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Chapter Twenty Five: Life Goes On:

It was just the morning before the day that Harry and Hailey, along with the other students at the school had to return to Hogwarts and the Potters had spent the day at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place visiting Sirius.

“Yes, it’s been depressing around here lately, Remus had time to stop by a couple of times,” remarked Sirius. “That research project that you gave him is taking up a lot of time.”

“It has to be done, Sirius,” replied Harry.

“I know, believe me, and if it cures Remus, along with taking away Voldemort’s most deadly weapons, then I’m all for it,” said Sirius, waving off Harry. “Still, only with just Kreacher here and he’s only here because Regulus ordered him to stay no matter what.”

“Has Regulus ever been by, I’ve given him the address,” said Lily which caused Harry, Hailey, and Sirius to all look at her incredulously. “You two obviously have issues to work out from your childhood Sirius, and your brother was pushed right towards Voldemort, but he didn’t have the sense to run away like you did.”

“Still he joined Voldemort,” answered Sirius stubbornly.

“And he sold out the lair to the Squib Inquisition,” added Harry coldly. “All the information he gave me was valuable but really vague. We’re no closer to finding any other Horcruxes, hell, we don’t know what Voldemort’s sixth Horcrux is.”

“On another note, I have both good news and bad news,” replied Lily. “The good news is, we have a pretty good idea where Peter is.”

“Great, go get him!” exclaimed Sirius but he saw Lily’s stern look. “And I guess the bad news might complicate this.”

“This Death Eater that we captured, the same one that got released by the Ministry due to a technicality, told us that Peter’s with Voldemort nearly every moment,” said Lily which caused Sirius to look very sour.

“He keeps slipping through our fingers,” muttered Sirius. “And now that he’s with Voldemort constantly, it doesn’t look like we can clear my name anytime soon.”

“That’s not the only problem, we’re not sure exactly where Voldemort is,” added Harry. “I suspect he has many places where he could be.”

“So, enough about my diminishing hopes to get my name cleared,” said Sirius. “What’s been going on with you over the last few months?”

With that, Lily, Harry, and Hailey informed Sirius of what had happened over the past few months since they talked last until they had to leave at ten thirty to so Harry and Hailey could catch the train on time to return to Hogwarts.

Hailey and Harry boarded the train, as Lily returned to Hogwarts to prepare to attend a staff meeting that would take place in the afternoon.

“Harry, Hailey!” shouted Ginny and the two Potter siblings walked over to join Ginny. Ginny engulfed Harry in a hug, before kissing him. Both of the teenagers got lost in the moment, until Hailey calmly cleared her throat which caused them to break apart.” Anyway I’ve been looking for Daphne and Theodore everywhere, I’m pretty sure they’re on the train by now, how are you two?”

“I’m good,” replied Harry. “The break was relatively quiet, only that one Death Eater I told you about the other day along with a couple of minor inconveniences.”

“Same here,” agreed Hailey.

“Let’s get onto the train, it should be leaving in a few minutes,” suggested Harry and his sister and girlfriend nodded, before the trio made their way onto the train and walked down all of the compartments, stopping briefly to talk to several students before they found Daphne and Theodore deep in talk.

“Oh, Harry, Hailey, Ginny, hello,” said Daphne. “Did you here about the latest attack?”

“No, I haven’t been paying attention to the news today,” said Harry and Ginny and Hailey shook their heads as well.

“Well yesterday night, Ministry Aurors found the remains of Mad-Eye Moody,” explained Theodore.

“Death Eaters killed one of the greatest Aurors that ever lived!” cried Ginny who looked extremely alarmed.

“Yes, but Moody didn’t go down without a fight, he’s really a credit to the Slytherin house,” remarked Daphne. “There were several other body parts found in the house that didn’t belong to Moody so the Ministry suspects he might have taken out at least five, maybe as many as seven or eight Death Eaters before they finished him off. There is a rumor going that Voldemort was the one who dealt the final blow.”

“It would have taken an army to take out Moody, because he’s said to have all kinds of magical defenses to alert him of intruders,” added Theodore. “The thing is Moody is retired...”

“He’s one of the more vocal supporters about strict action against Voldemort and his followers, but unfortunately he’s loyal to Dumbledore,” replied Harry bitterly, who had briefly entertained the notion of inviting Moody to join the Resistance Group but decided against it do the man’s strong ties to Voldemort. “I have an idea why Voldemort killed Moody. He wanted to send a message to everyone, that no one is safe, not even a legendary Auror.”

