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A Lost Friend

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, Pokémon to WB and Nintendo, and Ranma 1/2 to Rumiko Takahashi.

Author note: This chapter is betaed by Tsuyu-the-Hanyou.

Chapter 18

Around mid-day Harry led Ryoga to the Three Broomsticks for the luncheon with the Slug Club. Neither of them were looking forward to it and hopefully this would be the only time they had to deal with this club thing. As they entered the pub Harry looked around trying to find his other friends.

“Harry!” Hermione called as soon as she saw them. “Good, you’re just in time. The club is dining in one of the private rooms.”

“Hermione, do you really gotta make us do this?” Harry said in an annoyed tone. “I don’t care about this club thing; I just wanted to enjoy myself today.”

“Oh it’s only for an hour at the longest, and then you two can go back to your date,” Hermione said with a wave of her hand. “Come on, Ron and Shampoo agreed to wait here until we’re finish, so we had better go in now.” Harry and Ryoga sighed then followed Hermione through the crowded room. As they pushed their way through Harry looked around briefly, green eyes widening when he spotted Malfoy at one of the tables. He didn’t know what the blond boy was up to, if he was up to anything, but Harry would rather keep an eye on Malfoy then go to the luncheon, as he felt Malfoy was much more important. Ryoga squeezed Harry’s hand very lightly to let him know he saw Malfoy as well, then turned to catch Shampoo’s eye.

He and Shampoo weren’t friends, per-say, but they got along well enough, Ryoga certainly liked her better than Mousse, and both of them cared for Harry in their own ways. Shampoo followed Ryoga’s line of sight once he caught her attention, then nodded slightly when she saw Malfoy. She also knew about Harry’s concerns about the boy and would keep an eye on him for Harry.

“Shampoo’s watching him,” Ryoga whispered in Harry’s ear. Harry gave him a brilliant smile, then nodded his thanks to Shampoo before they disappeared into the room Slughorn had booked to hold the luncheon.

“Ah you’re just in time!” Horace said in a joyous tone as Harry, Hermione and Ryoga came into the room. “Sit down where ever you like, Madam Rosmerta should be bringing lunch in soon.” Harry and Ryoga quickly nabbed the two chairs next to each other, while Hermione chose a seat close to Ginny.

“Now that we’re all here,” Horace said as he closed the door. “I am Professor Horace Slughorn, as you know I just started teaching the younger years at Hogwarts. I taught at the school before, in fact I taught almost all the parents of everyone here. This club is just my way to treat the brightest and best students in the school.”

Ranma snorted under his breath, while he strived to be the best martial artist in the world, he knew he was far from ‘best or brightest’ among the group of teens. He still didn’t know why he was here, but if he had to guess it would be the same thing most of the other students in the school were interested in, the ability to use magic in his cursed from.

‘I’m starting to wish that I had never picked up those stupid wands, this is more of a headache than it’s worth sometimes,’ Ranma thought to himself. If his grandfather hadn’t insisted that Ranma learn how to use his magic, the pig-tailed boy would have been content to forget the whole thing and go on with his life as usual.

Harry glanced around as Madam Rosmerta and a couple of House Elves brought in lunch, he could see Blaise Zabini sitting at the end of the table look bored with his fellow Slytherin Daphne Greengrass to his right. He never really interacted with either teen, though he knew Zabini was on good terms with Malfoy at least, remembering the dark skin boy had been in the train car with Malfoy and his flunkies. On either side of them were a couple of younger years from the same house, at least according to their ties. Further down the table was Susan Bones, who Harry knew was related to head of Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones, and was a fellow member of the DA. She was speaking to another member of the DA and fellow Hufflepuff Zacharias Smith. Unlike Susan, Harry didn’t get along with Smith in the slightest; the boy was only out for his own skin.

He further looked around the table, catching McLaggen giving Hermione looks and trying to engage her in conversation. Harry mentally winced as he would have to talk to the older boy and Ron about trying again for the Keepers position after he brought it up with McGonagall. He was not happy about that and, mentally, crossed his fingers in the hope that Ron would win the spot again, this time fairly.

“So, Harry my boy, you don’t mind if I call you Harry do you, such a terrible business with ‘Who-know-who’ last year,” Slughorn said as he arranged his plate of food. “And the death of Sirius Black, I heard that he named you his heir? Which means you’re the head of the House of Black correct?”

“Ah yeah, he did,” Harry said, just barely keeping himself from saying Sirius was still very much alive and still the house head for the Black Family. To keep Sirius hidden from Voldemort, Harry was only head of the house on paper, he made no decisions for the family.

“I remember teaching young Sirius, not much of a head for potions, too much of a prankster much like your father,” Slughorn said with a sigh. “His brother Regulus was a part of my Slug Club back in those days. As was your mother.”

“… My mother?” Harry asked his interest peaked as he loved to hear about Lily Potter. He heard more about his father James Potter than he did about his mother, Sirius and Remus had a few stories, but nowhere near as many as they did about his father, as they really hadn’t been friends with his mother until near the end of their time at Hogwarts.

