In Scotland at this time of year, there are less than seven hours between sunrise and sunset. How anyone living further north than us copes with winter is beyond me. Therefore it was a great relief to take in the bright lights of London for a few days earlier this week. Sections of this story were written on the rail journey to and from Kings Cross station, partly due to a certain train company's less than truthful claims of on-board free wi-fi. On connecting my iPad, I soon discovered that only the first fifteen minutes were free (which didn't even cover the inevitable train delay). You were then 'invited' to pay up to a fiver an hour after the initial free period. With this incident firmly in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to state categorically that I do not own Harry Potter, nor make any money from my writing.

On a completely different note, I finally got to see DH2 as it was released on blu-ray. Thought the two movies were actually better than the last book but that isn't exactly a ringing endorsement considering my opinion of Deathly Hallows. What stood out for me though was a line beautifully delivered by Alan Rickman in the Snape memories section. Snape confronts Dumbledore with the fact that he has been raising Harry like a pig to slaughter, a claim Dumbledore doesn't even attempt to refute. I really can't equate this, and some of Dumbledore's other actions to those of the 'great light' wizard Albus is portrayed to be? I've tried a couple of times to write a 'good' Dumbledore but I see the character as a ruthless bastard who will do anything to ensure what HE thinks must be done actually comes to pass. I don't set out to deliberately 'bash' anyone, I just go where my thoughts and writing takes me. Enough of my drabbles so on with the story, and I really must post a massive 'chapter ending cliffie' warning here.

Chapter 9

Harry came out his bedroom next morning to find Hermione and Tonks eagerly trying to sort through a mountain of books that hadn't been there when he went to bed last night. As he had just woken up, Harry felt he could be excused for asking the obvious question. "Where did this lot come from? Did you two do a midnight raid on the library?"

"Trust me Harry, you wouldn't find most of these in the Hogwarts library. Not even in the restricted section. Tonks said some of the books have the Black family crest on them."

As a cup of tea appeared on the table in front of him, Harry knew just who to ask about the book mountain mystery. "Dobby, what do you know about these books?"

The little elf appeared at once and offered an explanation. "Dobby and your godfather were talking last night, he tells Dobby there are many books in his family library that might help Harry Potter."

"So you went and got them?"

"No Harry Potter sir, Dobby is a Potter elf but his friend Winky was wanting a new family. She was very happy to bond with your godfather and join his family. Winky was able to take Dobby to the Black library and we brought all these books to help Harry Potter. There are many more left and we will bring others when you finish with those ones."

Dobby popped away and Harry immediately expected an explosion from his betrothed because Sirius had bound Winky to him. The explosion never materialised though as Hermione had her full attention on the visible results of that bonding. Personally Harry thought Dobby was doing more to promote Hermione's idea of Elfish Welfare than all her badges and hat knittingcombined. He had no doubts that Sirius had about as much choice in bonding with Winky as he had with Dobby. The little guy was just wonderful at looking after his family, and it would appear he did the same for his friends. He would lay odds that Winky would now be looking after Sirius but that Dobby would still be popping by there most nights. Theirs was certainly not a master / slave relationship and Harry was very happy about that.

"Harry, some of the stuff in here is brilliant. Some of it is absolutely brutal too."

"Hermione's right, there's a lot of stuff in here that even I've never seen before."

Harry had thought of a problem though. "What do we do with all these books? We can't leave them sitting around in case our friends see them, or someone else we don't want comes in here."

Both witches instantly recognised that could be a very real problem, these books couldn't be read by anyone outside the three of them. Tonks made a suggestion to Harry. "You could purchase a library trunk? They can be bought pre-expanded inside to hold as many books as you specify. The more books you want to store, the more expensive the trunk will be though."

Dobby was called again and, after estimating how many books the Black library contained, sent to Diagon Alley to purchase a library trunk to house their new library. They decided it would sit in Tonks' room in the hope that any casual snoopers would just assume it was nothing more than an ordinary trunk belonging to the auror. She also intended to put some serious magical protections on the trunk so that only the three of them would have access to it.

