Mindgames - Chapter Three
by FenrisWolf
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Disclaimer - see chapter one
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Ginny stood in a niche behind one of the pillars flanking the entrance to the Great Hall, Harry's invisibility cloak hiding her from view as she watched the scene being acted out before her. She watched silently, impressed with Harry's dramatic skills as he stoked Ron's fury, and then winced as her brother flew into a rage and decked his best friend. 'It didn't have to be that realistic, Harry,' she thought drily.
Her attention sharpened and a snarl flitted across her face as their suspect approached Harry's supine form. As soon as they told her what was going on, Ginny knew who had to be behind the attempt to sabotage Harry and Hermione's relationship. Sure, lots of girls had set their caps for the Boy-Who-Lived; Ginny had been one of them until she saw how incredibly perfect he and Hermione were together. She knew that she would never set his eyes on fire like that, and she'd loved him enough to be able to see him happy with someone else and be glad for both of them.
Unfortunately, not all the girls at Hogwarts were so easily resigned to missing out on the boy that Teen Witch Weekly regularly listed as the Catch of the Century (when word had spread that Harry was officially 'off the market', the magazine had run a special issue with a black cover to "mourn his passing", not the best of taste considering his life). A few of the attempts to test Harry's resolve had been quite inventive, one or two positively hilarious, and only one (involving an overzealous Muggle father with a fowling piece) had bordered on scary.
This attack had been far more serious, and Ginny could think of only one girl in Gryffindor who was self-centered enough to think she had a right to do it, and ruthless enough to track down the means-Lavender Brown, the Blonde Bitch of Gryffindor.
Once Harry was old enough to be considered 'interesting', Lavender had started trying to catch his attention. The problem was that she was used to dealing with boys who were a great deal more experienced than Harry, which meant that most of her less-than-subtle innuendo shot straight over his head without ruffling a hair. When she'd realized that her usual tactics weren't working she'd changed methods, trying to slip into 'good friend' mode and worm her way in that way. Unfortunately for her plans, Harry already had several close friends, the chief of those being Ron and Hermione, and by now he knew just how risky being his friend could be. He couldn't shake off the other two members of the Trio, though Merlin knew he tried, but he refused to allow anyone else close enough to become a target. School friends were fine, housemates as well, but friends close enough to be family were out of the question. Every time Lavender tried to get closer she was gently shunted aside, and it made her crazy.
Then, in the space of a few short months, everything changed again. Ron started dating Luna Lovegood, destabilizing the Trio, but before Lavender could take advantage of the situation, Harry and Hermione had realized how they felt about each other.
"Served her right," Ginny snickered to herself as she recalled the screaming tantrum the scheming blonde had thrown when she heard the news. Ginny had heard from a Ravenclaw who'd been passing by how Lavender had staked everything on an all-or-nothing gambit to change Harry's mind, and had apparently crashed and burned in a truly spectacular manner. Her dorm mates had thought that would finally be the end of it, but Ginny hadn't been so sure. Now she wished her hunch had been wrong.
She watched as Harry got to his feet and exchanged pleasantries with the conniving little slut; he was actually managing to flirt with her, much to Ginny's surprise. 'No wonder the Sorting Hat thought about sticking him in Slytherin,' she thought, recalling a summer conversation about their varying experiences at their sorting. 'He's certainly sneaky enough.' She then stared in amazement as he handed the bloodied handkerchief back to Lavender. She hoped he knew what he was doing; giving an enemy who practiced Dark magic a sample of your blood was a huge risk.
Harry and Lavender parted company, Harry walking towards Ginny's predetermined hiding place. "Follow her," he whispered, "and see who she meets. Don't get too close, though; use the Map."
Ginny nodded automatically, though he couldn't see the gesture under the cloak, and carefully began to move along the wall, paralleling Lavender's movements. Fortunately it was still the breakfast period, which meant the halls were relatively clear of students. Still, she had to duck aside and pause several times, and would have lost her target if not for the Marauder's Map clearly displaying Lavender's movements. It came as little surprise however when she saw the dot that represented her quarry moving down the stairs that led to Slytherin House's section of the dungeons.
