FicWad

Chapter 8

"Come on!" I urged Janie on Christmas night. "We have to try out the cloak!"

"What if Dumbledore sees us?" she fretted.

"He's asleep by now," I dismissed the danger. "All we have to worry about is Filch."

"Let's change into our trainers, first," Janie reluctantly agreed. "Our normal shoes make too much noise."

After a quick trip to our dorm rooms, we donned our invisibility cloak and ducked out through the portrait hole.

"Who's there?" the Fat Lady called to the empty corridor. There was no answer as we silently crept away.

Huddled under the cloak, we made our way past Professor McGonagall's office and then past the gargoyle that guards Dumbledore's office. We relaxed slightly once we'd arrived at the main staircase.

"Sixth floor?" I whispered.

Janie nodded. Neither of us had ever had occasion to visit the sixth floor.

We were exploring the Ancient Runes classroom when we heard footsteps out in the corridor.

We froze.

"Mrowr?" There was a cat in the room with us! We'd left the door open and Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat, had wandered in. Filch wasn't far behind her.

"What's this, my love?" Filch walked into the classroom and shone his lantern around. "Professor Babbling's left her door open again?"

As he spoke to his cat, I was leading Janie past him to the open door. There was a problem, however - Mrs. Norris was following us! We slipped out the door and took off down the corridor at a full sprint, the cat trotting along behind us.

"Jump!" I hissed when we arrived at the staircase.

One of the moving stairs was just starting to swing away from us but we made the leap without too much difficulty. By the time Mrs. Norris arrived, the cat was too late to follow us.

We ran down the stairs to the fifth floor and darted down the corridor until we noticed a door standing ajar.

"In here!" I whispered and we closed the door behind us. We were in a room that had not been recently used, judging from the dust that covered everything.

"What's that?" Janie drew my attention to the one thing in the room that was not all dusty - a large, ornate, free-standing, dressing mirror that had been shoved over near a wall. It was dimly illuminated by the feeble light from a magical wall torch that lit itself when we entered.

I shrugged out from under the cloak to examine the mirror, casting a Lumos with my wand to get a better look. The mirror was on a pivot, so I tilted it so that it was facing straight into the room.

"Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi," I read the mirror's inscription for Janie's benefit.

"That makes no sense at all!" she informed me needlessly.

As I stepped in front of the mirror, I was surprised to find that Janie and I were not alone in the room! Several people were standing right behind me!

I instinctively dropped to the floor and rolled to the side - coming to rest with my wand pointed at them - only to find the space unoccupied!

"What's wrong!?" Janie hissed from under the cloak.

"I thought I saw someone, but it was only a trick of the light," I replied, getting to my feet once more and brushing myself off.

Presently I felt the soft fabric of the cloak brush against my arm. "Where?" Janie's voice whispered.

"I saw them when I stood in front of the mirror," I pointed with my wand.

Together we stepped over in front of the mirror.

"I can see you," I told Janie. "The cloak can't fool a mirror, apparently."

"I can see me, too, only that's not me," Janie whispered. "I'm wearing my robes, but my reflection is wearing a dress. Wave your hand," she suggested.

I waved but my reflection did not! My reflection was not holding a lit wand, either, so I had to squint to make out the other figures in the mirror.

Janie was easy, as she was standing right beside me - wearing slacks and a jumper, not a dress. Behind her stood her parents, smiling and waving occasionally. Behind me were my parents and their friends from the photo album. The older couples behind them I took to be my grandparents.

"We must be dreaming," I explained to Janie as I continued to stare into the mirror. "I can see everyone from the album Hagrid gave me, and also you and your parents."

"I can see only the two of us and my parents," she replied softly.

Our conversation was cut short by the sound of someone lifting the latch on the door.

"Nox!" I whispered, extinguishing my wand as I ducked under the cloak with Janie.

We'd managed to take only a few steps to the side when the door creaked open and a tall silhouette was framed in the opening. Professor Dumbledore paused there before stepping into the room and closing the door behind himself.