They had to practically drag Hermione down to breakfast. Having access to a private library was something of a dream come true for the self confessed bibliophile. That hidden somewhere in this precious resource might be the answer to their problem meant that Hermione was going to be spending even more time in Harry's rooms.

-oOoOo-

When they met Cedric heading into breakfast with Cho, Harry immediately floated the idea of a champions' get together. The Hufflepuff was all for it, especially after hearing Cho was also invited.

"The only condition is that we leave all talk of the tournament at the door, it's to be an evening spent just getting to know each other as friends."

Hermione had another thought. "Since there's going to be at least four seekers there, perhaps we should add quidditch talk to that ban as well?"

Tonks couldn't hold her laughter. "Good luck with that idea Hermione. There's more chance of Harry inviting Snape."

Hermione started to giggle, destroying her image as the girl who was always so serious. Her next words shattered that illusion forever, leaving Cedric and Cho looking forward to the get together even more. "Sorry, I just got this image in my head of Snape as the after-dinner entertainment. Breaking out of a giant cake and going straight into a song and dance number. That old black magic has me in its spell..." Hermione couldn't continue with the song as she was laughing too much at the image in her head.

A now laughing Harry scooped her into his arms. "Ok, my betrothed is clearly suffering from the lack of bacon and eggs. Please excuse me while I see her breakfast needs are met."

A smiling Tonks was shaking her head and following on when Cho asked her a question. "Are those two always like that? I was under the impression they were pretty serious."

The auror was still smiling as she answered. "Only about each other, otherwise they're a lot of fun to be around. I can honestly say this is the best assignment I've ever had. That's why they came up with the idea of getting the four champions together, to dispel the misconceptions you all have about each other." They could hear the laughter coming along the corridor as Hermione was now trying to convince Harry to put her down. "I need to go, keeping these two out of trouble is a full time job."

Victor quickly agreed to come along, he also indicated he would be coming alone. Something that would ensure Tonks was teased mercilessly about when Harry and Hermione got her alone.

Fleur though was suspicious of this sudden invite, looking for an ulterior motive but finding none. It was Hermione's plea that sealed the deal. "Please come, I'll need some help when the others continually steer the conversation onto quidditch. I enjoy watching the sport, it's just the endless talk about it afterward that drives me mad." Having a witch invite her anywhere was so unusual for Fleur that she just had to say yes.

Ron was pretty miffed at the whole idea. There was going to be a party with food, Fleur and Victor Krum yet his best friends couldn't invite him.

"Ron, it's a get together for the champions."

"Hermione's not a champion but she'll be there."

Harry tried to not let his exasperation show as Ron once more performed his very convincing portrayal of a thick git. "She's my betrothed Ron, that means we're going to get married one day. I may be the one inviting the champions but Hermione is undoubtedly the one who will organise it. What the hell do I know about having guests over? You're my friend Ron but Hermione is the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, you need to understand the difference."

This earned him a searing kiss from a misty eyed Hermione. Hearing Harry talk like that made her more determined than ever to get through this ordeal, whatever it took.

While her charge was otherwise engaged, Tonks took the opportunity to question a shell-shocked Ronald Weasley. "You're a pureblood Ron, what did you think their betrothal meant?"

"Betrothals are usually arranged between families as a business deal. I thought the Grangers would be delighted to get Hermione off their hands, I didn't realise that Harry loved her."

Unfortunately for Ron, half of Gryffindor were now listening in to his explanation, including the two people he was talking about. The glares heading in his direction saw Ginny take action. She grabbed her brother by the hair and dragged him to his feet. "Run Ron, and don't look back. Half a dozen times around the Black Lake might give us time to calm these two down."

