You're Gonna Go Far

Sally-Anne greeted Malfoy in the dungeons, just like every Friday night. Unlike every other night, she didn't smile at him. She still couldn't manage a proper smile.

"No 'Good evening, Malfoy'?" he asked.

"Sorry," she said. "I was miles away."

They started their rounds in silence. It occurred to Sally-Anne that something was bothering Malfoy, but she couldn't think of what. He was more impatient than normal, and that was saying something. She didn't put much thought into it either; she had her own problems that night.

"How was your holiday?" she asked after she found the silence unbearable.

"None of your business!" he snapped.

"Of course, not."

They walked in silence for most of the night. Towards the end of their rounds, as they were approaching the second floor, they spotted a light moving up ahead and doused their own lights. The other light bobbed up and down as it moved closer. It grew brighter, then rounded the corner as it came into view.

It was one of the Slytherin first-years. Going by his path, Sally-Anne guessed he was on his way to the library, which likely meant the restricted section.

Malfoy and Sally-Anne reignited their wands, and the boy froze. Like a deer staring at headlights, fear kept him rooted in place until Malfoy shouted at him.

"You!" Malfoy stormed towards the boy, who turned and bolted.

Oh no. You're not giving me this runaround too.

Five feet into a wall that sprang into existence in front of him, and Sally-Anne silently thanked him for being within range for her to do that. The boy dropped his wand, which went skidding over the ground. He scrambled to his feet, but Malfoy hit him with a full-body bind before he could recover.

"Why shouldn't I leave you like this for Filch to find?" Malfoy sneered.

The boy whimpered, trying to beg for mercy with a frozen mouth.

"Because that'd be cruel, Malfoy." Sally-Anne broke the curse and lifted the boy to his feet. "What were you doing out of your room?"

Before he could respond, Malfoy cut him off.

"It doesn't matter why!" He reached for the boy, but Sally-Anne cut him off.

"Tell me, or I give you to him," Sally-Anne said.

"I-I was g-going to the r-restricted section." His eyes darted from Sally-Anne to Malfoy. "I won't do it again! Honest! Please don't let him hurt me! He curses us! It's horrible!" Tears appeared in his eyes as they pleaded with Sally-Anne to release him.

Sally-Anne caught herself before glaring at Malfoy. He was cruel, but not that cruel… probably. He certainly wouldn't dirty his hands if he could avoid it, and only lashed out at her because of their history. Why did the boy think he would?

Or was the boy telling the truth? Was Malfoy only passable around her? That seemed even less likely.

Stupid Mudblood. You'll fall for any sob story, won't you?

"Don't worry," she said, a rather mean idea forming in her head. "What's your name?"

"Chester."

"Chester, you don't have to worry about him."

"Thank you," the boy said. A bright smile formed over his face. "Thank you so much."

She nodded at Malfoy. "His father might work in the Ministry, but mine works in theatre. That means I've seen plenty of good and bad acting in my life."

The boy's smile faded.

"Yours needs work," Sally-Anne said. She took a step back. "He's all yours, Malfoy."

Malfoy grabbed the boy and dragged him back to Slytherin Dungeon. He wriggled and squirmed, pleading with Sally-Anne the entire way.

"Please! You don't know what he's like! He'll make me eat dirt! Or–"

"Malfoy, would you mind?" Sally-Anne nodded to the boy. "I'd love some peace and quiet."

"You and me, both," Malfoy replied. He put Chester in another full-body bind, giving them quiet until they reached the Dungeons.

"Now, if memory serves, we're close to your common room," Sally-Anne said. "So I'm going to leave you two alone for a few minutes." The boy's eyes went wide, and he started grunting and screaming through a closed mouth.

Sally-Anne walked up to Chester and looked him straight in the eye.

"Do remember, Chester, that I make no exceptions. I'm not just a pretty face; I'm Sally-Anne Perks. I used to be friends with Rose Peta-Lorrum, who, as I'm sure you've heard, was mad. So what do you think that makes me?"