“Makes perfect sense, just Voldemort radiating more fear,” admitted Daphne. “And if Voldemort decides to do a full takeover of the Ministry…”

“He’ll have the center of the magical world in his grasp,” said Ginny darkly.

“Voldemort will make his move for his hostile takeover when he’s ready, the thing is, I’ve got to make sure that there are as few innocent people caught in the crossfire as possible,” said Harry.

“We’ll have to make sure,” amended Ginny in a defiant voice and Harry nodded reluctantly.

“Harry, I need to speak to you for a moment,” said Theodore suddenly, as events over the holidays had prompted him that he better tell Harry of his predicament sooner rather than later. “In private, please.”

“Of course, Theodore,” said Harry slowly, who was caught off guard by his friend’s sudden burst and the three girls looked at him curiously, as the two boys walked into an empty compartment.

Harry waved his wand, putting up a silencing ward around the compartment.

“Harry, my father gave me an ultimatum over the summer,” said Theodore quickly.

“Given that your father is a Death Eater, I have a pretty good idea what that is,” answered Harry. “Still, I’ll let you confirm my suspicions.”

“He told me that either I betray you and join Voldemort, or both Mum and I will be killed,” replied Theodore grimly. “As you can imagine that puts me in a tight spot.”

“Your father never had much interest in you, in fact he left you and your mother when you were seven,” said Harry.

“Correct, but it’s because of that stupid pact that him and several others made with Voldemort,” informed Theodore.

“Pact, what pact?” asked Harry, this was the first he’d ever heard of such a thing.

“It wouldn’t have mattered if Voldemort had been resurrected,” added Theodore bitterly. “But my father, along with Dolohov, MacNair, Crabbe, Goyle, Avery, Lucius Malfoy, and maybe a couple of others had pledged their first born sons to Voldemort, as some of their fathers had before them.”

Harry racked his brain, a MacNair had left last year, there was an Avery in seventh year right now, he didn’t know if Avery had any other children older than that, and Dolohov’s son left during Harry’s second year. Of course Harry knew Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco Malfoy all too well.

“It’s called a dark bargain pact, I believe,” continued Theodore. “Voldemort has agreed to spare their families in exchange for their first born son taking the mark.”

Harry stood deep in concentration.

“You didn’t want to tell me this, did you?” asked Harry. “Something that happened recently over the holidays prompted you to tell me, right Theodore?”

“Unfortunately,” admitted Theodore bitterly. “Father was enraged that I still hadn’t given him a straight answer, so Mum was attacked.”

Harry’s eyes widened in horror, at the lengths one Steven Nott would go force his son to join the ranks of the Death Eaters.

“She’ll live, at least that’s what the healers said, she’s in intensive care in St. Mungos right now,” said Theodore. “Father told me that he would have no reservations about finishing the job if I don’t make the acceptable choice. He doesn’t give a damn about my mother, he cheated on her with much younger women, barely out of Hogwarts, and wouldn’t give a damn about me either unless he had this pact either.”

Harry remained silent.

“So, I guess I’m going to ask you what should I do, Harry?” asked Theodore.

“First, it might be a good idea that we move your mother to an undisclosed location, so your father can’t finish the job just in case you decide to not join the Death Eaters,” replied Harry and Theodore nodded in agreement.

“What do you mean just in case, of course I’m not going to join the Death Eaters,” said Theodore.

“I’m confident you’ll make the right choice for you and not your father or even me,” replied Harry in a cryptic voice as Theodore opened his mouth but Harry shook his head. “I’ve given you my advice, now let’s rejoin the others in the train compartment.”

Theodore nodded calmly as he followed Harry back into the compartment to rejoin the others to talk about less depressing subjects, like Quidditch.

Draco Malfoy made his way up to Albus Dumbledore’s office for his weekly meeting with the Headmaster. The young Malfoy heir had gotten a rather interesting picture of the Headmaster during these visits and it seemed Dumbledore attempted with each passing time to earn Draco’s trust. The truth was Draco didn’t trust Dumbledore at all as something about the old man seemed rather fake. Slytherins were known for deception, cunning, and manipulation. Even Potter, as much as Draco loathed to admit it, had certain qualities that were in common with an ideal Slytherin, despite the fact that some of his beliefs were disgusting.

At least with Slytherins, they didn’t shield their distance for certain groups, Mudbloods being the most obvious. Dumbledore on the other hand, seemed to harbor a deep resentment towards anything Slytherin, but he had went out of his way to attempt to convince Draco that they were on the same side.

