Unofficial Portkey Archive

Harry awoke to the smell of sterilized instruments, fresh linen, and a variety of odorous potions. It had to be the Hospital Wing.

Everything always ends at the Hospital Wing, Harry thought as he tried to sit up.

Thirst. His mouth was parched and itchy like he had been deprived of water for days. Honestly, he didn't even know how long he had been at the Hospital Wing. Though his curtains were drawn, Harry could tell there was no one sitting there waiting for him and seeing as how sun was streaming through the window at the far side of the room, it was plaintively not the day after the House match.

As if on cue, a burst of feet clattering against the ground broke Harry's train of thought as the clip-clop of Madame Pomfrey signaled the arrival of his healer. She pulled the curtain backs unceremoniously and glared down at him as if to say, "You again?"

"Water?" Harry asked weakly. Pomfrey's usually caustic face melted for a moment as she levitated a glass of water to his hands.

"Drink it slowly," she ordered.

Harry did his best not to devour the water in the glass and sipped it slowly. The coolness was a bittersweet mix of harsh and pleasant down his throat and he finished the whole glass in a matter of seconds. Though his throat was still sore, he felt considerably better. Unfortunately, Pomfrey had more than just water she wanted him to digest.

"You are to take this Replenishing Potion every three hours until I release you. You must take it at exactly three hours even after you fall asleep, so I will be around later to make sure." Her tone held no room for compromise.

"What does it replenish?" Harry asked as he took the first dose of a potion that tasted disgustingly like foul onion.

"Your magical properties mostly. You pulled quite a stunt out in the forest. The nerve of these administrators to let you kids do that." She clucked her tongue.

Rinsing down the odorous potion with some water, Harry paused to ask, "How long have I been out?"

With one last stern look of displeasure, Pomfrey replied, "Six days, Mr. Potter. I've taken care of you for six days."

That explained the thirst.

She harassed him for a minute or two longer, poking and prodding him with her wand. He was sure that she used her wand just to annoy him as there was absolutely no need for her to jab his ribs with it. Keeping his mouth shut, Harry endured the testing for just a little longer as he mused on the length of his unconsciousness. Six days was longer than he had ever been out and he didn't remember ever waking up. His last thoughts were jumbled, an amalgam of screaming and splintering branches. He could see Tracey's face in his mind's eye as he tried to explain that she needed to take out Granger, but that was the last thing he remembered.

Harry looked over at his beside table and found that his wand was missing. Looking around, it didn't seem like they hadn't left his wand anywhere with him. Sitting up in the bed and propping the pillow to support his back, Harry turned the curtains and called for Pomfrey.

"Madame Pomfrey, where's my wand?" Harry half-shouted so she could hear him from across the room.

"Ministry's got a hold of it."

It wasn't Pomfrey but one of his best friends, Blaise Zabini, that answered. The dark boy strode through the door with a toothless smile on his face.

"What do they want with my wand?"

"Reckon it's that nonsense spell you pulled out in the forest."

This time, it wasn't Blaise, but it was still one of his best friends. Tracey turned the corner into the Hospital Wing, her hair pulled uncharacteristically back in a ponytail. Obvious bags under her eyes indicated fatigue, but her face lit up as she saw him sitting and conscious on the bed. She quickly walked over, stopping at the edge of his bed as she looked down at him with a gentle smile of relief.

"Pomfrey said you'd wake up today."

"She said I've been out six days."

Blaise shrugged. "Technically, this is the seventh day. Good of you to finally rise."

Harry did his best to push himself up, groaning at the stiffness of his muscles. He had visited the Hospital Wing countless times before but never had he stayed for such a duration. Already, he was eager to leave the bed, uncomfortable in the sterile and strange surrounding. Judging by the sharp look Pomfrey sent his way at the sound of movement, he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"My wand," Harry repeated.

"The Ministry, in its glorious wisdom, decided to hold on to it until you were awake. They want to ask you some questions," Tracey said.

"What were they doing here?"

"There were actually quite a few of them that came to watch the House match. My father included," Tracey included the last part quietly.

"Your father?" Harry parroted. "But what's he doing here?"

"He's part of the school evaluation board. Snape invited them all out to watch the House match."

"And I'm relatively sure that the creation of new spells requires some sort of Ministry interference," Blaise pointed out. "Now that you're finally awake, maybe you can put an end to all the crazy rumors floating around and tell us what the bloody hell was going on!"

"Before I do..."

Harry trailed off as he inclined his head towards Pomfrey. Nodding once, Tracey pulled Blaise into the bed without a fuss, seating both of them at the edge of it while they pulled the drapes around them for some semblance of cover. Once Blaise made certain that Pomfrey was busy attending to some potions, Harry spoke in earnest.