"Ah, Harry!" he said, lighting his wand and looking directly at us. "I see you've discovered one of the uses for the Cloak of Invisibility! And you've also discovered the Mirror of Erised. Remove the cloak, if you please?"

He didn't sound angry, so I stepped out from under the cloak, moving to stand in front of him.

"Am I in trouble, sir?" I asked, nervously clasping my hands in front of me.

"No, Harry - not this time," Dumbledore chuckled. "You're only doing what your father did when the Cloak was in his possession."

Despite the Headmaster's words, I stood there looking guilty.

"Tell me, Harry - what did you see when you looked into the mirror?"

That was certainly unexpected!

"I saw my family, sir - my parents and their friends, and even my grandparents, I think."

He interrupted me before I mentioned Janie and her parents.

"But your parents are dead, Harry, and your grandparents, as well. How do you think it possible that you saw them in the mirror?"

"I don't know, sir," I shrugged. "Magic?"

"Yes!" Dumbledore chuckled heartily. "Yes, indeed! A magic mirror! Do you see the inscription at the top?" he pointed his lit wand tip at it.

"Yes, sir, but it makes no sense."

"Think on it, young Harry - think on it. Perhaps it will come to you in time. For the present, though, you would do well to get back to your bed and get some sleep," he nodded sagely.

"Yes, sir."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" he stopped me as I headed for the door. "You'll want to take your cloak along," he nodded to where I'd left Janie huddled underneath it. "You don't want to be caught out after curfew by Mister Filch."

"Yes, sir," I repeated, walking over and ducking under the cloak with Janie.

Dumbledore opened the door and we walked right past him into the corridor.

"Goodnight, Harry - sleep well," he said to our backs.

"Goodnight, sir," I replied as we turned left and hurried back to Gryffindor Tower as quickly and quietly as we could manage.


"Jamie! He didn't see me!" Janie's words finally burst forth the instant we were safely inside the Gryffindor common room. "The whole time - he never saw me! Do you know what this means!?"

"Um - what?"

"Dumbledore can't see through the cloak!" she exclaimed. "If he could, he would certainly have ordered me out from under it. Even when we walked right past him, he never acknowledged that I was there. He said goodnight only to you!"

"But - you said that his eyes followed me in the Great Hall," I protested.

"And he seemed to know exactly where the cloak was, back in that room with the mirror..." she considered. "That's it! He can see the cloak! He can't see through it - he can see the cloak, itself!"

"That doesn't make any sense," I told her. It didn't make any sense to me, at least.

"Maybe not 'see' it, exactly, but he can sense it somehow..." she nodded to herself, as if to confirm her theory.

"So - do you think he followed us to that room?" I asked. "We were running really fast, and he's pretty old..."

"Well... no... but... That's it! A tracking charm! Dumbledore placed a tracking charm on the cloak before he gave it to you! That makes perfect sense! Remember how I wondered why he gave the Cloak to an eleven-year-old?"

I frowned at her.

"He charmed it so he'd always know where you are - or rather where the Cloak is," Janie continued. "He tracked us to the room and he can apparently see his charm, somehow. He couldn't see me under the Cloak and so he assumed that you were alone. This explains everything! " she exclaimed jubilantly.

"Yeah, but it makes my Cloak rather pointless," I groused.

"We'll just have to use it when Dumbledore's not at Hogwarts," Janie tried to cheer me. "He's also the head of the Wizengamot and the ICW, according to his Chocolate Frog card. Those duties must take up a fair bit of his time. He must be out of the castle quite a lot," she reasoned.

"How will we know when he's out of the castle, though?" I asked. "Put a tracking charm on him ?"

"Hmm..." the wheels began turning in Janie's head. "Perhaps if we were to ask Professor Flitwick - very subtly, of course..."

"Janie?"

"Hmm...?" she replied absently, still lost in thought.

"You were really great - back there, you know - staying calm under that cloak."

"Oh - that?" she looked up at me. "I was scared witless!"

"Still - you did good."

"That reminds me!" her eyes suddenly grew wide. "Be right back!"

She returned from her room a minute later with quill and parchment.

"Now - let's figure out what that inscription on the mirror meant. It had to be some sort of code, possibly a substitution cipher."

