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@Teddy.J.B @Pervaza972 @CatsAndRoblox @Missy Clara Oswald

(Hey, so I think there might have been an issue when I published my previous chapter as my computer had been glitchy that day. If you have not read Chapter ten I highly recommend that you do as there are several plot elements in this chapter that will not make sense if you have not read chapter ten. Anyways, enjoy.)

Chapter Eleven: Silver and Opals

Where was Dumbledore, and what was he doing? Harry caught sight of the headmaster only twice over the next few weeks. He rarely appeared at meals anymore, and Harry was sure Allison was right in thinking that he was leaving the school for days at a time. Had Dumbledore forgotten the lessons he was supposed to be giving Harry? Dumbledore had said that the lessons were leading to something to do with the prophecy; Harry had felt bolstered, comforted, and now he felt slightly abandoned. That was on top of the feelings of hope, confusion, want, and anxiety he now felts in relation to his personal discovery about Allison. Finally, once again peaking his interest about what Malfoy was up to, there was a day near the very end of September where Malfoy didn’t return the entire night, there had been nights where Harry wouldn’t see Malfoy return but by the time morning came he would be asleep in the dormitory, but this was different.

Halfway through October came their first trip of the term to Hogsmeade. Harry had wondered whether these trips would still be allowed, given the increasingly tight security measures around the school, but was pleased to know that they were going ahead; it was always good to get out of the castle grounds for a few hours.

Harry woke early on the morning of the trip, which was proving stormy, and whiled away the time until breakfast by reading his copy of Advanced Potion-Making. He did not usually lie in bed reading his textbooks; as reading a textbook for recreation was simply weird and not even Theodore did that. Harry felt, however, that the Half-Blood Prince’s copy of Advanced Potion-Making hardly qualified as a textbook. The more Harry pored over the book, the more he realized how much was in there, not only the handy hints and shortcuts on potions that were earning him such a glowing reputation with Slughorn, but also the imaginative little jinxes and hexes scribbled in the margins, which Harry was sure, judging by the crossings-out and revisions, that the Prince had invented himself.

Harry had already attempted a few of the Prince’s self-invented spells. There had been a hex that caused toenails to grow alarmingly fast (he had tried this on Crabbe in the corridor, with very entertaining results); a jinx that glued the tongue to the roof of the mouth (which he had twice used, to general applause, on an unsuspecting Argus Filch); and, perhaps most useful of all, Muffliato, a spell that filled the ears of anyone nearby with an unidentifiable buzzing, so that lengthy conversations could be held in class without being overheard. The only people who did not find these charms amusing were Tracey and Theodore, Theodore did not trust the Half-Blood Prince’s work, and Tracey was worried that since the spells were invented by a student the longer effects of the spells were unknown and protested anytime Harry suggested to use the Muffliato spell on anyone in the vicinity.

Harry rolled on to his side to get better lighting so as to examine more closely the scribbled instructions for a spell that seemed to have caused the Prince some trouble. There were many crossings-out and alterations, but finally, crammed into a corner of the page, the scribble:

“Levicorpus

(nvbl)”

While the current and lake plants pounded relentlessly on the windows, and Goyle snored loudly, Harry stared at the letters in brackets. “Nvbl”…that had to mean “nonverbal.” Harry rather doubted he would be able to bring off this particular spell; he was still having difficulty with nonverbal spells, something Snape had been quick to comment on in every D.A.D.A. class. On the other hand, the Prince had proved a much more effective teacher than Snape so far.

Pointing his wand at nothing in particular, he gave it an upward flick and said “Levicorpus!” inside his head.

‘Aaaaaaaargh!’

There was a flash of light and the room was full of voices: Everyone had woken up as Theodore had let out a yell. Harry sent Advanced Potion-Making flying in panic; Theodore was dangling upside down in midair as though an invisible hook had hoisted him up by the ankle.

‘Sorry!’ yelled Harry, as Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle roared with laughter, and pointed at Theodore. ‘Hang on—I’ll let you down—‘

He groped for the potion book and riffled through it in a panic, trying to find the right page; at last he located it and deciphered one cramped word underneath the spell. Praying that this was the counter-jinx, Harry thought “Liberacorpus!” with all his might.

There was another flash of light, and Theodore fell in a heap onto his mattress.

‘Sorry,’ repeated Harry weakly, while Blaise, Goyle, and Crabbe continued to roar with laughter.

