An Idea Planted
The weekend passed as pre-Hogsmeade weekends were wont to do and Tony outright laughed as some of the older kids said that they were just glad that didn’t have to stay all day Saturday.
He was glad that he didn’t have a class, either. He planned to sleep in a bit before finishing up some papers and meeting the Trio just in time for lunch.
The ‘alarm incident’, as he was calling it in his head, was pretty much forgotten as Monday came and went without – much – excitement.
Snape, though, was still scowling suspiciously at the Trio and Tony considered telling him again that they’d been accounted for the entire time, but he just as quickly rejected that. There was just no making him suspect one of the other students, least of all – gasp – his Snakes, who were all just perfect Witches and Wizards.
… yeah, right.
In any case, Tuesday crawled by at the same speed and then it was Wednesday, then Thursday.
“It’s a good day,” Harry told him when they met in front of the portrait.
“I hope so,” Tony responded with a shrug. “Activity wise, I mean. The weather is going to turn around three or so.”
Mi shook her head. “Does Magic truly have a way to predict the weather? I would think that even we have just as much trouble with it as Muggles do.”
“Still don’t believe me, I see,” Tony smiled slightly. Sherlock never exactly believed him, either. He didn’t know if Eames ever did, though he never told him about his ability. He frowned at the thought. Maybe he should.
“What is there to believe? You might think you can predict the weather, but let’s face it. Everyone thinks they can one way or another.”
“Gotcha,” he smiled at the look Harry and Ron exchanged. He knew Harry believed him without a doubt, but he wasn’t sure how Ron took it at face value. Either it was something from his childhood or something a family member had brought to his attention, but maybe Tony would ask one day.
Tony joined the three for breakfast and then it was off to class.
Tony whistled as he entered his classroom and moved the desks into a circle for the first group.
He wanted to get everyone talking for the first part of the double block and then they would go over some spells that they should have learned in Defense, Charms and Transfiguration. It was something he’d been meaning to do for a while now with the kids and especially the Fifth Years, who were just now beginning to file in.
“Alright, everyone,” he clapped his hands together once the Ravenclaw/ Gryffindors settled. “Welcome back for another wonderful class. Now, the first thing we’ll be doing is some lecture and bookwork – it’s not that bad, honest – before we get into some practical stuff. The thing is, it won’t just be Defense spells we use, but it will also be Charms and Transfiguration. ‘Now, wait, Professor,’ you’re all thinking. ‘How does any of that make sense?’ Well, I’ll tell you. Defense spells are all well and good, but you may also need a distraction in order to achieve your end goal. Could someone tell me how I would go about sneaking cook- biscuits from my cousin?” he sent up a mental apology to Elizabeth, but needs must.
A Ravenclaw raised his hand. “You could try sneaking over.”
“Maybe, but think a little… broader.”
A Gryffindor suggested, “Make a mess or have your sibling go and do it?”
“But what if you don’t have any?”
A different Ravenclaw, “Lie?”
“I’m seeing a pattern here,” he mused. “All of us have the idea to getting El out of the kitchen, okay. But using Muggle ideas. That’s a good way to start, but now let’s kick it up a notch. You and El are alone in the house and you’re both of legal age to do Magic. Dinner isn’t far, but you really want that coo- biscuit so you want to get her out of the kitchen. How?”
There was a bit of silence as they contemplated the dilemma.
Tony knew that they were quite a few ways that one could potentially achieve the goal, but he wanted them to talk about it.
A Gryffindor finally raised her hand. “You charm something to be a nuisance?”
“Mm, half there. Yeah?” he nodded at a Ravenclaw.
“Transfigure something to be a nuisance and then levitate the biscuit?”
“Yes! You have to use a variety of spells to come up with a solution! Okay, next scenario. Someone who really wants to hurt you is coming after you, but there’s no one around. This guy is a professional in Defense Against the Dark Arts, so you really don’t think you can get away. What would you do?”
“Sparks?” someone suggested.
“But it will take a bit for anyone to reach you. How would you buy time?”
They all came up with plausible scenarios using all three subjects and Tony nodded as they came up with the right plan.
“Congratulations,” he beamed. “You held him off in time for me to get there to finish it.”
“Could we actually do that?” one of the Gryffindors wanted to know, his classmates nodding in agreement.
Tony opened his mouth to tell them that Dumbledore – and parents and other officials – would probably kill him for it, Harry Potter or no Harry Potter, when something made him hesitate.
