Close To Truth

“Harry, we really need to do something about the Last Rites plant,” Ginny said as they ate breakfast with several other D.A. members. “It’s started to wilt; according to Neville’s notes that means it’ll only be another nine or ten days before it starts leaking poisonous gas.”

Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell, who were seated across from Harry and Ginny, paused in their conversation and stared across the table. “Poisonous gas?” Alicia repeated incredulously.

“It’s because we haven’t fed it,” Harry told them morosely. “None of us are confident enough to risk it, and I can’t ask Dobby or Winky, it’s too dangerous. I think we’re going to have to try soon, though, or it’s going to make the house unlivable pretty quickly.”

“Better screw up that Gryffindor courage, then,” Pansy commented sarcastically as she came down the stairs from the bedrooms.

“You could do it, you know,” Ginny replied mildly.

Pansy sat down and favored Ginny with an oh-please look before helping herself to breakfast. “Slytherins never do something dangerous when there are Gryffindors to throw at it first,” she said.

“And your Slytherin methods have done you a world of good up to now,” Katie said darkly.

“Stop,” Harry said sharply as Pansy opened her mouth. “Both of you. Don’t make me start repeating Dumbledore’s platitudes about cooperation and friendship again.”

Katie and Alicia both chucked embarrassedly, and even Pansy smirked. “Merlin forbid,” she muttered, and returned to her breakfast.

“Harry, is it true George is coming back today?” Alicia asked.

Harry nodded. “The Healers are finally convinced he’s back to normal, whatever that means for George. Luna left a while ago to see him and they’ll come back together.”

“Good,” Katie said, her relief evident.

Katie and Alicia left for work shortly after; Harry watched them go before turning to Pansy. “Pansy, I was wondering if you could do me a quick favor,” he said, pulling out a blank piece of parchment.

“What’s that?” Pansy asked suspiciously.

“I was hoping you could draw me a rough map of the inside of the Slytherin common room and student dormitories,” Harry said.

Pansy narrowed her eyes. “Why do you need to know that, Potter? Planning a little trip to Hogwarts?”

“Maybe,” Harry admitted. “I…might want to see where Voldemort—” he ignored Pansy’s shudder at the name—“roomed when he was a student.”

“So you know which one was his, then?”

Harry shrugged uncomfortably, not wanting to say that he had a hunch he would be able to tell because of his connection to Voldemort. There seemed to be a lot of hunches recently, and he didn’t like it. “No, but I might be able to tell,” he said vaguely. “Anyway, there’s only seven, right? One for each year?” Pansy nodded. “So if I looked at all of them, it wouldn’t take long.”

“And what do you hope to find?” Pansy asked. “You said the Dark Lord was a student over fifty years ago.”

“It’s just something I think might be useful,” Harry said evasively. “And there’re a couple other things I might want to do at Hogwarts too.”

Pansy peered at Harry for another moment before answering. “All right. Do you need it right now?”

“What? Oh…no,” Harry said. “In a couple days would be fine.” Pansy nodded and returned to her breakfast. Harry caught Ginny’s eye and she nodded; they’d spoken a number of times with Ron and Hermione about some possibilities in visiting Hogwarts again. At the moment they weren’t certain how to pull it off, but Harry wanted someone close to Lavender and Parvati when they visited Professor Trelawney in case something went wrong.

Cho Chang joined them long enough to wolf down a quick breakfast before rushing off to a long shift at St. Mungo’s. Lee ate quickly before heading off to Fred and George’s shop; while eating, to Harry and Ginny’s surprise, he had a spirited discussion with Pansy about her modification of Fred and George’s Tongue-Lengthening Charm. Lee was fascinated with what she’d done, and asked if she’d be interested in toying around with some of Fred and George’s other unique magic. “So you all can sell it, right?” Pansy asked shrewdly. “I’ll expect a cut of the profit, you realize.”

Harry and Ginny took their time, and Pansy was in no hurry to start potions work that morning, so they were all still in the kitchen when the fireplace flared up. Everyone turned to face it, and George and Luna came out of the fire. “Hello, everyone,” Luna said airily as she helped George, who was apparently still a bit shaky, to his feet.

