𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗔 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗘𝗧

ACT ONE, CHAPTER TWELVE
kreacher & dobby.

VENUS HAD SOMEHOW not gotten detention for punching Cormac McLaggen.

She had been dragged into McGonagall's office after the events, only for McGonagall to tell her to take a seat and have a biscuit. Venus, hopelessly confused, ate her biscuit while McGonagall lectured her on why she should not physically harm other students. However, the whole time, Venus couldn't help but notice that the corners of her Head of House's lips were twitching upwards like she was fighting the urge to smile.

It was now late on a Sunday evening, and Venus found herself sitting in the common room with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Venus was sitting on the arm of the chair that Harry was perched upon, his head leaning against the side of her stomach as he read his copy of Advanced Potion Making, trying to find a way to get the memory about Horcruxes from Slughorn. Ron and Hermione were sitting in the other chairs.

"You won't find anything in there," Hermione told him firmly.

"Don't start, Hermione," Harry replied. "If it hadn't been for the Prince, Ron wouldn't be sitting here now."

"He would if you'd just listened to Snape in our first year."

Harry ignored her. He folded down a page of his book. Meanwhile, Venus looked around the room. The only other people awake were other sixth years. There had been an atmosphere of excitement earlier when they had come back from dinner to find a new sign on the notice board that announced the date for their Apparition Test. Those who would be seventeen on or before the first test date, April twenty-first, had the option of signing up for additional practice sessions, that would be heavily supervised in Hogsmeade.

Charlotte was particularly upset about this, because her birthday was April twenty-second. The only ones who could take the test out of their friend group was Ron, Hermione, and Elijah. Ron was particularly panicked after reading the notice because he had not managed to Apparate yet. Hermione and Elijah, who had both achieved Apparition twice, were a little more confident. Venus, Harry, and Charlotte were just left waiting until they could turn seventeen.

Ron had just finished worrying aloud about Apparition and was now struggling to finish a viciously difficult essay for Snape that Venus, Harry, and Hermione had already completed. Venus felt all right about hers, but then again, it was Snape. Who knew what would happen?

"I'm telling you, the stupid Prince isn't going to be able to help you with this, Harry!" Hermione insisted more loudly. "There's only one way to force someone to do what you want, and that's the Imperius Curse, which is illegal—"

"Yeah, I know that, thanks," Harry cut in, not looking up from the book. "That's why I'm looking for something different. Dumbledore says Veritaserum won't do it, but there might be something else, a potion or a spell . . ."

"You're going about it the wrong way. Only you can get the memory, Dumbledore says. That must mean you can persuade Slughorn where other people can't. It's not a question of slipping him a potion, anyone could do that—"

"How d'you spell belligerent?" Ron asked, shaking his quill very hard while staring at his parchment. "It can't be B — U — M—"

Hermione pulled Ron's essay towards her. "No, it isn't. And augury doesn't begin O — R — G either. What kind of quill are you using?"

"It's one of Fred and George's Spell-Check ones . . . but I think the charm must be wearing off. . . ."

Hermione pointed towards the title of his essay. "Yes, it must, because we were asked how we'd deal with Dementors, not Dugbogs, and I don't remember you changing your name to Roonil Wazlib either."

Ron stared at his parchment in horror. "Ah no! Don't say I'll have to write the whole thing out again!"

"It's okay, we can fix it," Hermione reassured him, pulling the essay towards her and taking out her wand.

Ron sank back in his chair and rubbed his eyes wearily. "I love you, Hermione."

"Careful, don't let Lavender catch you saying that," Venus voiced, slightly joking. "She might start a rumor that you're cheating on Penelope with Hermione."

"Oh Merlin, please no. I've already put P through enough with being obsessed with you."

Venus grimaced. "Yeah. Not the best situation, huh?"

They all watched as Hermione silently tapped each one of Ron's misspelled words with her wand, so that they corrected themselves on the page. It went on for about twenty minutes.

Hermione then handed Ron his essay back. "There."