He remembered what the Trio told him about First Year and that began to give him and idea that was crazy enough to work.
Tony had even gone through something similar when he graduated from the Police Academy, as all Magicals had to do before being turned loose into Muggle law enforcement fields.
“You know,” he said consideringly, “I’m not positive, but maybe I’ll think it over. See if it can be done. In the meantime, how about we take our books out for a bit while I get ready for the rest of class?”
He hopped up the stairs to his office and gathered the materials he needed and was just about to leave, when his ears traced the sound of clinking glass.
He turned slightly to look behind him with a frown.
There was no such glass in his office and he knew that even as his eyes fell upon the small box on his desk.
Which, by the way, wouldn’t have made that kind of noise and Tony would know if it had, having been the one to make it.
Then again, maybe one of the kids did something in his office and probably forgot to tell him.
Not that he was accusing AJ of anything, but something of hers did end up in his office, though she denied knowledge of it leaving her trunk.
Plus, it was Magic, so it didn’t have to be immediately evident.
Shrugging, he moved downstairs with his armful and created little stations big enough for groups of six or so.
He laid down a set of instructions at each and it would more than likely keep them all busy until class finished.
After another spell discussion of what they just read, Tony made them stuff a small bit of paper into a plastic top hat that Abby had made him take for good luck on the ‘undercover assignment’.
“Now, everyone stand up and line up double file facing each other. I want each person to reach into this hat and pick one name. That person will be one of your five teammates going to one of the stations set up around the room.” He gave it to a Ravenclaw to start.
She picked a name and the pair of girls headed for the Charms themed station set up across the room from his office.
A boy picked one of their names a few tries later and on and on until all were around their stations.
“These will be your groups for the next week, so I suggest making amends if anyone is on the outs with each other.”
On that note of amusement, the students got started and Tony relocated to the front of the room to do some grading, though he kept his eyes on them to be sure everyone was doing their share of the work.
He was just explaining a Transfiguration spell’s back story to a group of girls when someone caught his attention.
“Professor? I think someone’s in your office.”
He blinked at him before nodding and moving to check.
Sticking his head into the room, he found it empty. “No one’s here,” he reported back.
“But we all saw movement,” one of his teammates defended.
“I’m not saying that you need your eyes checked, but this is, after all, a Magical school, so it’s probably messing with you.”
“Did your school do that, too?” a different girl asked as he returned down the stairs.
“Well, not exactly, because the Institute is younger than Hogwarts, but it was never dull,” he smiled wryly.
No, it was not. Everyone could attest to that.
The groups changed stations before someone else directed Tony’s attention back to his office, this time with having heard something.
Tony went back up to find – yet again – nothing.
No movement, no one there, no noise.
He did pick up a faint trace of vanilla, but that could’ve meant anything.
He even looked around from inside, but couldn’t get anything. He reported the same thing and closed his office door. “Maybe now whatever it is will stop.”
The rest of class went smoothly and it was fifteen minutes before class ended that someone else again reported hearing noises coming from the closed office.
The only difference was that, this time, Tony heard it, too.
“Are you sure no one’s in your office?” a boy asked.
“Yes, I am,” Tony’s thoughts raced.
He had set up alarms in both his office and his quarters to tell him if anyone came in looking to hurt him or another, but he’d log ago learned to listen to his gut and it was telling him that something was wrong.
Maybe it was an enemy looking for something to hurt him with? Or looking to steal something?
His heart dropped as he wondered and worried that someone had Found Out about –
But no.
No, it couldn’t be.
He was only one of three that had any idea. There were measures in place to keep it that way.
Yet, none of those alarms tripped, either, so he ruled that out.
“Professor,” one of the girls picked up on his disquiet and he could tell that she was getting nervous in response. He also knew that it wouldn’t be long before they all started panicking. “What are we going to do?”
He went with his gut and quietly told the nearest students to get their fellows and stand by the door, telling them to prepare to back him up if necessary.
“But what about the other teachers?”
“Teaching. They wouldn’t want to leave the kids alone to come over to check on this. Besides, I’m sure between the group of us, we can take them. What? You all don’t think so? Who’s been teaching you if they don’t think you can do it?”
“Professor Snape.”
… he walked right into that one.
Tony sighed and promised himself to make Snape’s weekend hell before straightening his shoulders and having the others stand by the back wall for full back-up coverage before quietly making his way up the first few stairs in silence.