Harry leapt up to help as everyone welcomed George back. “Personally I think you were faking it the last couple days,” Ginny said with a smirk. “You just wanted a vacation from the shop.”

George rolled his eyes as he sat down at the table. “The shop’s fallen to pieces without me,” he declared. “Besides, St. Mungo’s is boring. There’s nothing to do there, unless you’re nutters.”

“So you fit right in, then,” Ginny responded.

Pansy snorted. “I would think with Lovegood visiting you every day you’d make your own entertainment,” she said with a straight face.

George flushed. “We haven’t done any of that for a while,” he mumbled.

“Well, there was the one time with Harry and Ginny, which was a nice diversion,” Luna said vaguely as she piled food on her plate.

Harry’s knife clattered onto his plate. Luna looked up and seemed mildly surprised at everyone’s expressions. “You four all—?” Pansy asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust at Ginny and George.

“Oh no, George wasn’t there,” Luna said, as if it explained everything.

“Ha!” George barked, slapping the table. “That was brilliant, Lu!” he declared, chortling at Pansy. “Parkinson, your expression is priceless!”

Pansy scowled. “Your girlfriend has a damned twisted sense of humor,” she said sourly. “No wonder she likes you.”

“You think I’m joking?” Luna asked. She looked at George confusedly. “I told you about it this morning,” she reminded him. “At St. Mungo’s, remember?”

Utter silence met Luna’s statement. “I never thought you were serious,” George said, staring at her. “You—you’re not, right?” He glanced at Harry and Ginny. “She’s not, right?”

“Uh…” Harry stammered. “Luna said—”

George gaped at Harry. “You shagged Luna?” He turned to Ginny. “Tell me you’re bloody joking, Ginny! You both shagged her while I was unconscious!”

“Impressive stamina, Potter,” Pansy said unhelpfully.

“You shagged Harry and Ginny?” George shouted, pointing an angry finger at Luna. “I can’t believe you did that! After all that crap about missing me if I was gone, you go and shag my sister and her husband the second I’m laid up?”

“But I asked you about it first!” Lua said, stricken. “I asked if you’d mind if I slept with another boy and girl, and you said—”

“You just forgot to mention it was Harry and Ginny, did you?” George interrupted. “Didn’t think that was important?”

“George, that’s not fair,” Ginny said apprehensively. “Maybe we should’ve asked you directly first, but—”

“Maybe?” George bellowed, jumping to his feet. “You’re my sister! You knew we were together! What, do you get off playing with the same breasts that your brothers do? Have you shagged Angelina too? What about Hermione? She must’ve been a thrill when Ron was Cursed!”

“Shut up!” Harry yelled. “You shouldn’t have assumed Luna wasn’t asking seriously!”

“So it’s my fault you shagged Luna behind my back!”

“That’s not right, it wasn’t behind your back, George—” Ginny started.

“Not right? I’ll tell you what’s not right!” George yelled. “Finding out your girlfriend cheated on you with your own sibling!” Without waiting for another response George stomped over to the stairs and stormed up them.

Harry looked at Ginny. She looked like she couldn’t decide whether to feel guilty about what they’d done, or furious at George for being so nasty. Pansy opened her mouth, but a furious scowl from Ginny made her close it again and shrug.

Harry, Ginny and Luna all went upstairs to try and talk to George, with Pansy trailing behind, wearing an amused little smirk. It quickly became obvious that George wasn’t being quiet in his anger, as several members of the D.A. looked at them curiously on the way. Just as they approached the room that George shared with Luna, George came out, levitating a trunk he’d clearly packed with his belongings. “George,” Ginny began.

“Piss off!” George snapped. He made to shove past them but Harry blocked his way. “Move!”

“Where are you going?” Harry demanded.

“None of your damned business!”

A few D.A. members were watching the scene, but Harry ignored them. “If you plan on leaving it’s our business; you can’t be too far away from the D.A.—”

“I’m going to my flat, so get the hell out of my way!” George shouted.

“No,” Harry said flatly. “It’s too dangerous for any of us to stay there now. If you have to room somewhere else, it’s got to be another room here in the house.”