She stood while Malfoy dragged the boy around a corner and out of sight. Sally-Anne took a moment to look at the Dungeons. Something was eerily familiar about them. She didn't think she'd spent enough time in the Dungeons to find any of it familiar. Then she figured it out.

"What is it, Perks?"

"Nothing." She snapped back to reality and smiled at Malfoy. "I hope you didn't make him eat too much dirt."

Malfoy wrinkled his nose in disgust as Sally-Anne's smile widened.

"He's lucky he got off easy this time," Malfoy spat. "How dare he spread lies about me like that?!"

"I think that was more for me than for you. He was hoping I'd let him off, I think."

Malfoy smirked at her, an expression Sally-Anne attempted to return.

"Was that legilimency you used?"

Sally-Anne froze, feeling like he'd once again got a foothold on her.

"I don't know what that is," Sally-Anne lied.

"You stared into his eyes and happened to know he was lying."

"Oh!"

Relief washed over her, but she was careful to show as little of it as possible. She remained composed, easing her body language back to normal.

"No, of course not. Like I said, I've spent a lot of time around actors and actresses. It's good fun, really, but it helps you spot when someone's lying."

"So does spending time around politicians," Malfoy muttered. Louder, he added, "Don't worry, Perks. I won't tell anyone that you can read minds."

"Because you keeping my secrets went so well last time."

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. She froze in the corridor again and drew a sharp breath.

"I didn't mean that."

Sally-Anne expected Malfoy to be offended. She expected him to lash out, but one look at his face reminded her with whom she was speaking. Instead of yelling, Malfoy started laughing.

"Of course you did. Honestly Perks, I'm impressed. You're cunning and vindictive. Well done."

Sally-Anne couldn't tell if Malfoy was being sarcastic or honest, but in the spirit of cooperation, she chose honesty.

"Thank you, Malfoy. I'm glad to know my efforts haven't gone to waste."

Malfoy and Sally-Anne continued their rounds in silence. They scoured the first and second floors for anyone out of their rooms for another half hour before returning to the Dungeons. Once again, Sally-Anne's eyes fell on the wall near the common room, but she blocked it out of her mind.

"Good night, Malfoy," she said, as pleasantly as she could muster.

He nodded to her, then opened his mouth to speak.

"I can't stand Parkinson. Unlike you, I haven't got a choice."

"What do you mean?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "What do you think I mean? Everyone knew you and Krum were finished before the holiday was over. It was in the Daily Prophet."

Sally-Anne gave him a smile she knew was crooked. She refused to allow herself to look any more downcast than that.

"Of course. How silly of me."

"I wish I could just be done with her. You've got no idea what she's like. And I thought Granger was insufferable. Parkinson's never had a worthwhile thought in her life. It's all mindless chatter that doesn't mean anything."

"Why not just break up with her?" Sally-Anne asked.

"Because it doesn't work like that in my world," Malfoy said. "I'm the heir to the Malfoy estate. That means I've got to marry another pureblood to advance the family status. Keep the bloodline pure. The Parkinson family's high-ranking enough, so our parents set us up."

Sally-Anne frowned.

��I don't recall them being that high-ranking," she said. "Your family's at the top, but I recall Greengrass and Weasley at least are higher up than Parkinson."

Malfoy raised an eyebrow then scoffed at her.

"What do you know?"

"I loved learning about the Muggle aristocracy, so I thought I'd learn more about the wizarding one," Sally-Anne replied. "My memory's not nearly as good as Hermione's is, but I can certainly remember enough of it. The Parkinson family isn't the only option, nor is it the best one. If it's power you want–"

"Don't lecture me on how it all works!" Malfoy snapped.

"Of course," Sally-Anne said. "Just trying to help."

"I don't want your help!"

"What do you want, then?"

Malfoy opened his mouth, but no sound escaped. He closed it after a moment, then glared back at her.