He wordlessly put wards up around the students in case things went south and listened carefully for any indication that someone was still in his office.
He couldn’t hear anything, but that didn’t have to mean that the office was empty. He glanced back around at the kids and continued up the stairs.
It was, after all, his job as a teacher to protect the students under his care – even if he had them ready to back him up.
Coming face to face with his office door, he swallowed and sent a prayer to whoever was listening that moment before moving to the side because only a fool would approach from the front.
He gave one last glance to the class waiting anxiously behind him with wands at the ready, making sure they were safe and in place before reaching for the handle.
* **
Ron almost inhaled his tea as he felt a tremor traveling up from the floor.
Around him, others also choked and looked around with wide eyes.
“What was that?” Neville voiced, uneasily looking around as Seamus went to the windows.
“Not to worry,” Trelawney assured. “It’s just Severus ignoring my advice again. I told that man time and again,” she shook her head. “It’s a true wonder that he’s only now blown something up.”
Ron looked across the table at Harry, who caught his eye.
“I didn’t feel anything,” he frowned, tracing the shape of his scar on the table in front of him.
Ron never doubted his best friend at times like this, so he nodded.
A few others were at the windows and Ron figured that they were trying to find smoke, but there wasn’t any.
Ron’s radio suddenly felt warm at his side and he glanced up to see Harry dig his out first.
“Hermione, are you alright?” he whispered.
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Ron turned his on while making sure Trelawney wasn’t close. “What the bloody hell was that?”
“An explosion,” she sounded shaken. “It was closer to me than it was you. Are you both alright?”
“Yeah,” Harry confirmed. “Are we under attack?”
Ron knew his friend was thinking of the long, worrisome hours on Friday of last week and couldn’t help wondering with him.
Those alarms had been put in place to alert people that threat was near, so this didn’t make the least bit of sense.
“No, I don’t think so,” she negated. “Do you think the alarms would’ve gone off again?”
One of the boys was about to respond, but McGonagall’s voice flooded one corner of the school to the next:
“Teachers,” she said through the intercom, “please keep you and your students in your classrooms. Once we have given the all clear, release them to their Houses.”
“I don’t like this,” Harry spoke again. Ron nodded, not liking it, either.
“Maybe Tony knows what’s going on,” he suggested.
Harry and Hermione both tried raising the Italian, but to no avail.
After a few moments – the classroom filled with uncertain students -, Hermione went on.
“Harry, Ron, remember those ingredients that Professor Snape thinks we stole?”
“Yeah, why?” Ron scowled. They didn’t steal anything, but Snape was convinced.
“I just remembered something. Those ingredients? There’s no way that Professor Snape kept them in the same cabinet. Those in particular are extremely volatile – especially with each other.”
“So?” Ron shrugged. “Looks like we found those ingredients, then.”
“Actually,” Vince spoke up as he stopped in front of them, he and some others having looked down the stairs, “I’m pretty sure Professor DiNozzo found them. The Defense classroom is where some smoke is coming from.”
“You’re joking,” Ron and Harry exchanged panicked looks. They tried getting Tony on the radio again, but still no answer.
Hermione had been closer and had felt the explosion more keenly than the boys did in the Divination Tower, and she told them that it felt like an earthquake or something. Except Ron didn’t know what one felt like and the other three didn’t, either.
The radios were hidden again as they were finally dismissed back to Gryffindor Tower with the others. Ron and Harry joined the crowd of nervous students and the teachers along the way made sure there were no side trips before the Common Room opened before the latest crowd of Lions to return and Hermione met them there.
“I can’t get Tony,” she frowned, anxiously wringing her hands. “And the last group that was in Defense class were the Ravenclaw/Gryffindor Fifth Years.”
Ron looked around and did notice that there were no Fifth Years present.
The anxious murmurings around them just added to the already uneasy atmosphere.
The rumors didn’t help, either.
The Trio found themselves in Harry and Ron’s room not long after, unable to take the speculation running rampant.
An attack on the school was one thing, but why take out the Defense class, first?
Ron could think of a few places he would’ve tried attacking before doing anything else. And why wouldn’t they have targeted the Headmaster? “Is Dumbledore still on the grounds?”
Harry glanced around before alighting on the Marauder’s Map and activating it without second thought. The three crowded around the parchment and scrutinized it carefully.