Theodore was red in the face with embarrassment and did not look like he was happy with Harry at all. He put his day clothes on his bed, got on it, and closed the curtains around the bed.

By the time they had got dressed, adding an extra layer consisting of jumpers and thick warm socks and were carrying gloves and scarves for later, and the other four dorm mates had left did Theodore finally speak to Harry.

‘I’m going to find a way to let this go as it was an accident, but I never want to see you test one of those spells on another person ever again. It could have done anything and if it had done worse to me there might not have been any counter-curse as these spells are experimental. Do you un me?’ Harry reluctantly nodded and gave another apology.

Both Harry and Theodore never wanted to bring up the Levicorpus incident ever again, but by the time they reached the common room Blaise and Goyle had spread the story to everyone, and while most were now sniggering behind Theodore’s back, Tracey, Allison, and Terence were quite concerned.

'I'm fine, really, it was an accident. Harry was just trying off an experimental spell he had read somewhere,' said Theodore slightly in code as they had not filled Terence in on the whole Half-Blood Prince situation yet.

They all ate breakfast together, but once Terence was finished his Farls, eggs, and bacon he had get going as he needed to finish a project for Charms. He kissed Tracey on the cheek.

‘Love ya, Davy,’ he said with a cheeky smile.

‘Terence, you got crumbs on me,’ she said while blushing and wiping her check. ‘I love you too, good luck on the project.’

So Terence made his way towards the Entrance Hall, with Tracey facing him with a smile the entire time. The second Terence was out of sight Tracey and Allison both went stone-faced and turned to stare at Harry.

‘You used a Prince curse on Theo?’ said Allison, absolutely bewildered.

Harry frowned at them.

‘Always jump to the worst conclusion, don’t you?’

‘Are we wrong?’ asked Tracey, dead serious.

‘Well…no, I did, but it was an accident, so what?’

‘So you decided to use an unknown original spell without knowing what it would do?’ said Allison.

‘Why does it matter if it’s original?’ said Harry, preferring not to answer the rest of the question.

‘If it’s originally from a student than it probably hasn’t gone through the Ministry of Magic approval proceed,’ said Tracey. ‘I also don’t approve of these spells as they all seem to cause the target different levels of misery, I’m starting to think whoever the Half-Blood Prince was he wasn’t a very nice person.’

‘Well, this one didn’t technically put me in misery, my misery just stemmed from the reaction of the others in the room,’ said Theodore, trying to keep his promise not to stay mad at Harry.

‘But getting mocked is probably the most common result of the spell, so embarrassing the target is probably the goal,’ said Allison. ‘And I somewhat agree with Tracey, what nice person uses a spell to turn someone upside down.’

‘Well if you want an actual answer, I’ve seen the Weasley twins use a spell I believe to be the same on more than one occasion, and they’re not bad people,’ said Theodore.

‘And my dad, James,’ said Harry. He had only just remembered.

‘What?’ said Theodore, Allison, and Tracey together.

‘My dad used this spell,’ said Harry. ‘I—Remus told me,’ This last part was not true; in fact, Harry had seen his father use the spell on Snape, but he had never told his friends about that particular excursion into the Pensieve. Now, however, a wonderful possibility occurred to him. Could the Half-Blood Prince possibly be—?

‘Perhaps Fred, George, and you dad did use it for some fun, Harry,’ said Allison, though Harry did not like where she was going, ‘but they’re not the only ones. We saw a group of people use possibly the same spell before. It dangled people in the air. Helpless floating along with the casters. Fast asleep…’

Harry stared at her. With a sinking feeling, he too remembered the behavior of the Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup. Theodore came to his aid.

‘The spell can be used more or less innocently, or it can be used to harm others, I think we can acknowledge it can do either,’ stated Theodore. ‘Me and Harry already had a talk, I think this is where we should end the conversation about the Half-Blood Prince for now.’

Even as Theodore said it, Harry remembered that his father had been pure-blood, but he pushed the thought out of his mind; he would worry about that later…

‘It doesn’t matter anyway, if I remained upside down for the rest of my life,’ said Theodore slyly, ‘I can read upside down fluently so I’d still get higher grades than all of you.’

This made Tracey laugh, and then all four of them were laughing, it was a bit of a release from the tension that had been building between the four of them. It was enough of a distraction that Harry didn't see Ginny Weasley approach.

'Hey, Harry, I’m supposed to give you this.'

It was a scroll of parchment with Harry’s name written upon it in familiar thin, slanting writing.