One glance at the glares coming from the couple saw Ron take flight. Ginny then apologised. "Sorry guys, I didn't want you two getting into trouble for hexing the prat. It seems McGonagall is now as likely to use any excuse to give you detentions as Snape is."

Both nodded in agreement and thanks before Tonks posed another question. "I asked this already and didn't get an answer so I'll try again, why are you two friends with that prat?"

It was with a sigh Hermione answered her. "We know there is a decent person under Ron's general persona of being a complete and utter arsehole, we've all seen occasional glimpses of it. Then he goes and pulls a stunt like this and we're left asking ourselves the very same question. I think it's going to be touch and go whether Ron finally grows up before one of us kills him."

The last statement was met with some nervous laughter as not all of their friends were sure whether Hermione was joking or not. Harry's arm snaking around her to offer comfort meant that at least there wasn't going to be a murder done here today, not unless Ron did something else to annoy them.

At the staff table, twinkling blue eyes watched this latest development with great interest, Potter appeared to be very deliberately courting allies amongst his fellow champions. Albus couldn't help but think the boy could have been a great leader in the future. He had magical, political and financial power behind him as well as something gold just couldn't buy, charisma. It was such a pity that Harry Potter didn't have a future.

-oOoOo-

"There's nothing wrong with having a toyboy Tonks, Harry's a good bit younger than me and we manage just fine."

"Guys just love a more experienced woman, Victor would be lucky to have you."

"Enough, will you two knock it off? When I need a couple of teenagers to organise my love life I'll give you a call." The auror couldn't really keep the humour out of her voice, these two needed this distraction to take their minds off the fast approaching second task. Hermione's nose had only left the books to attend classes and kiss Harry, they needed a break. With Dobby quietly handling all the catering tonight, all that was left to do was entertain their guests when they began arriving. With the wizarding wireless on low in the background, and a collection of drinks ready to serve, they were as ready as they would ever be.

Cedric and Cho arrived first and were very impressed with Harry's accommodation, Dobby had added another sofa and a couple of wing backed chairs to the area around what was now a roaring fire. When Fleur and Victor followed on, they were all sitting around the fire with a mixture of muggle and wizarding drinks. When Emma had heard that they were throwing their first 'dinner party' she had bought in some things that Dobby had transported to Hogwarts. Emma had reckoned that the witches and wizards there probably wouldn't have tasted muggle snacks, and she was right. For some unknown reason, the cheesy puffs proved very popular and the little elf's unseen hands continually had to refill that bowl.

Conversation was light as the company began feeling each other out to see what the others were prepared to reveal about themselves. It was a throwaway remark by Cho as they were sitting down to dinner that really set the ball rolling.

"I hope you're not serving basilisk steaks tonight Harry? I've heard that is a real delicacy but I don't think I'm up to eating giant snake."

"Oh with Harry you get quite the choice. First year it was mountain troll."

Tonks could see where Hermione was going with this and quickly played along. Embarrassing Harry was fast becoming her new favourite pastime. "Yeah, second year you could have had acromantula or basilisk while third year was poor dining fare. There isn't a lot of eating in Dementors."

This was greeted by four open mouths and Harry was forced to fill in some of the blanks. This got Fleur talking about growing up in France and what her Veela heritage meant. Victor heartily bemoaned the lack of opportunities to do something like this, just sit and have a meal with friends without having to worry about anything appearing in the press. Cedric was able to talk about being raised as a pureblood wizard in a changing Britain while everyone found Cho's heritage and how she ended up at Hogwarts fascinating. Tonks though kept the evening going with stories of her time at Hogwarts and going through auror training. Her morphing abilities were also demonstrated, her Granger family member disguise certainly caught a certain Bulgarian's interest.

They all had a good time and it wasn't until the evening was breaking up that the tournament got a mention. Fleur had managed to have a quiet word with Hermione just before she left. "I really want to thank you for inviting me tonight, I had a lovely time. I think you and Cho are so brave to be facing the next task, that is why Victor and I came alone. If they stick that Davies boy down there, I may just leave him."

