A Single Moment

Harry climbed the stairs slowly, his wand at the ready. He didn’t actually think he’d need it – Ron was strong and Hermione light, and the last thing Ron would ever want to do was drop his fiancée. There were several other D.A. members behind them on the stairs, but no one was insensitive enough to tell them to hurry up. “I still could levitate you-” Harry suggested again.

“No!” Ron snapped. “I’ve got her, I’m fine.” Hermione gave Harry a look that said Don’t push it, so Harry didn’t.

Ginny has gone ahead to find anyone in their rooms and herd them into the training room they used for group meetings; it was past six at night, everyone was off work, and it was time for another D.A. meeting. Just the night before, while defending Neville’s parents, they’d almost lost Hermione to a Curse from Bellatrix Lestrange, which caused her to be physically weakened – probably forever. They might have lost more if Neville hadn’t pulled off a powerful Reductor Curse and killed Bellatrix.

They had lost Neville; he hadn’t died, but Harry had been forced to Obliviate Neville so he couldn’t reveal anything about the D.A. when the Ministry Aurors questioned him under Veritaserum. Neville had no memories of the previous months with the D.A.; he thought he’d been simply working his job at Magical Herbs, and rooming in the flat above Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes. It was a blow to the D.A., not just because Neville had been keeping their greenhouse – Neville was a brave and loyal friend.

By this point everyone in the D.A. knew what had happened the night before; even without the grim expressions Harry and Ginny wore, they’d have noticed the absences of Neville, Hermione and Ron (who’d refused to leave Hermione’s side). And they all noticed that Pansy Parkinson, who’d been in the middle of the fight the night before, was suddenly living in the House of Black instead of maintaining her cover by remaining at the Parkinson mansion with her Mother.

Pansy had lost everything in the fight with the Lestranges. Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix’s husband, had seen her; even though Harry had put a Memory Charm on him, they had little doubt that Voldemort’s spies in the Ministry would find out and tell Voldemort – in fact, they most likely already had. Pansy had been forced to pack what she could carry and flee, or risk being murdered in her sleep, most likely by her own parents. She had lost her safety, her family, the fortune that came with being a Parkinson and her future, all at once.

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” Harry asked tentatively as they reached the top of the stairs and stood aside to let Dean Thomas, Alicia Spinnet and Cho Chang past. “You just got out of St. Mungo’s – against the Healers’ wishes – and after what happened with Scrimgeour…”

Ron’s face set in a dark scowl. The Minister for Magic had decided to interrogate Hermione while she was still in St. Mungo’s; Hermione, of course, had refused to give him any more information than Harry had after Dumbledore’s funeral, and Scrimgeour had gone so far beyond the realm of propriety that he was lucky Ron hadn’t killed him. As it was, Scrimgeour found himself admitted to St. Mungo’s as a patient by the time Ron finally stopped swinging his fists. No one criticized Ron’s reaction for even a second – he’d walked in to find Scrimgeour snarling angrily and shaking his terrified fiancée, how was Ron supposed to react? Harry was secretly impressed that Ron had managed to beat the stuffing out of a man with more than twenty years of experience as an Auror.

Amazingly enough, it was only thanks to Percy Weasley that Ron wasn’t arrested; he’d accompanied the Minister and witnessed the entire thing, and when Aurors came and dragged Ron off of Scrimgeour, Percy, completely white-faced, had spoken up and told the truth about Scrimgeour’s almost harming Hermione. The Aurors had grudgingly let Ron off with a warning; the second he was released he’d stormed right past Percy without acknowledging him, scooped Hermione up and carried her away to find Harry, who’d created a Portkey to take them home.

“I’ll be fine,” Hermione insisted briskly; her voice was faint, but strong. “My magic hasn’t been affected at all, I tried a few things this morning.”

“I wasn’t really worried about your magic,” Harry mumbled.

“Harry, you’re right about this needing to be done sooner rather than later,” Hermione said. “I’m not a withering flower, I can deal with this just fine; I have Ron, and he’s as much help as I could ask for.” Ron flushed.

Harry looked at Ron. “What do you think?”

“That you’re bloody nutters,” Ron said with a straight face, apparently trying to be stoic. Harry could only imagine what his best friend was going through, with his fiancée permanently Cursed. “But it’s not up to me, is it?”

Harry dropped his eyes. “Look, I didn’t want-”

“Stop it, Harry!” Hermione flared up. “If you continue to blame yourself for this I will glue Ginny’s knickers to your face with a Permanent Sticking Charm! And you,” she added harshly, twisting back to glare at Ron, “You already admitted you know Harry isn’t to blame, so don’t you dare take it out on him!”

Ron’s expression was ugly, but he wouldn’t meet Hermione’s eyes. “Yeah, all right,” he muttered.

A few more stragglers came down the stairs, followed by Ginny. They all walked into the training room except for Ginny, who jogged over to Harry. “That’s everyone from upstairs,” she informed them. “Fred and George sent everyone over after closing, except for Lee and Sally-Ann, who’re watching Neville.”