There had been something going on in the Defense room, because all the teachers were running in and out of it. The Fifth Years looked to be slowly following them, but it was odd. The footprints heading for the Hospital Wing had at least two names for each set.
“There he is,” Hermione pointed at Dumbledore’s footsteps hurrying to the Defense room. “I thought he would’ve been the first one there.”
Tony was found in the Hospital Wing, but he kept blinking in and out. Hermione figured that it was because there were rooms in the school that no one had ever set foot in and the Marauders – for all their exploring – wouldn’t have found even a quarter of them before graduating. Maybe Tony was in one of those rooms.
They couldn’t do anything besides sit, wait and worry, but Neville eventually poked his head in to tell them McGonagall had shown up.
The House was in a frenzy, the Trio rejoining the crowded Common Room as it filled with anxious questions about the missing Fifth Years.
“May I have everyone’s attention?” she cut through the chatter and rising panic. Once everyone was as settled as they were going to get, she seemed vaguely reluctant to meet the Trio’s gazes. “Earlier this afternoon – as many of you already know or suspect -, there was an explosion centered around the Defense classroom and Professor DiNozzo’s office, in particular. Everyone is expected to make a full recovery,” she hastily assured, “but more investigation is needed, so classes are cancelled for the next few days – including the scheduled Saturday classes. As of this moment, there is nothing that explains what caused the explosion or who perpetrated it, but anyone with information is encouraged to come forward.”
In groups of three and four, they were allowed to visit their Housemates and the first two groups had gone when McGonagall finally turned to the Trio.
“Professor,” Hermione stepped forward. “We think that Professor Snape’s missing ingredients were involved.”
She nodded, “I will ask Severus if it’s possible, but it certainly is a slim chance.”
“Why say that?”
“Severus has a habit of forgetting that he is a formidable Warder when he wants to be. His shelves are all Warded and I have tried telling him that the students do not have his knowledge of Wards just yet – even the three of you, but he refuses to listen.”
After a few more words, they retreated to a corner.
“Snape does have it in for us,” Ron scowled. “This proves it!”
Harry agreed and Hermione sighed, but she didn’t argue.
They badly wanted to talk to Tony, but he wasn’t answering and McGonagall was right there in the Common Room to reassure everyone that the Fifth Years were fine.
Ron had to believe that Tony wasn’t hurt and he could very well have gotten away without injury. The American, after all, was supposed to be trained in this kind of thing, so…
“To be honest,” Harry suddenly spoke, “I don’t even know where Tony was when his office blew up.”
“The students are the most vulnerable,” Hermione nodded thoughtfully. “We don’t know what’s happened, Harry’s right. We need to talk to Tony to find out what happened, or to one of the others.”
It was decided to get Vince, G Benson, Ginny and Neville to see what they could find out when they left and the Trio tried doing homework while they waited for either Ginny and Neville to get back or for their own turn. McGonagall was stationed at the entrance and allowed the small groups to leave.
Dinner was going to be in the four House Common Rooms again, since the teachers hadn’t caught the one responsible. Ron couldn’t help being thankful for that because he and all the others were still jittery about the explosion. Everyone was jumping at shadows and it was best to keep everyone in as few places as possible to give them security in a large group.
Ron lay on his bed as dinner grew closer. Harry was sitting on his and Hermione was back downstairs.
None of the groups had come back, yet, and it was kind of strange, but they weren’t worried. One of the first things Tony taught them was the idea that there was safety in numbers, so maybe all the groups were waiting for others to finish so they could all go back together.
When the group did eventually come back all at once, Hermione led Ginny and Neville upstairs.
“Well?” Ron sat up as Harry perched next to him.
Ginny looked unusually solemn as she shook her head. “We didn’t get to see Tony, but we talked with some of the others. Everyone is more or less alright, but with minor scrapes and bruises. We think that’s because of the wards Tony put up around them to keep them from getting too injured.”
“You mean Tony knew there was going to be an explosion?” Hermione asked sharply.
“Not necessarily,” Neville shook his head.
They recounted the story that was told to them – right up to the moment when the explosion occurred.
A lot of the students were knocked out by the blast, but everyone agreed that Tony was about to reach for the door before he went flying as the stairs collapsed under him. No one had expected the explosion, but they never wanted to go through that again.
“Everyone said he’s alright,” Neville went on. “We just didn’t see him.”
