatch. I don't know why you decided to listen to Bill and Fred like they knew shit about the game. But I will say, I am proud of you for not sticking your cock into that leech. You would have never gotten rid of her if you did.

As George so delightfully said, good on ya. You made the right decision of a man. Which is why, when you come home, we will be passing something to you that will greatly help you in your endeavors with the bookworm. That is, if you haven't conquered that feat already.

Now Fred, you know he hasn't said shit to the bookworm yet. He would have wrote a five page letter confessing his undying love and devotion to us, as well as a wedding invitation.

Indeed you are right, George. Now, if you haven't let onto Hermione that you would love to spend the rest of your life kissing her ass, you should try your hand and do so. Our present would help out a lot, however, as it isn't really on the school's curriculum, you'll have to wait until you're back home for us to present it to you.

Hang tight, baby brother. You're figure out how to win your price sometime.

Yours,

Gred And Forge

I couldn't believe it. I really thought that George would have taken the mickey out on me if I told him anything. But to hear that not only was he supporting me too, but that he also had a gift for me when I got home from school? I was starting to think that maybe the twins were really starting to respect me more, now that I was an adult.

I left the tower to go and find Hermione. I was walking down the stairs that would lead me to the floor the library was on, when suddenly I was almost ran into by a frantic, scared looking, and blood soaked Harry.

"Where've you-? Why are you soaking... is that blood?"

"I need your book," Harry panted. "Your Potions book. Quick... give it to me..."

"But what about the Half-Blood -"

"I'll explain later!"

I pulled my copy of Advanced Potion-Making out of my bag and handed it over; Harry sprinted off past me towards the common room.

I stood frozen, not knowing what to do. Finally, my feet started to work, and I darted down the stairs and through the corridors until I reached the library. I slammed open the doors and ignored the ranting of angry Madam Pince as I searched around for Hermione, whom I found sitting in a chair reading. I grabbed her arm and ran with her out of the library so quick, she had to throw her book just to keep it in the library.

"Ron, what in the-"

"No time." I panted. "Harry...blood...trouble..."

I could hardly get my words out as I pulled her arm, but she understood that this was dire, so she ran with me to the common room, which Harry wasn't in when we got there. I ran up to our dorm, but he wasn't in there either.

"We got to find him!" I said, dragging Hermione with me back out the portrait hole.

As we ran down the stairs, a loud wailing sounded through the halls. "MURDER! HE KILLED HIM!" we heard Moaning Myrtle scream at the top of her ghostly lungs from outside the prefects bathroom door.

Hermione and I exchanged horrorstruck looks.

"You don't think he-"

"Surely not!"

"But you said he was covered in blood, Ron!"

"I know, but he wouldn't fucking kill him, Hermione!"

"We've got to find him!" she said, now grabbing my arm and taking off with me.

We searched around until I thought back to the fact that Myrtle had been the one to scream murder, meaning it probably happened in her bathroom.

Hermione and I raced to the girl's second floor bathroom, where we found Harry, gripping one of the sinks staring into a shattered mirror like he had done the worst thing imaginable. His robes still had shiny spots of blood on it

"Mate," I said, slowly approaching him. Harry seemed to tremble, rattling a few pieces of the broken sink he was clutching loose.

"Harry.." I said, playing a hand on his shoulder, which immediately caused him to snatch away.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" he snapped. "DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!"

"Harry..." I heard Hermione whisper as she came up behind me.

"Come on, mate." I said. Placing my hand once again on Harry's shoulder and turning him around. "Let's get to the dorm before people see you."

Harry nodded slowly, and walked begrudgingly with us out the door.

"I won't say 'I told you so,'" said Hermione, an hour later in the common room.

"Leave it, Hermione," I growled.

Harry had just finished telling Hermione, Ginny what had happened about him and Malfoy's duel in the bathroom, and how he had hit Malfoy with a curse he had seen in the Prince's book. Having no clue that it would almost slice Draco into quarters. Not that there seemed to have been much need, of course. The news had traveled very fast: apparently Moaning Myrtle had taken it upon herself to pop up in every bathroom in the castle to tell the story; Malfoy had already been visited in the hospital wing by Pansy, who had lost no time in vilifying Harry far and wide, and Snape had told the staff precisely what had happened. Harry had already been called out of the common room to endure fifteen highly unpleasant minutes in the company of Professor McGonagall, who had told him he was lucky not to have been expelled and that she supported wholeheartedly Snape's punishment of detention every Saturday until the end of term.

The looks on the Gryffindor team's faces when he had told them he would not be able to play on Saturday had been the worst punishment of all. He had told Ginny that she would be playing Seeker on Saturday and that Dean would be rejoining the team as Chaser in her place.

"I told you there was something wrong with that Prince person," Hermione continued, unable to stop herself. "And I was right, wasn't I."

"No, I don't think you were," said Harry stubbornly.

"Harry, how can you still stick up for that book when that spell -"

"Will you stop harping on about the book!" snapped Harry. "The Prince only copied it out! It's not like he was advising anyone to use it! For all we know, he was making a note of something that had been used against him!"

"I don't believe this," said Hermione, throwing up her hands. "You're actually defending-"

"I'm not defending what I did!" said Harry quickly. "I wish I hadn't done it, and not just because I've got about a dozen detentions. You know I wouldn't've used a spell like that, not even on Malfoy, but you can't blame the Prince, he hadn't written 'Try this out, it's really good'-he was just making notes for himself, wasn't he, not for anyone else..."

"Are you telling me," said Hermione, "that you're going to go back-?"

"And get the book? Yeah, I am," said Harry forcefully. "Listen, without the Prince I'd never have won the Felix Felicis. I'd never have known how to save Ron from poisoning, I'd never have -"

"- got a reputation for Potions brilliance you don't deserve," said Hermione nastily.

"Give it a rest, Hermione!" said Ginny, out of nowhere. "By the sound of it, Malfoy was trying to use an Unforgivable Curse, you should be glad Harry had something good up his sleeve!"

"Well, of course I'm glad Harry wasn't cursed!" said Hermione, clearly stung. "But you can't call that Sectumsempra spell good, Ginny, look where it's landed him! And I'd have thought, seeing what this has done to your chances in the match -"

"Oh, don't start acting as though you understand Quidditch," snapped Ginny, "you'll only embarrass yourself."

Harry and I stared in awe: Hermione and Ginny, who had always got on together very well, were now sitting with their arms folded, glaring in opposite directions. I looked nervously at Harry, then snatched up a book at random and hid behind it. None of us spoke again for the rest of the evening.

There were Slytherin taunts to be endured next day, not to mention much anger from fellow Gryffindors, who were most unhappy that their Captain had got himself banned from the final match of the season.