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Chapter 42

Over the next week the castle routine fell into its new normal. Professor McGonagall actually had to rework the class schedule a little to increase all the times between lessons by five minutes each because it was that or every single house would be in the negative on house points due to everyone being late for class because nobody was being left alone.

Between lessons Harry, Hermione, and Fleur over their mirrors tried to work on the horcrux issue. "Still, think about it. We thought that Voldemort was here in spirit form at the start of the year because of the headaches I was getting. We dismissed that because we learned that Voldemort was outside the school possessing people. Since then we learned that they are using the Horcruxes to infiltrate places. Like what happened to Fleur's supervisor. Now we have an attack in the school that is a pretty good mirror for the ones in our second year. It has his style all over it. What if we were right before about Voldemort being here but just wrong about what bit?" Harry said his bit.

"I understand where you are coming from Harry, I do. But what would Voldemort get by infiltrating a school?" Fleur asked.

Hermione answered. "He could start training the Slytherins to join him as soon as they finish here. Work out who would be loyal to him and use his connections to make sure those people are the ones hired into key internships at the Ministry and anywhere else might want people to spy for him. And let's not forget how much easier it would be for him to keep an eye on Harry here. Harry has got to be one of a very few people Voldemort is afraid of, every time Voldemort fights Harry Voldemort has lost something important, every time any of his death eaters have tried to attack Harry, we have either killed or captured some of them."

Harry nodded and continued for Hermione. "Think about everything he has lost, the Malfoys, the Malfoy's money, the Lestranges, the Malfoy's money, a bunch of thugs, his new body, two of his Horcruxes, the Malfoy's money."

"You seem a little obsessed with the Malfoy fortune, Harry." Hermione said, tapping his leg with her foot in a playful kick.

Harry grinned. "Yeah because it's difficult to finance a war when you lose one of your biggest sources of donations. Add on to that our blood feud has clearly shown the public who the death eaters are, while some will love them for what they are, on the whole the public are distancing themselves from them. So the death eaters who are left have less money and influence. It's no wonder his people are playing monster in the shadows rather than openly fighting."

"Back on topic, how do we work out if and more importantly who is being possessed by a Horcrux? Harry can't you just have your doe Patronus out in the great hall at dinner?" Hermione asked.

Harry thought about it for a second. "Not if I don't want to end up in Azkaban. If the person possessed is from any of the feud families it would be considered an attack on neutral ground."

"But your Patronus wouldn't hurt any of them, just Voldemort and he isn't a part of the feud. Surely that wouldn't count as breaking the neutral ground law?" Asked Fleur.

Hermione shook her head. "The problem is Voldemort would probably hurt the host on the way out and proving that it was Voldemort and not Harry would be difficult, not to mention the argument that despite who did the damage it would be Harry's attack that instigated it. Honestly I don't like the odds even in front of a friendly Wizengamot.

"And short of having another mother sacrifice herself to save another child from Voldemort trying to kill them, we don't know any other magic that can target a Horcrux to even suggest someone else learn it. So it's not possible for someone else just to cast a spell either." Harry pointed out.

"So what can we do?" Fleur asked.

"Apart from waiting for an opportunity where we can act, I'm not sure there is anything we can do. We can step in if someone is being attacked in front of us and if we learn anything we can pass it on to the Aurors but that's about it. At least until the summer holidays when everyone is away from neutral ground." Hermione admitted.

-ϟϟϟ-

On top of stress from the attack the stress was also starting to show for the fifth and seventh years who were sitting important exams soon. For Harry, Hermione, and every other sixth year prefect that meant that more and more of the job was being laid on them. With only end of year tests to deal with they were expected to pick up the slack.

Of course, Harry and Hermione were just as bound to the new rules that Harry had come up with for everyone to follow and and without the ability to get other prefects to help them that had meant turning to their year mates and asking for help. They had gone to Ron first but he had been co-opted by the Hufflepuff prefects. Apparently Susan Bones, the Hufflepuff girl prefect and apparently Hermione's biggest competition for the spot of head girl next year, wanted someone she knew was good with a wand to do rounds with her and Justin, the male prefect.

Apparently of all the students she was friendly with, Ron was the best fit in their year. It had something to do with Harry actually teaching his friends how to fight. And she had asked Ron first and he agreed.