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Ron was still seething when he returned from breakfast to the Gryffindor common room. The nerve of that prat, Potter, making a crack like that! Hell, he'd been the one who encouraged Ron to notice Luna in the first place, and the first one to congratulate them when they announced they were a couple! He'd actually been about to suggest that the four of them go on vacation together after graduation; Luna and her father had visited some amazing places in their never-ending quest for fantastic beasts to feature in The Quibbler, and he'd wanted to see some of them himself. And now all those plans were scuttled because his former best friend was too damned stupid to hang on to the best thing that ever happened to him-
His torrent of recriminations jittered to a stop as the scene in the common room finally registered on him. Harry was sitting on the couch in front of the fire, holding an ice pack to his swollen and bruised face. That he wasn't surprised to see; in fact he felt a moment of reasonable pride at the sight. What did surprise him, to put it mildly, was the sight of Hermione sitting in his lap, gently sponging away the caked blood around his split lip in preparation of applying the healing salve she had sitting ready in a warming bowl. "What the bloody hell…Hermione, what are you doing!?!" he almost shouted, his face purpling again.
"Ronald, calm down," a familiar voice spoke from behind him. He whirled, and his mind kept whirling at the sight of his girlfriend sitting comfortably in one of the common room chairs, acting for all the world as if nothing catastrophic had happened between their mutual friends. Of course, Luna acted as if nothing catastrophic was happening in the face of a Force 5 tornado, but still…
His gaze shifted back and forth between the room's three other occupants, from his girlfriend's calm, patient expression, to Hermione's anxious expression, and reluctantly, to Harry's worried one. Obviously something other than what he'd been led to believe was going on, and he was hurt that they hadn't kept him in the loop-again. "Will somebody please explain what's going on?" he asked plaintively.
Hermione looked up at her other best friend, pained by the hurt and confusion written across his face. She glanced at Harry who nodded encouragingly. She rose from his lap and took Ron's hand, leading him over to the other couch. "First of all, Ron, we're sorry we had to put you through all that," she said earnestly. "Please believe me, we wouldn't have if it wasn't absolutely necessary."
He looked back and forth between them and snorted bitterly. "I'm guessing you two didn't break up, then," he replied. "What, you just needed to see me make a jackass out of myself in front of the whole school? Oh, and let's not forget racking up a week's detentions with Filch."
"Ronald, please listen to your friends before you jump to conclusions," Luna chided as both Harry and Hermione winced. "How many times have you told me you didn't want to do that any more?"
Ron shrugged sheepishly. One of the best things about his relationship with the slightly odd Ravenclaw was the ease with which he could talk to her about anything. She never judged him, or looked down on him, no matter what he said. She did on occasion force him to listen to what he was saying, and realize for himself when he was acting the prat. It had made for a bumpy ride the first few months they were together, but he couldn't imagine being with anyone else. "Sorry, Love," he apologized. "Sorry, Mione. So, what's really going on?"
Hermione quickly explained what had been happening, and Ron became incensed when she described the nature of the attack on her. "Bloody hell! Hermione, are you all right?"
"I am now, Ron. Harry made me go to Professor Dumbledore, and he broke the last of the curse." She shuddered briefly as she recalled the experience. The headmaster had been incredibly gentle, but the feeling of him sifting through her thoughts as he removed the last vestiges of the curse had been anything but pleasant. For the first time she truly understood what Ginny had gone through with Tom Riddle's diary, and she intended to have a long talk with her when this was all over.
"So why couldn't you tell me about it?" Ron asked, the hurt still in his voice, though not as strong. "Didn't you think I'd be worried about you two?"
"That was my fault, Ron," Harry interjected. "We still need to flush out whoever tried this, and in order to do that, they need to believe their little scheme is working."
"What has that got to do with not telling me what's going on?"
Harry and Hermione glanced nervously at each other, unsure just how to explain their reasoning without hurting their best friend's feelings. "Well…" Harry said hesitantly before Luna interrupted.
"Ronald, you know very well that hiding your feelings is not something at which you have a great deal of practice," she said, her voice still maintaining her usual calm, slightly dreamy tone. "Obviously, you needed to be angry with Harry for their deception to work. And from the appearance of Harry's face, the deception worked quite well."
Ron blushed, his eyes going to the icepack Harry was still holding against his jaw. "Sorry, mate."
Harry shrugged. "Don't be. Next time you're being a prat I'll deck you and we'll be even. Until then, no worries."
Ron snorted but let the matter drop. They had more important things to discuss. "Well, now that everyone thinks that you're a bastard, Hermione is miserable and I'm a raving lunatic, what's next?"