“Yes, I will admit she was one of my favorites,” Horace smiled, a far off look on his face as he thought of one of his favorite students. “I dare say she had quite the head for potions, enough to even rival her talent in charms, though I’m sure Filius would disagree with me on that. I heard from Cologne that you’re quite the little potions master in the making yourself, you must be for Cologne to take you on as her apprentice.”

“I’m sure Professor Snape disagrees with her,” Harry said with a humorless smile, he had looked forward to potions when he started Hogwarts until his first potions class and the man’s actions had all by killed his passion for it. Thankfully Cologne had nurtured Harry’s skills once she saw he had the talent.

“Ah yes, young Severus is quite the potions master, there is no denying that,” Horace with a small chuckle. “But I suppose that doesn’t equal the ability to teach young minds such as yourself.” Harry didn’t think much of Snape’s ability to teach potions, the man had a sink or swim method of teaching as he only tossed the ingredients and method of brewing up on the blackboard, or he told his students what page the potion they were brewing that day was on, then left them to brew. He had never seen Snape help anyone in class, not even his Slytherins, but simply walked around sneering at anyone that wasn’t from his house and praising those who were. Harry had heard once that Snape would take the time to privately help the students from his house after class hours if they needed it, but woe to anyone else who asked for help.

DADA, on the other hand, Harry could grudgingly admit that Snape did a better job at. He would take the time to teach the lesson, with as much bite and insults in his voice as possible, but he still did a better job than at potions.

“I guess,” Harry said with a shrug. “We’ve never gotten along.”

“Yes, yes, pity that,” Horace said with a sigh and shake of his head. “He was such good friends with dear Lily, the two of them in their early years could be found hovering over a cauldron trying to make improvements or over a book studying.”

“M-My mother? And Snape?” Harry asked in shock.

“Oh yes, for a few years at least,” Horace said with a sad smile, then he turned to McLaggen to engage him in conversation.

“Harry, are you ok?” Ryoga asked softly as he leaned over to speak to the smaller boy.

“My mom was friends with Snape,” Harry said with a shake of his head. “Why would she be friends with him? And how?”

“I don’t know,” Ryoga said. “You would have to ask your godfather about that, he would know wouldn’t he?” Harry slowly nodded and planned on invading his Godfather’s rooms as soon as they returned to the school. Why, if Snape was friends with his mother, at least at one time, did the man treat him like he did? Was Snape’s hate for James Potter that great?

“So, Ryoga, was it?” Horace asked turning his full attention back to Ryoga. “Your grandfather is a famous supplier of potions ingredients, isn’t he? No one else can get the things he gets.”

‘So that’s why he wants me here, Granddad’s reputation,’ Ryoga thought to himself. Ryoga’s grandfather on his mother’s side, Suoh Hibiki, had a booming business in the wizarding world by providing apothecary shops all around the world with high quality and rare potion ingredients. Many potion masters and mistresses also sought Suoh out for rare finds that led to the creation of new potions. Being a born Hibiki, Ryoga’s grandfather had the ability to end up anywhere and that was how he found rare potion ingredients.

“Yeah, Granddad has been doing that since he was really young,” Ryoga said. “Sometimes he’s like a walking shop.”

“Yes, yes, so I’ve heard,” Slughorn agreed as he lightly ate. “Do you plan on following in his footsteps?”

“Everyone has their own path in my family,” Ryoga said with a shake of his head. “Mine mostly falls in learning martial arts.” Though Ryoga was good at coming across rare and powerful items but those always ended up biting him in the ass.

Slughorn then tried to engage Ranma in a conversation, wanting to know more about the pigtailed boy but Ranma stayed clammed up, he didn’t want to talk about how it felt to be the only squib to ever work out a way to learn how to use magic. After a while Horace sighed and moved on to the next student he planned on adding to his little ‘collection.’

*****

“See, that wasn’t too bad,” Hermione said as they left the private room nearly an hour later.

“The only good thing out of all that, is that I learned a bit more about my Mum,” Harry said. “I could have done without hearing McLaggen or Smith boast about their families, or about how great they’re going to be.”

“Admit it Hermione, that wasn’t as fun as you thought it was going to be,” Ryoga said.

“It was a little dull,” Hermione agreed. “But think of all the things we could learn from him and from the others.”

“No thank you,” Harry said firmly. “This is the first, only and last time I’m having anything to do with this ‘Slug Club’ thing.”

“Me too,” Ranma agreed. “He didn’t care a damn thing about anything but me being able to use magic when I shouldn’t. He’s even more long winded that Pops when he starts in on how I should be the best of the best and a man-among-men one day.”

Hermione sighed, so it was less exciting than she thought it would be and all three boys were largely against having anything else to do with the professor, but she was going to try and stick it out.

“It’s starting to get really cold out here, maybe we should head back to the school,” Harry suggested as he stepped outside.

“I have to go find Ron, we’ll join you later,” Hermione said. The three boys nodded and started up the road.