Harry’s insides went cold for a moment; he didn’t think he’d ever forget the disturbing blank expression that settled on Neville’s face when Harry’s Memory Charm had violated his mind. “Right, thanks,” he said, trying not to think about it. “We’ll fill in Lee and Sally-Ann later. Let’s…Hermione?”

Hermione had put her head on the crook of Ron’s neck; her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow. “Are you all right?” Ron asked anxiously.

Hermione nodded slightly. “Just tired,” she whispered. “It’s really easy to get tired, now…” She cracked her eyes open and smiled a bit wanly. “I’m not going to fall asleep in the middle of the meeting, I promise.”

“Uh…yeah, okay,” Harry said. He nodded jerkily. “Come on.”

Everyone stopped talking when the four of them walked, or in Hermione’s case was carried, into the room. Harry shut the door as Ginny took a seat in one of the many chairs she’d conjured for the meeting; Ron settled Hermione in a chair and sat next to her. Harry walked over to a chair, but rather than sit he clutched the back and leaned on it. “Okay,” he said, glancing around at the crowd. “Is anyone missing? Besides Sally-Ann and Lee, they’re guarding Neville.”

“Why does Neville need guarding?” Terry Boot asked.

“Hang on,” Harry said, raising a finger to forestall the question. “Is there anyone not here?”

“Tonks?” Ginny asked.

“The new head of the Auror department – Robards –assigned Tonks to guard the Longbottoms,” Harry told her. “We’ll fill her in later too. Anyone else?” he asked again. “No? All right. Neville has to be guarded, Terry, because even though he’s been Obliviated the memories of the D.A. are still in his head somewhere, and Voldemort could get them out if he got his hands on Neville. By now Voldemort knows about some of what happened last night; he’ll have heard some from Rodolphus Lestrange and some from the Daily Prophet’s report about it all, and he’ll only have a partial idea of it. He’ll want more information, and it probably won’t take him long to decide that kidnapping and torturing Neville is a good way to get it.” He nodded at the murmurs and shocked expressions. “We’re going to be setting up a schedule to watch Neville around the clock; everyone, and I mean everyone, will be helping. We’ll arrange them around your work schedules, and we’ll make Vitalizing Charms and Rousing Potions available to whoever needs them. In fact, I need two people to relieve Lee and Sally-Ann at midnight-”

“I’ll do it!” Susan Bones called quickly, and then blushed.

“Me too,” said Hannah Abbott.

“Fine; talk to Ginny after we’re through here.” Harry looked around at all of them. “We’ve been treating this too much like a game. From here on out, that stops. Everyone, when you’re not working or sleeping, will be doing D.A. business. Any objections?” Harry waited, but no one spoke up and he nodded. “It’s going to take a few days to start everyone going, but I already have a few specific tasks for certain people. Luna, right after we’re through here I want a quick talk in the conference room.”

Luna smiled dreamily. “All right.”

“Parvati, wait for me and Luna to finish, we won’t be long; then I’ll meet with you,” Harry continued. Parvati nodded, looking startled. “Fred, George, tonight in the conference room at eight.” The twins nodded in synchronization. “Ernie, you need some time with me?”

“Yes,” Ernie MacMillan said, puffing up importantly. “A few hours, probably…”

“Right, tonight at nine, okay? But meet us in Ron and Hermione’s room so we can all hear.”

Ernie frowned. “Is that wise?”

“Right after the meeting I’m going to cast the same protection Charms on our room as are on the conference room,” Hermione said softly, as everyone fell completely silent so she could be heard. “Except the one that hides the door. It’ll be just as secure.”

Ernie nodded his understanding. “Good,” Harry said. “Terry, Padma, tomorrow you two and Sally-Ann meet me in the conference room at eight a.m.; make sure Sally-Ann knows.” Padma and Terry both nodded. “Pansy?” Pansy’s head snapped up and her eyes narrowed. “Tomorrow at nine a.m.” After a slight pause, Pansy nodded cautiously.

“The rest of you will be trading off guarding Neville for now,” Harry told them. “Any questions about any of that?”

“Er…how do we explain why we’re tailing Neville?” Alicia Spinnet asked.

“You don’t. If you’re guarding him you’ll be under the Invisibility Cloak, in pairs. It’ll be cramped, but you’ll have to make due; I’m going to try to get another Invisibility Cloak, but they’re hard to come by so I’m not holding my breath. We’ll try to arrange the schedule so that some of you – Dean, for instance – can meet up with Neville during the day on a pretense and pretend to be hanging out as friends.” Harry looked around. “Anything else?”

“Is- is Neville gone for good?” Susan asked in a whisper. Pansy shot Susan a look of deep disgust.

“Not if I can help it,” Harry answered fiercely. “We’re going to do everything in our power to get him back, okay?” Susan nodded a bit miserably; Harry took a deep breath. “That’s all for now, except for one thing; Pansy, come up here.”