She sat down at a nearby study table and began to write:

Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

"Do you have a photographic memory?" I asked when she was finished.

"Yes," she nodded, "but the images only last for a week or two, then they get replaced by newer things. That's why I have to cram for exams just before. If I revise too early, I forget it."

"I show not your face but your heart's desire," I slowly read what she'd written.

"What!??"

"The mirror's inscription," I pointed. "Turn the parchment upside down."

"Wow! You solved it!"

"I was standing on this side of the table and the writing was upside down to me," I shrugged.

Janie jumped up and held the parchment in front of a mirror on the wall. "Even better!" she laughed. "Of course the inscription is backwards - it's a mirror! It's not a complicated code, merely a simple child's trick! I would have spent days or weeks trying to decipher that!"

"Janie?" I said softly, walking over to stand beside her in front of the wall mirror. "Did you really see me in that mirror?"

"Yes," her reflection nodded to me. "You and my parents. They were smiling their approval - at least that's what I imagined. Did you see me?"

"Yes, along with both of our families. They all approved, too, I think. They also were very happy with us."

"So that's your heart's desire, Mister Potter?" Janie smiled, leaning gently against my shoulder as her eyes teased me in the mirror.

"Yes," I replied, and in the ordinary mirror of the common room, I could almost make out the images of our parents standing behind us, smiling.

"Mine, too!" she said. She turned to quickly kiss my cheek and then hurried off up the stairs to the girls' dorms.

I stood there stunned, staring blankly at myself in the mirror. "The Book was right," I muttered to my reflection. "By the two of us staying in the castle over Christmas, much has been revealed."


-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


"I was thinking..." I greeted Janie the following morning, "... about Mrs. Norris. Can cats see through invisibility cloaks?"

"She probably smelled us," Janie shrugged off my concern. "Or heard us. Animals have very acute senses."

"Right!" I nodded, glad that the question had been cleared up, but still unhappy that we couldn't even use the cloak to evade Filch and his bloody cat.

"Are you up for some wizard chess after breakfast?" Janie asked me.

"Sure! Have you already read the book?"

"No - I was waiting until we could read it together and discuss the moves as we make them on the chessboard."

"Brilliant!" I grinned. "We have nothing better to do until the potions are ready for testing."

"And work on our Animagus forms," Janie added.

"What!? How do we do that?"

"We just relax and concentrate on coaxing various body parts to change - a little bit here and a little bit there - until we're ready to do it all at one time."

"How do you know that?" I challenged her. "Did you read it somewhere?"

"It was in Nicolas Flamel's journal - he's an Animagus and so is his wife. He's a sparrow and she's a red fox."

"That wasn't mentioned on the Chocolate Frog card."

"It was Dumbledore's card - not Flamel's. Besides, Flamel and his wife have never registered their forms. Technically, that's illegal, but we probably shouldn't report them."

"Right!" I laughed. "That would be rather unsporting of us, having obtained the information by using the cheat on his journal!"


-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


It was two nights later that we donned the Invisibility Cloak once more. Dumbledore had announced at breakfast that he would be out of the castle for three days and Professor McGonagall would be in charge during his absence.

"Let's check out that mirror again," I whispered as we exited the Fat Lady's portal.

"Okay - fifth floor," Janie agreed.


"Do you really see me, Janie?" I asked as we stood in front of the mirror under the Cloak. We were a little skittish about taking it off - after getting caught by Dumbledore the last time.

"Yeah - and my parents," she nodded. "Your parents, too, this time. Do you still see me?"

"Uh-huh," I replied, not taking my eyes off the images in the mirror. "And our families, too - same as before."

Just then the Harry Potter in the mirror slipped his arm around Hermione's waist. She leaned into him and returned the gesture. Both turned to smile at each other. Without a conscious thought, I mimicked the motion, sliding my arm around Janie's waist. It wasn't until I felt her arm snake around my waist that I realized what I'd done.

We turned to look at each other under the Cloak. Our surprised expressions quickly transformed into wide grins and our arms automatically pulled each other closer.