"No one cares what I want," he said. "It's just what's best for the family name. Apparently, what's best for the family name is that I spend the rest of my life with an insufferable, incompetent tramp!"

"I care."

"Yeah," Malfoy scoffed. "You and Dobby."

"Who's Dobby?"

"Our house-elf."

Sally-Anne nodded. "Like you've said to me: Stop whining and do something about it." She curtsied to him. "Good night, Malfoy."

With that, Sally-Anne turned around and headed back up to Gryffindor Tower. As she left that corridor, she swore she heard something that sounded like "Good night, Perks."

Sally-Anne walked calmly through the castle. It was odd; three years ago, she'd been afraid of Malfoy. He'd nearly killed her, and now it felt like he was one of her friends. They couldn't be friends; he'd never allow it.

She tapped on the Fat Lady's portrait to wake her up, a useful trick she'd learned from Angelina, then spoke the password to get access to Gryffindor Tower. Inside, she found quite a sight.

Twelve books, a bookcase, two armchairs, and a few fireplace pokers were enacting some sort of dance number. At least, that's what it looked like to her. They'd twirl around, leap into the air, and sometimes even land on one another. The armchairs tossed the pokers back and forth, twirling them in the air, while the books circled around the bookcase. Some of the bricks on the walls had been transfigured into something that looked like a gramophone, which played quiet music.

At the heart of it was none other than Ron. He waved his wand and directed the organized madness, occasionally animated another part of the room. A book floated beside him. Every so often, he'd wave his wand to turn the page, then return to his theatre of mayhem.

"Ron?"

"Oh, hello, Princess." He grinned at her. "I'm just practicing."

"For what? Broadway?"

"What's Broadway?"

"It's…" Sally-Anne considered explaining musical theatre to Ron, then thought better of it. He wasn't his father, but given how hard he was trying to be his mother, she couldn't be sure that he wouldn't launch into some strange discussion about Muggles. "Never mind. I appreciate that you were considerate before playing music in the common room at two in the morning." She gave his antics another look. "Although, I'm still curious as to why you felt the need to do all this."

"Because I can! Mum got me this brilliant book for Christmas! I think she wrote it herself. It's got tons of spells for animation, without all the boring theory behind it. I've really learned a lot from it. It's way better than any of the stuff McGonagall teaches us."

"It looks exactly like some of the spells Professor McGonagall's taught us."

"Maybe, but this is way more fun!"

Sally-Anne couldn't help but laugh. Not at Ron, but at how much fun he was having. She envied him a little; life was a lot easier for him than it was for her.

Then something else occurred to her, and she started crying under the weight of it.

"Sally-Anne!"

The circle of weirdness parted for Ron, and he rushed to her side.

"What's wrong?"

"That was the first time I've laughed since coming back." She dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief and straightened herself up. "I didn't mean to interrupt you. You were having so much fun."

"If you'd like, I can teach you," he said. "I'm better than Harry at teaching summoning."

Sally-Anne smiled, hoping she was encouraging him through the mess she'd made of herself.

"Not tonight, but I'd love to join you." Her smile broadened and felt more genuine. "I've always loved going to the theatre."

Ron looked away for a moment and started stammering. His face turned the faintest shade of red.

"Ron, are you alright?"

"Fine!" he exclaimed, a little louder than she'd have liked.

Sally-Anne paused for a moment to listen for anyone shouting for them to keep it down, but she suspected the rest of the tower — save their friends — was fast asleep. When she was confident of that, she peeked inside Ron's mind for just a moment.

I'm not trying to impress her. She just gave me the idea, that's all!

"I've got an idea," Ron said. "If you can make platforms with your Shield Rune, I can practice moving them around while they're moving."

"That's a brilliant idea. I can't remember the last time I practiced using the rune. It'll be good for both of us."

They got to work with practice, Sally-Anne using her rune, and Ron using animation. It was harder at first, much like the first time she'd used it. Using it was like using a muscle; it just took practice to get used to it again. Then there was the additional complication of moving the shields around, something she couldn't even remember doing. Sustaining the shields was hard work, and it took a few tries to figure out how to move them.