Pansy stared at Harry in shock as everyone else turned to look at her. “What?”

“I said, come up here,” Harry said firmly, gesturing to the chair he’d been leaning on.

After hesitating for a long moment, Pansy slowly, warily, got to her feet and walked to the front of the room. She sat in the chair Harry had offered her tentatively, as though it might explode; Harry walked over to the side, Ginny following, as Ron stood and helped Hermione position herself in front of Pansy. Hermione drew her wand and smiled reassuringly at Pansy; “Harry, what’re you doing?” Dean asked curiously.

“Hermione was the one who cast the magical geas on Pansy,” Harry said, trying to sound casual. “She’s the only one who can remove it.”

“What?” Dean shouted, and he immediately began protesting. He wasn’t the only one, either; Parvati looked both furious and scared, and Katie Bell asked in a loud voice whether he hadn’t been the one to get Obliviated.

Pansy, Harry noticed, shrank back a bit under the onslaught of protests; Harry let them go on for thirty seconds before casting Sonorus on himself and bellowing “SHUT UP!” in a booming voice that made most of the D.A. clap their hands over their ears. Harry removed the Charm and glared furiously at all of them. “None of you ever say anything against Pansy, ever again! She gave up her life last night to save me, Hermione and Neville! She’s done more for the D.A. than all of you combined; we’re not going to treat her like an outcast just because she was in Slytherin, there’re more important things than that now!”

Harry’s shouts died away; “Potter,” Pansy said sullenly, “if everyone’s going to jump out of their skin because of this then-”

“We’re doing this,” Harry said, looking away from the others and meeting Pansy’s eye. “I trust you; if that’s not good enough for them” he said, jerking his thumb at the group, “they can clear off; there’s no room here for second-guessing each other.”

“Wish Dumbledore would’ve second-guessed Snape,” Dean muttered.

Harry spun around and drew his wand. “Expelliarmus!” he snapped, and Dean’s wand flew out of his pocket and into Harry’s hand. Ignoring Dean’s angry protests, Harry turned to Pansy. “You remember that hex you showed me two days ago?” he asked lightly.

“Yeah…”

“Why don’t you try it now?”

Pansy grinned in surprise. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Harry said with a smirk.

Pansy chuckled and stood up, drawing her wand. “Hey!” Dean shouted when she pointed the wand at him. “Hey, I’m sorry, all right? I don’t really-”

Harry nodded calmly at Pansy, who positively beamed. “Tunge langian!” she practically sang.

Dean let out a strangled cry; his tongue had instantly grown to three times its length, and was still growing. “Thanks to Fred and George for giving Pansy that idea,” Harry called over the laughter. “And she’ll be teaching all of you that hex, since it’s a pretty hard one to get rid of and might be useful. Just remember,” he said to Dean, who looked increasingly horrified (he’d stood, but his tongue still almost reached the floor), “Dumbledore may have been wrong about Snape, but he was right about Hagrid, and Lupin, and Sirius Black. And me,” he added as an afterthought.

“Okay, okay!” Dean garbled; he was holding his own tongue off the ground, and it had to be a good seven feet long.

Harry turned and raised an eyebrow at Pansy, who sighed. “Oh, very well,” she muttered, and performed the counter-hex.

Dean’s tongue began shrinking instantly; in thirty seconds it was back to its regular size, and Dean was even able to chuckle embarrassedly at himself amidst the laughter; some of the others, Alicia and Katie especially, were literally in tears, and the twins were clapping and shouting “Brilliant!” and asking Pansy how she’d managed it without one of their toffees.

“Dean, trust is earned, but it has to be given freely,” Harry said to his year-mate. “Dumbledore said that Voldemort’s gift for spreading discord and enmity are very great, and that-”

“I know, I know, and we can only fight it with friendship and trust,” Dean grumbled, repeating the phrase Harry and Hermione quoted frequently. “Okay, sorry, I’ll shut up about it…”

“Don’t just shut up about it, Dean, stop thinking it,” Harry said with a frown. “And don’t apologize to me, it’s not me you’ve been insulting behind my back.”

Dean gritted his teeth. “Yeah. Uh…” he turned to Pansy, although he didn’t meet her eye. “Sorry,” he said.

For a second Pansy looked like she was going to tear into Dean; but finally she gave a strained smile. “I’ll leave it alone if you will.”

“Deal,” Dean agreed instantly, looking a bit happier.

“All right everyone,” Harry called out before Fred and George could start in on teasing Dean. “Sit down so Hermione can have room to lift the geas.”

Everyone backed off and left Pansy alone; she looked nervous again. “Look Potter, I appreciate the show of faith, but maybe you shouldn’t – I mean, if I-” She took a deep breath. “If I had the chance to buy my way back into my family with information about you, I honestly don’t know what I’d do.”

Harry stared at Pansy for so long she began to squirm a little. The rest of the D.A. watched silently, waiting. Then Harry glanced over at Hermione and nodded. He brought his eyes back to Pansy’s. “I guess you’re going to find out.”