So that left Harry and Hermione looking elsewhere. Their first choice had been Neville but he had refused because of the feud. Harry and Hermione had some leniency being prefects, the law allowed for people to still do their jobs, Aurors couldn't let crimes happen because of feuding, security couldn't let fights break out in concerts because of feuding and on the other side a healer couldn't refuse to save a life because of a feud. The law expected you to do your jobs however there were big penalties for abusing your position. This was a protection Neville didn't have.

That led the two to looking at the rest of their year mates and they settled on Kathryn. The werewolf had settled in well over the last year and a half and while she wasn't particularly close with Harry and Hermione they were friendly. It had taken Kathryn until after Umbridge had been dealt with to reach out beyond the other werewolf students and Hermione for friends but eventually she had and had found people she had more organic friendship with than those who she felt safe around due to shared trauma.

Kathryn had quickly agreed to doing the rounds with Harry and Hermione. Harry was sure she was half hoping to come across one of the bigots so she could take a little revenge on them but if Harry was honest he couldn't blame her for that.

Unfortunately for Kathryn, if she was looking for excitement the first week was enough to show her there wasn't any. It was almost exclusively policing horny teens who let their hormones overrule their sense of self preservation and snuck out alone to meet up with their boyfriends and girlfriends in other houses.

It was an endless parade of breaking up snogging couples and sending them back to their common rooms. It was actually worse than it was before everyone started going everywhere in groups. Harry could understand that, since going nowhere alone he and Hermione had had almost no time alone, just the two of them. The closest they had gotten to privacy was some silencing wards around them in the common room where everyone could see them. Outside of the common room there was always at least one more person with them talking and sticking together.

It was frustrating, but at least Harry, Hermione, and Fleur still had their mirrors in their beds that allowed the three of them some privacy, though Harry and Hermione, despite being so close to each other, were starting to feel like they were just as separated from each other as they were from Fleur.

In fact Harry and Hermione were going to need to come up with a solution pretty quickly, Hermione was going to go into heat in the next week and the two of them needed somewhere private to deal with that. Still if they couldn't find anything Harry would just Step the two of them to his house. It would annoy Headmistress McGonagall but she would accept it if it was necessary.

It was Kathryn's fifth day of joining them on patrols that they heard it. They were walking along the forth floor checking out the broom cupboards and disused classrooms when there was a shout and a bang of spell fire coming from somewhere below them. Harry hadn't been using the map in front of Kathryn but with the sound Harry immediately decided it was an emergency and pulled it out. He didn't take the time to read the names but the collection of dots on the second floor was enough to tell him exactly where to go and he took off, calling their destination to Hermione and Kathryn who were keeping pace with him.

The trio darted down corridors and practically flew down sets of stairs, charging as fast as they could to whatever was happening hoping that when they arrived they wouldn't find they were too late.

Harry rounded the corner at an all out run and came across the scene of what had obviously been a fight. And whatever had started it the one who finished it was apparently Ron as he was the one standing in the middle of three unconscious Slytherins, his wand in his hand and looking extremely pissed off. Susan was dealing with another Slytherin, a girl who looked distraught and a Ravenclaw boy who was being held up by Justin who looked like he had been thrown in a ring with a troll for ten minutes.

"Ron what happened?" Hermione asked before Harry could finish framing the question in his head.

Ron turned to look to look at them and it was clear he was expecting more people to fight and it took him a second to realise it was them and calm down. "We found these three Slytherins attacking the Ravenclaw boy while the other Slytherin was begging them to stop."

"What did you hit them with?" Harry asked Ron, nodding his head to the three unconscious Slytherins. He needed to know if they needed the hospital wing as well as that was the first priority.

"Just stunners." Said Ron.

"Then we need to get Mr um… sorry what was your name?" Hermione asked the beaten up boy.

"Roberts, David Roberts." He said through a thick lip indicating himself then pointed at the girl. And that's Melody Hawthorn."

"Get Mr Roberts, to the hospital wing and get the heads of house. Susan you take Miss Hawthorn, Ron help Justin with Mr Roberts, Harry, Kathryn you can each levitate one of the Slytherins and I will levitate the third and we can get them all to the hospital wing." Hermione said taking charge.