"That's brilliant!" Ron exclaimed when she got one moving.

She blushed and her stomach knotted for a moment. After she'd calmed down, hushed Ronald, and reassured herself that no one was bothered by them, she smiled.

"Thank you. Not just for this, but… I suppose for reminding me how to have fun."

"Erm… you're welcome?"

"You should thank your mum for that book."

"I don't know how she knew I wanted it. I hadn't told her that I was trying to learn animation, I only told…" His eyes narrowed and he turned to her. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"You certainly weren't going to tell her." She motioned to the room full of animated objects. "Besides, look how well it turned out."

Ron scowled at her, reminding her a little of Malfoy. For two people that hated each other, they weren't all that different.

"I guess it turned out alright."

Sally-Anne's face fell into a look of scepticism.

"Nonsense. I've never seen you so happy. Admit it: You're glad I told her."

Ron glanced back at his army of animation, then back to Sally-Anne.

"Fine."

"Thank you. Now please, do remember to thank your mother. She'll be thrilled to know you've got such talent at animation."

Ron shrugged. "I'm not that good at it, it's just easy. I'm sure—"

"Or you've got natural talent. You've got a series of objects that you can move about the room, and you can make more as you go. You've always had the strategy, now you've got pieces." She smiled at him as warmly as she could manage. "You should be proud of yourself, Ron."

She was surprised to see him blush and worried for a moment that she'd gone too far with her complements. The last thing she wanted was to make Ron fall in love with her. She was perfectly happy on her own, without another boy to treat her as if she were made of glass. Besides, she'd seen the way Lavender looked at Ron, and knew she was keen on him.

After deciding that Ron wasn't going to say anything, she decided she would.

"Anyway, let's get back to what we were doing." She conjured a shield, and one of Ron's new minions hopped onto it.

Saturday afternoon, when Sally-Anne had some time to herself, she slipped away from the crowds of people and headed up to Professor Umbridge's office. As always, it was covered in pink and kitten pictures. For such an otherwise professional woman, Sally-Anne found it odd that she'd decorate her office in such a way.

"Professor, have you got a moment?" she asked after politely knocking on the door.

"Ms. Perks." Umbridge's analytical smile adorned her face. "Do come in."

Sally-Anne curtsied then took a seat in a waiting chair.

A teapot and a pair of cups walked over to Umbridge. The teapot poured some tea in one cup, which walked over to Umbridge.

"Would you like some tea?" she asked, indicating the other cup.

"No thank you. I'm not planning to stay long, I just wanted to properly thank you for your help last month. Even… if it didn't go well for me, I couldn't have got there without you."

"You're quite welcome." She arched her eyebrows and frowned. ���I am so sorry to hear about Mr. Krum. It's such a tragedy when children are struck with such awful luck."

Sally-Anne thought back to the hospital. Her stomach curled into knots at the thought of it. So many strong people, torn down by a stroke of bad luck.

"Did they catch that awful man?" Umbridge asked.

"Not as far as I know," Sally-Anne said. "I tried asking around what people I know in the DMLE, but they said it's being handled in Bulgaria, not here, so they can't do anything about it."

A sinking feeling threatened to pull her through the floor, but she kept her back straight and her posture as it should've been.

"Such a shame, although probably for the best."

Sally-Anne came out of her daze and focused on Umbridge.

"I'm sorry?"

"I'm afraid the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has been rather busy lately. So many people sending word of what they believe to be attacks by Death Eaters. It's hard to get any real work done with all of it."

"I'm sure."

Sally-Anne frowned. She had a point. If not for the Dementors on the grounds two years ago, Rose's attention would've been on finding Sirius, and the whole fiasco would've been avoided.

"You understand, don't you Ms. Perks?" Umbridge asked.

She fixated her gaze on Sally-Anne, making the girl a little nervous.