"Thanks a million," Ron stated. "Can I borrow your quill for the conclusion?"

Venus felt Harry nestle his head a little more into her side, making her smile slightly. She looked around the room again. The three of them were now the only ones left in the common room since Seamus had just gone up to bed, cursing Snape and his essay. It was quiet except for the sounds of the crackling fire and Ron scratching out one last paragraph on Dementors with Hermione's quill. Harry had just looked up at Venus tiredly, his eyes sleepy when—

Crack.

Venus jumped and nearly fell off the chair, Hermione let out a little shriek, and Ron spilled ink all over his freshly completed essay.

"Kreacher!" Harry exclaimed.

The old House-Elf bowed low. "Master said he wanted regular reports on what the Malfoy boy is doing, so Kreacher has come to give—"

Crack. Dobby then appeared alongside Kreacher, his tea-cozy hat askew.

"Dobby has been helping too, Harry Potter!" Dobby squeaked, giving Kreacher a resentful look. "And Kreacher ought to tell Dobby when he is coming to see Harry Potter so they can make their reports together!"

Venus blinked. "What is going on?" She looked down at her boyfriend. "I'm so hopelessly lost."

Harry hesitated for a moment. "Well . . . they've been following Malfoy for me."

"Night and day," Kreacher croaked.

"Dobby has not slept for a week, Harry Potter!" Dobby announced proudly, swaying where he stood.

Hermione looked mad. "You haven't slept, Dobby? But surely, Harry, you didn't tell him not to—"

"No, of course I didn't," Harry said quickly. "Dobby, you can sleep, all right? But has either of you found out anything?"

"Master Malfoy moves with a nobility that befits his pure blood," Kreacher answered at once, and Venus slightly scoffed. "His features recall the fine bones of my mistress and his manners are those of—"

"Draco Malfoy is a bad boy!" Dobby voiced angrily. "A bad boy who — who—"

His entire body shuddered before he ran at the fire like he was about to dive into it. Venus' eyes widened as she watched Harry catch Dobby around his middle and hold him. Dobby struggled for a moment before going limp.

"Thank you, Harry Potter," Dobby said. "Dobby still finds it difficult to speak ill of his old masters . . ." Harry released him, and Dobby straightened his tea cozy before turning to Kreacher. "But Kreacher should know that Draco Malfoy is not a good master to a House-Elf!"

"Yeah, we don't need to hear about you being in love with Malfoy," Harry told Kreacher. "Let's fast forward to where he's actually been going."

Kreacher looked furious, but nevertheless, he bowed again. "Master Malfoy eats in the Great Hall, he sleeps in a dormitory in the dungeons, he attends his classes in a variety of—"

"Dobby, you tell me," Harry interrupted, stopping Kreacher's rant. "Has he been going anywhere he shouldn't have?"

"Harry Potter, sir, the Malfoy boy is breaking no rules that Dobby can discover, but he is still keen to avoid detection," Dobby revealed. "He has been making regular visits to the seventh floor with a variety of other students, who keep watch for him while he enters—"

"The Room of Requirement!" Harry finished, smacking himself hard on the forehead with Advanced Potion-Making.

Venus gently took the book from him. "All right, none of that, love."

Harry shook his head. "That's where he's been sneaking off to! That's where he's doing . . . whatever he's doing! And I bet that's why he's been disappearing off the map — come to think of it, I've never seen the Room of Requirement on there!"

"Maybe the Marauders never knew the room was there," Ron stated.

"I think it'll be part of the magic of the room," Hermione admitted. "If you need it to be Unplottable, it will be."

"Dobby, have you managed to get in to have a look at what Malfoy's doing?" Harry questioned eagerly.

"No, Harry Potter, that is impossible," Dobby replied.

"No, it's not. Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year, so I'll be able to get in and spy on him, no problem."

"I don't want to bring your hopes down, but I don't think you will," Venus said. "Malfoy already knew how we were using the room because Marietta blabbed. He wanted the room to become the headquarters of the D.A., and it listened. But you don't know what Malfoy is making the room turn into, so . . ."