“Chocolate Frog,” muttered Draco and the gargoyle sprung open and Draco walked forward, before he knocked on the door.

“Enter,” prompted the voice of Albus Dumbledore and Draco made his way inside, to see Snape and Dumbledore just finishing off a conversation.

“Professor Snape, I didn’t expect you to be here,” remarked Draco in a surprised voice.

“I was just leaving, good day Draco,” said Snape, briefly acknowledging Draco to be there before he left the office.

Draco sat down in front of Dumbledore and Dumbledore calmly looked at him with his deep blue eyes.

“So, Draco, how were your holidays?” asked Dumbledore.

“Peaceful,” answered Draco shortly.

“Lemon Drop?” suggested Dumbledore calmly.

“No thank you, Professor,” replied Draco coolly, as he wouldn’t have been surprised if Dumbledore had drugged the lemon drops in an attempt to bend people to his beliefs.

“Too bad, they are quite a delectable treat,” said Dumbledore. “So, I assume that you have heard the latest about Harry Potter.”

“The fact that the Daily Prophet might be painting him as a threat on the level of Voldemort?” asked Draco and Dumbledore nodded. “Professor, I know Potter all too well and he cares too much to turn into Voldemort. It would defeat the purpose of all his hard work.”

“Draco, we must consider the fact that this could be a front for a more sinister purpose and he has gotten into the good graces with most of the younger students in this school, not to mention a good portion of the population would follow him to the death,” said Dumbledore calmly. “If they could be trained up, Mr. Potter may have a decent size army that could overrun us all and he would have complete control.”

Draco kept his face neutral, as Dumbledore would naturally be against Potter, because Potter had refused to be the idealist Gryffindor golden boy that Dumbledore had hoped for. While he still didn’t like Potter one bit, Draco grudgingly respected Potter’s ability to see that Dumbledore wasn’t the great wizard that many had foolishly believed him to be.

“As I’ve said before, that could be true Headmaster, it may be a good idea to keep a close eye on Potter then, which I suspect you may be doing,” said Draco.

“I may be, Draco,” replied Dumbledore. “Is there anything else you would like to tell me at all Draco?”

“No Headmaster,” said Draco in a flat voice.

“Very well then, I’ll let you know when our next meeting is,” replied Dumbledore, a slight bit of irritation evident in his voice but Draco disregarded it, making his way from Dumbledore’s office as quickly as possible.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, his frustration slowly mounted. Draco Malfoy seemed to be a bit more difficult to manipulate than he had previously thought. His failure of molding Potter for his plans had stung Dumbledore greatly, but Malfoy seemed rather disinterested in the idea of Potter being a threat. In fact, Dumbledore had even had the belief that Draco Malfoy found the idea that Harry Potter to have the potential to be an evil on the level of Voldemort to be highly laughable.

Still Dumbledore needed Draco Malfoy’s body or everything that he had worked on for over a century would be up in smoke. A younger body would allow Dumbledore to find a way to return to greater power, as his main body was rapidly turning to dust and this Inferius puppet routine could only go on for maybe seven or eight more months at the very most, as it strained what little power Dumbledore was able to summon in his rapidly decaying primitive form.

The teachers at Hogwarts seemed to want to make up for lost time after the winter holiday, as they assigned a great deal of homework to the sixth year students. Even Lily, who didn’t give out mandatory homework, took steps to accelerate their learning, drilling advanced dueling techniques into their heads, fitting enough material to fill two or three class periods into one class. With each class, many sixth years felt their brains were worked to capacity. Even Harry, who had far more pressing matters to worry about then school work, found himself a bit overwhelmed by the great amount of work that the sixth years got. Granted, Harry still managed to find ways to get everything done as soon as possible, a bit sooner than everything else but it took much more time. That was on top of the fact that he was helping Ginny prepare for her O.W.Ls and the supplementary Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

Academics were not the only aspect of Hogwarts that Harry put a bit of time and energy into. The Slytherin Quidditch Game with Ravenclaw was fast approaching and from what Harry heard, the Ravenclaws were determined to win their first Quidditch Cup in fifty three years. As Harry had constantly told his team, they couldn’t underestimate the Ravenclaw team. While no individual players stood out, as a team, Ravenclaw would be a tough challenge. Harry managed to schedule three practices per week around everything else at Hogwarts.

“They’re flying really well this year, you shouldn’t put too much pressure on them Harry,” said Ginny as the two returned to Hogwarts.