"I suppose I should start at the very beginning," Harry started.

"The very beginning," Tracey emphasized. "What exactly happened out there?"

"I suppose...it all started at the cave."

"What cave?" Blaise asked.

And so Harry finally revealed his late night sessions with Granger to Blaise. Throughout Harry's recap from his first meeting with Granger to the last, Blaise sat impassively, his legs crossed at the farthest corner of the bed as he soaked in the information. Tracey frowned when Harry spoke of their project to create a spell as he had not disclosed that information to her. Once he started, Harry couldn't stop as it all rushed out of him. The months of secrets and subterfuge poured out like a fine potion, mixing and falling towards the bottom of the bed until he arrived to the point in the story where Trow told them about the battle in the forest.

"All this time, you've been working with her..." Blaise muttered.

"I'm sorry I lied to you," Harry honestly said.

Blaise exhaled loudly through his lips, creating a whistle. "So you and Granger all this time. No wonder you were always so knackered at the end of the night."

Blaise ended his statement with a not so obvious wink which earned a rightful glare from Tracey. The dark Slytherin chuckled quietly but didn't look upset.

"Suppose that explains how you became Merlin overnight. Reckon I can get a couple lessons with her?"

"You don't want to," Tracey interjected glumly. "She's every bit as tough as you think she would be."

"I should have known when both of you were disappearing for all this studying. You've never been the type, Trace."

Tracey winced as she revealed her part in the lie. "We're both sorry, Blaise. We should have told you."

Blaise waved it off casually, his eyes not meeting theirs.

"It's okay. We all have our secrets."

Seeing an opening, Harry continued, revealing his plan of action after Neville's attack. He left out the part about his conversation with Luna and the realization that there were far too many coincidences leading towards this climactic House match in the Forbidden Forest. The idea hinged upon the fact that he knew Granger would want to win just as much as he did.

"I knew that she would at least consider the plan, but there was no guarantee it would work. I couldn't do it myself since it's quite obvious what Gryffindors think of me, but I thought if I sent Blaise, Granger would at least hear what he had to say," Harry explained.

"And I thought you were barmy to think that Granger would ever listen to that crazy plan of yours." Blaise shook his head.

Harry shrugged ineffectually. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Partially. I couldn't beat her," Tracey confessed.

Harry waved his hand dismissively, shifting a little bit so Tracey could sit closer to him and there would be more room on the bed for all of them.

"It was a wash once I used the spell. I'm sure you guys did your best, but I've seen Granger first hand. She's not someone that's easy to deal with under ideal circumstances, never mind during a raging inferno in the middle of the forest."

"I tried Legilimens on her. Thought I could catch her off guard, but..."

"That's a dangerous game to play," Harry quietly responded.

Blaise whistled lowly, leaning back against the bottom rack of the bed. "Occlumency? Legilimency? You're going to have to catch me up on that."

"Not that there's a lot to look for inside that head of yours," Tracey replied.

Blaise flipped her off not so kindly and returned his attentions to Harry. "You still haven't explained what that spell was."

Taking a deep breath, Harry plunged into another explanation.

"Ever since that night when they jumped me, I was looking for a spell that could link together several targets at once. What if I was in a situation where more bullies were after me? I'm pretty sure I could handle a few of them at once, but wouldn't it be useful to have a spell where I could just chain them all to each other? That's what Granger and I were working on when it wasn't Occlumency and Legilimency. She took care of a lot of the theoretical work and understanding."

"You two are insane!" Blaise said.

"Maybe, but it worked, didn't it? The results are hard to argue against. Anyways, we both realized that there were a different set of requirements that were needed for the creation of a spell. We tried looking up different variants of the spell in the Library, but even those in the Restricted Section weren't really specifying the chained damage we needed. At least, not to the extent of what I wanted."

"Nevertheless, we continued with a spell, specifically trying to use other spells that we already knew. That's how I decided to try it wandless. Justin needed to be under the perception that I couldn't do anything without my wand. If I could congregate them all in one place, then I could take most of them out in one fell swoop."

"But why not just attack Justin from the woods?" Tracey asked.

"We didn't know where he was. You saw how we were in the woods. Even if all three Houses weren't working together, there would be no way of knowing which House would be coming from which direction. I needed all of them in one spot so we could have eyes on all the Houses at once. That's why I told Granger via Blaise that she should hint that we would come straight for them."

"And then we would all be in one spot," Blaise finished.

"And you could take them all out. But you were wrong. We didn't end up winning," Tracey summarized.

Harry shrugged, adjusting his glasses so they weren't sliding off the edge of his nose. After chancing a look to see that Madame Pomfrey was still busy, Harry closed the curtains and resumed his explanations.