As they walked up to the hospital wing the Slytherin girl sobbing into Susan's shoulder and the Ravenclaw propped up between Ron and Justin, David told them what happened. "Me and Melody had snuck out to meet up. With all the new restrictions it's impossible to get some time alone without breaking the rules, but the prefects are all busy with getting ready for their exams so sneaking out was easy. Only Melody's older brother noticed and brought his two friends along. According to him I'm not good enough for their family and he didn't want his bloodline polluted with my 'mudblood filth.'"

The group had to take the stairs slowly as David's one leg barely had the strength to hold him up, using it to climb the stairs wasn't going to work. "He had his two friends hold me down and he just started punching and kicking me, calling me a mudblood."

It was clear from his tone that David was angry. Not afraid, not beaten, he was majorly angry. It was also easy to see why Melody was so distraught. Personally Harry also believed every word of it. Why? Because David wasn't hiding any of his own rule breaking. He was openly admitting to seeking out after curfew to meet up with his girlfriend. If you were going to lie about any of it you would probably lie about seeking out and would say you just lost track of time.

It also matched how Melody was acting. Watching her brother savagely beat her boyfriend just for being her boyfriend was the type of thing that could be very distressing. Being pulled between family and the right to live her life the way she wants, blaming herself for putting David in her brother's path. That was too much for most people let alone someone who looked about fourteen.

After dropping everyone in the hospital wing Harry, Hermione, and Kathryn went to go get Professor's Sinestra and Flitwick. Unfortunately that meant a trip up the astronomy tower where the head of Slytherin was preparing for that night's Astronomy lesson.

Neither professor was happy with being pulled away from what they were doing but when Flitwick heard that one of his students had been held down and given a beating he looked ready to see heads roll.

Once they got to the hospital wing and found that the three Slytherins had already been revived and David was looking all better then the usual things started to happen.

The heads of house questioned the presence of Ron and Kathryn but dropped it once Harry explained about the sixth year prefects needing an extra hand with all the other prefects focusing more on their exams. They didn't look happy about it but they had more important things to worry about.

Melody's older brother tried to claim that he caught David trying to force himself on his sister but that fell apart when Melody lunged at her brother trying to claw at his face calling him a liar. It further fell apart when after Melody had been restrained from trying to claw out her brother's eyes Susan pointed out that such an allegation was the the responsibility of the D.M.L.E and under a D.M.L.E investigation David would be permitted to volunteer to use magic prove his statements. His testimony under Veritaserum would be the perfect opportunity to get all the facts.

Gret Hawthorn, Melody's brother, retracted his allegation immediately after hearing that. He wasn't prepared to deal with that level of scrutiny.

The biggest surprise for Harry was Professor Sinestra's response. Harry knew she embraced the anti bullying policies that Professor McGonagall had brought in as Headmistress but at the same time she had always advocated for her Slytherins to get the lower end of the repercussions for their acts. For Gret Hawthorn and his two friends however she immediately suspended them from the school. Then informed the three boys that she would be talking to the Headmistress about having them expelled.

Considering the three boys were Newt year students this was a major thing. They had their Owls so they wouldn't have their wands snapped but there wasn't enough time for them to enroll in a foreign school for their last year. This would mean missing out on their Newt exams. Sure there were other ways to take the exams but it would be a mark on their records that would affect their future prospects for decades to come.

The three Slytherins had of course protested but Professor Sinestra was firm and marched the three of them down to the Slytherin common room to pack. It was too late in the day to send them home that night but they would be gone from the school right after breakfast tomorrow.

The two groups of prefects left the hospital wing not long after that leaving David and Melody in the care of the medi witch who wanted to monitor them. David was now laid on one of the beds and Melody was sat next to him, his hand held in hers, reminding Harry of some of the scenes between himself and Hermione their third year.

The time for the prefect rounds had finished so the four Gryffindors decided to walk the two Hufflepuffs down to their common room rather than letting the two of them risk going alone. As they walked their conversation had naturally turned to what had just happened.

"So Weasley, where the hell did you learn to cast like that? You had all three of them unconscious in less than a second." Justin asked, a little awe in his voice.

Ron tried to act like it was nothing but it was easy to see him puffing out his chest and walking a little taller as he took pride in what he had done. "It was nothing, they were all too preoccupied with that David kid to notice me until it was too late for them."