Hermione gave a nervous laugh, not wanting to let Fleur know she hadn't the slightest clue what the French champion was talking about. She also quickly decided not to mention that little tidbit to Harry, he really had enough on his plate as it was with the approaching second task. They were learning so much from the Black library but so far a method for Harry to escape this tournament with his magic intact had eluded them. The entire 'forced to compete' thing came under a grey area where magical contracts could be judged on so many different variables, and their many combinations of adherence to the rules of aforementioned magical contract. Hermione hated grey areas with a passion. You were basically reduced to giving your best guess about what might happen, Hermione much preferred hard facts to guesses.

-oOoOo-

Harry certainly had enough on his plate to worry about, this would be his first Valentine's Day since he and Hermione got together. Again he went to 'big sis' for advice, Tonks had steered him right at Christmas and he was counting on her again.

He met Hermione that morning as normal though immediately wished her a happy Valentine's Day to let her know he hadn't forgotten. The trio made their way down to the great hall for breakfast and both Gryffindors were glad no one had ever attempted to recreate Lockhart's efforts from their second year. Hermione had barely sat herself at the Gryffindor table when Hedwig swooped down with a bouquet of roses for her.

As well as a kiss from his delighted betrothed, Harry also received a bit of a ribbing from his male housemates about trying to make them look bad. That ribbing soon found a new target when a regal owl delivered a spectacular and exotic bouquet to a blushing Ginny Weasley.

With the short break this gave him, Harry had took a moment to have a quiet word with Hermione. "I have a gift for you and a dinner for two planned in my rooms for later."

"You are spoiling me. I don't need things Harry, just spending some time alone with you tonight is more than enough for me." Their moment of quiet was disturbed by a spluttering Tonks who was sitting as usual on the other side of Harry. They saw her remove a rose from an owl's leg but it was the other three waiting in line, and a couple more circling overhead that had drawn the spluttering.

"I was never this popular when I was at Hogwarts as a student, what the hell is going on here?"

"Well, they say that wizards love a girl in uniform. You are a beautiful witch Tonks and that auror robe doesn't do any harm either. I actually have some chocolates for you back in my room but didn't want to give them to you down here. We don't want anyone getting the wrong idea or the Prophet will be after us again."

"Hermione, I think it's a good job you got this one wrapped up quickly. Our Mr Potter here is getting just too cute to be let loose on unsuspecting witches. Thank you Harry but what the hell do I do about this?"

"Smile and graciously accept it, while checking if any of them are from Victor, and definitely any edibles for potions. Hermione has nothing to be concerned about Tonks, I have a wonderful girlfriend and I'm trying to be the best boyfriend I can be."

This earned Harry another quick kiss from his beaming girlfriend before she asked him a question. "Just to be clear here, did you send any other girls a present for Valentine's Day?"

Harry appeared rather sheepish before answering. "Well..."

-oOoOo-

Emma had very quickly gotten used to having Dobby looking after them but entering the kitchen and seeing her a jug of coffee appear on the table still held the power to amaze her every morning. She really enjoyed the weekends where she had time to sit and appreciate the little guy's efforts. When the vase of roses appeared on the table just after tasting her first sip of coffee, their beauty took her breath away. That was until she read the note that accompanied them.

Dan loved sitting at their kitchen table, reading the Sunday papers while taking his time and enjoying his 'Dobby made' breakfast. This morning, he entered the kitchen to find his wife sobbing while staring at the beautiful roses in the centre of their table. Emma simply couldn't answer her husband at the moment so just handed over the note for Dan to read. He recognised the writing at once.

Emma,

These flowers are for you as a small token of my thanks for what you and the entire Granger family did for me over the Christmas holidays. In ten days the second task will be on us and, should the worst happen, I wanted you to know how much you and Dan's kindness has meant to me.