'Thanks, Ginny...It’s Dumbledore’s next lesson!' Harry told his friends, pulling open the parchment and quickly reading its contents. 'Monday evening!' He felt suddenly light and happy. 'Want to join us in Hogsmeade, Ginny?' he asked.

'I’m going with Dean—might see you there,' she replied, waving at them as she left.

Filch was standing at the oak front doors as usual, checking off the names of people who had permission to go into Hogsmeade. The process took even longer than normal as Filch was triple-checking everybody with his Secrecy Sensor.

'If you scanned all of us as we entered the castle, and all of our mail since then, why do you need to scan us as you leave the castle?' asked Allison, eyeing the long thin Secrecy Sensor with apprehension. 'You should focus on scanning us when we come back in.'

Her cheek earned her a few extra jabs with the Sensor, and he was still wincing as they stepped out into the wind and sleet.

The walk into Hogsmeade was not enjoyable. Harry wrapped his scarf over his lower face; the exposed part soon felt both raw and numb. The road to the village was full of students bent double against the bitter wind. More than once Harry wondered whether they might not have had a better time in the warm common room, and when they finally reached Hogsmeade and saw that Zonko’s Joke Shop had been boarded up, Harry took it as confirmation that this trip was not destined to be fun. Allison pointed, with a thickly gloved hand, toward Honeydukes, which was mercifully open, and the four of them staggered into the crowded shop.

'I'm glad here is still open,' said Tracey with a shiver as they were all enveloped by warm, toffee-scented air. Maybe lets just stay here all day.'

'Harry, m’boy!' said a booming voice from behind them.

'Oh no,' muttered Harry. The three of them turned to see Professor Slughorn, who was wearing an enormous furry hat and an overcoat with matching fur collar, clutching a large bag of crystalized pineapple, and occupying at least a quarter of the shop.

'Harry, that’s three of my little suppers you’ve missed now!' said Slughorn, poking him genially in the chest. 'It won’t do, m’boy, I’m determined to have you! Mr Nott loves them, don’t you?'

'Sure,' said Theodore, feeling put on the spot, 'they have been—'

'So why don’t you come along, Harry?' demanded Slughorn.

'Well, I’ve had Quidditch practice, Professor,' said Harry, who had been asking Terence to schedule practices every time Slughorn had sent him a little, violet ribbon-adorned invitation. This strategy meant that Allison was not left out and Tracey often came to watch her friends and Terence, and they all usually had a laugh with each other, imagining Theodore trapped with McLaggen and Zabini.

'Well, I certainly expect you to win your first match after all this hard work!' said Slughorn. 'But a little recreation never hurt anybody. Now, how about Monday night, you can’t possibly want to practice in this weather...'

'I can’t, Professor, I’ve got—er—an appointment with Professor Dumbledore that evening.'

'Unlucky again!' cried Slughorn dramatically. 'Ah, well...you can’t evade me forever, Harry!'

And with a regal wave, he waddled out of the shop, taking as little notice of Tracey and Allison as though they had been a display of Blood-flavoured lollipop.

'How many times are you going to get out of these?' said Theodore, cocking his eyebrow. 'Attending one or two might get him off your back...and they aren't to bad, there is food...'

But he caught sight of Tracey's frustrated expression. 'Though we have food here—Peppermint Toad—they're very good!'

Glad that Theodore had changed the subject, Harry showed much more interest in the Peppermint Toad's than he would normally have done, but Tracey continued to look moody and merely shrugged when Allison asked where she wanted to go next.

'Let’s go to the Three Broomsticks,' said Harry. 'It’ll be warm.'

They bundled their scarves back over their faces and left the sweetshop. The bitter wind was like knives on their faces after the sugary warmth of Honeydukes. The street was not very busy; nobody was lingering to chat, just hurrying toward their destinations. The exceptions were two men a little ahead of them, standing just outside the Three Broomsticks. One was very tall and thin; squinting through his rain-washed glasses Harry recognized the barman who worked in the other Hogsmeade pub, the Hog’s Head. As Harry, Tracey, Allison, and Theodore drew closer, the barman drew his cloak more tightly around his neck and walked away, leaving the shorter man to fumble with something in his arms. They were barely feet from him when Harry realized who the man was.

'Mundungus!'

The squat, bandy-legged man with long, straggly, ginger hair jumped and dropped an ancient suitcase, which burst open, releasing what looked like the entire contents of a junk shop window.