"Ron, you cast three stunning spells in under a second and each spell was perfectly on target." Justin insisted.

"Yeah but it's just silent casting, we are practicing that in all our classes. Also the three of them were barely moving around, I would hardly call that a challenging target." Ron insisted

"Now you know why I asked him to help us with our rounds." Susan said to Justin before she turned to Ron. "Ron, almost no one outside of the Aurors and professional duelling champions can cast like that. Why do you think auntie wanted me to join in on lessons Harry was giving? My aunt, former head of the D.M.L.E recognised quality. And you have learned well."

"To be fair when you have dark wizards trying to kill you, you have two options, get good or get dead." Harry said with a shrug. "Everyone is pretty motivated to actually do their best so it's just coming up with ways to practice."

"That's it? Just keep practicing?" Justin asked.

"How do you think the Aurors and duelists learn? They just keep practicing, natural stamina of course plays a role but there is no magical shortcut. Unfortunately you just need to take the Hufflepuff approach to this one." Hermione said.

"I don't suppose I can join you guys in training?" Justin asked.

Harry thought about it for a second. "No, sorry. You'd be too far behind everyone else and it would hurt their training to come down to your level long enough to get you up to speed. It would be unfair to everyone else. I can give you some advice on solo training if you like, but joining us just wouldn't work."

Justin was disappointed and after they dropped the two Hufflepuffs at their dorm the Gryffindors made their way back to their common room.

-ϟϟϟ-

There was some speculation over the next few days at the disappearance of the three Slytherins. Some students seemed to think that the reason the three Slytherins had been attacking the Hufflepuff was because they were the ones behind the previous attack and that they had just been caught in the act this time. They seemed to think with the three Slytherins out of the castle everyone was safe again.

In fairness to Melody she tried to point out that the attack was because her boyfriend was muggleborn and it was personal, not a random attack like the previous one. Unfortunately for her and the everyone else most seemed to think Melody was either trying to cover for her brother or that she was simply wrong and her brother was behind both attacks and she couldn't accept that she had chosen his next target by waving a muggleborn under his nose.

More of the students believed she was honestly wrong, rather than covering for her brother. Actually dating a first generation magical had the effect of earning her the benefit of the doubt.

Luckily Melody wasn't the only one telling everyone the truth. All six sixth years who knew what happened, the four prefects, Kathryn, and Ron were all being quite vocal about the truth but it did however lead to some of the students being a little more devil may care about their safety.

Over the next few days it became clear there was a fight going on behind the scenes to get the three Slytherins back into the school. Ron, Justin, and Susan were pulled out of charms one day and were gone until dinner. When Ron sat down with Harry and Hermione he told them that he and the two Hufflepuff prefects had been grilled by the board of governors about what exactly they saw happening.

Ron was a little worried that he was going to be in trouble, after all he wasn't a prefect. However it seemed they were more focused on deciding if the three Slytherins were simply suspended or expelled. The professors all seemed to be leaning towards expelled and the governors mostly agreed but some gold must have changed hands somewhere because a few were lobbying hard for the boys.

In the end there was one of those compromises that could only come from bureaucrats and endless meetings. The two sidekicks were suspended long term but would be allowed to come back for their Newt exams only but Gret Hawthorn was expelled.

Unfortunately with some taking their safety less seriously it wasn't long until another muggleborn went missing. Colin Creevy, a Gryffindor the year below Harry, didn't turn up for breakfast one morning and wasn't in his bed. The first thing Harry did was try the marauders map but unfortunately, either Colin wasn't in the school anymore or he was somewhere the marauders never found.

-ϟϟϟ-

In a hidden room shown to them by Annette Warrington, Draco and Pansy Parkinson chopped, sliced and peeled potion ingredients. "Are you sure the effect will truly last that long?" Draco asked his wife, glancing over to the unconscious boy they had caught dawdling on his way back from his astronomy lesson after midnight.

Pansy grinned a malicious smile. "Positive. And you know the law. You know what will happen. It will destroy him, it will hurt Potter and best of all even if we are caught there's nothing they can do about it."

They worked on the potion they were brewing, making sure everything was perfect. This was going to be fun.

A/N

I'm good for energy drinks this week, but I could still use the validation of internet strangers.