We'd been standing there like that for some time - just staring at the mirror with our arms hugging each other's waists - when we heard noises coming from out in the corridor. It sounded like several students - out after curfew - giggling and shushing each other.

"Alright!" a girl's voice hissed. It seemed like they'd stopped just outside the door. "Be quiet! If we get caught, Professor Flitwick will dock us a ton of points."

Janie and I released each other's waist under the Cloak and quickly moved off to the side of the room, expecting the door to open at any second. Instead, we heard the faint sound of retreating footsteps. Cautiously, we approached the door and opened it a crack.

Four Ravenclaws were disappearing down the dimly lit corridor.

"Let's follow them!" Janie insisted. I didn't need any prodding. She quietly pulled the door closed behind us and we crept down the corridor to the main staircase.

"Third floor - they're heading for the library," I whispered to Janie.

"They are Ravenclaws," she noted. "Probably going to raid the restricted section."

We were both wrong. The four 'Claws walked right past the library and headed into the forbidden corridor.

"Uh-oh..." I said.

"Quite!" Janie agreed. "We'd better go rescue them from Fluffy."

"What if they're trying to steal our stone!?" I countered. "You can use your Pungo spell again."

"I'll do no such thing!"

"But it's our stone!"

"It's Dumbledore's stone - or rather Flamel's," Janie reminded me. "Come on - let's get closer so we can hear what they're saying."

We crept within ten feet of the four 'Claws as they huddled around Fluffy's door, pressing ourselves flat against the wall of the corridor as we approached. I recognized Michael Corner and Terry Boot - both first years. I'd noticed the very pretty Chinese girl in the Great Hall - what boy hadn't? - but I didn't know her name. The other girl was not a first year, either.

"You do the Alohomora, Cho - whenever you're ready," Corner was saying as we arrived.

The Chinese girl did and the door unlocked with a click. She turned to Terry Boot. "Hold up your flute," she said. She then muttered a spell and the flute started playing softly.

"Thank you, Hagrid," Boot addressed the ceiling as he whispered his gratitude.

I guess we now knew what the groundskeeper had done with my originally-intended Christmas gift. Janie and I looked on as Corner pulled the door open to reveal a sleeping Cerberus.

The 'Claws all raised their fingers to their lips - the universal sign for "Quiet!" and they crept cautiously into the room. Janie and I eased closer to the doorway, allowing us to see what they were up to.

"Wingardium Leviosa," the unnamed girl whispered. The trapdoor swung upward, while Cho's wand remained pointed at Terry's flute.

"Lumos." Michael Corner lit his wand and shone it down into the opening. He shook his head and motioned for Boot to join him.

"Lumos," Terry added his light to Michael's but it was apparently not enough. Both shook their heads and silently backed away from the opening.

The trapdoor was eased down into its original position and the four backed out the door. Safely out in the corridor with the door latched, Cho dropped her spell on the flute. Janie and I were now dangerously close to the group. They could almost touch us.

"What could you see?" Cho demanded of the two first-year boys.

"Nothing," Corner shook his head. "We needed more light."

"We only have four wands and two of them were otherwise occupied," she reminded him. She sounded annoyed.

Boot shrugged as he put his flute to his lips and sounded a rather harsh note.

"Stop that!" Corner hissed and grabbed for the flute.

Boot spun away from him, protecting his Christmas gift from confiscation.

"Ow!" Janie cried out as the wooden flute hit her in the shoulder.

"Lumos!"

"Lumos!"

"Lumos!"

"Lumos!"

Four wands were suddenly pointing in our direction.

"Um - hi..." I said, somewhat sheepishly, as I ducked out from under the Cloak.

"Harry Potter!!" Boot gushed.

"Who else is there?" Cho's voice threatened.

"No one," I smiled innocently as I faced the four.

"That was a girl's voice," Cho eyed me suspiciously, her wand practically touching my nose.

I automatically glanced to my left, where Janie was still concealed - or so I thought.

"Everyone freeze!" her voice came from behind the four 'Claws. "I'm really good with stunners."