“They are, I’ll properly inflate their heads after the season is over,” replied Harry. “Two more games and it’ll be an end of an era.”

“Harry, why are you resigning from the team after this year anyway?” asked Ginny. “I thought you wanted to be a Professional Quidditch player.”

“I do, more than anything else in the world, if I survive Voldemort,” stated Harry and with that Ginny put her hands on her hips, before she looked at Harry with an incredulous looks. “I mean when I survive Voldemort, but next year I might not return to Hogwarts, so someone else might have to take up the reigns as captain. That someone might be you”

“I’d love to Harry, but I’m going to be beside you regardless, no matter where you go against Voldemort” said Ginny.

“What if your mum forbids you to?” asked Harry.

“Liked that’d stop me,” scoffed Ginny as she grabbed Harry’s hand warmly. “I’m going to take any excuse to be with you that I’m going to get. I’m not going to be some girl who sits back and barely interacts with the love of her life, letting him get into dangerous situations. If he does, I will too. We’re in this together, not just because of the bond, but because of our choices and our love for each other.

“And that’s why I’m going to beat Voldemort,” said Harry. “We’ll practically married because of the bond but the minute Voldemort drops dead, I promise everything we’ll be together legally in additionally to magically.”

Ginny and Harry turned side to side, before they met in a passionate embrace and kissed for a few minutes, before the sound of approaching footsteps caused them to break up.

“Now, you don’t need to cease your activities on my account,” remarked Luna as she approached. “But since you don’t seem to be as busy as you were a few seconds ago, I need to tell you something.”

“How can we help you, Luna?” asked Harry.

“Oh it isn’t for me, it’s just that Ronald seems to have been looking for you but he’s never been able to catch you, there’s something urgent that he feels he needs to tell you,” replied Luna.

“What would Ron want to tell you, Harry?” asked Ginny with a frown and Harry shrugged. “Did he say what it was Luna?”

“No, just that it was urgent,” answered Luna. “I can take you two to him, he’s waiting in the Great Hall right now.”

“Yes, that would be for the best Luna,” agreed Harry before he and Ginny followed Luna into Hogwarts and towards the Great Hall.

They saw Ron waiting.

“Ron, you said you wanted to speak to me,” muttered Harry and Ron opened his mouth but Ginny elbowed him.

“Not here, the walls have ears,” replied Ginny in a low voice which caused Harry to give Ginny an approving smile. She was learning well.

“I know of a place, I used to go there all the time to cry when people stole my stuff during my first few years,” remarked Luna, the fact that she could talk about this so casually astounded Harry. “Of course, when I became friends with you, they seemed to magically stop. It’s almost like they didn’t want to upset me to the point that I’d tell you.”

Harry allowed Luna to lead the way, with Ron and Ginny following closely behind. After a few minutes, Luna lead them inside and Harry closed the door behind them, before placing up several silencing charms along with a mild Confundus spell to send away any eavesdroppers.

“Is it safe to speak?” asked Ron and Harry responded with a nod. “I don’t know exactly how to go about this, but Hermione’s been acting really weird lately.”

Ron waited for some kind of response from Harry but his face remained blank and devoid of all emotion. He saw a flash of anger appear in his sister’s eyes that was quite frankly chilling.

“Continue,” said Harry after a rather painful awkward silence.

“Well she’s been shutting herself in the girl’s dormitory for hours and hours, not talking to anyone and she looks like she wants to throw any person that approaches her off the Astronomy Tower,” continued Ron. “Last time I talked to her, she threatened to hex me unless I stay out of her way.”

Ron looked at Harry and reluctantly decided to tell him.

“Hermione might be delving into the dark arts too, Harry,” added Ron. “Don’t you find that alarming?”

“The fact that she’s delving into them I don’t find alarming but the reason she is may be a cause for concern,” said Harry stiffly. “She’s going to end up getting her head blown off against Bellatrix.”

“It’s obvious that you need to talk to her then,” suggested Luna.

“Yes, talk to her, Luna, that’d be really great,” answered Harry sarcastically. “Hello Hermione, I’m sorry that I was concerned for your well being, have fun getting murdered by Bellatrix.”

“Harry, there’s no need to take that tone, it was just a suggestion,” said Luna.

“Sorry Luna, I’ve just been under a bit of stress lately,” apologized Harry.