'Oh, ’ello, ’Arry,' said Mundungus Fletcher, with a most unconvincing stab at airiness. 'Well, don’t let me keep ya.'

And he began scrabbling on the ground to retrieve the contents of his suitcase with every appearance of a man eager to be gone.

'Are you selling this stuff?' asked Harry, watching Mundungus grab an assortment of grubby-looking objects from the ground.

'Oh, well, gotta scrape a living,' said Mundungus. 'Gimme that!'

Tracey had stooped down and picked up something silver.

'Wait a minute,' Tracey said slowly. 'I recognize this—'

'Thank you!' said Mundungus, snatching the goblet out of Tracey’s hand and stuffing it back into the case. 'Well, I’ll see you all—OUCH!'

Harry had pinned Mundungus against the wall of the pub by the throat. Holding him fast with one hand, he pulled out his wand.

'Harry!' screamed Theodore.

'You took that from Sirius’s house,' said Harry, who was almost nose to nose with Mundungus and was breathing in an unpleasant smell of old tobacco and spirits. 'That had the Black family crest on it.'

'I—no—what—?' spluttered Mundungus, who was slowly turning purple.

'What did you do, go back the night he died and strip the place?' snarled Harry.

‘I—no—‘

‘Give it to me!’

‘He’s not worth it, Harry!’ shouted Theodore, as Mundungus started to turn blue.

There was a bang, and Harry felt his hands fly off Mundungus’s throat. Gasping and spluttering, Mundungus seized his fallen case, then—CRACK—he Disapparated.

Harry swore at the top of his voice, spinning on the spot to see where Mundungus had gone.

‘COME BACK, YOU THIEVING—!’

‘There’s no point, Harry.’

Tonks and Canini had appeared out of nowhere, Tonks’ hair was still a plain sort of length and straightness, though thankfully its colour was a shade of purple and not the mousy brown hair. Canini was running up to Harry looking a little frightened.

‘Mundungus will probably be in London by now. There’s no point yelling,’ said Tonks grimly.

‘He’s nicked Sirius’s stuff! Nicked it!’

Canini had finally reached Harry and wrapped him in a hug.

‘It’s ok Harry, immediately after the battle at the Ministry Remus moved all of our stuff and all the things that were important to Sirius back to Mould-On-The-Wold Cottage, remember? He couldn’t have taken anything of meaning,’ pleaded Canini as she tried to calm him down.

‘But Remus admitted he couldn’t find some things, and he left behind Sirius’ camping supplies so what if he took what Theo got from Sirius’ will? I bet the second Remus, Sirius, and Dumbledore had left and besides Kreature the house was empty for the first time in a year that Mundungus came and took whatever he had had his eyes set on for months,’ theorized Harry in cold fury.

‘What’s done is done Harry,’ said Tonks with a sigh. She put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. ‘You should get out of the cold, you all should.’

She watched them go through the door of the Three Broomsticks, though Allison held back for just a couple seconds to say something to Tonks Harry could not hear.

The moment they were all inside, Harry burst out, ‘He was nicking Sirius’s stuff!’

‘I know Harry, it’s despicable, but there is nothing we can do at the second,’ said Theodore, who Harry finally realized was just as mad as him and just hiding it better. ‘Tonks’ll figure something out.’

‘Harry, sit,’ said Allison is a calm but stern voice as the arrived at an empty table. Harry hadn’t particularly felt like sitting, but found himself doing so after her request. ‘Good, I’ll go get us all some butterbeers.’

Harry was still fuming when Allison returned to their table a few minutes later holding five bottles of butterbeer.

‘Can’t the Order control Mundungus?’ Harry demanded of the others in a furious whisper. ‘Can’t they at least stop him stealing everything that’s not fixed down when he’s at headquarters?’

‘Scarface, you got to keep your voice down about Order stuff!’ said Canini desperately, looking around to make sure nobody was listening; there were a couple of warlocks sitting close by who were staring at Harry with great interest, and Zabini was lolling against a pillar not far away. ‘Harry, I’m mad too, but the important stuff is safe and Tonks won’t let Mundungus get away with this unpunished.’

‘Yeah, you might even be able to get some of your property back,’ said Tracey hopefully.

Harry gagged on his butterbeer; he had momentarily forgotten that he owned number twelve, Grimmauld Place.