George looked ready to start throwing hexes, but instead he spun around and headed for the stairs to the mostly-unoccupied fourth floor, where there were several more bedrooms. “George,” Luna said, on the verge of tears, “please, I don’t understand!”

George’s head spun around and he stared at Luna incredulously. “Don’t understand?” he snarled. “You’re not stupid! You knew what you were doing was wrong! Tramp,” he added harshly just before disappearing up the stairs.

Luna stared bewilderedly at the door to what had been hers and George’s room. “But I asked him if it was all right,” she whispered plaintively.

Within a few hours rumors of what had happened were running through the D.A. In a surprising display of tact, Pansy hadn’t revealed the fight she’d been witness to; however, that just meant that the rumors were even more fanciful—and hurtful—than the truth. Harry and Ginny finally got sick of being asked ridiculous questions and simply told people the truth, and gave permission to spread the word so the absurd rumors would stop. They also ordered the other D.A. members not to harass Luna.

Luna was deeply hurt, and truly didn’t understand why George hadn’t taken her seriously when she’d asked him if it was all right to sleep with Harry and Ginny. “But why wouldn’t he think I was serious?” she asked when Ginny tried to explain. “I wouldn’t ask for something unless I was quite serious about wanting it.”

“I’m sorry, Luna,” Ginny told her. “Harry and I shouldn’t have gone along with it—”

“But you wanted to; we all did,” Luna said, “and George said it was all right, so there was nothing wrong.”

Harry had his hands full dealing with the reactions from the rest of the D.A. Many of them, after hearing Luna’s side of the story, thought George was overreacting even if the situation was pretty odd. But several members were very vocal in their disapproval and began acting very cruelly to Luna until Ginny and Hermione intervened. A few people also voiced concern that two of their leaders had displayed such phenomenally poor judgment.

Fred, strangely enough, wouldn’t take a side, a response that caused George to stop talking to him. In fact, George stopped talking to everyone or even going to his and Fred’s shop, only opening his door to snatch food off a tray proffered by Dobby or Winky.

Harry was very concerned that what had happened would become a big distraction and start interfering with their fight against Voldemort. He eventually decided that he couldn’t address it until something actually went wrong—which made him even more uneasy, especially considering that the situation with George and Luna only looked to get worse.

*****

“Ron, what do you think about what happened with George and Luna?” Hermione asked. They had just returned to their room after dinner the following day. “I haven’t heard you say anything about it…”

Ron frowned as he handed Hermione the ledger from the Black family vaults she’d been working on. “Honestly? Harry and Ginny shouldn’t have done what they did. But still… Luna’s just strange, everyone knows that. If George was too thick to take her seriously, it’s his fault too. I dunno… I just think they should all get over it. It was just one time.”

“So if I shagged Harry it wouldn’t be a big deal?” Hermione asked pointedly.

“That’s not the same!” Ron insisted. “George told Luna it was okay!”

“And it’s not okay for me to…?”

“NO!” Ron yelped.

Hermione smiled sheepishly. “Don’t worry, Ron, I have no desire to sleep with anyone else,” she assured him. “I was just wondering if you’d really thought it all the way through.”

“It would be bloody hard not to, it’s all anyone’s talked about since yesterday,” Ron grumbled.

“So you’re not angry with Harry and Ginny?”

“I was. But what’s the point? Luna asked. George said yes. Harry and Ginny said yes. It was up to them, not me. George should have said what he meant instead of joking around.” He sat down on the bed with a thump. “Let’s get some work done, okay? Then I can feel like I accomplished something before I shag you.”

Hermione looked up in shock, but smiled embarrassedly when she saw Ron was grinning at the ledger he was holding. “Shagging doesn’t accomplish anything in and of itself?” she asked playfully.

“Damnit, Hermione, it’s not fair for you to tempt me while I’m trying to be productive!” Ron retorted, and smirked as Hermione chuckled.

However, after about fifteen minutes both of them had lost their smiles, and were staring dully at the pages in front of them. “This is so frustrating,” Hermione said out of nowhere. “I’m going to try a Search Charm so maybe we can at least stop wasting our time looking for certain items! What’s one of the things we thought would be useful for the D.A.?” she said to herself, picking up a handwritten list of potential items.