“I wonder where Shampoo is,” Ranma said with a frown as he hadn’t seen the Amazon when they left the pub.

“I didn’t see her either,” Harry said. Ranma looked back at the Three Broomsticks wondering if he should go back to look for her.

“Shampoo is able to take care of herself,” Ryoga said. Ranma sighed and turned back to head to the school.

Back inside the Three Broomsticks Hermione found Ron who was standing in the corner of the room holding the jacket Shampoo had been using and her dress.

“Ron, what are you doing with that?” Hermione whispered as she drew close. Ron just pointed down to his feet where an irritated Shampoo-neko waited. Shampoo had been following Malfoy to a backroom when she had been splashed by a glass of cold water by a passing waiter. Luckily the pub was so busy and filled with Hogwarts students that no one had noticed the Chinese youth disappear, only to be replaced by a cat, so Shampoo was able to drag her dress back to the table where Ron was waiting. It had a few foot prints on it and Shampoo’s tail had been stepped on a time or two so the cat cursed girl was more than a little angry.

“Oh dear,” Hermione muttered. She knelt down and picked Shampoo up, the purple cat curling into her arms. “Here, give me those. Just wait here, we’ll be right back.” The frizzy hair girl snatched Shampoo’s clothing out of Ron’s hands and stomped off toward the ladies restroom.

“Woo! Look what I found on the floor!” A voice said to Hermione and Shampoo’s left. Shampoo hissed loudly and dug her claws into Hermione’s arm when she saw the boy had the pair of panties she had been wearing that had fallen off when she transformed. Hermione huffed and stomped over, snatching the underwear from the boy that Hermione recognized as a seventh year Gryffindor.

“30 points from Gryffindor for stealing knickers!” She snapped over her shoulder as she stomped away, leaving the sputtering boy behind. Shampoo moved so she was looking over Hermione’s shoulder, the boy gulping at the look of death that was in the cat’s red eyes.

Inside the restroom, Hermione checked all the stalls and once she found them empty quickly locked the door so no one could walk in. Setting Shampoo on the counter Hermione turned the hot water on in the sink then laid out Shampoo’s dress to clean it with a cleaning charm. She heard a splash of water, then the faucet being turned off, turning to face a very naked Shampoo.

“Shampoo kill pervert boy,” Shampoo said as she started walking toward the door.

“Wait!” Hermione said as she quickly moved to block Shampoo. “You can’t go out and do that. While he was being a bit of a pervert, he had no idea that those were your knickers and I’ve already punished him. Not only that, but you can’t walk out there like that!” Shampoo crossed her arms and giving a huffing pout as she glared at the door.

“Fine, Shampoo not kill pervert boy,” She said at last as she turned away and started to redress.

“What happened?” Hermione asked as she leaned back against the door.

“Shampoo try follow ferret boy, acting suspicious he was. Looking around like he afraid being caught,” Shampoo explained as she pulled her dress on. “He follow a couple of girls toward back rooms but Shampoo not see what happen, cold water fell on Shampoo and change into cat. Go back to red head boy with dress.”

“Oh dear, your shoes are missing too,” Hermione said as she looked down at Shampoo’s bare feet. Shampoo snorted and waved her hand.

“Is not bad, Shampoo can walk without them,” She said. Hermione frowned at that.

“But it’s cold outside and there is snow on the ground. How are you not cold in that short dress?” She asked.

“Winter around village much, much colder,” Shampoo said with a shrug. “Warriors trained to fight in cold sometimes naked.”

“That’s…. that’s barbaric!” Hermione yelled after a few seconds of gaping at Shampoo.

“Is life in village, only strong survive. Need to be strong warriors in case of war with Musk or with bird people from Mt. Phoenix, they not wait until summer to fight and need to be ready at any time,” Shampoo said.

“That… that just sounds horrible,” Hermione said. Shampoo shrugged her shoulders slightly, it was the way of life she was used to and wouldn’t give it up for the world. She was a proud Joketsuzoku warrior and one day may be her people’s leader, at least that was what Cologne was grooming her for.

“Is good thing not your life yes?” Shampoo asked. “Go back to castle now?”

Hermione watched Shampoo for a second more, she couldn’t understand how the other girl was so at ease with living a life that sounded even more back water than the wizarding world, then canceled the locking charm on the door. Shampoo marched out of the loo towards the door, ready to get out of the Three Broomsticks after that humiliating episode.

***

Harry shivered as a gust of cold biting wind raced down the path cutting straight through him. While he had bought a bunch of new clothing during the summer he didn’t get a new coat and his robes weren’t the best for this sort of weather even if it was one of his thicker ones.

“Cold?” Ryoga asked. When Harry gave him a sheepish smile and nodded his head. Ryoga wrapped an arm around him, tucking the smaller boy by his side.

“So.... does this mean you two are finally together?” Ranma asked behind them. Ryoga and Harry stopped and looked back at Ranma. “What? I ain’t blind, Ryoga’s been pining after you for weeks and I’ve seen you lookin’ at him too. I know you two had a date today.”