"There'll be a way around that," Harry responded dismissively. "You've done brilliantly, Dobby."

"Kreacher's done well too," Hermione added kindly.

The House-Elf averted his huge, bloodshot eyes to the ceiling. "The Mudblood is speaking to Kreacher, Kreacher will pretend he cannot hear—"

"Get out of it," Harry snapped, and Kreacher gave him one last deep bow before he Disapparated. "You'd better go and get some sleep too, Dobby."

"Thank you, Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby squeaked happily before he vanished.

Harry enthusiastically looked at the other three. "How good's this? We know where Malfoy's going! We've got him cornered now!"

"Yeah, it's great," Ron answered glumly, who was trying to mop the pool of ink that had been on his almost completed essay.

Hermione pulled the essay towards her and began removing the ink with her wand. "But what's all this about him going up there with a variety of students? How many people are in on it? You wouldn't think he'd trust lots of them to know what he's doing . . ."

Harry frowned. "Yeah, that is weird. I heard him telling Crabbe it wasn't Crabbe's business what he was doing . . . so what's he telling all these . . . all these . . ." Harry's voiced trailed off and he stared into the fire. "God, I've been stupid. It's obvious, isn't it? There was a great vat of it down in the dungeon. . . . he could've nicked some any time during that lesson . . ."

"Nicked what?" Ron inquired.

"Polyjuice Potion. He stole some of the Polyjuice Potion Slughorn showed us in our first Potions lesson . . . there aren't a whole variety of students standing guard for Malfoy . . . it's just Crabbe and Goyle as usual . . . yeah, it all fits!" Harry jumped up and started to pace in front of the fire, Venus following him with her eyes. "They're stupid enough to do what they're told even if he won't tell them what he's up to . . . but he doesn't want them to be seen lurking around outside the Room of Requirement, so he's got them taking Polyjuice to make them look like other people . . . those two girls I saw him with when he missed Quidditch — ha! Crabbe and Goyle!"

"Do you mean to say that that little girl whose scales I repaired—?" Hermione began in a hushed voice.

"Yeah, of course!" Harry confirmed loudly, staring at her. "Of course! Malfoy must've been inside the room at the time, so she — what am I talking about? — he dropped the scales to tell Malfoy not to come out, because there was someone there! And there was that girl who dropped the toad spawn too! We've been walking past him all the time and not realizing it!"

"He's got Crabbe and Goyle transforming into girls?" Ron asked in surprise. "Blimey . . . no wonder they don't look too happy these days . . . I'm surprised they don't tell him to stuff it . . ."

"Well, they wouldn't, would they, if he's shown them his Dark Mark?" Harry countered.

"Hmmm . . . the Dark Mark we don't know exists," Hermione argued skeptically, rolling up Ron's dried essay before any more harm to it could be done and handing it to him.

"We'll see."

"Yes, we will." Hermione got to her feet and stretched. "But, Harry, before you get all excited, I still don't think you'll be able to get into the Room of Requirement without knowing what's there first. And I don't think you should forget—" she put her bag on her shoulder and gave him a very serious look "—that what you're supposed to be concentrating on is getting that memory from Slughorn. Good night. Coming, V?"

"Yeah," Venus replied, getting to her feet. She walked up to Harry and kissed him quickly. "Good night. Try and get some sleep."

It seemed that Harry had indeed not listened to his girlfriend. The second Venus saw him the next morning at breakfast, she saw how tired his eyes were but how frantic he was. Sighing, she ate her cereal as she listened to Harry's plans to try and get into the Room of Requirement during his free period before Defense Against the Dark Arts. Hermione was showing no interest, which Venus could tell was irritating Harry.

"Look," Harry interjected, leaning forwards and putting a hand on the Daily Prophet, which Hermione had just removed from a post owl, to stop her from opening it and vanishing behind it. "I haven't forgotten about Slughorn, but I haven't got a clue how to get that memory off him, and until I get a brain wave why shouldn't I find out what Malfoy's doing?"