Hermione has worked tirelessly, spending hours scouring through books and researching the law on contracts. It would appear there is no solution to this problem, other than the one we're attempting. We have taken all the precautions we can think of but, should the ministry react negatively, please ensure Hermione doesn't blame herself.

She has been nothing but supportive to me since our first meeting on the Hogwarts express when we were both eleven and I find myself falling in love with your daughter a little bit more each day. In my better dreams I see Hermione and I being married one day and calling you mum. This is something I want with all my heart yet it always seems as if forces in my life are all set to make sure I don't get a happy ending.

Should the ministry wipe my memories regardless, please show Hermione this letter, and get her the hell out of Hogwarts. I thought long and hard about admitting all this to you but the growing feeling that something is about to happen finally made me sit and write this letter. I would like nothing better than for you and Dan to spend the summer teasing me mercilessly about my foolish angsty confessions because that would mean I remember not only you both but Hermione too. That is one teasing I definitely look forward to.

The very idea of not remembering how beautiful Hermione was that night of your dentistry ball terrifies me more than I can say and I don't think I could go through this without your daughter by my side. I am trying to stay positive yet prepare for the worst. With that in mind, Dobby will inform you of what happens next week as soon as decisions are made. I have been informed the task takes place at nine thirty next Wednesday morning so we should know one way or another by about lunchtime.

Hoping the news will be good

Harry

Dan had a lump in his throat the size of a grapefruit by the time he'd finished reading and could only try to comfort Emma with his arms around her. He didn't trust his voice not to break if he tried to use it.

They sat like that for some time until a clearly worried Dobby popped in front of them, the little elf was nervously wringing his ears with his hands. "Did Dobby do something wrong?"

Dan's voice crackled with emotion as he answered. "No Dobby, you did nothing wrong. How are the kids today?"

This brightened up Dobby's day, he always took any opportunity to talk about Harry Potter. "Master Harry had Hedwig surprise Miss Hermione with flowers at breakfast and tonight Dobby gets to cook them a special dinner."

Seeing the elf so happy and excited at the prospect of serving the young couple helped Emma get her tears under some control, she reminded herself they weren't beaten yet. "Dobby, could you please tell Harry thank you for the beautiful flowers. It was very thoughtful of him, and I'm sure these will be the only ones I'll be getting today as Dan doesn't know what day it is."

A rather bemused Dan answered, "It's Sunday."

"Sunday, the fourteenth of February."

Dan responded to Emma's jibe with a mock growl, "Another man sending my wife flowers on Valentine's Day, I won't have it. That bloody boy is making me look bad."

Dobby had been spending enough time with Sirius to understand Dan was joking, the slight smile on Emma's face meant that her husband was successful. He reckoned that it would be alright to serve breakfast now and popped away to do so.

Both dentists ate in silence, all thoughts of anything other than the two teenagers at Hogwarts forgotten. It was Emma who eventually broke the quiet. "Reading that letter just brought it home to me how much danger the two of them are in, do you doubt for a second our Hermione will be anywhere but by Harry's side no matter what happens? It also hammered home just how much I'll miss Harry if we can no longer see him. We only spent a couple of weeks with him and yet it's easy to see how much it's affecting us, our daughter is going to be devastated. You know she really loves him, don't you?"

Dan nodded in acceptance of everything Emma just said. "That's why I signed their betrothal. They both appear so right for each other, what else could I do. I think we should close the practice next Wednesday, neither of us will be able to concentrate on anything other than waiting on news from Hogwarts." Dan hated saying the next bit but had to, his family's safety could be on the line here.

"I think we have to take Harry's warning seriously and, should the worse happen, get Hermione not only out of Hogwarts but out of Britain too! We've talked about Australia in the past, this summer might be the time to make the move."

The tears were once more running down Emma's cheeks at how helpless they were in this whole situation. She also detested the idea of what seemed to her like abandoning Harry to his fate. With no magic or memories of the Grangers available to Harry, then all their options were exceedingly limited. Getting Hermione out the country might be the only option left open to them.