“But—” Ron started.

“Oh yes, that’s a good place to start,” Hermione murmured. She thought for a moment, muttering to herself about pronunciation, and then removed her wand. She tapped it to the pages before Ron could stop her and chanted “Cerchier Timus Tornare.”

A light emitted from Hermione’s wand and began tracing through the text on the page in front of her. When it reached the end the page turned and the Charm began on the next, gaining speed until it flew across the text, and the pages were rustling loudly as they flipped one after another in Hermione’s lap. “How—?” Ron tried to ask, but Hermione held up her free hand to silence him, her eyes never leaving the page.

The Search Charm reached the end of the book without finding anything, and Hermione sighed almost resignedly. “Well, I didn’t really expect anything,” she said, consulting the list again. “Let’s try this one… Cerchier Clocca Invidere.”

Again the search zipped through the ledger; but this time just fifteen pages or so before it reached the back the Search Charm froze, highlighting one particular entry.

Hermione’s eyes shone as she read the highlighted entry. “I don’t believe it!” she exclaimed excitedly. “Ron! Ron, look at this!”

Hermione shoved the book at Ron, who took it automatically but didn’t look down…he was still staring at Hermione. “You did a Search Charm?” he asked weakly.

“Oh Ron, you know I’ve been doing those for years!” Hermione said impatiently. “You can do them too! It’s not important right now—look at the entry!”

Ron finally dropped his eyes to the page in front of him. He read the entry that was still glowing softly, and his eyes widened. “I don’t bloody believe it,” he said, looking up at Hermione with a huge grin spreading across his face.

“Go get Harry and Ginny right away,” Hermione said happily. “They need to know about this!”

Ron found Harry and Ginny in the conference room, trying again—unsuccessfully—to open the sealed box on the table. “We found something,” he said quickly. “Well, Hermione did, in the books, I mean the ledgers! Come on, you have to see!”

Struck by the sense of urgency in Ron’s behavior, Harry and Ginny dropped what they were doing and followed him back upstairs. Once they’d shut the door, Hermione gestured to the ledger on the bed beside her. “Go on, look,” she said.

Harry and Ginny leaned over the book, and they both gasped when they read the still-glowing text. “An Invisibility Cloak!” Harry breathed.

“Cloaks, Harry!” Hermione corrected ecstatically. “Plural! There’s four of them!”

Ron grinned at the look of awe Harry wore. “Merlin’s balls,” Harry muttered, sitting down heavily in a chair. “Four more Invisibility Cloaks. They’re so rare, I thought it’d be a miracle to find one!”

“This is incredible!” Ginny cheered. “We can send one with each person to guard Neville, instead of making them both hide under the same one! There’s enough so we can spare them for cloaking our movements—we’ll be able to move around Diagon Alley unseen!”

“Even better,” Harry said. “Our trip to Hogwarts just became possible. With five Cloaks total, we can leave one for whoever’s watching Neville, and still have one for each person going to the castle.” He stood up suddenly. “We have to arrange it as soon as possible. Ron, will you get Lavender and Parvati and bring them up here? I think they’re in their room. I’m going to get Pansy.”

Ron nodded and headed for the door, but stopped when Ginny said “Say…this entry is near the end of the ledger. Have you gone through this that quickly, Hermione?”

“Oh…no,” Hermione admitted. “I got a bit impatient, and decided to cast Searching Charms for some of the things we’d thought to look for, just so we could eliminate them and concentrate on looking for Horcruxes. Invisibility Cloaks were only the second item I searched for!”

Harry gaped at Hermione, utterly gobsmacked. “But…but that’s impossible!” he said. “The ledgers are Charmed to prevent any search spells from working on them!”

“They are?” Hermione asked skeptically. “Well then, you may want to have the goblins recast them, Harry, because my Search Charms worked fine.”

Harry stared for another moment before shaking himself. “Later,” he said. “We have some planning to do. Ron, get Lavender and Parvati. I’m going to get Pansy. Ginny, Hermione, send an owl to Gringotts telling them we want to come and get something from the vaults right away. If we can get this arranged quickly, I’d like to do it tomorrow.”