"I've already told you, you need to persuade Slughorn," Hermione insisted. "It's not a question of tricking him or bewitching him, or Dumbledore could have done it in a second. Instead of messing around outside the Room of Requirement—" she took back the Prophet and unfolded it to look at the front page "—you should go and find Slughorn and start appealing to his better nature."

"Anyone we know—?" Ron began as Hermione scanned the headlines.

"Yes! But it's all right, he's not dead — it's Mundungus, he's been arrested and sent to Azkaban! Something to do with impersonating an Inferius during an attempted burglary . . . and someone called Octavius Pepper has vanished . . . oh, and how horrible, a nine-year-old boy has been arrested for trying to kill his grandparents, they think he was under the Imperius Curse . . ."

They finished their breakfast in silence. Hermione set off for Ancient Runes, Ron went to the common room to finish Snape's Dementor essay, and Harry kissed Venus goodbye before he went to the corridor on the seventh floor where the Room of Requirement was. Meanwhile, Venus went to go sit at the Slytherin table with Charlotte and Elijah, the three of them intending to spend time together before Defense.

After a while, which consisted of Charlotte and Elijah bickering like they normally did, the three of them set off for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Venus took her usual seat in the candlelit room, frowning slightly at the empty chair next to her. She truly believed that Harry was working himself into a spiral, but not wanting to make him upset, she refrained from saying anything.

Speaking of Harry, he suddenly rushed into the classroom, looking quite frustrated.

"Late again, Potter," Snape stated coldly. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

Harry scowled as he flung himself into the seat beside Venus. Venus found that quite unfair because half the class was still organizing themselves, but then again, it was Snape.

"Before we start, I want your Dementor essays." He waved his wand carelessly and twenty-nine scrolls of parchment soared into the air and landed in a neat pile on his desk. "And I hope for your sakes they are better than the tripe I had to endure on resisting the Imperius Curse. Now, if you will all open your books to page — what is it, Mr. Finnigan?"

"Sir, I've been wondering, how do you tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost?" Seamus questioned. "Because there was something in the paper about an Inferius—"

"No, there wasn't," Snape interrupted in a bored voice.

"But sir, I heard people talking—"

"If you had actually read the article in question, Mr. Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called Inferius was nothing but a smelly sneak thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."

"I thought Snape and Mundungus were on the same side," Harry muttered to Venus, Ron, Hermione, Elijah, and Charlotte, also including Neville and Penelope in that. "Shouldn't he be upset Mundungus has been arrest—"

"But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject," Snape announced, pointing suddenly at the back of the room, his black eyes fixed on Harry. "Let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an Inferius and a ghost."

The whole class turned to look at Harry.

"Er — well — ghosts are transparent—" Harry stammered.

Snape's lip curled. "Oh, very good. Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. Ghosts are transparent."

Pansy Parkinson let out a high-pitched giggle, and Penelope unashamedly rolled her eyes. Several other people were smirking.

Harry took a deep breath. "Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but Inferi are dead bodies, aren't they? So they'd be solid—"

"A five-year-old could have told us as much," Snape interjected with a sneer. "The Inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth . . . and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent."

"Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!" Ron argued. "When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a shufti to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?"

There was a ripple of laughter, but it was immediately silenced by the look Snape gave the class.

"Another ten points from Gryffindor," Snape said. "I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley, the boy so solid he cannot Apparate half an inch across a room."

"Don't," Venus told Harry quietly as he opened his mouth furiously. "I know you want to stand up for him, but you're just going to end up in detention again, and I know you don't want that."

Snape was smirking a little. "Now open your books to page two hundred and thirteen and read the first two paragraphs on the Cruciatus Curse . . ."

Ron was very sad all through the class. When the bell sounded at the end of the lesson, he let Penelope lead him out of the room, probably so she could give him one of her famous pep-talks that included lots of cursing, in true Penelope Lestrange fashion.