“Well…” Harry looked up at Ryoga who looked back at him with a blush on the older boy’s cheeks and a hopeful look in his eyes. “I had a lot of fun today except for that awful boring lunch but that wasn’t Ryoga’s fault… I’m willing to see how far this goes… as long as it doesn’t ruin our friendship if it doesn’t work out.” Ryoga smiled happily, his heart beating loudly at the words.

“Well I never pegged him as someone who would be into boys,” Ranma said with a shake of his head. “And I really don’t know what you see in P-chan, but he’s happy for once so who am I to say anything against it.”

“You’re not since you can’t even sort out your own problems with girls,” Ryoga said. Ranma opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by a scream further up the path.

“KATIE!” All three boys snapped to attention and looked up horrified to see their fellow Gryffindor and Harry’s Quidditch team mate Katie Bell hanging mid air spread eagle. Harry, Ryoga and Ranma quickly raced to the scene.

“What happened?” Harry asked the girl that was with Katie.

“I-I-I don’t know. We were heading back to t-the castle and s-she was acting very strange since w-we left the Three Broomsticks,” The girl said as she started to cry. “S-she was carrying t-that package there. I-I think she touched w-whatever inside and s-she ended up like that.”

“Go, run to the castle and get one of the professors,” Harry said. The girl gave another cry and nodded her head, turning on her heel and racing up to the castle.

“We can’t leave her like this,” Ranma growled as he jumped into the air, easily catching Katie as whatever spell that was on her started to wear off. Harry leaned down to pick up the package, it looked like some sort of necklace.

“Don’t touch it!” Ryoga said as he started ripping bandanas off his head. Ranma left them behind taking Katie up to the castle himself as it would be faster than waiting on the professors to come to them. Harry and Ryoga carefully wrapped layers of bandanas around the necklace.

“What happened?” Hermione asked as she, Ron and Shampoo caught up to them.

“Katie was cursed,” Harry said as he levitated the wrapped up necklace off the ground. “We need to get this necklace to the professors.”

The group arrived at the school in time to see Ranma lowering Katie onto a stretcher provided by Madame Pomfrey.

“Harry, Shampoo see ferret boy follow that girl in pub,” Shampoo said as she grabbed Harry’s arm and pointed.

“Mr. Potter!” Professor Dumbledore called as he, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape came forward. “Mr. Saotome told me that you should have the object Miss Bell was cursed with?”

“Here it is Professor,” Harry said as he spelled the necklace in front of him. Dumbledore nodded and waved for them to follow.

***

Up in his office, Dumbledore had Harry gently set the necklace on the desk. Using his wand, Dumbledore carefully pushed aside the bandanas to get to the necklace inside.

“Very good, you two young men safely wrapped the necklace. 10 points apiece for quick thinking,” Albus awarded Harry and Ryoga.

“It’s cursed with a very dark spell that could have killed Miss Bell, if she hadn’t been brought to Madame Pomfrey in time,” Snape said as he identified the magic that was wrapped around the necklace.

“I see…” Albus said as he stared down at the object then turned to Ranma. “Another 20 points to Gryffindor then for your quick response in getting Miss Bell here, you just may have saved her life.” Ranma didn’t react to the points given to him, he was staring at the necklace on the desk. He had been taught by his father Genma, who was a conman and a thief, on how to spot and remember any jewels or valuable pieces of jewelry. This one he remembered seeing during the summer when they spied on that blond kid Malfoy when he bought that weird cabinet, Ranma had noticed him buy this same necklace.

“Why would she even have it?” McGonagall asked, somebody hurt one of her lions.

“Bell was under the Imperius curse,” Snape said. “She was spelled to bring the necklace to the school but her hand slipped and touched it before it could be delivered.”

“I believe you three should return to your common room,” Dumbledore said. “Professor McGonagall, if you would escort these three gentlemen out while I contact the spell damage ward at St. Mungo’s?”

“Of course Headmaster,” McGonagall said.

“Professor, Malfoy was the one who cast the curse on Katie,” Harry said.

“And he gave her that necklace,” Ranma added. “I saw him buy it this summer.” Minerva stopped and gave both boys a leveled glare.

“Mr. Potter, Mr. Saotome, do not go spreading rumors about Mr. Malfoy,” She said sternly. “It is horrible what happened to Miss Bell and I hope the person behind it is caught and thrown in jail where he belongs but do not go blaming Mr. Malfoy for this.”

“But I saw him in the Three Broomsticks!” Harry exclaimed.

“So did I,” Ryoga said.

“That is impossible Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy was not allowed to go to Hogsmeade today, he was in detention with me,” Minerva said.

“Well what about the necklace then?” Ranma asked. “I saw him buy it, he had to have given it to that Katie girl.”

“Mr. Saotome, I do not know what you saw but it is impossible to be able to tell if that is the same necklace or not,” Minerva said. “Now the three of you head to your common room now!” She turned on her heel and strode away back toward the Headmaster’s tower.