I drew my wand. "I am, too," I added. "Wands pointing to the ceiling, everyone, and keep them lit," I ordered as I moved around them to join Janie. It would have been a tactical blunder for us to be on opposite sides of the 'Claws if we actually had to cast any Stupefy spells; if they dodged, Janie and I might hit each other.

"You have an invisibility cloak!" the unnamed girl said, her eyes wide. "Wow..."

No one ever said that Ravenclaws were slow.

"Look, Harry..." Cho's voice softened, "We aren't looking for any trouble..."

"Neither are we..." I replied.

"What were you doing here, then?" she said, turning slowly to face us - well, to face me. I think Janie had moved off to the side a bit.

"Following you."

"Um - how much did you see?" Cho asked nervously.

"Everything," I told her.

"We already knew about the trapdoor and the dog," she admitted. "We were hoping to find out what it was guarding."

"Can we put our wands down, now?" Boot whined. "My arm's getting tired."

"Okay, but don't try anything," I warned. "So what was it guarding?" I asked, playing dumb.

"It was too dark - we couldn't see anything," Corner replied.

"We could try again, Harry," Cho said hopefully. "You know - join forces? Maybe with two more wands..." The captivating way she smiled at me was disconcerting.

"I - uh - we'll think about it," I replied.

Killing four 'Claws was a bit much, even for me. Janie had already voiced her objection to the idea. Allying ourselves with them was a big unknown, though. How much had they learned? It didn't sound like they knew about the Stone, but maybe they weren't showing all of their cards.

"You and Granger?" Cho nodded to where she thought Janie was standing.

"Who said anything about Granger?" I retorted, trying to keep her identity secret.

Cho just gave me a 'please don't insult my intelligence' look.

"You and Granger are the only two Gryffs in the castle," Corner noted.

"And it's plain to everyone that you two like each other," Boot added in a teasing voice.

That was kind of hard to deny - we spent practically all of our time together. Plus, there was that thing with the Mirror, but they hadn't witnessed that...

"We'll think about it," I repeated, backing away from them.

"You can't report us," Cho gave me a warning look. "Not without admitting that you were here, too."

"We're not about to tell anyone," I assured her. "Do we look stupid?"

"I've never thought you were stupid, Harry..." Cho turned on the charm again. Her face lit up in an inviting smile.

I felt Janie's hand grab mine and tug me back down the corridor. As I turned away from the Ravenclaws she tossed the Cloak over me and I quickly secured myself underneath. When we came to the end of the corridor Janie turned right instead of left.

"Where are we going?" I whispered.

"We're hiding," she replied and pulled me into a small alcove that held a suit of armor. "Careful," she warned. "Don't bump the armor."

We waited there until the Ravenclaws came out of the corridor and turned left - back toward the staircase and their common room. Silently, we crept from our alcove and followed them.

"What are we going to do, then?" Terry Boot was whispering as we drew near.

"One of us will have to go down there," Cho answered. "Michael?"

"Me!? Why me?"

"Because you're so big and strong and brave," Cho turned to smile at him.

"We'll have to find a rope," Corner decided, puffing up at her flattery. "I'll want to be able to climb back out."

"I remember seeing one in the owlery," the other girl supplied. "I can't believe that they have an invisibility cloak," she added, shaking her head.

"We'll have to find out who owns it - Potter or Granger," Cho considered. "If it's Potter's, I'll sweet-talk him into letting me borrow it. If it belongs to Granger, Michael, you can do the honors."

"No problem!" Corner quickly agreed. "There's not a girl alive who can resist these eyes."

"Prat!" Janie muttered under her breath.

"Did you hear something?" Boot whispered. "Behind us?"

The Ravenclaws turned around as one. We'd reached the main staircase and the 'Claws were standing on a fourth floor landing, waiting for a connection to get to the fifth floor. Janie and I were still on the steps below them. I immediately pushed Janie to the side of the staircase, our backs pressed against the railing.

Just as Boot took a step in our direction, our staircase swung away from the landing. Boot pulled up short.

"To the owlery?" I whispered once we were safely out of range.