"Next we wait for Ginny to report back," Hermione said firmly.
"Ginny? What's she got to with all this?" Ron asked, concern for his little sister clear in his voice.
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At that moment Ginny was following Lavender deeper into the catacombs under Hogwarts. Already they were into sections she'd never seen before, and only the well-maintained (if spaced too far apart for her taste) torches indicated that anyone had used them in years. They certainly weren't any place she would have gone willingly; they were damp, chilly, and reminded her too strongly of the passages surrounding the Chamber of Secrets. Not only that, they seemed to reek of a sickly musk odor that reminded her of ferrets…
The Marauder's Map was proving to be an even more invaluable tool than she'd expected. The passages she was traversing weren't initially indicated, but as she traveled through them the map added them to itself, leaving a clearly marked path for her to follow back out of the maze if necessary.
She wondered briefly how Lavender was navigating through all the twists and turns, and then shrugged. How she was doing it mattered less than following her to her goal, and that had to getting close. For the last few minutes they'd been moving upward again, and if the Map was right, would soon be back in the more heavily frequented parts of the castle.
Suddenly a new dot appeared on the map ahead of Lavender's, and Ginny paused briefly under a torch and squinted at the tiny writing next to the dot, and felt a moment of surprise. Well, it was a possibility they'd considered, but not favored. She crept up to the last bend before and peered carefully around the corner, forgetting for a moment the invisibility cloak that hid her from view as she spied on the meeting between Lavender and Pansy Parkinson.
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Ginny rushed back to Gryffindor Tower, hoping she'd made the right decision. There'd been no time to check with Harry and Hermione, she'd had to set things in motion before the opportunity was lost.
She'd missed Lavender's first words, but was in time to hear Pansy's nasal reply. "So the charm finally did its job?" Charm?
"Yes, just like you said it would! Hermione finally realized that she's just not the right person to make Harry happy!" Lavender gushed. "You were so right, Pansy. Harry's much too important to the Wizarding world; he needs a wife who was brought up with our ways, someone to provide guidance so he won't make any missteps. A Muggleborn witch would just be a burden to him, especially since he was practically Muggle-raised himself."
Ginny could almost hear the Slytherin girl smirking. "And of course, you'd be willing to force yourself to provide that guidance, eh, Brown? Not that I blame you, Potter's turned into quite the stud the last couple of years…"
"Well, why shouldn't it be me?" Lavender replied defensively. "I'm young, female, and a Pureblooded Gryffindor. I'm the smartest girl in my class-"
"Next to Granger," Pansy dug, earning a pout. "Never mind; go on, Brown."
"Well, you know the rest, we talked about it when you agreed to help me. Hermione's just not right for him; I'd be a much better match…and he'd know it, too, if she hadn't sunk her hooks into him so early."
"All right, all right, don't get your knickers in a twist; I said I'd help, and I will, haven't I just proved that?"
"Yes, and I can't thank you enough," Lavender replied. "I still can't get over that, I thought all you Slytherins hated Harry…"
"Oh, well, like I said, when your Head of House is probably one of You-Know-Who's henchmen, you have to keep a front up if you want to live. Personally, I hope Potter gets everything he deserves," she finished in a syrupy tone that went right over the Gryffindor girl's head. "Now, did you get what we need for the next part?"
"I couldn't get any of his hair," Lavender admitted. "He never seems to cut it. But I got something better!" she added hastily as Pansy's expression darkened. She extended the bloodied handkerchief. "Harry got into a fight with Ron Weasley in front of the Great Hall; this has some of Harry's blood on it. Will that do?"
Parkinson's eyes lit up as she accepted the soiled cloth. "Yes, that should be perfect," she breathed.
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Ginny hadn't waited to hear more. There was no way that the Slytherin girl was behind the cursed pillow; she was abysmal in charms, and as far as Ginny knew had never stepped foot inside the Ancient Runes classroom. She had to be a go-between, which meant there had to be someone else involved. And that meant they needed eyes within Slytherin itself.
She glanced at the map and was relieved to see that she was closing in on the person she was seeking, and they were still alone. Turning a corner, she saw her quarry going into one of the workrooms that students used for private projects. Even better.
Ducking into the room, Ginny closed the door before whipping Harry's cloak off before the surprised eyes of her friend. "Blaise, I need your help!"
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Chapter four - Friends and Allies in odd places