***

“Why didn’t she believe us?” Harry asked as he slumped down on the couch in Sirius’s and Hedwig’s rooms. Instead of heading to the Gryffindor tower, the three boys had come here instead. Harry had explained to his godfather what had happened on the way back to the castle and that Malfoy had been seen in the village.

“How was he in both in detention with McGonagall-sensei and in the Three Broomsticks?” Ryoga asked.

“He could of spelled Minnie, a bit hard but not impossible to do,” Sirius suggested. He believed the boys’ story, they wouldn’t lie about something like this and they already all knew Malfoy had some sort of mission from the Dark Tosser. “Or someone could have polyjuiced themselves to look like Malfoy, though that might be hard if he was in there for longer than an hour, or he might have had a time tuner. I’m sure his father had one or two hidden away somewhere.”

“Great, so now what? Blondie gets away with hurting that girl and we’re no closer to convincing everyone that Malfoy is the bad guy,” Ranma said.

“He’s going to end up killing someone at this rate,” Ryoga said worriedly. Hedwig came out of the kitchen area holding a tray of drinks and small snacks. The biscuits looked a little burnt but Ranma, who had eaten Akane’s cooking and lived to tell the tale, grabbed one and ate it like it was nothing.

“I’ll talk to Dumbledore about this, though I’m not sure what good that is going to do,” Sirius said as he took another one of the biscuits and looked it over. “Hmm, getting better at this Hedwig.”

“Hedwig made these?” Harry asked in surprised as he picked up another one. He bit into it, it was a little hard from being in the oven for too long and the bottom was a bit burnt, but it wasn’t as bad as Hagrid’s cooking, the half giant’s Rock Cakes weren’t called that for nothing after all. “It’s not bad. How long has she been doing this?” Hedwig preened under her chick’s praise.

“Why wouldn’t it do any good to speak to Dumbledore?” Ryoga asked.

“We’ve been practicing house hold charms,” Sirius explained. “They’re the easiest to learn and cooking charms are a part of it. Hedwig soaks up magic like a sponge. As for Dumbledore, knowing that old goat, he likely already knows about Malfoy but wants to give him a chance.”

“But that could get somebody hurt really badly or killed,” Harry said. “Look at what happened to Katie.” Sirius sighed and sat down beside Harry, wrapping his arm around his pup.

“I know Prongslet, I hate it too,” He said. “We’ll just all have to keep a closer eye on Malfoy, I remember a lot of the hidden passageways in the school, maybe I can tail him.”

“Maybe I should just give you the map,” Harry suggested. “You can watch it when I can’t and it’ll help you keep hidden from everyone.”

“Good idea,” Sirius said. He hated being cooped up in the rooms, not as bad as Grimmauld Place but he hated being locked up, and he had a few close calls with some of the students here in the school. At least with the map he helped to create, he could get out more. “Me and Hedwig will keep track of Malfoy for you, you three keep an eye on him when you can but don’t get caught.”

“Me, caught?” Ranma said. “I’m too good to get caught.”

“Says the person who got a mallet to the head after sneaking into Akane’s room,” Ryoga said with a smirk.

“Shut up P-chan,” Ranma grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Ok, enough talk about Narcissa’s spawn, I wanna hear about how your date went!” Sirius said, bouncing on the couch like an excited puppy. Harry and Ryoga blushed brightly but let the man know that, yes, they had a good time and they were happy to go out again. The hyper active man gave a small squeal of happiness, happy that his pup was happy.

****

Up in his office, Albus sighed as he leaned back in his chair rubbing his withered arm gently. It caused him such great pain at times and he cursed himself at how much of a fool he was to be taken in by the power of the ring that he didn’t sense the curse on it. He just wanted to know so badly who had killed his little sister, him or Gellert?

“Albus, are you listening to me?” McGonagall asked from across the desk.

“Yes Minerva, I’m listening,” Albus assured her with a small smile.

“This is serious, Misters Potter, Hibiki and Saotome are all blaming Mr. Malfoy for what happened to Miss Bell,” McGonagall said.

“Young Harry and his friends are just worried about Miss Bell,” Albus said. “And happened to see someone who looked like Mr. Malfoy. I’m sure that now that you’ve set them straight this will all blow over.”

“You should really talk to them Albus, this is getting out of hand,” she said as she stood up. “I should call St. Mungo’s and check up on Miss Bell. Good evening gentlemen.”

“You do know of course that it was Draco that cursed Bell,” Severus said as he stepped out of the shadows.

“Of course, and I am sorry for what happened to young Miss Bell,” Albus said with a sigh. “I did not want any of the students to get mixed up in this but such is the nature of war. Are you any closer to convincing young Draco to come to our side?”

“He will not listen to me,” Severus said with a shake of his head. “Nor will he abandon his task, not as long as Narcissa is in danger.”