What was really driving the tears was that she knew for certainty Harry would agree totally with that option. Even while the young man was facing life changing events, his letter clearly displayed his first thoughts and concerns were for Hermione. When he mentioned one day calling her mum, Harry had reopened a wound in her heart that she thought had healed many years ago. Emma always wanted another child, preferably a brother for Hermione. Having Harry as a son-in-law would close that wound forever, he would be welcomed into their family with open arms.

-oOoOo-

On discovering that one of her gifts was tainted with potions, Tonks was ready to behead anyone who as much as glanced at her the wrong way. It was left to Harry to make a suggestion.

"Hermione and I will be staying in the room all evening, take the chocolates to the ministry and find out what potions have been added. If they're from the twins then it'll be a harmless prank, if it's more serious than that then we really need to know."

The auror stopped suddenly in her pacing up and down the room as Harry's words cut through her raging anger with an icy blade. She had just assumed it was some hormonal teen trying to slip her a form of love potion. That someone might be trying to put her out of the way to get at Harry should have been the first thing that crossed her mind, Tonks was now angry with herself that it wasn't.

"I don't think that's a good idea Harry, at least the bit about me leaving you tonight. Can I ask Dobby to take these to Amelia Bones? You're right in that we need to know just what someone had planned for me. I'm telling you this now though, if they were meant to turn me into a canary then a pair of redheaded twins are going to have a lot of pain in their future."

She wrote a note to accompany the evidence while Harry got ready for his dinner date. Tonks would take her meal in her room tonight. This would give the kids some alone time while keeping her away from whoever attempted to poison her with potions. Amelia Bones would go nuts that someone had attempted a potions attack on one of her aurors, the analysis of those chocolates could really open another can of worms.

Hermione was greeted by Harry wearing some of the smart clothes they'd bought over the Christmas holidays. After being thoroughly kissed, Harry led her to the candlelit table for two and held her chair as she sat. Hermione noticed a wrapped gift waiting on the table for her. "You are certainly spoiling me Harry, though I did get a gift for you too."

Dobby had outdid himself and the meal was wonderful, Harry thought that chocolate concoction at the end was to die for. As Harry helped Hermione to her feet, the table and chairs disappeared with timing and precision any theatre stagehand would have been envious of. The wizarding wireless then sprang to life as Harry held his betrothed close while they danced to the music.

"Harry, this has been a wonderful evening, thank you so much."

He knew the next bit would be controversial but pushed on ahead. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, you've been hitting the books so hard lately that we haven't had a lot of time to ourselves." Kissing Hermione at this point seemed to be the best method of cutting off an angry retort. Harry then continued what he wanted to say.

"I don't think we are going to find any answers to this problem because I don't think there are any to find. I would rather spend the time before the tournament having more nights like this, nights where we just hold each other close while we dance. You've done everything you can and we've planned as much as we can. Yes we keep training but let's just enjoy ourselves for the rest of the time."

Harry didn't say 'time we've got left' but both understood this was what he meant without the words needing to be spoken. She held him tighter and swore she wouldn't cry, the feeling of failure was not something Hermione was used to. She couldn't deny Harry was right though, she'd reached the same conclusion at least a week ago but hated to admit it. By way of an answer, she lifted her head to kiss the most important person in the world to Hermione Granger. She would never accept they were beaten but needed no further prompting to spend the following days in Harry's arms. If they got through this unscathed, Hermione hoped to spend the rest of her life in those same two arms.

-oOoOo-

The eve of the second task saw the excitement and expectation reach fever pitch within the castle, there were quite different emotions playing out in the Potter quarters. Their nightly dances had become something of a ritual and tonight Hermione didn't want to let Harry go. Tonks had to accompany Harry as he led the reluctant witch back to the Gryffindor dorm, otherwise Hermione would have never let him out of her sight. Ginny and Neville returning from wherever they had been helped the crying girl into the common room while Harry and Tonks headed back quickly to avoid being out after curfew.