"If the Ministry is wasting all its time with these stories and lies, how will it ever keep what happened to poor Mr. Krum from happening here?"

"They can't," Sally-Anne said slowly. "It'll be chaos. Innocent people will get hurt."

"Precisely. People must understand that Dumbledore is lying. For their own good."

Thoughts of people struck down like Viktor had crept into her head. Luna was missing; could the Ministry send someone out to find her? Neville was so fixated on doing it himself, that Sally-Anne was sure he'd never considered letting the Ministry send in trained professionals to handle it. With their resources tied up in dealing with rumors about Voldemort, how were they to spare anyone?

Except she knew Voldemort was back. Harry had told her, and… he wouldn't have lied, would he?

"But what if he's not? What if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named really is back from the dead?"

"Do you believe what your friends have told you?" Umbridge asked after another sip of tea. "About He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named being back from the dead?"

"Of course. They're my friends. They wouldn't lie to me like that."

"So they've never lied to you about anything?"

Sally-Anne paused as her stomach formed into a small knot. Her friends had lied to her before. Rose had lied to them all the time. Harry had knowingly cheated at Quidditch, which she thought he would've held as sacred. If Rose really had killed herself, Hermione would never believe it.

"Remember, Ms. Perks, it's impossible to bring back the dead. Perhaps you should ask yourself which is more likely: That someone did the impossible, or that your not so trustworthy friends have lied to you."

Sally-Anne nodded her understanding, although her mind was far away in thought. She couldn't argue with Umbridge's question, nor the obvious conclusion.

"I think your time and efforts are best spent worrying about your own students." Umbridge smiled and sipped her tea. "Ms. White has seen fit to earn herself detention with me this week."

"Of course she has," Sally-Anne sighed. "If she put half the effort into studying that she does into putting her nose where it doesn't belong, she'd be the top student at Hogwarts." She returned her attention to Umbridge. "Sorry, I was talking to myself. After she serves detention, I'll ensure that it sticks this time."

"I'm sure you will." Umbridge took another sip of tea. "I've got something to ask of you. I've seen that there are problems within this school, problems that Dumbledore is clearly ignoring. I want to be certain that the problems are real, though. Unlike Dumbledore, I will wait until I have solid proof before jumping to conclusions."

Sally-Anne nodded, glad that someone understood the value of having hard evidence.

"I've looked at the students here, and based on what I've seen, you are one of a handful I can trust to evaluate the staff here."

"That's very kind of you."

Umbridge reached into her desk and pulled out a large envelope.

"You also seem to have a unique ability to know everything that goes on inside this school."

Sally-Anne smiled modestly. "I just talk to people, that's all."

Umbridge handed her the envelope.

"In here are evaluation rubrics for each class. I'd like you to evaluate those you can, and see what you can find out about the others."

Sally-Anne frowned. What Umbridge was asking her to do sounded an awful lot like spying.

"To what end?"

"The Ministry handles the criteria for the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. level exams. I want to ensure that the students here are getting the education they should be getting."

Sally-Anne slid some of the papers out of the envelope. Sure enough, it was just as Umbridge had said: evaluation rubrics, specifically focusing on the official Ministry exams.

"I'll see what I can find out," Sally-Anne said, slipping the envelope into her pack.

"I'm sure you will," Umbridge said. "That will be all. Please do give all my words the thought they need."

Sally-Anne nodded, then excused herself. As she left Umbridge's office, Umbridge's words came back to her.

So they've never lied to you about anything?

She drifted through the corridors, giving the words more and more thought. The stone walls of Hogwarts faded away in her mind, leaving the common room in their place.

Rose would've appeared in the middle of the common room, ensuring that people found her. She always did like attention. Without the opportunity to show off that the Triwizard Tournament provided her, she would've realized she'd be left behind. Ron and Hermione had been together, and it had always been Hermione's attention Rose wanted. By then, Neville had gotten over his feelings for her, maybe even moved on to Luna. If Rose had seen that, then she would've realized that the three people about whom she cared the most were moving on. It wasn't a far stretch from there to suicide, given her typical mental state.