“Oh dear, I was afraid of that,” Albus said with a sigh. “I can only hope he will do the right thing in the end. And you know what you must do if he cannot…”

“Yes… I remember,” Severus said, his eyes flashing darkly. A knock at the door interrupted them and Albus waved a hand to wandlessly open the door. Inside hopped Cologne on her staff with Padfoot walking in after her. After sending the boys back to the tower, Sirius had headed straight to the Headmaster’s office, running into the old woman on the way. Snape’s lip curled as soon as he saw Sirius, the other man transforming back into human form as soon as the door closed.

“What the bloody hell are you going to do about the Malfoy brat?” Sirius asked as soon as he was able, standing in front of Albus’s desk.

“Do? There is nothing I can do,” Albus said calmly.

“What!?” Sirius said.

“If I am to understand, Miss Bell was hurt to the point that she will be in the hospital for quite some time,” Cologne said as she balanced on top of her staff next to Sirius. “Yet you feel you should allow Mr. Malfoy to go unpunished for it?”

“I have no proof that Mr. Malfoy had anything to do with Miss Bell’s accident,” Albus said.

“Accident!? The boys told me she was cursed!” Sirius said. “That’s not an accident!”

“Mr. Malfoy was not within Hogsmeade today,” Snape said drawing everyone’s attention and ignoring the small growl Sirius gave at the sight of him. “He was in detention with Professor McGonagall during the time of the incident.”

“Oh that is just bullsh-“ Sirius started to say, there were plenty of ways to get out of a detention.

“Then why are there at least 3 witnesses that say they saw the Malfoy boy in the village and I’m sure many more if you got off your wrinkly ass and would’ve asked your students,” Cologne interrupted. “Just what reason could you have to protect the boy Dumbledore?” Albus sighed, he was used to others not questioning him but Sirius refused to back down on this, as he supported his godson, and Cologne, who was as powerful as him and also a leader in her own right, had no reason to just blindly listen to him.

“Mr. Malfoy has been marked as one of Tom’s followers,” He said at last.

“I knew it, just like his dear old daddy,” Sirius muttered with a sneer.

“And has been given the mission to kill me,” Albus continued as if he hadn’t heard Sirius. Sirius and Cologne blinked at the man for a moment in disbelief.

“And you think it’s wise to keep the boy here?” Cologne asked with a raised eyebrow. “He’s not a toothless babe still in his nappies, he already caused harm to one of your students.”

“I do not believe Mr. Malfoy will be able to complete his mission, he is not a killer,” Albus said.

“A tame dog could turn around and snap on you,” Sirius said.

“You would know wouldn’t you mutt,” Snape said darkly. Sirius bristled at the insult and spun around to face Snape.

“I wouldn’t talk if I were you Snivellius!” Sirius growled. “You go running between Dumbledore and the Dark Tosser every day, who knows who’s side you’re really on.”

“You dare question my loyalties!?” Snape said as he got up into Sirius face. As the two grown men started to fight like little children, Cologne and Albus sighed, Albus taking out the Elder Wand to cast a Silencing Spell on the two men but Cologne was faster and quickly tapped the pressure points that would cause Sirius and Snape’s vocal cords to stop working. It took a moment for both men to realize that they were no longer able to speak and turned as one to look at Cologne.

“If you two don’t stop squabbling like little children,” Cologne threatened then turned back to Albus. “This foolish stunt of yours will end up hurting more of your students.”

“I do not believe Mr. Malfoy will go that route again,” Albus assured her. “Severus will be keeping a closer eye on him.”

“You have no idea if he will or not,” Cologne said. “It’s better to send the boy on his way, you’ve had plenty of warnings about what the child will do.”

“My death is necessary for the war,” Albus said with a shake of his head. “I am dying and if Mr. Malfoy does not kill me, which I believe he will not, then Severus must be the one.”

Sirius mouthed What!? behind Cologne then glared at Severus again who just sneered.

“And just why must sonny-boy here be the one who kills you?” Cologne asked. Snape glared at Albus, daring him to tell the other two about the vow.

“Narcissa Malfoy approached Severus in hopes of saving young Mr. Malfoy but her sister Bellatrix Lestrange was there as well,” Albus explained with a weary sigh. “Bellatrix is suspicious of Severus, she is of anyone who did not go to Azkaban like the rest of Voldemort’s ‘loyal’ followers, and of how close he is to me. She insisted on an Unbreakable Vow.”

“I see,” Cologne said with a hum. “And if he does not complete his vow, then Snape is as good as dead.”

“Yes, you see the problem here then,” Albus said. “We need Severus for this war, his information is invaluable. With my death, it will cement his place with Voldemort.”

“Were you going to tell anyone about this?!” Sirius barked, startling in surprise as he found he had his voice back. Albus looked away slightly and didn’t answer causing Sirius to suck in a breath. “/Merlin,/ you weren’t going to, were you? What good is a spy if /no one trusts him/?!”

“For once I agree with the mutt,” Snape said sourly, a look of disgust on his face at the thought of agreeing on anything with Sirius. Albus peered at both them, both of them were in the business of protecting Harry, Sirius because the boy was his beloved Godson and his last link to James Potter and Snape because of Lily Potter and his promise to always protect her son.