"I wasn't really that concerned about winning. I just wanted to make sure Justin knew what I was capable of."

Blaise and Tracey mused on that admission for a moment, silence prevailing over them. Harry adjusted the pillow behind his back and the slight movement caused his legs to brush against Tracey's. Tracey, for her part, didn't move but didn't make a visible acknowledge of the acute physical contact. Blaise was too far away to be bothered, sitting at the very corner of the large bed. Harry glanced towards Tracey, admiring her blue eyes and wavy hair.

"What's the point if we don't win?" Tracey quietly asked.

"I think there's bigger things than winning now," Harry responded.

Blaise opened his mouth to say something else, but he was interrupted by the door to the Hospital Wing creaking open. Tracey and Blaise quietly slid off the bed, not wanting to attract too much attention towards Harry, and peaked out between the curtains.

"Brilliant. It's the Ministry folks. Looks like we weren't the only ones waiting for you to wake up, Harry," Blaise said.

"They have my wand?" Harry asked.

Harry peered out the curtains himself and spotted three men talking to Madame Pomfrey. All of them wore black robes that fell to the floor clasped with an ornate, silver M. He couldn't see their faces from their orientation, but he recognized the burly, bulky physique of one of these Ministry members in particular.

"Tracey, is that your Dad?!"

Tracey looked towards the bed, picking at a loose thread.

"Yes it is."

* * * * * * *

Two of the men were from the Department of Mysteries while the third, Ian Davis, was a member of the Wizengamot. Ian kindly reintroduced himself, but there was a certain coldness and suspicion in his eyes that Harry didn't miss. The other two Ministry members were not nearly as eccentric as Harry would have thought of the members of the Department of Mysteries. What was strange was how they preferred to be addressed.

Beta-Xi was a tall, older man with a bald pate and a thin beard. His eyes were a strange hazel, so yellow that it looked unnatural. It was obvious that Beta-Xi wasn't his given name, but there was no hesitation in his voice as he introduced himself. Later, Tracey would tell him that all Department of Mystery members were given specific names using the Greek alphabet that corresponded with their ranking within the Department. The second name indicated the rank while the first name was just a specifier.

Chi-Gamma was a middle aged man, roughly the age of Ian Davis. He was astonishingly unremarkable. Brown eyes matched short-length brown hair. He had a face that was neither too angular nor was it too round. He was of average height and average build, a face that was neither handsome nor ugly. In fact, the only remarkable thing about him was the M that clasped his robe together.

"Hello, Mr. Potter. I was wondering if you might answer a few questions of ours as pertaining to the events of April 12th," Beta-Xi kindly inquired.

Harry looked from Beta-Xi to Chi-Gamma, wondering what exactly they wanted for him. For his part, Ian Davis looked equally uncomfortable by the presence of the DoM members and stood off the to the side, within ear shot but obviously not part of this inquiry.

"Can I have my wand back, first?"

"In a moment." Beta-Xi smiled but there was no kindness behind it. "We only have a few questions."

Harry's eyes flicked towards Tracey, but she too looked uncomfortable by the mere presence of these Ministry members. Where were the teachers? Where was Snape?

"They'll have to go," he said.

Ian stepped in without a moment's hesitation, laying a firm hand on his daughter's shoulders as he looked apprehensively at both the DoM members and Harry.

"Come on kids. Let's let them ask Harry a few questions."

Tracey looked like she wanted to protest, but one stern glance from her father silenced her. Blaise was openly gawking at the strange DoM members but walked away with Tracey and Mr. Davis. They left the Hospital Wing, leaving Harry with the two strange members of the Depart of Mysteries.

Chi-Gamma snapped his fingers and materialized a parchment on a slab with an auto-writing quill. It hovered at chest height to them whilst Beta-Xi stroked his white beard as he looked upon the scribe.

"Mr. Potter. Are you aware that you created a previously unknown spell on the date of April 12th, 1994?" Beta-Xi asked evenly.

"Yes."

The quill scribbled furiously across the parchment and Harry wondered what it was exactly transcribing. It certainly wasn't a recording of their conversation as there were far too many strokes that didn't match the words uttered.

"What is the incantation of that spell?"

Harry hadn't used an incantation because he understood the spell at a core level. It was akin to more experienced wizards not needing to say Lumos, but in this case, Harry understood that it was his spell and thus, didn't need an incantation on the spot. Still, he knew exactly what it was supposed to be.

"Fulminare."

Beta-Xi spared a quick, half-second glance at Chi-Gamma and Chi-Gamma nodded his head once. Harry assumed they were using some form of passive Legilimency to communicate to each other as the quill sprung back to life, writing something that Harry couldn't see. It was infuriating him.

"What was your inspiration for this spell?"