‘Yeah, it’s my stuff!’ he said. ‘No wonder he wasn’t pleased to see me! Well, I’m going to tell Dumbledore what’s going on, as I doubt he’ll listen to Tonks, Dumbledore’s the only one who scares Mundungus.’

‘That’s probably true,’ whispered Tracey, clearly pleased that Harry was calming down. ‘Alli, what’s caught your attention?’

‘Ernie, over there,’ she gestured towards the bar with a frown. They all turned their heads every so slightly to see what she saw. Ernie Macmillan was sitting at the bar, seemingly waiting for the barmaid, Madam Rosmerta, to return to take his order, but while he was waiting for her he was smiling brightly at Allison and gave her a wink. Normally Harry liked Ernie, but right now some of his anger from earlier bubbled back to the surface. Allison rolled her eyes and turned her attention back towards the group.

‘Well, he must truly like you Allison if his attention is on you and not Rosmerta. I swear half the boys our year drink butterbeer at the bar instead of a table just for the chance to talk to her,’ said Theodore shaking his head.

‘Yeah, well he makes no attempts to actually get to know me, all I get from him is random compliments and looks from afar. Not a single “how are you today Allison” or “what’s your favourite quidditch team—?”’

‘It’s the Tutshill Tornados, isn’t it?’ said Harry.

‘Er, yes, yes it is,’ she said, probably from embarrassment she got slightly flustered.

This interaction left the group temporarily in silence. Harry was thinking about Sirius, and how he had hated those silver goblets anyway. The others were just slowly drinking their butterbeers, some small talk between them but Harry remained quiet in thought. The moment Harry drained the last drops in his bottle Theodore said, ‘If there is nothing else we want to do we should probably get back to the castle to warm up.’

The other four nodded; it had not been a fun trip and the weather was getting worse the longer they stayed. Once again they drew their cloaks tightly around them, rearranged their scarves, pulled on their gloves, then followed Gryffindor Captain Katie Bell and a friend out of the pub and back up the High Street. Harry’s thoughts strayed to Allison, had she blushed because she liked guys that knew her personally, or simply because Harry caught her off guard, probably the latter. And what about Ernie, he was tall, blonde, had a similar body type as Allison, and in general was fairly good looking, if he started to get to know Allison better instead of from a distance would she then be interested, as she never said she disliked him in general. Scowling, he bowed his head against the swirling sleet and trudged on.

It was a little while before Harry became aware that the voices of Katie Bell and her friend, which were being carried back to him on the wind, had become shriller and louder. Harry squinted at their indistinct figures. The two girls were having an argument about something Katie was holding in her hand.

‘It’s nothing to do with you, Leanne!’ Harry heard Katie say.

They rounded a corner in the lane, sleet coming thick and fast, blurring Harry’s glasses. Just as he raised a gloved hand to wipe them, Leanne made to grab hold of the package Katie was holding; Katie tugged it back and the package fell to the ground.

At once, Katie rose into the air, seemingly nothing causing her flight as Leanne didn’t have her wand out and Harry saw no broom. She seemed to rise gracefully, her arms outstretched, as though she was about to fly. Yet there was something wrong, something eerie…Her hair was whipped around her by the fierce wind, but her eyes were closed and her face was quite empty of expression. Harry, Canini, Allison, Tracey, Theodore, and Leanne had all halted in their tracks, watching.

Then, six feet above the ground, Katie let out a terrible scream. Her eyes flew open but whatever she could see, or whatever she was feeling, was clearly causing her terrible anguish. She screamed and screamed; Leanne started to scream too and seized Katie’s ankles, trying to tug her back to the ground. Harry, and his group rushed forward to help, but even as they grabbed Katie’s legs, she fell on top of them; Harry, Allison, and Canini managed to catch her but she was writhing so much they could hardly hold her. Instead they lowered her to the ground where she thrashed and screamed, apparently unable to recognize any of them.

‘She looks like she’s having a seizure!’ Tracey screamed. She took out her wand and pointed it at Katie tried a healing spell despite underage magic outside of Hogwarts being illegal, Tracey clearly determined saving Katie was worth it, ‘Reparifors.’

Harry recognized the spell as should be able to help someone with some of the symptoms Katie was showing, yet there was no effect. Harry now knew there was nothing they could do and would need an adult Healer.

Harry looked around; the landscape seemed deserted.

‘Stay there!’ he shouted at the others over the howling wind. ‘I’m going for help!’