“Maybe you should take a vacation,” said Ron which caused Harry to narrow his eyes at the youngest Weasley male back off slightly. “Right, anyway, do you think anything can be done about Hermione, maybe if you…”

“Hermione’s not going to see reason after what she said, I mean she’s stubborn, she held a grudge against you for years after we started speaking in a reasonably civil matter,” said Harry. “I don’t wish to speak of this subject anymore.”

“I would think that you would take this more seriously, after all, didn’t you say that you and Hermione were close like brother and sister?” asked Luna.

“We are,” replied Harry stubbornly and Luna just nodded with interested, as she noted that Harry used the present test to answer her question, rather than the past.

“Siblings fight, no need to not to speak to her ever again,” said Luna. “The longer you don’t talk, the more strained your relationship would be.”

Harry didn’t respond but Ginny voiced something that had been eating away at her.

“She compared Harry to Lord Voldemort, don’t forget that,” hissed Ginny angrily. “After all we’ve been through, she should know better.”

“Didn’t it ever occur to you that someone might have messed with her mind when she was at St. Mungos or even Bellatrix when she attacked Hermione?” suggested Luna calmly.

“If that’s the case, then it would explain a lot of things,” admitted Harry, with Ginny nodded calmly.

“You’re afraid to find out aren’t you?” inquired Luna. “Just on the off chance that Hermione’s new found ill feelings regarding you are one hundred percent genuine.”

“Ron, if anything out of the ordinary happens with Hermione, find me or Ginny,” said Harry, brushing off Luna’s question.

“You mean you aren’t going to talk to her,” said Ron and Harry shook his head, causing Luna to look up at him what might have been disappointment. Harry turned away from both Ron and Luna, before he followed Ginny as the two left the room abruptly.

“Luna was right wasn’t she,” muttered Ginny. “You’re afraid to know if Hermione’s opinion was genuine or magically influenced.”

“You know me better than just about anyone Ginny, what do you think?” replied Harry.

“Her attitude is causing you to be really irritable, isn’t it?” asked Ginny. “I’m still mad at her for comparing you to him, but she is a bit like you at times.”

“That’s the entire problem,” said Harry shortly. “Let’s not talk about Hermione anymore, please.”

“Fine, I have some homework I need to do before we settle in for the night,” said Ginny.

“Take it down for the Slytherin library where you can do it in peace, I have a bit of research work to do down there anyway,” suggested Harry and Ginny nodded in an agreeable manner, before the two teenagers went to an empty corridor, before Harry transported them to the library.

Out in the Quidditch Team, the Hufflepuff Team were awaiting Zacharias Smith, the current captain and he made his way out to the field, with a smug look on his face.

“Listen up, thanks to my great efforts that lead us to victory over Ravenclaw, we now have a chance to win the first Hufflepuff Quidditch Championship in nearly five hundred years,” said Smith smugly as Hailey stood rigid, a dozen painful curses floating through her mind that she could use on Smith right now. How dare he take credit for her helping the Hufflepuff team come from behind against Ravenclaw? “And now before…”

“Hold it Smith, the other members of the team have been talking,” interjected fifth year Chaser Elizabeth Martin.

“There’s no need to worry about strategy Martin, I’ve got it handled,” answered Smith with a smug smirk.

“We’ve had a meeting and we feel that your skills as captain aren’t quite on par for what we need, especially once we have to go against the Slytherins,” added the fourth year Chaser Gregory Quance.

“Well then I guess you’re off the team, all six of you,” said Smith coldly. “Potter set that precedent last year and I’m going to replace you all…”

“No Smith, we’re not off the team, Professor Sprout has given us her full blessing to appoint a brand new captain because of your quite horrid management,” argued Elizabeth. “I’d like to nominate the same person he took charge against Ravenclaw and lead us to victory, our very own star seeker, Hailey Potter!”

Hailey looked up as the others agreed.

Well, except for Smith who looked rather livid.

“You think she would make a better captain then me,” replied Smith in an agitated voice.

“No of course we don’t think that,” said a third year Chaser Brent Vine. “We know she’ll be a better captain.”

“Plus Quidditch is in her blood, her father lead the Gryffindor Quidditch team to four straight Quidditch championships and do I need to remind you of her brother, Harry, who is becoming just as well known for his Quidditch achievements as he is of his battles against You-Know-Who,” concluded one of the beaters, a fifth year by the name of Ray Edwards.

“If you elect her for a captain, then I’m off the team,” said Smith.

“If this gets him off the team, then I’ll happily select the position of captain if you elect me,” remarked Hailey.