Revenge. Anger. A deep desire to see Justin Finch-Fletchley's face plastered along the ground. There were numerous motivations but none of them seemed appropriate to tell these two DoM members.

"Academic."

Again, a flick of eyes between the two strange men. Chi-Gamma had hardly spoke, only looking over at the transcription periodically while studying Harry with what seemed to be some sort of scientific guesswork.

"Why are you holding my wand?" Harry interrupted the string of questions.

"It is standard procedure whilst investigation the creation of new spells. It has to be logged into the archive of available spells after all." Chi-Gamma finally spoke more than a few words.

"And you lot take care of that?"

"We take care of many things. This is just one of them," Chi-Gamma answered.

Beta-Xi indicated with his hand and Chi-Gamma relented.

"If I may continue?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"You always have a choice, Mr. Potter."

The statement struck him as hollow. Did he really have a say in the matter? It seemed like they were just manipulating his answers anyways. Harry shrugged, not bothering to grace him with a response. It was a tad on the petulant side, but it would do them a world of good to have some sort of pleasantness. They made Snape look positively delightful.

"I am going to show you three colors. Please tell me which you associate yourself with."

Chi-Gamma waved his hand and procured three blank cards of varying colors. Black. White. Red.

"Red."

With a snap of his fingers, Chi-Gamma wiped the cards from physical space. Harry didn't know whether the DoM man was trying to impress him but that was little more than a cheap parlor trick. Most experienced wizards were capable of easy, wandless magic.

"There are three men on a hill. A warrior, a merchant, and a thief. Who survives?"

"This doesn't really seem pertinent to spell creation," Harry rebutted.

Beta-Xi fixed him with an even stare, his almost yellow eyes piercing through Harry. To Harry's left, Chi-Gamma stood there unmoved, his arms crossed and his posture relaxed. Feeling trapped, Harry answered the seemingly inane question.

"The thief."

"Why?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "You asked who survives. The warrior always dies and the merchant always runs out of money. The thief takes and takes."

The Department of Mystery agents exchanged another one of those seemingly significant glances. It annoyed Harry to no end.

"Mr. Potter, our next questions are a bit more sensitive in nature," said Chi-Gamma. "Would you mind?"

"Mind what?"

Chi-Gamma clapped his hands twice in front of his body, the echo soft and pure. The lights dimmed in the background and Harry saw Pomfrey frozen in the background. Even the light from the sun seemed to be on a dimmer while the radius around his bed remained in the same light. This was certainly impressive magic.

"Two minutes," Beta-Xi said to no one in particular.

"As you can see, we have limited time, Mr. Potter. If you may answer these questions with little interruption, it would be the best for all of us," Chi-Gamma informed him.

"What is this?" Harry couldn't help but ask.

"An uninterruptable time bubble. Please, Mr. Potter, no other questions."

He had a million questions, but Harry sensed these two were not ones to trifle with. This was certainly not parlor magic. In fact, Harry had never seen this kind of magic before. The most impressive displays of magic were the internal workings of Hogwarts. No professor had come close to such manipulation that didn't involve something with their studies.

"Mr. Potter, are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

POTTER. POTTER. POTTER.

The Legilimency attacks were unlike anything he had ever experienced. Over time, he had gotten used to Hermione's style of intrusion. It was methodical and meticulous, a constant drum like a battering ram against his head. These Legilimency attacks were different. They attacked from different vectors, probing and snaking from areas of his mind that didn't even exist. There were feints, implanted memories, false echoes of his own memories.

Harry clasped his hands to his head, screaming at the top of his lungs. The world was shaking around him, his vision so blurry that he couldn't even see Beta-Xi or Chi-Gamma. All he could feel or hear was the dual attacks slicing his brain open.

HOGWARTS. HOGWARTS. HOGWARTS.

They flashed through his memories of First Year, the disastrous attack he waged on the Seventh Years as the First Year Slytherins were eliminated in less than five minutes. They picked apart his classes, his feelings, and his moods. They easily found the source of his anger when it came towards the spell, happening upon the memory of the night the bullies beat him up. Harry tried his usual method of materializing aggressive defenses, but Beta-Xi and Chi-Gamma knocked it down like it was made of paper.

OPEN. OPEN. OPEN.

Gritting his teeth, Harry resumed his efforts, feeling more resistance on their parts as he constructed a maze this time, trying to at least slow them down. He could feel Beta-Xi cut through the maze, ignoring the walls Harry tried to create. Harry added vertical layers to his mental maze, expanding it rapidly as the flood of memories slowed to a trickle.

RIDDLE. RIDDLE. RIDDLE.