Hogwarts was now closer than Hogsmeade, so he began to sprint toward the school; he had never seen anyone behave as Katie had just behaved and could not think what had caused it; he hurtled around a bend in the lane and collided with what seemed to be an enormous bear on its hind legs.

‘Hagrid!’ he panted, disentangling himself from the hedgerow into which he had fallen.

‘Harry!’ said Hagrid, who had sleet trapped in his eyebrows and beard, and was wearing his great, shaggy beaverskin coat. ‘Jus’ bin visitin’ Grawp, he’s comin’ on so well yeh wouldn’—‘

‘Hagrid, someone’s hurt back there, or cursed, or something—‘

‘Wha?’ said Hagrid, bending lower to hear what Harry was saying over the raging wind.

‘Someone’s been cursed!’ bellowed Harry.

‘Cursed? Whose bin cursed—not yer siblings? friends?’

‘No, it’s not them, it’s Katie Bell—this way…’

Together they ran back along the lane. It took them no time to find the little group of people around Katie, who was still writhing and screaming on the ground; Harry’s group, and Leanne were all trying to keep her as still as possible so she wouldn’t hurt herself.

‘Get back!’ shouted Hagrid. ‘Lemme see her!’

‘Something’s happened to her!’ sobbed Leanne. ‘I don’t know what—‘

Hagrid stared at Katie for a second, then without a word, bent down, scooped her into his arms, and ran off toward the castle with her. Within seconds, Katie’s piercing screams had died away and the only sound was the roar of the wind.

Tracey and Canini hurried over to Katie’s wailing friend and put an arm around her.

‘You’re Leanne, a seventh-year, right, I’ve seen you around the common room,’ said Canini, trying her best to be soothing while she herself was shaking.

The girl nodded.

‘Did Katie suddenly start-er-acting funny, or was there any previous symptoms, as in has she been acting odd for a while?’ asked Tracey.

‘It was when that package tore,’ sobbed Leanne, pointing at the now sodden brown-paper package on the ground, which had split open to reveal a greenish glitter. Theodore bent down, his hand out-stretched, but Harry seized his arm and pulled him back.

‘Don’t touch it!’

He crouched down, Allison joined him. An ornate opal necklace was visible, poking out of the paper.

‘I’ve seen that before,’ said Harry, staring at the thing. ‘It was on display in Borgin and Burkes, that can’t be good.’

‘I saw it when I was in there,’ said Allison, dead serious. ‘The label said it was cursed.’

‘Then when it ripped Katie must have touched it,’ said Harry as he looked up to Leanne, who had started to shake uncontrollably. ‘How did Katie get hold of this?’

‘Well, that’s why we were arguing. She came back from the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks holding it, said it was a surprise for somebody at Hogwarts and she had to deliver it. She looked all funny when she said it…Oh no, oh no, I bet she’d been Imperiused and I didn’t realize!’

Leanne shook with renewed sobs. Canini and Tracey patted and rubbed her shoulder gently.

‘She didn’t say who’d given it to her, Leanne?’ asked Harry.

‘No…she wouldn’t tell me…and I said she was being stupid and not to take it up to school, but she just wouldn’t listen and…and then I tried to grab it from her…and—and—‘

Leanne let out a wail of despair.

‘We got to get to the school,’ said Tracey in a desperate voice Harry never heard her use before. ‘Leanne is in shock and the cold isn’t helping. We also need to get to Dumbledore or the hospital wing as we might have information that’ll be crucial to save Katie.’

‘And we got to get the necklace to either Dumbledore or Snape,’ said Allison, and in this emergency they all let their biases against Snape go, if it was a dark curse so powerful Tracey’s charm did nothing that Snape might be the only one who could help.

Still Harry was hesitant about the necklace, so after a moment he then pulled his scarf from around his face and carefully covered the necklace in it and picked it up.

‘We’ll need to show this to Madam Pomfrey first before Dumbledore or Snape,’ he said.

As they followed Canini, Tracey, and Leanne up the road, Harry was thinking furiously. They had just entered the grounds when he spoke, unable to keep his thoughts to himself any longer.

‘Malfoy knows about this necklace. It was in a case at Borgin and Burkes when he was talking to Borgin. This is what he was buying that day when we followed him! He remembered it and he went back for it!’

‘I’m not sure Harry, we didn’t see him but it,’ said Theodore hesitantly. ‘And while you might not believe me, more than just the Malfoys shop at Borgin and Burkes. Also I don’t think Katie Bell got it directly from Malfoy as she got it from the girl’s bathroom and Malfoy is smart enough to know hanging in and around the girl’s bathroom might draw attention to him and therefore leave witnesses he can’t afford. Heck, I don’t even think I saw Malfoy in Hogsmeade all day, and he has a distinctive look.’