Janie nodded her agreement.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


We were safely back in the common room after a hasty side-trip to get the rope from the owlery. We beat the 'Claws to it by several minutes. We ran all the way, not bothering to be quiet. If Filch heard us and came looking, he'd stumble across the four Ravenclaws before he saw us.

"So we have competition," I sighed as I collapsed onto 'our' sofa.

"Yeah," Janie said, settling in beside me. She sat close - much closer than usual.

"Ravenclaws," I considered. "I would have figured Slytherins."

"Slytherins aren't that smart. They'd never be able to figure it out. Besides, they don't seem to like Hagrid much - probably because he's so close to Dumbledore. It looks as though the Ravenclaws have been talking to him, however - he gave Boot the flute... heh-heh - 'Boot the flute.' I'm such a poet!"

"At least we got the rope," I nodded to the coil on the floor.

"We don't really need a rope - we could simply levitate each other," she considered. "We still can, actually."

"I wonder if they'll think of that?"

"Probably."

"Plus, we have the Cloak," I reminded Janie. "Good luck trying to 'sweet-talk' us out of it!" I laughed.

"Although..." Janie's eyebrows signaled that she was in 'deep thought' mode.

"What?" I asked when her expression relaxed.

"They don't know that Dumbledore can track it," she shot me an evil grin.

"And..." I prompted.

"After we retrieve the stone, we can let them 'sweet-talk' us all they want! We'll lend them the Cloak, they'll get caught by Dumbledore, and they'll take the blame for the broken stone!"

"God I love you!" I shouted. "You're a genius!"

"Do you really !?" Janie turned to me, her expression cautious. "Do you really love me?"

"Well..." I stalled as my brain hurried to catch up with my errant mouth.

"Do you like me, at least?" she asked, not even bothering to mask the hopefulness in her voice. "Maybe just a little?"

"Yeah," I finally nodded, my lips curling into a grin. "Maybe a lot! "

Janie's eyes sparkled as her grin grew to rival my own. Our noses were only inches apart and I decided to go for it. I leaned forward and she did, too. Our eyes closed and our lips met and I can't tell you what happened after that. Not because I don't remember it, but because a gentleman doesn't kiss and tell...

... Except to say that it was wonderful. I must admit that I'd grown quite fond of Janie over the course of first term - and she'd grown quite fond of me, too, apparently. The Book had not even hinted at this, but then we'd changed things a lot. Maybe it was due to the lack of all the negative influences in our lives - Malfoy, Weasley and Snape, to put names to them - that made it easier for us. Whatever the reason, I wasn't about to complain.

Janie's arm had snaked between me and the back of the sofa and she hugged me as she lay her head on my shoulder. My arms had wrapped securely around her shoulders and I rested my head atop hers.

That's how we found ourselves in the morning. One of us must have covered us with the Cloak at some point during the night, so between the Cloak and our body heat, we were quite cozy.

"Mmm - good morning," Janie groaned, trying to push herself up off of me.

"Good morning," I answered, holding her firmly in place. "Where are you going?"

"I have to get up..."

"Not without your morning kiss..."

She stretched to give me a small peck on the lips and my arms released her. I watched her go as she dashed for the stairs to the girls' dorms, pausing at the bottom to smile back at me before bounding up the steps.

I gathered up the Cloak and the coil of rope and headed up to the boys' dorms as I considered just how easy it was to like Janie. There had been no awkwardness last night. She asked me if I liked her and I told her I did. Our first kiss felt so natural - so right. There was no time to fret about it - no soul-wrenching analysis - we just kissed. Not because we were madly, deeply in love, but because we liked each other - a lot!

Nothing much had changed since yesterday, I considered. I liked Janie the previous morning, too. Yes, we'd admitted our feelings for each other last night, but we sort of knew that anyway. At least I did, and I think Janie did, too. I'd have to ask her when we met to go down to breakfast.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


"I wonder if last night was helped along by us getting rid of our enemies - or maybe it was just finding the Mirror," I mused as we walked to the Great Hall. "How long have you known that you like me?" I asked Janie bluntly.

"I'm not exactly sure," she considered. "Definitely after Snape - maybe before," she nodded to herself. "How about you?"