Harry started understanding the owners of the different attacks. The mental signatures of Beta-Xi and Chi-Gamma were more prominent and Harry was starting to single them out. His maze became more aggressive, creating blockades and constant rerouting so that they would have trouble finding his memories. Harry responded to their implanted memories by creating false images, luring the two Department of Mystery members to other parts of his mind that contained nothing but minutiae information.

VERNON.

The single world shook Harry's defenses and the two attacks took advantage of the slight halt in concentration. They ripped apart his maze, shredding it into flimsy ribbons as the two serpents snaked through the deeper recesses of his mind. They were on a neatly manicured lawn, racing up the driveway towards the front door of a brown house. They traveled up the stairs, skimming by the cupboard underneath as they took the last door in the hallway. Then, the door was open and there he was, shaking and crying as...

VERNON. VERNON. VERNON.

* * * * * *

"Potter! Potter! Stop it!"

Granger was in front of him, her hands on his face as she tried to shake him out of his reverie. It was only then that he realized he was screaming the name out loud and there was no Beta-Xi or Chi-Gamma. There was only Granger and Pomfrey, the latter furiously waving her wand over him. He was breathing heavily and Granger had one knee raised onto the bed, shaking him furiously.

"Where are they?!" Harry bewilderedly looked around, trying to find the two Department of Mysteries agents.

"Who?" Granger asked.

"Beta-Xi and Chi-Gamma!"

"Who are you talking about, Potter? There's no one here but us."

"The...the...Department of Mysteries people. They were just here..."

Pomfrey looked down upon him with a frown. She stilled her wand and reached the back of her hand to feel his forehead.

"Are you feeling unwell, Mr. Potter?"

Harry swatted her hand away rather rudely, frustrated at their blindness. Did they not see them? Did they not see the Legilimency attacks they were performing on him? He tried to sit up but Pomfrey pushed him straight down, hitting him with a spell.

"What was that?!"

"A spell to calm you down, Mr. Potter. Now sit still!"

Harry complied with her orders, more out of fear for her wrath than his own instruction. Granger was at least telling the truth in one regard. There was no sign of the two members from the Department of Mysteries. The magic they had used seemingly allowed them to disappear from sight.

"Madame Pomfrey. You saw those two Department of Mystery people enter the room right?" Harry asked.

Pomfrey looked at him oddly, genuine concern on her face. "Potter, I only saw Mr. Davis walk in. I didn't see anyone else."

She must have missed them or didn't see them walk in.

Finishing her tests, Pomfrey pulled back and said, "I'm going to give you a potion that will..."

"No, no!" Harry protested. "No other potions. I'm...I'm fine. I just need some time to relax."

Pomfrey obviously didn't believe him, but she didn't force another potion upon him. The Replenishing Potion was one potion too many and who knew what another potion would taste like. She departed, not without a promise of checking up on him later, and left Harry and Granger to their thoughts and words.

"What did you see when you walked in?" Harry quickly asked once Pomfrey was out of range.

"I saw you thrashing on the bed as soon as I walked into the Hospital Wing. I rushed over to you with Pomfrey on my heels. It looked like you were having some terrible nightmare," Granger explained.

"And you didn't see anyone? You didn't see two people?" Harry gave their descriptors.

She shook her head slowly, skepticism all along her face. "I didn't see anyone else."

Harry exhaled in frustration, not understanding how neither Pomfrey nor Granger saw Chi-Gamma or Beta-Xi.

"Did you see Tracey or Blaise outside with a large man?"

"I came from the Gryffindor tower. I didn't see them from that way," Hermione continued to say it in a way that could have been construed as an apology.

Harry flopped back into the bed, a headache beginning to form. He rubbed his temples, trying desperately to retain every single moment of the parallel Legilimency attacks. He knew they had been there and the best way to get an answer was from Ian Davis. Unfortunately, he was confined to the bed for the time being as he felt he neither had the energy to walk nor did he have any clue of where Mr. Davis was.

"Potter, what happened?" Granger tried to coax the answer out of him.

So Harry once again found himself regaling a tale of two Department of Mysteries members attacking his mind after asking him a series of questions that ranged from relevant to complete nonsense. Granger was silent the whole time, nodding along to the right parts of his story until he finished.

He only needed to look at the guarded look on his face to know that she didn't completely believe him.

"Granger, I swear I'm telling the truth."

Granger shrugged. "You must admit that it's a far fetched tale. It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that two Department of Mysteries members paid you a visit, asked you some strange questions, and then put you in this uninterruptible time bubble, attacked you with Legilimency, then disappeared out of this Hospital Wing without anyone seeing them."

"It all happened."

"To you it happened. To me..."

Harry fell silent, angrily mulling over his thoughts. He thought that after all they had been through, Granger would at least give him the benefit of the doubt and believe him. Yet, her reaction didn't completely surprise him. She was always logical to a fault and nothing seemed as improbable as the situation he had just described. He would have to wait until Tracey and Blaise returned to give him confirmation.