‘She said she came back from the bathroom with it, she didn’t necessarily get it in the bathroom itself.’

‘And everything else I said?’ said Theodore.

Harry lowered his head. ‘I-I don’t know—‘

‘McGonagall!’ said Allison warningly.

Harry looked up. Sure enough, Professor McGonagall was hurrying down the stone steps through swirling sleet to meet them.

‘Hagrid says you six saw what happened to Katie Bell—upstairs to my office at once, please! What’s that you’re holding, Potter?’

‘It’s the thing she touched,’ said Harry. ‘We couldn’t leave it.’

‘Good lord,’ said Professor McGonagall, looking alarmed as she took the necklace from Harry. ‘No, no, Filch, they’re with me!’ she added hastily, as Filch came shuffling eagerly across the entrance hall holding his Secrecy Sensor aloft. ‘Take this necklace to Professor Snape at once, but be sure not to touch it and make sure Snape bows that too, keep it wrapped in the scarf!’

Harry and the others followed Professor McGonagall upstairs and into her office. The sleet-spattered windows were rattling in their frames, and the room was chilly despite the fire crackling in the grate. Professor McGonagall closed the door and swept around her desk to face Harry, Canini, Tracey, Allison, Theodore, and the still sobbing Leanne.

‘Well?’ she said sharply. ‘What happened?’

Haltingly, and with many pauses while she attempted to control her crying, Leanne told Professor McGonagall how Katie had gone to the bathroom in the Three Broomsticks and returned holding the unmarked package, how Katie had seemed a little odd, and how they had argued about the advisability of agreeing to deliver unknown objects, the argument culminating in the tussle over the parcel, which tore open. At this point, Leanne was so overcome, there was no getting another word out of her.

‘All right,’ said Professor McGonagall, not unkindly, ‘Canini take Leanne up to the hospital wing, please, and get Madam Pomfrey to give her something for shock. If I need your statement I’ll summon you later.’

When the two Hufflepuffs had left the room, Professor McGonagall turned back to Harry, Theodore, Allison, and Tracey.

‘What happened when Katie touched the necklace?’

‘She rose up in the air,’ said Harry, before any of his friends could speak, ‘and then began to scream, and collapsed. Professor, can I see Professor Dumbledore, please?’

‘The headmaster is away until Monday, Potter,’ said Professor McGonagall, looking surprised.

‘Away?’ Harry repeated angrily.

‘Yes, Potter, away!’ said Professor McGonagall tartly. ‘But anything you have to say about this horrible business can be said to me, I’m sure!’

For a split second, Harry hesitated. Professor McGonagall did not invite confidences; Dumbledore, though in many ways more intimidating, still seemed less likely to scorn a theory, however wild. She was also head of Gryffindor house while all four of them were Slytherins, but McGonagall had shone more trust in him in resent years than when he first started five years prior. That and this was a life-and-death matter, and no moment to worry about being laughed at.

‘I think Draco Malfoy gave Katie that necklace, Professor.’

On one side of him, Theodore rubbed his nose in apparent embarrassment; on the other, Tracey shuffled her feet as though quite keen to put a bit of distance between herself and Harry. Allison however stayed perfectly still, whether this meant she stood by Harry or just didn’t care he could not tell.

‘That is a very serious accusation, Potter,’ said Professor McGonagall, after a shocked pause. ‘Do you have any proof?’

‘No,’ said Harry, ‘but…’ and he told her about following Malfoy to Borgin and Burkes and the conversation they had overheard between him and Mr Borgin.

When he had finished speaking, Professor McGonagall looked slightly confused.

‘Malfoy took something to Borgin and Burkes for repair?’

‘No, Professor, he just wanted Borgin to tell him how to mend something, he didn’t have it with him. But that’s not the point, the thing is that he bought something at the same time, and I think it was that necklace—‘

‘You saw Malfoy leaving the shop with a similar package?’

‘No, Professor, he told Borgin to keep it in the shop for him—‘

‘Harry,’ Tracey interrupted, ‘Borgin had asked Malfoy if he wanted to take his purchase with him, but Malfoy told him no—‘

‘Because he didn’t want to touch it, obviously!’ said Harry angrily.