"Never really thought about it until the Mirror - you know..."

"That's to be expected - you're a boy!"

"Do you think offing our enemies had something to do with it?"

"No!" Janie laughed. "It was inevitable!"

"It was !?" I laughed back at her in mock astonishment.

"Sure! It was in my Harry Potter Strategy section. It said that we'd eventually fall in love!" she smiled over at me. "Didn't your Hermione Granger Section mention that?"

"Well - not exactly..." I muttered, feeling my face flush as I recalled what it had predicted for Janie and me.

"Well - what did it say, then - exactly ...?"

"Um - I'd rather not say..."

"You have to, Jamie - I told you what mine said!" she insisted.

"Um..."

"You have to tell me! Come on!"

I took a deep breath and just blurted it out - "It said that we'd make good shagging partners." I cringed as I awaited her reaction.

"Well, then - yours did imply that we'd fall in love!" she assured me with a nod. "You don't think I'd ever shag a boy I didn't love, do you - or one who didn't love me?"

"Well - no..."

"Then what are you so embarrassed about?" she asked, looking over at me quizzically.

"Well... we're a bit young... to be thinking about that..."

"Oh! Right!" she nodded her head slowly in understanding. "You're only eleven," she reminded me smugly. "Relax, Jamie - I may be twelve already, but I don't plan to lose my virginity for a few more years, yet."

"Wait! You've already thought about that? About losing... you know..."

"Of course! Haven't you?"

"No," I said weakly, pausing our conversation as we entered the Great Hall.

We took our usual seats and Janie started counting something on her fingers. "Let's see - allowing for leap year in 1992 - thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. My fifteenth birthday will fall on a Monday," she informed me. "It's a school night, unfortunately, but we'll manage, I'm sure."

"Um - manage what?" I asked, baffled by her banter with herself.

"Losing our virginity, of course," she whispered. "That is what we were discussing, after all. We'll both lose our virginity together on my fifteenth birthday," she nodded with authority. "You can wait that long, can't you?"

"I... er... I guess so," I gulped.

"Good! That's settled, then - it's a date! Pass the sausage platter, please."


-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-


"We need to move up our plans," I told Janie later that morning. "I know The Book said we should make our play for the Stone at the end of term, but what if the Ravenclaws don't wait that long?"

"You're right!" Janie agreed. "Absolutely right! We'll need to return that rope to the owlery, though - that should slow them down."

"How?"

"Wingardium Leviosa will be much more effective than a rope, I think. Let them waste their time trying it - not us."

"It seems that their plan is to be very cautious - to explore and retreat, just like they did last night. Maybe we should wait until Dumbledore is out of the castle again and then just go for it," I suggested.

"And use the Cloak?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

"We wouldn't have to wait for Dumbledore's absence if we left the Cloak in your trunk. It would even provide us with an alibi, of sorts," Janie considered. "If he was monitoring it and it never left Gryffindor Tower...?"

"Okay, but then how will we sneak past the chess set and the troll?" I countered.

That was our revised plan. It seemed a lot easier than trying to play or fight our way through, especially without Ron Weasley alive to help us.

"Well..." Janie cogitated for a long minute. "The broomsticks!" she suddenly cried. "Why didn't I think of that before?"

"Because you didn't need to - we were going to use the Cloak," I offered. "What about the broomsticks?"

"The Book said to use the broomsticks to catch the silver key, right?"

"Uh-huh," I nodded.

"We'll simply keep the broomsticks - and the key - and fly past the chessmen and the troll!"

"Brilliant!"

"It's not 'brilliant' until we figure out the spell Cho used on that flute - and get our hands on a flute of our own," Janie frowned.

"What about a music box?" I considered. "We could ask Professor Flitwick for a charm to simply keep it playing on its own - without winding down."

"Or get one that's already been charmed!" she brightened. "We can use owl-order! I should think a music box would be a popular thing to charm. Wizards are too lazy to bother with winding something up all the time."


Janie sent off her owl-order requests for some catalogues that afternoon, with me following her to the owlery under the Cloak - and carrying a rather large coil of rope.


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