The Trio was seriously considering sneaking out by the time they were allowed to leave. Neither of the three wasted a moment as they left Gryffindor Tower, but it didn’t take them long to end up besieged by Americans.
Panicked Americans.
“Hey, Trio!” a voice called out to them a few minutes from the Tower. “Wait for us! Palmer, Mac! I found them!”
“Deeks!” Hermione waved as the rather ill looking blond hurried to catch up.
“We heard what happened,” Mac raced after him, her uniform still on. “Is he alright? What do you know?” she demanded as Palmer came into view, with Peter following a moment later.
“What happened?” Palmer echoed Mac’s demand, looking pale as he caught up.
“We don’t know much,” Hermione shrugged helplessly, “but we do know that there was an explosion in Tony’s office.”
“And why are you just now showing up, anyway?” Harry frowned. “Didn’t you hear ages ago, already?”
“No,” Mac shook her head. “I didn’t until Palmer came to get me.”
“Yeah, after Agent Donners told me,” he said.
“And Hetty told me about it,” Deeks added.
“Peter?” Harry turned to him. “How did you know?”
The older man was silent.
“He showed up before we left,” Palmer told them. “Hasn’t said a word since.”
“Well, come on,” Ron waved at them. “To the Hospital Wing.”
He led the way and was startled when they walked through the doors by the sight that greeted them.
Each and every bed was occupied by either a Ravenclaw or a Gryffindor, most of them looking uninjured, but all of them looking shaken even hours after the fact.
“Harry!” AJ appeared next to them. “Professor DiNozzo isn’t here.”
“Not something we really wanted to hear,” Deeks quipped.
Palmer turned to the nearest bed and asked, “Is everyone alright?”
“Yeah,” the occupant nodded. “Professor DiNozzo put wards on us when we weren’t looking, though I don’t think anyone expected an explosion. It was enough to knock us down and out.”
“But I was in the Greenhouses,” AJ revealed. “It felt strong, but I didn’t think it was that bad.”
“Well, of course,” Hermione pointed out. “The Defense room is warded and it prevents the rest of the school from being affected in the event of an explosion.”
“How do you know these things?” Deeks shook his head. “And how do you remember this stuff?”
“Hogwarts: A History,” Ron rolled his eyes. “She reads it all the time.”
“Well, I don’t want to miss anything,” she protested. “It self-updates.”
“You look alright,” AJ stood next to Palmer and surveyed the girl on the bed.
“Yeah, but I don’t think anyone knows what happened, yet. We have to stay for observation.”
“That’s good,” Palmer nodded. “Magic can do many things, but even head injuries are tricky.”
“But where’s Tony?” Hermione frowned. “He has to be here.”
“I think he is,” AJ told her. “I’ve seen a lot of teachers coming in and out of that corner,” she pointed, but there was nothing there.
Ron narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and glanced at Harry, who was studying it, too. “Think it’s like the Platform?”
“Probably,” he agreed.
“What’s like the Platform?” Deeks blinked.
Peter looked carefully at the wall before walking forward.
Just like on the train platform, he disappeared.
Ron wasn’t surprised at all that the Hospital Wing had different rooms and entrances. Last year, Tony had been put in one of the regular rooms that Harry had ended up in over the years, but this time was different for some reason.
AJ watched thoughtfully as the Trio followed the Americans, Ron blinking to find himself in a mid-sized room that looked like a big bedroom doubling as a small living room.
In the back left corner, Tony blinked sleepily at them from the bed, one eye already beginning to go through the latter stages of bruising and Ron remembered Mum putting that exact cream on him and his brothers over the years. Tony’s left arm was strapped to his side and his right ankle was resting on a few pillows.
“Oh, Tony,” Hermione scurried over to fuss. “Does it hurt?”
“You know,” he smiled dopily at them. “I really miss Magic. Not like Muggle meds, at all.”
“You look awful,” Deeks told him, Ron nodding in agreement.
“Of course, he does,” Hermione scowled, a hand gently laying on Tony’s good arm. “You would, too, if this happened to you.”
Tony watched them and Ron thought he looked out of it as the Italian caught sight of his cousin.
“Peter! Hey, you’re here.”
“Where else would I be?” Peter smiled slightly. The cousins stared at each other for a long moment before Peter came closer and bent down, pressing their foreheads together. Tony happily leaned into the contact and Ron shifted uncomfortably, feeling like an intruder to this private moment. It felt a little worse when Tony said something in another language and Peter responded back in it.