‘I believe his precise words were, “How would I look carrying that down the street?”’ said Theodore.

‘Draco is not as gender non conforming as you Theo, he probably would look weird walking around with a necklace, or at the very least he might have felt self-conscious doing so,’ suggested Allison.

‘If he had left the shop with the necklace it would have been all wrapped up like how it was when Katie received it, and further more he could have stuffed it in his cloak pocket, so likely no one would have seen it,’ said Tracey.

‘Yes, more likely whatever he purchased at Borgin and Burkes stood out and therefore would bring too much attention to him and he walked back through Diagon Alley. Something with visual effects, large, or loud,’ stated Theodore.

Then to Harry’s disappointment Allison said something that sided with the others and not him. ‘When I asked Borgin about the necklace while trying to figure out what Malfoy bought, he didn’t say it had been sold, he just called me out on my lie.’

‘Well maybe Malfoy didn’t buy it just then, maybe he gave someone money to buy it and transport it later—‘

‘That’s enough!’ said Professor McGonagall, as Theodore opened his mouth to retort, McGonagall looked furious. ‘Potter, I appreciate you telling me this, but we cannot point the finger of blame at Mr Malfoy purely because he visited the shop where this necklace might have been purchased. The same is probably true of hundreds of people—‘

‘—that’s what I said—‘ muttered Theodore.

‘—and in any case, we have put stringent security measures in place this year. I do not believe that necklace can possibly have entered this school without our knowledge—‘

‘But—‘

‘—and what is more,’ said Professor McGonagall, with an air of awful finality, ‘Mr Malfoy was not in Hogsmeade today.’

Harry gaped at her, deflating. ‘How do you know, Professor?’

‘Because he was doing detention with me. He has now failed to complete his Transfiguration homework twice in a row. So, thank you for telling me your suspicions, Potter,’ she said as she marched past them, ‘but as Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor I need to go up to the hospital wing now to check on Katie Bell. Good day to you all.’

She held open her office door. They had no choice but to file past her without another word.

Harry was angry with the other three for siding with McGonagall; nevertheless, he felt compelled to join in once they started discussing what had happened.

'Who do you guys think Katie was cursed to bring the necklace to?' asked Theodore, as they descended the stairs to the common room.

'I'm not sure, but I hope this failure makes them change their mind otherwise they'll end up being a murderer,' said Allison. 'I wonder who it was intended for, as I doubt Katie was the intended target considering she kept saying she had to deliver it.'

'It could’ve been meant for loads of people,' said Harry. 'Dumbledore—the Death Eaters would love to get rid of him, he must be one of their top targets. Or Slughorn—Dumbledore reckons Voldemort really wanted him and they can’t be pleased that he’s sided with Dumbledore. Or—'

'Or you,' said Tracey, looking very worried.

'Couldn’t have been,' said Harry, 'I barely know Katie so her coming up to me acting odd and says she has an unmarked package for me I would have been suspicious, if it was for me it should have been delivered by someone like Ron, Colin, or Ella. Also if Katie was supposed to give it to me wouldn't she have just turned around in the lane and given it to me? I was behind her all the way out of the Three Broomsticks. It would have made much more sense to deliver the parcel outside Hogwarts, what with Filch searching everyone who goes in and out. I wonder why Malfoy told her to take it into the castle?'

'Harry, be logical, Malfoy wasn't at Hogsmeade!' said Theodore, clear annoyed by constantly having to repeat himself.

'He must have used an accomplice, then,' said Harry. 'Goyle or Blaise, Blaise was at Hogsmeade—or, come to think of it, another Death Eater, he’ll have loads better cronies than just Goyle now he’s joined up—'

Theodore, Tracey, and Allison exchanged looks that plainly said there’s no point arguing with Harry.

'Rookwood,' said Allison firmly as they reached the enchanted wall.

They all entered the common room. It was quite full and smelled of damp clothing; many people seemed to have returned from Hogsmeade early because of the bad weather. There was no buzz of fear or speculation, however: Clearly, the news of Katie’s fate had not yet spread.

'Although, speaking of logic, this plan wasn't so well thought out, how did the person controlling Katie think they were going to get past Filch?' said Theodore, as they sat in some of the stone chairs by the hearth.

'That's true, unless Filch was the intended target I doubt this plan had any chance of succeeding,' said Tracey.

'But since when has Malfoy been one of the world’s great thinkers?' asked Harry.

None of his friends answered him.

Leanne

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