"Why'd you come up here anyways?" Harry tiredly asked, not wanting to argue.

"Pomfrey said you'd be awake around this time. I wanted to see how you were." There was a slight hesitancy between the first and second sentence that Harry didn't miss.

"Delusional apparently."

"You're not delusional," Granger corrected. "I know you too well to be delusional."

"Thanks, I guess."

An uncomfortable silence fell between them. They rarely conversed outside of the cave and when they did, it was usually incognito or covertly in alcoves. For her to be standing there in the middle of the Hospital Wing was slightly unsettling for the both of them.

"I'm glad the spell worked," she finally said.

"So am I otherwise we would all be out of luck."

"I was afraid you weren't going to be able to pull it off. It would have been a catastrophe if it didn't all go according to plan."

"I guess that saying about the first plan failing isn't always true, right? Congratulations on moving to the House cup by the way. You guys deserved it."

"We didn't really deserve it. You were unbeaten until last week. We just got lucky that the professors put so much emphasis on this one. That reminds me by the way. You have a lot of school work to do once you're up and running."

Harry wryly smiled despite the throbbing in his head. "You didn't have to remind me."

"Just thought you should know."

The awkwardness persisted as if they didn't know what to talk about if it didn't deal with Legilimency or House matches or coming up with ways to defeat other students. It occurred to Harry that they didn't have regular conversations. They didn't sit around and talk about nothing. Everything had a purpose when they met and now that they were exposed in daylight to each other, there was a palatable gap between them.

"How's Longbottom?"

The question must have startled her for she stuttered when she started speaking. "He's...uh...he's okay. It took him a while to understand that I was working with you, but you have to give credit to him. He was the one that convinced the rest of the Gryffindors to go through with this plan even though it doesn't stand for what Gryffindor is. I guess he was just...jealous, I suppose."

She blushed and stammered the last phrase as if she didn't believe it herself. Harry tried to keep a straight face, but he couldn't help the grin that crept onto his lips. While he didn't exactly know why Longobottom attacked him that night, he had an inkling that it had something to do with his relationship and meetings with Granger.

"Did you ever figure out who told him?" Harry said with a large grin on his face.

"Stop smiling, Potter," Granger ordered. "And no. He said he got an anonymous post saying we had been meeting together. His hot head got the better of him."

"I'll be sure to thank him."

"Don't," Granger warned him. "Just because he did it doesn't mean he likes you. He did it for me."

"Of course he did." Harry's grin grew even wider.

"If you weren't incapacitated, I would hex you right now."

Harry let loose the trapped laughter, momentarily forgetting about the Department of Mysteries agents. Granger tried to keep a stoic face, crossing her arms and looking at him stubbornly but eventually, she allowed a few chuckles to escape from her as well. Even if Granger hadn't come to terms with the fact that Longbottom might have had more than friendship on his mind, Potter knew how guys his age thought well enough to at least empathize with the Gryffindor boy.

"And everything else?" Harry decided to change topics from Longbottom. "How's Gryffindor dealing with the fallout?"

"As well as can be I suppose. No one is that happy about what we did and I think Hufflepuff in particular didn't take too kindly to us playing turncoat. They had it coming though."

"I didn't mean to put you in a tough spot," Harry sincerely said.

"It's okay. We were there to win. Whatever it takes, right?"

"Right."

The bell rung in the distance, signaling the change of hour. Harry peaked over Granger's shoulder to see if Tracey or Blaise would turn the corner and enter the room, giving him more information about the Ministry members but they were still absent.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Granger shuffled her feet, not meeting his eyes.

"Sure."

Granger looked unsure as to whether or not she wanted to speak but she was resilient as ever.

"Why were you repeating your uncle's name?"

Harry's blood ran cold at the question as he remembered that he had been screaming out loud when Granger found him. Had he really been screaming his uncle's name? Nausea overtook him at the thought of such a stupid folly. His normally loose tongue thickened as he struggled to find the right answer.

"It was nothing."

It didn't look like she was going to take no for an answer this time. Harry made a mental note to remember that Granger forgets nothing.

"You said they were using Legilimency, right? I know the one memory I was never able to get out of you."

"What of it?" His throat seemed really dry and he looked around for some water to quench it.

She looked at him sadly and the worst emotion he didn't want came to the forefront. Pity.

"Harry," she started, using his given name gently. "You have to talk about this."

He could have. He could have easily opened up to her and revealed the dark secret that very few people knew about. Granger and Pomfrey were the only ones to know about the scars and pain that were etched onto his skin. It would have been as easy as just opening his mouth and letting the words flow like a river breaking through a dam. But he couldn't. If he told her, that would mean it was real. If he told her, that would mean confronting the feelings that accompanied that dark room. If he told her, he would have to acknowledge his part in it. He couldn't tell her. Not today.