After a moment of complete silence, Deeks inched back toward the entrance. “We can come back,” he suggested. Ron glanced at him just in time to see him end up on the floor.
Tony blinked and said something in that language.
“I really don’t think so,” Mac smirked. “Tony has to fall asleep before we can leave.”
“He hasn’t been like this, has he?” Palmer asked Peter.
“No. Not to this degree. Although, it is possible that the summer’s… excitement affected him like this.”
Sherlock Holmes’ suicide had really messed Tony up, if he was letting others see inside his walls like this. Ron knew that Tony was a close relative of Sherlock – maybe even his brother -, but Tony was too good at undercover work to let on what impacts Sherlock’s death really had on him.
The meltdown immediately following the discovery – Ron and the others finding out through the Prophet, no less – had been the only real emotion Tony had showed. The poor bloke had been quiet and solemn all throughout the funeral and Harry and Neville’s birthday party was the only real bright spot Tony enjoyed. Merlin only knows what happened after the Americans left the Burrow.
“What are you talking about?” Harry frowned at Palmer.
“Well,” he shrugged, “Tony has this habit of keeping the people close to him within arm’s reach when he’s out of it. Kind of like a safety precaution, I guess.”
“The first time it kind of happened,” Peter scratched the back of his head, “he wouldn’t let Booker or Shep leave the room. El freaked the first time she realized that she couldn’t make it past the door.”
“Well,” Deeks said from the floor. “At least I don’t have to worry about not being able to get up.”
“Sticking charms will do that,” Mac sagely advised.
“We’re glad you’re okay,” Ron told Tony, the Italian beaming at him.
They spent a few more minutes convincing themselves that Tony was alright before he dropped off and they were allowed to leave, Palmer spending that time to do some of his own checking.
“It’s not that I don’t trust the Nurse,” he commented. “I just want to be certain.”
The Trio made sure to visit their Housemates for morale/ reassuring purposes as the Americans caught up with AJ, the Hufflepuff explaining how she ended up in the Hospital Wing when no one from her House was even there.
“A number of people accidently dropped a lot of stuff and we were sent up here for potions. With all the fuss, we’ve had to wait our turn. Oh, that reminds me, I need to get one so I can leave. Have you seen the Nurse?”
Sprout showed up to take AJ back to Hufflepuff and she left with her potion, twisting to wave at the Americans as they waited for the Trio.
“Come on,” Mac smiled tiredly. “We’ll walk you back to Gryffindor.”
They barely started walking when Harry suddenly got Peter’s attention. “Are you okay?” he frowned.
All of them turned their attention to the White Collar Agent, who seemed distracted as he allowed a hand to rub at his chest. Ron hadn’t noticed him doing it before, but Harry and Hermione had.
“I wasn’t sure if I should’ve said something,” she admitted.
“Hm?” Peter blinked at her. “Oh. It’ll fade soon, now that I know Tony’s okay.”
“What will?”
The group slowed their pace as Peter sighed. “I don’t know about other families, but I can… I don’t know how to explain it, but I can… feel when he’s not alright. That’s how I found out, but I couldn’t just walk out on my case.”
Ron nodded thoughtfully. “Like the twins? Sometimes, when one went inside the house and the other was still with me and Ginny, something would happen to one and the other would know.”
“I don’t know about that, but it might be something similar, yes. To a lesser degree, I’ve felt him injured with broken bones or really bad injuries on the job, but it’s mostly been Magical. I even ‘felt’ him infected with – but I didn’t know it at the time, because I was suffering from the flu and I couldn’t tell what was me and what was him.”
“Has he ever felt you on the other end?” Harry wanted to know.
“I don’t think so,” Peter mused. “My life isn’t as dangerous as his, but there might have been once or twice that I would’ve thought he would feel if he could. Hasn’t said anything to me about it if he had.”
“He felt me,” Harry shrugged. “I got hit with Crucio in Fifth –”
“What!” Mac whirled on him as Deeks tripped over something and ended up back on the floor. “Explain,” she demanded, brown eyes staring intently in Harry’s green.
Harry managed to tell the Americans what happened with the mess that was Fifth Year and Ron and Hermione darkly added a few things he left out.
By the time they reached the Tower, Mac was ready to make some visits to people and Peter’s hand was wrapped around the back of Harry’s neck.
Ron knew that they’d done all they could do in Fifth Year, but that didn’t stop him from still feeling like they should’ve done more.