“Then you will have to be Severus’s contact after I’m gone, my boy,” Albus said with a smile as he reached over to pluck a lemon drop out of his candy bowl. Both men were quiet for a few seconds as they processed what the headmaster said before both bellowed out

“What!?”

“Dumbledore, you must be kidding,” Sirius said as he sat down in one of the squishy chairs in front of the desk.

“Headmaster, I cannot work with Black,” Severus agreed.

“But you will, my boy,” Albus said as he rolled the lemon drop in his mouth. “As it now stands, only Sirius and Elder Cologne now know what is going on. I will be dead one way or another within the next year, at least this way, it is for the greater good.”

“Just how are you dying anyway?” Sirius said rubbing his forehead. He couldn’t believe the elderly wizard was even thinking of him and Snape working together like this.

“He has a withering curse on his arm and it is slowly eating him alive,” Cologne said. Albus sighed softly and nodded.

“She is correct,” He said. “I allowed myself to be overcome with a compulsion charm on an object that belonged to Voldemort at one time. I realized it too late; the curse had already set in by that point. Severus here was able to slow it down but as Cologne said the curse is slowly killing me. I will not survive, better that my death would be useful toward the war and bringing Voldemort down.”

“Still doesn’t explain why you would want me to be Snape’s contact, why not someone else in the Order?” Sirius asked.

“The less people who know the better,” Albus said with a shake of his head. “You both promised, at the end of Harry’s 4th year, that you two would work together, so far neither of you have lived up to that.”

“You can’t expect us to work together, Headmaster,” Snape said.

“I can and do,” Albus said firmly. “No one else knows that Severus is to kill me under my orders, it must appear that he has done it of his own free will. But now you and Cologne know, leaving Severus at least one person to pass information on to, so you can in turn pass it on to the Order, or at least Harry.”

Sirius and Snape both growled, neither of them liked the idea of working together any more now than they did nearly two years before.

“So, you’re just going to let the Malfoy brat keep trying to kill you and end up letting more students get hurt,” Sirius said going back to the issue that started all this. “I know you have a thing for ‘second chances’ but sometimes some people don’t deserve one!”

“I do not believe Mr. Malfoy will try to use another student in his plans again, he will know he’s being watched, by Severus at least,” Albus assured Sirius once again.

“You are an old fool,” Cologne said with a shake of her head. “I fail to see what you think this will accomplish other than getting your spy a chance to get closer to his target.”

“I do not believe Mr. Malfoy has it in him to kill,” Albus said again. Sirius raised an eyebrow in disbelief, the 6th year nearly killed Katie Bell thanks to the curse he put on the necklace. “I am hoping he will decide to come to me for help.”

“And I say he will not, not as long as the Dark Lord has his mother where he can kill her at a moment’s notice,” Severus said.

“Cologne is right, you are an old fool,” Sirius said with a shake of his head. “You’re using people like chess pieces, with Harry as your king, or pawn, I haven’t decided.”

“I am hoping you have a backup plan as this is likely to blow up in your face if you are not careful,” Cologne said. “I do not agree with your reasoning, but you don’t seem to want to take advice from someone older and wiser than you.”

“I know things will work out, it must or the wizarding world will fall to Voldemort’s darkness,” Albus said with a mournful sigh. “Things will get darker but there is a light at the end of the tunnel as the muggles say.”

“I still say you’re nuts for letting Malfoy get away with this,” Sirius said as he stood and headed toward the door. “Just remember what happened in our 7th year,” he added over his shoulder as he opened the door, then changed back into his dog form and left.

“I too, don’t agree with your reasoning and if I catch the boy cursing another one of my students… well, there is worse things than death and I can make this Voldemort’s actions seem like child’s play,” Cologne warned, then hopped out of the office on her staff, the door shutting behind her.

“Why did you tell the mutt and the old woman about the vow and Draco?” Snape asked as soon as the door was shut. Albus sighed and removed his half-moon glasses to clean them.

“Sirius, I might have convinced I had everything under control, at least at one time, but Cologne is no foolish old woman as I’m sure you know Severus,” he said. “She is older and wiser about the world than I am, she can easily match me in battle if not surpass me at our old ages. She would easily see past anything I said, better to tell her the truth than try to get anything past her. We would do well to have her as an ally.”

“If you were going to tell them everything, why did you not tell them about the Horcruxes then?” Snape asked, with a raised eyebrow. “Especially the one in the boy?”

“Cologne knows of the soul piece in Harry already, in fact she took me to task for allowing it to fester as long as I have,” Albus said with a chuckle, reaching up with his good hand to rub his head where she had hit him with her staff. “She is already in the process of having the Horcrux within young Harry removed; he is no longer in danger of having to die to get rid of it.” Snape’s knees gave out on him and he collapsed heavily in one of the chairs in front of Albus’s desk.