"It was nothing," he repeated solemnly.

Granger shook her head, the gulf of space between her and the bed now more prominent that it had been during the start of the conversation.

"You can tell me, Harry. I'm a Muggleborn remember? We can get the authorities involved -"

"NO!" Harry vehemently hissed. "Hermione, just...just leave this alone."

But she pressed forward. "I know it's not easy, but you have to talk about this. You can't just keep on pretending that it didn't happen. Did he...did he ever do something that...oh Merlin, Harry...did he ever..."

"Hermione, shut up."

She stopped, flinching as if she had been struck. Her bottom lip quivered as Harry finally saw her mask fall apart. Hermione was showing more emotion than he had ever seen before, tears welling up in her eyes as her body shook. He instantly felt guilty. He felt guilty for not telling her. He felt guilty for hurting her feelings because internally, he knew she was just trying to help. She just didn't understand.

"Just leave it be."

She did it leave it be, but she also left.

* * * * * *

Hermione Granger rushed out of the Hospital Wing, stung by the fact that Harry didn't even call her back to apologize. Could he not see the danger of the situation? She had kept her thoughts to herself ever since he revealed the extent of the abuse, but she thought it would be a good time to bring it back as the school year closed. Surely, there was something they could do about it. Hermione was horrified when she realized that the scars on Harry's back was probably just the tip of the surface when it came to the abuse. She didn't even want to think about what that animal also did to Harry.

Using an exercise she frequented when learning Occlumency, she cleared her mind, willing herself compartmentalize these emotions. Hermione hated when she cried. It was weakness. It was an admission that she wasn't capable of handling the situation in a logical way. Pausing in the hallway, she leaned against the wall, feeling the calming influence of her Occlumency taking over. The emotions were better when they were numb.

"You're doing the right thing," she said to herself. "Then again, everyone is the protagonist in their life."

Finally calm and dispelling of the tears with a handkerchief, Hermione pushed off the wall, resuming her walk back towards the Gryffindor tower. If Harry didn't want to talk about it, then that was fine, but Hermione was certainly not going to let the issue drop. He was too close to the situation to make the right call. She knew better.

As she turned the corner, she paused as she noticed a group of students blocking her way. At first, she didn't acknowledge who they were and kept on walking, assuming they would part for her. Yet, as she approached them, she realized they were actively blocking her way and when she looked at their faces, she recognized why the blockade was there.

"Hello, Granger," said Justin Finch-Fletchley of Hufflepuff.

"Justin. Ernie. Hannah." She addressed each of them, her hand subtly moving towards her wand tucked into the side pocket of her robes.

"Tell me," Justin started, "It was you that came up with the plan, right? Potter doesn't have the brains for that but you - everyone knows about your brains."

"Does it matter?" Hermione replied in question. "We won and that was the end of it."

"By stabbing us in the back," Ernie countered.

"That was after all of you teamed up on Slytherin because you couldn't handle one boy."

"Did you forget that Gryffindor was included in that deal?" Hannah snarled.

"Not me," Hermione defiantly answered.

"Of course," Justin guffawed. "Granger always has to have it her way. It was all going to go splendidly until you fucked it up."

"You only have yourself to blame, Justin. Don't blame me for losing."

"That's the funny thing innit, Granger? I don't think I've lost yet."

All pretense was dropped as Justin moved to raise his wand. Hermione had a few spells already on her lips, knowing the exact percentage of Justin's spell usage. He would most likely open with Expelliarmus, relying on comfort and easiness of the spell. Justin would most likely follow up with a barrage of offensive spells, not using his surroundings to good effect. Still, Hermione calculated that it would be unlikely she would escape this three on one without some damage to herself.

"Stupefy!"

The spell came from behind her and Hermione immediately admonished herself for not checking her surroundings. She was so preoccupied by the Hufflepuff's presence that she didn't even bother checking her rear flank. It must have been either Zacharias Smith or another Hufflepuff waiting in the dark.

Hermione was then surprised when the spell shot over her shoulder and smacked Justin right in the chest, knocking the boy out cold. Ernie and Hannah froze, unsure what to do without their leader, so Hermione chanced a look behind her and found almost the last person she expected.

Tracey Davis had her wand raised, walking forward until she was side by side with Hermione. Her attention was focused clearly on the two present Hufflepuffs in front of them and there was no mistake in her intentions.

"There's still one more of us," Tracey announced, "So you better leave before this gets ugly."