The following weekend, Ron joined Hermione and the rest of the sixth years who would turn seventeen in time to take the test. Venus was kind of upset that she was born on the Fourth of July (how American of her) and couldn't take the test, because she was missing out on going to Hogsmeade on a nice spring day. Also, she was under the impression that her and Harry would be spending their time together alone, but he was going to try the Room of Requirement again. He revealed this to her, Hermione, Ron, Charlotte, and Elijah as they were in the entrance hall.

"You'd do better to go straight to Slughorn's office and try and get that memory from him," Hermione stated.

"I've been trying!" Harry insisted crossly. "He doesn't want to talk to me, Hermione! He can tell I've been trying to get him on his own again, and he's not going to let it happen!"

"Well, you've just got to keep at it, haven't you?"

The short queue of people waiting to get past Filch, who was doing his usual prodding act with the Secrecy Sensor, moved forwards a few steps. Harry wished Ron, Hermione, and Elijah look before turning and climbing the marble staircase to go to the Room of Requirement. A small frown on her face, Venus watched him leave.

Hermione sighed. "You should talk to him, V. He's so focused on everything else that he's not giving you any time."

"I know," Venus replied quietly.

Charlotte slung an arm around her shoulders. "Come on. Let's go get some chocolate chip cookies from the kitchens."

"It's the morning, Lottie," Elijah reminded her.

"So?"

Venus laughed slightly at that. "Good luck, you guys."

Charlotte and Venus did indeed get their morning batch of cookies and sat down in the kitchens, talking for a while. It was a nice distraction to get Venus' mind away from her thoughts.

The two of them then climbed the stairs to the Great Hall for lunch, only to meet Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Elijah all sitting together at the Gryffindor table. Venus sat down next to Harry, who kissed her cheek in greeting. She couldn't help but smile despite her feelings.

"I did it — well, kind of!" Ron exclaimed enthusiastically. "I was supposed to be Apparating to outside Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop and I overshot it a bit, ended up near Scrivenshaft's, but at least I moved!"

"Good one," said Harry. "How'd you do, Hermione?"

"She was fantastic," Elijah cut in before Hermione could answer. "Did everything right. We all went for a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks afterwards — you should've heard Twycross going on and on about her. He was complimenting her so much I was staring to think he would propose."

Hermione's face flushed a light pink. "Thanks, Eli. You did great, too." She then turned to Harry. "And what about you? Have you been up at the Room of Requirement all this time?"

"Yep," Harry answered. "And guess who I ran into up there? Tonks!"

"Tonks?" Venus, Ron, Hermione, Charlotte, and Elijah repeated, all looking surprised.

"Yeah, she said she'd come to visit Dumbledore . . ."

Harry then explained his conversation with Tonks, especially how she had gotten teary-eyed after mentioning Sirius.

"If you ask me, she's cracking up a bit," Ron admitted. "Losing her nerve after what happened at the Ministry."

Hermione looked concerned. "It's a bit odd. She's supposed to be guarding the school, why's she suddenly abandoning her post to come and see Dumbledore when he's not even here?"

"I would ask Penelope, but she's very protective over Tonks," Ron continued. "I'm sure she knows what's going on with her, though."

"I had a thought," Harry announced tentatively, and for some reason, he paid attention to Venus, Hermione, and Charlotte. "You don't think she can have been . . . you know . . . in love with Sirius?"

Venus blinked. "You think so?"

Harry shrugged. "I dunno, but she was nearly crying when I mentioned his name . . . and her Patronus is a big four-legged thing now . . . I wondered whether it hadn't become . . . you know . . . him."

"It's a thought," Hermione responded slowly. "But I still don't know why she'd be bursting into the castle to see Dumbledore, if that's really why she was here . . ."

"Goes back to what I said, doesn't it?" Ron said, spooning some mashed potato into his mouth. "She's gone a bit funny. Lost her nerve. Women, they're easily upset."

Charlotte scoffed. "Oh yeah? Bet you'd never catch Penelope sulking because you didn't find any of her jokes funny."

Ron scowled.

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pls pray for me besties I have one week left of classes and then finals and I feel like I'm going mentally insane