“She… she knows how to get rid of the Horcrux so easily?” He asked. When Albus had first told him about the Horcruxes that Voldemort had managed to make, and that Harry Potter was an accidental one, therefore he would have to die for the Dark Lord to truly be destroyed, Snape felt like he failed Lily Evans. He might hate Harry Potter, the boy should have been his, not James Potter’s, but he had vowed to keep his love’s only child safe. To hear that the boy had to die… but now Dumbledore was telling him the Potter boy wouldn’t die after all. “When were you going to tell me this?”

“After the Horcruxes removal, I wanted to be sure it was gone before I got your hopes up,” Albus said. “Things are looking up, my boy, and I hope we can save young Mr. Malfoy as well.” Severus sighed softly to himself, he really didn’t think that was going to pan out, Draco was too proud and too much of a coward to try and break away from Voldemort. Not as long as Narcissa was in danger.

“Well… if you will excuse me, Headmaster, I have a snake to put to task over this little… stunt…” Severus said as he stood and swept from the room.

***

Meanwhile, back in the Gryffindor tower, Harry approached Hermione as soon as he, Ryoga and Ranma returned.

“Hermione, I need to speak to you,” He said softly so no one would overhear. He had put off his little ‘talk’ with Hermione, over what happened at the try-outs, long enough. He was angry over the whole situation with Malfoy and the attack on Katie. He was going to have to find another Chaser to replace the older girl and he also had to hold try-outs for a Keeper again, as well.

“Oh… sure Harry,” Hermione said as she bookmarked her place in the book she was reading and followed Harry up to the boy’s dorm. Ranma and Ryoga stayed in the Common Room to distract Ron so the red head wouldn’t follow them up. Inside the dorm room he shared with the others, Harry made sure they were alone before closing the door and warding it so no one would disturb them. “So… what did you want to talk about Harry? Is Katie alright?”

“Katie had to be sent to St. Mungo’s thanks to what Malfoy did to her and he’s not going to be punished for it,” Harry said.

“That’s horrible!” Hermione said her hands flying to her mouth. “Poor Katie… that’s awful. I’ll have to get a get-well card made for her and have everyone sign it so she knows we’re thinking of her.”

“Yeah, you can do that later, but first I want to know why,” Harry said getting to the point of the talk.

“Why what, Harry?” Hermione asked, fidgeting slightly.

“Why did you spell McLaggen so he would miss that shot and fail the try-outs?” Harry asked loudly his arms crossed over his chest. Hermione’s mouth opened and closed, before it snapped shut and she fumed in anger.

“Ranma Saotome, when I get my hands on you…” Hermione hissed angrily, she couldn’t believe that boy went ahead and told Harry.

“Ranma didn’t tell me anything, he’s kept your secret,” Harry said deflating Hermione’s anger. “But you two didn’t make sure no one else was in the room, Ryoga overheard you two and told me. Do you know how angry I am with you!? I worked hard to fairly judge everyone that tried out, I honestly though Ron was just that much better that McLaggen, and now I found out that you cheated so he would miss the one shot. Why Hermione?”

“It-… it’s stupid…” Hermione said as she sat down on the edge of one of the beds, she thought it might be Dean’s because of the football posters on the wall. “McLaggen has been flirting with me lately, but there’s something about him that’s… oily I guess.”

“That’s not a reason to cheat Hermione,” Harry said as he leaned against the four poster frame of his own bed.

“No it isn’t… I also heard him bad mouthing Ron and Ginny,” Hermione admitted. “Look Harry, I know it was stupid of me to do it but I wasn’t thinking at the time.”

“No, you weren’t, and now I have to tell Professor McGonagall what you did and have try-outs again for the Keeper position,” Harry said. Hermione gasped and stood up.

“T-tell Professor McGonagall?” She said her face pale. One of her greatest fears was disappointing the woman.

“Yes Hermione, I can’t let this stand. I already got people wondering if I let Ron be Keeper because he’s my best friend and if anyone finds out what you did, it’ll be worse for all of us,” Harry said. “Plus, I’m not about to let this stand, you know this.”

“I-I know but…” she looked down shame-faced at her shoes. “No, no, you’re right… we should tell Professor McGonagall… I should have said something right after I did it… Oh Harry, I’m so sorry.”

“I know you are Hermione, but this…” Harry shook his head slightly. “I’ll forgive you, everyone makes mistakes, but Ron…” Hermione paled again and rubbed her arms. Ron took Quidditch way too seriously and he hated having anything handed to him like this, too prideful to take hand-outs, a side effect of having nothing but hand-me-downs from his older brothers. Hermione sighed and hung her head, she could see yet another fight coming on with her red-headed friend. Not that she didn’t deserve it after cheating like she did. “You know, I wouldn’t be so angry at you if you had just told me what you did at the try-outs, or right after, and we could have avoided this whole mess. Instead you kept it from me and I had to find out through Ryoga what you did.”

Hermione flinched slightly as she realized, and remembered, that not telling Harry something was just as bad as lying to him and he hated when someone he trusted lied to him. She heard Harry sigh and get up, leaving the dorm room and Hermione to her thoughts.

*****

Author note: Ugh, real life keeps getting in the way of writing sometimes.