Hannah and Ernie exchanged glances, realizing that they had been caught off guard even though they were trying to outnumber Hermione. Looking down at their fallen leader, they came to a silent agreement and lowered their wands. Tracey, for her part, did not follow suit, indicating that they should leave first with a flick of her wand. Ernie and Hannah hauled Justin up by his armpits, levitating the unconscious boy until they were out of sight. Only then did Tracey lower her wand.

Hermione waited for the unknown person, most likely Zabini, to come out. After a beat and no movement, Hermione surmised that it must have been a bluff on the Slytherin girl's part. Hermione tucked her wand back into her pocket, the ultimate sign of trust between two witches or wizards. It was akin to sheathing a sword.

"I'm guessing Zabini isn't actually around?" Hermione asked.

"Couldn't take a chance that they would attack again though I dare say that we could probably handle them," Tracey revealed.

Hermione nodded, grateful that the Slytherin girl had arrived in time before a full blown duel broke out in the hallway. Though she had certain...suspicions...about the headmaster, she still preferred not to be expelled. After all, where else would she go?

"Thank you for that," Hermione genuinely said.

Tracey looked back at her and Hermione realized how much emotion she showed on her face. There was pride but also cautiousness. Resolution and determination. It was nothing like the blank mask that Hermione saw when she looked at the mirror.

"It wasn't for you," Tracey replied.

The beautiful Slytherin girl turned on her heel, heading towards the Hospital Wing and left Hermione Granger to her thoughts.

* * * * * *

"Quite a remarkable achievement, don't you say?"

"I knew the boy was capable but even I didn't think that such a spell would be achieved so early. Whatever other faults he may have, he can more than make up for it with sheer power."

"Do you think he surpasses him?"

"Right now? No, but the potential is obviously there. I told you that the motivation would be good for him."

"I'm still not convinced that motivating him to hate Justin so much that he creates a spell that chains magic together is entirely necessary, but I can't argue against the results."

"No. You can't. The boy has achieved something that few wizards in history will ever do. We should both take pride in being part of that creation."

"I don't take pride in a lot of things we did."

"Come now, it wouldn't hurt you to appreciate our work for once."

"It is done for a purpose. We plot and scheme and plan and it is promising when it all works out, but we are both fools if we think that we are in control of everything."

"You have too many reservations. Everything is within plan so far and there is nothing to be done but continue onto the road ahead of us."

"Almost everything. Your plan with the Muggleborn girl has gone decidedly off course."

"Yes. It is fate's cruel calling that I am yet again foiled by the stupidity and will of a Muggleborn girl from Gryffindor."

"She is a lot of things but stupid I think not."

"She has served her purpose."

"She has done more than that."

"Don't fool yourself. She is just a tool that has helped him. I can not deny her assistance in the creation of that spell, but you saw their confrontation. We can't have him rethinking his relationship with his uncle."

"We will disagree on that. There are certain things we shouldn't have done. To this day, that is one the I regret the most."

"And let us not forget whose idea that was because it was certainly not mine."

"Don't think you can absolve of yourself of all culpability. You knew what was happening."

"As did you. Do not pretend you are walking the path of saints here."

"Damn us both."

"Indeed. We shall be damned even further, but that is our decision to enforce. There is one more thing to be done before this year is out."

"We have accomplished more than enough for this year."

"Yet still, we must push on for the boy needs to learn the most important lesson."

"What are you talking about?"

"He has to kill the Hufflepuff boy."

"...you...he is too young for this yet! That's not supposed to happen until..."

"It will happen!"

"We can not! I can not stand by and let the boy commit murder at such a young age!"

"You are only delaying the inevitable. The boy will not be dealing with Riddle. He will deal with Lord Voldemort and I have seen the Dark Lord in his full capacity. He will take no quarter. He will take no mercy. Death is his calling and it envelops every fragment of his being. He is scared of death as much as he is enraptured by it. The boy will need to know, he will need to be able to do it when it is time."

"He won't! He won't go through with it..."

"He will with the right motivation. That is the key, isn't it? The boy needs the right motivation."

"And what are you going to do, fill him with even more hatred?"

"No. The Hufflepuff will not antagonize the boy directly. It has been some time before I have looked into the boy's mind, but there is a certain emotion that we can exploit."

"I'm begging. Please don't do this."

"The girl won't die, but the boy needs to believe she can. He needs to believe that there is only one option."

"What have we come to?"

"What it will come to in the future. The boy will have to kill several times before this war is over. He must accept it. He must embrace it for if he doesn't, then we have failed."

* * * * * *

A/N: Thank you again for all the amazing reviews. You lot are truly inspiring readers. There are only three chapters left until the end of Third Year so I hope you enjoy this last stanza. I know how much you all liked the previous chapter, but if you thought that was going to be the climax, then...

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