Sally-Anne shook her head, and the scene of Rose appearing in the common room faded. It left too many problems. Hermione wouldn't have accepted it fast enough to have time to devise a lie and convince the other two about it. Ron wouldn't have lied about it unless Harry and Hermione insisted, and Harry wouldn't have lied about it at all. Unless…

Unless it had all been Harry's idea in the first place. But if he'd devised the lie, then Hermione would've called him out immediately. Which meant she didn't know what was going on either. It was all down to Harry.

Harry had snuck out after the Triwizard Tournament. He'd later told them that he'd been with Ellie, and that'd they'd been attacked. They'd never been punished for being out together, which Sally-Anne thought was an oversight on the part of the professors, but given the circumstances, she'd said nothing.

Unless that had been the entire point. If the two of them had been out getting up to no good, and stumbled upon Rose, they'd have panicked. Harry knew about the plan to capture him, and still had the black gem on him. There'd been no sign that Ellie had ever been out of bed.

The corridors faded away again and left the Forbidden Forest in their wake. Sally-Anne saw Harry and Ellie stumble upon Rose's body. Ellie would've panicked, but Harry would've stayed relatively calm, especially if he were trying to act tough to show off for Ellie. The plan would've been all his own. First, he'd have told Ellie to run back to the castle. He had a lot of the secret passages memorized, so he would've known one she could've taken back inside the castle, especially if they'd taken one out of it.

He'd have given her twenty minutes, which lined up with the actual timing of the events, muddying himself up in the meantime. Once he was confident she'd had the time to return to her bed, he would've grabbed Rose's body and crushed the gem.

His next biggest move took courage: outing the reason he was outside in the first place, knowing no one would've cared. If they'd told the truth about what they were doing without involving Voldemort, there was a distinct possibility of one or both of them being expelled. Sirius wouldn't have minded as much as Ellie's parents, but her parents certainly wouldn't have wanted her in Hogwarts if she were going to be sneaking out of her room at night with a boy.

Sirius might have scolded Harry, then given him a thumbs up when Sally-Anne and Alavel weren't looking.

"Sirius, you're a horrible parent," Sally-Anne muttered to herself. "Grow up."

With Harry telling them about Voldemort, everyone would've been too distracted to worry about Harry and Ellie being out in the forest after dark. Only the house heads and Professor Dumbledore knew about that detail at all.

Judging by the way Ellie had been acting, she didn't feel comfortable with the lie. She must've said as much to Harry, who must've tried to convince her otherwise. It explained why they hadn't officially gotten back together. She'd agreed to her silence, but hated every second of it. She couldn't tell the truth, or she risked being judged for what she'd been doing.

So that's what it came down to: a lie forged so two teenagers would get away with sneaking around. And only one person that might be willing to tell the truth.

Sally-Anne drifted down the corridors in a daze. She didn't know where she'd find Ellie, nor if she'd be able to find her that day. She certainly couldn't ask Harry; if she wasn't careful, he'd get to her first and ruin everything. So Sally-Anne bided her time, waiting for dinner.

Sure enough, Ellie was at the Hufflepuff table. It was a little sad to see her the way she was. She made no efforts to reach out to anyone. Sally-Anne felt alone just watching her.

Sally-Anne excused herself when she saw Ellie leaving. With no way of knowing where Ellie would go, Sally-Anne had to move quickly to ensure she didn't lose her.

"Ellie!"

As she'd expected, Ellie picked up her pace when she heard Sally-Anne's voice. She didn't even turn around.

Oh no you don't!

Using Ellie's footsteps as a guide, Sally-Anne kept pace with the Hufflepuff.

"Ellie, I just want to talk to you!"

Ellie ducked down another corridor in her efforts to lose Sally-Anne, but Sally-Anne was determined. If anyone would tell her the truth, it was Ellie.

Sally-Anne finally got close enough to throw up a wall and stop Ellie.