“Then let’s put this matter to a vote, all in favor of Hailey being the new Hufflepuff captain,” announced Elizabeth and five hands went up. Smith threw his hands up into the air and stormed off, looking rather sour at being overthrown.

“For the record, I’m in favor of me being captain as well, I just didn’t want to skew the vote, not that it mattered much,” said Hailey which caused the other five teammates to laugh. “Practice is postponed as we are down one Chaser.”

The others nodded.

“Elizabeth could you please do me a favor and post a notice that tryouts for a new Chaser will take place this weekend?” asked Hailey in a polite voice.

“Will do captain,” said Elizabeth in a cheeky voice which caused Hailey to playfully swing at the fifth year girl as the Hufflepuff team made there way inside early.

Steven Nott made his way to the Dark Lord’s throne room in the bowels of Salazar Tower with a bit of a nervous look on his face. In an instant, he kneeled before Voldemort, who sat over him with an indifferent look on his face.

“Speak, Nott,” prompted Voldemort softly.

“My Lord, you know you suggested I’d use my son’s mother as an example to make sure my son joins your ranks,” said Nott nervously.

“Yes,” answered Voldemort curtly. “I made it perfectly clear that you would not take this too far Nott.”

“My Lord, I beg your forgiveness, she’s still alive, barely, but she went missing from St. Mungos this morning,” said Nott in a panicked voice.

“Missing, how does one go missing from a hospital?” asked Voldemort coldly before he realized. “Very clever, Potter.”

“My Lord?” interjected Nott in a confused voice.

“None of your concern, Nott,” said Voldemort softly. “She’s been moved, much like Potter had done with the Hogwarts Mudbloods after we attacked the Granger girl.”

Nott just stood there as Voldemort seemed to be going something over his head.

“The other’s have committed, Nott, your son has not,” replied Voldemort. “Since his mother his missing, we must use someone else to blackmail him into joining us.”

“Daphne Greengrass,” suggested Nott. “Her and Theodore were childhood friends, might be more now for all I know, I know for a fact that they went to the Yule Ball together.”

“The Greengrass family is neutral but at the same time rather well connected,” remarked Voldemort. “Their daughter might be friends with Harry Potter, but the family as a whole don’t lean towards either side of the conflict. They also have a lot of political allies that might make my plans more difficult than it should be.”

Voldemort looked at Nott chillingly

“Nott, remember this, your son is the only hold out from our bargain. He has to be marked before his seventeenth birthday or I might decide that your life isn’t worth much to me,” concluded Voldemort coldly. “Have I made myself clear?”

“Of course, my Lord,” answered Nott in a timid voice.

“Then leave me,” ordered Voldemort and Nott walked out, careful not to look urgent in leaving.

At Hogwarts the next day, Daphne, Theodore, Harry, and Ginny crowded in the Room of Requirement and looked extremely serious.

“Just got confirmation, saying that we moved her to a magical hospital in the United States,” replied Harry as he handed Theodore a pendant. “This Portkey should allow you to visit her unlimited times for a year.”

“Will Mum pull through?” asked Theodore.

“Theodore, you know that I’m not going to sugarcoat it right,” said Harry and Theodore nodded. “The healers did everything they could, but because of the damage was done by dark curses, not much could be do to repair them. They said they’d do everything they can to make your mother’s last few months as comfortable as possible.”

“I still can’t believe that your father attacked your mother,” said Daphne in a disgusted voice.

“My father and a couple others, quite frankly I was afraid that might take it further than just attacking her with dark curses,” replied Theodore as Daphne raised her eyebrows. “Dad put me in a body-bind and made me watch.”

“You didn’t tell me that they made you watch,” said Harry incredulously.

“Harry, I didn’t think you needed to know,” replied Theodore in a stoic voice as Daphne grabbed his hand in a reassuring manner. “You have too much on your mind to worry about the fact that I might be traumatized by my father and his friends attacking my mother.”

Harry just stood there, it was quite unfortunate that some of his more irritating qualities had rubbed off onto his friends. Namely a high regard for everyone but themselves

“Please tell me you won’t do anything stupid, like go after your father,” said Daphne, voicing what Harry wanted to say, but she knew Harry was rather reluctant to say after what happened to Hermione.

“No I won’t go after him,” said Theodore coolly. “However, if we come face to face, I’m not going to let him roll over me.”

“So I guess you’ve made your choice regarding your father’s ultimatum,” replied Harry.

“Yes,” declared Theodore.