Harry was certain he wouldn't sleep a wink tonight so he was even more surprised when he was awakened by his bedroom door being crashed open. The petrificus totalus hit him before Harry had time to think, never mind react. He recognized the greasy haired git who had cursed him from the doorway but couldn't move a muscle to do anything about it. Harry also couldn't understand why Tonks wasn't flying in here with spells spewing from her wand. That question was soon answered as Snape moved aside to let someone else enter the room.

"Harry my boy, I can't tell you how disappoint I am in you. Did you really think we wouldn't figure out your planned non-participation in the second task?"

The question was purely rhetorical since Harry was currently unable to answer.

"I'm left to assume you never bothered deciphering the clue for the task, despite repeated offers of assistance from Hogwarts staff members. Well, as I believe I mentioned once before, at Hogwarts help will always be given to those who ask for it. Yes, even to those too stubborn to ask for it. It will be entirely you decision whether you chose to accept that help or not. The second task involves the taking a hostage who each champion will sorely miss, care to guess who we chose to be your hostage?"

Harry could only move his eyes but he was using them to great effect, conveying exactly what he was thinking. His pupils had widened as he quickly figured out Hermione would be his hostage before his glare hardened on the two wizards currently in his room.

"As I said Harry, the choice to participate will still be yours. Miss Granger will be held at the bottom of the Black Lake by the merpeople and you have a one hour time limit in which to rescue her. Should you chose to do so, what we have here is a magical plant called gillyweed that will allow you to breath underwater for one hour from swallowing it."

Snape threw a small bag of something onto his bedside table.

"The spell you are currently under should wear off before nine o'clock, giving you just enough time to make your way down to the Black Lake. I suggest you spend the hours between now and then thinking about your future, a future you seem determined to throw away. I suspect Miss Granger is a bad influence on you and we shall sit down and discuss this very subject, amongst many others, after the task."

Harry's eyes were now projecting nothing but hatred toward the two wizards who were currently trespassing in his room, clearly intent on running his life for him.

"Oh, and in case you're expecting your auror friend to come to your rescue, I'm afraid that won't be happening. Who would have guessed she was a secret drinker? The pressure must have finally gotten to her and I doubt Miss Tonks will be surfacing much before lunchtime. This would undoubtedly end her career if this news ever got out, again the choice is yours."

Harry knew this was a complete crock of shit, Tonks would never drink while on the job, far less get blinding drunk.

"Well my boy, we'll leave you to your decision. If you want to leave Miss Granger at the bottom of the lake, who are we to say that's wrong?"

Harry was using every curse word he knew in his head as the two bastards left him alone. They had all expected Dumbledore to take some sort of action, this though was way beyond anything they had considered. There was no way Harry could leave Hermione down there and he was now berating himself for not deciphering the clue before coming up with this stupid plan.

A soft pop heralded Dobby's arrival and a snap of the devoted elf's fingers saw Harry once more able to move.

"Dobby is sorry Harry Potter sir but you gave Dobby an order not to be seen by anyone at Hogwarts. Dobby so wanted to help you before now."

"Don't worry about it Dobby, you did brilliantly just by setting me free. We need to see if we can help Tonks..." As Harry grabbed the bag of Gillyweed and attempted to leave the room, Dobby stood in front of him.

"Dobby has heard from the castle elves that the dark one has been soaking that plant in nasty potions. These potions would make the eater listen to whatever the headmaster said. Dobby didn't know they were going to give potions plant to Harry Potter."

Harry dropped the bag as if he'd been burned by it. Dumbledore had very effectively taken away the two people he'd been banking on most. He was desperate to save Hermione yet using the solution supplied here would certainly cost him his betrothed in the long run, Dumbledore would see to that. "That old bastard, what are we going to do now?"