Ellie slammed her fists on the wall in frustration, then turned to glare at Sally-Anne.

"The moment you drop that, I'm going to run. Harry told me you can't hold it forever, but I can stay quiet. I can always stay quiet."

"Then I'll talk fast," Sally-Anne said.

Her hand shook with the strain of maintaining the wall.

"What happened the night Rose died?"

Ellie's mouth didn't move, but Sally-Anne didn't need it to. She'd anticipated Ellie not being cooperative.

Why can't everyone leave me alone? I don't know!

"You tell everyone that you don't know, but I think you're keeping a secret for Harry's sake. I think it's eating you up inside, and that's why you've been so troubled this year."

Ellie held her glare on Sally-Anne. Her eyes were fixed on Sally-Anne's hand. Beads of sweat rolled down Sally-Anne's face, but she kept her focus on her task.

Everyone calls me a liar! I didn't do anything!

Sally-Anne took a chance and lowered the wall. She felt light-headed and nearly fell over.

"You really don't know what happened, do you?" she panted.

"Of course I don't! I'm just the stupid mute girl that doesn't know anything!"

The slightest pang of guilt mixed in with her faintness when she saw the tears in Ellie's eyes.

"Ellie, I'm sorry."

"No you're not! No one cares about me anymore! No one cares about my feelings! Not you! Not Harry! Not Max! Nobody!"

Sally-Anne struggled to keep her posture, and once again realized that it'd been a while since she'd practiced the shield consistently.

Should fix that.

"If you talk to Harry, I'm sure—"

"Harry?! Harry doesn't believe me either! I asked him that morning if he wanted to talk. I…" Her hands hung in the air, but she froze. After wiping tears from her eyes, she continued. "He asked me what I was doing. What I did! I didn't do anything! I was in bed all night! But he doesn't believe me! He'd rather have a good laugh about the stupid mute girl with you or Chang!"

Ellie's face was red with anger. Sally-Anne realized that the girl had lost far too much weight over the past few months, and that her hands shook. Ellie's hands had never shaken while she'd been with Harry. He mentioned once how difficult it would've been to understand her if they had, and he wasn't one to miss details.

Sally-Anne decided the truth wasn't important. Ellie wasn't involved, but she was in pain.

"Ellie, are you alright?" Sally-Anne asked, taking a step forward.

"I'm fine!"

Ellie backed away, then broke into a full sprint away from Sally-Anne. Sally-Anne took a few steps forward, then realized she needed to rest before she overworked herself.

She took a rest in an empty classroom, and took the opportunity to review what she'd just learned.

Whatever was going on, Ellie had no part in it. She honestly didn't know what had happened that night. If she wasn't there, then what had happened? Had Harry just been sneaking off in the middle of the night alone? Had Rose called on Harry of all people to bring the news of her death?

Why go through all that trouble? Why hadn't Harry just said what really happened?

The only reason Harry would've lied was if the truth caused problems for him. What if he had gone out to meet Ellie? If Rose had been involved in sneaking them out, then Hermione would've been involved as well. Rose could only communicate through Hermione, which meant Hermione knew too.

Stricken with grief, Hermione wouldn't have been thinking straight. If Harry had mentioned a loose end in his lie, Hermione would've seen to it that the end was tied up.

Harry and Hermione were in on it together. They were the only two that knew the truth and had convinced everyone else of the lie. Hermione must've wiped Ellie's memory to ensure she'd never talk.

Knowing Hermione's current state, it wasn't a stretch to believe that even Hermione herself believed their lie. Once she realized it, Hermione would see the light. She'd shatter the lie once she understood the damage it had done.

Which left Sally-Anne with the question of how to convince Hermione. No, it wasn't up to her. If Sally-Anne wasn't careful, she'd end up like Ellie. She didn't know who she could trust.

I'll keep it to myself. I'm already at risk. If either of them find out I was talking to Ellie, I'll be in trouble. I've just got to watch my back and trust no one.