“Sorry to bring up bad memories,” Deeks’ normally warm blue eyes had gone dark as Palmer did one of his Healer-type spells on the Trio to make sure nothing was permanently damaged.
“It’s alright,” Harry sighed. “It happened.”
The Americans had to leave a few minutes later, promising to return for a visit soon, and Ron led Harry and Hermione back into the Common Room that was being set up for dinner.
The Trio ate and did some homework before Ron and Hermione left for their round through the halls and corridors.
Not for the first time did Ron wish Harry was going with them. Ron missed having him around when it was just Ron and Hermione and he most especially didn’t want to leave him alone with the memories of Fifth Year that had been stirred up.
Not only that, but Harry always seemed to have something going on without them.
Besides, he would understand more than Hermione about Ron being jumpy. He still couldn’t shake the feeling he’d had almost a month ago on the Express.
Ron had been following Hermione to the loo, Harry being inside, when he swore that someone had been following him. No one had been there when he turned to look, but he forgot about it when they found Harry and AJ showed up to give them that… well, Ron couldn’t claim to have ever heard a Prophecy, but that had definitely sounded like one.
Now, as Ron and Hermione were making their way from the Tower, he sighed. He didn’t like leaving his best friend behind.
Hermione glanced over with sympathy. “I don’t like leaving him, either.”
“Bloody hell,” he startled. “How do you do that?”
“I’ve known for ages,” she lifted a shoulder. “You sigh like that a lot when we have to leave Harry.”
… Ron wondered if he could learn to read people like that.
The pair decided to stop in at the Hospital Wing and found almost all of them still awake, half doing homework that Hermione was more than happy to help with.
Ron left her to it, slipping into Tony’s private room to see if he was awake.
He was, but Ron hesitated when Tony seemed be talking to someone. He was about to turn back around when Tony spotted him.
“Hey, Ron,” he waved the redhead over. Ron paused for a moment, but shuffled over uncertainly.
“Didn’t want to interrupt,” Ron got within arm’s reach and was pulled closer.
“Oh, that’s alright,” Tony assured, the bruising on his face now almost gone.
Ron was glad to see the back of the bruising. None of the Trio liked seeing their friends hurt, bad enough Harry kept getting himself into situations with the two of them even though it was no one’s fault. “Are you sure?” Ron tilted his head. “It just seemed important and I really don’t want to cut in.”
“Nah, you’re not. Just an old friend checking up on me. Although,” Tony frowned, turning back to –
the empty spot right next to him. “You know, I thought you left for good.”
Ron looked from Tony to the ‘old friend’ and back.
Tony shrugged and pulled at Ron’s wrist. “Ron, meet Liam. Me and Booker met him during Second Year. Well, Sparky, too, but the three of us didn’t really know each other then. But Liam helped us come together and then Pin was our friend, too. He came in about Third Year, maybe? It was a lot of fun, but scary, too.”
Ron thought Tony still seemed a little out of it, but smiled at ‘Liam’ and waved anyway. “Hi, mate.”
“Yeah,” Tony smiled sadly. “See you. And don’t be a stranger, huh? Last time I saw you was before my Fourth Year. Don’t wait so long next time.”
Ron wasn’t sure how Tony could tell when ‘Liam’ ‘left’, but he seemed morose when ‘he’ did.
“At least I hope to see him again.”
“You will,” Ron assured. “Maybe he’s gone to visit your other mates.”
“Doubt it,” though Tony never elaborated on why he thought that. “You know, Peter and Shep never met him. Honestly, I’m not sure they’d have believed us if we introduced them,” he chuckled to himself.
Hermione slipped in after that and both stayed until Tony fell back to sleep.
They left the Hospital Wing, then hung out at the Astronomy Tower before heading to the Great Hall.
It was honestly unsettling how quiet it was when it was just him and Hermione. Hannah Abbott and one of the other girl Prefects were supposed to meet them there, like it happened almost every week.
This time, however, - for whatever reason – the scheduled time came and went with no Hufflepuff in sight.
“Hannah’s never been late,” Hermione fretted, pacing back and forth in front of Ron who watched from the Ravenclaw Table. “What if something’s happened? We still don’t know the details surrounding the explosion.”
Ron shrugged, letting her mutter to herself while he looked around.
It was dark, even the candles extinguished, but the clouds were reflected in the enchanted ceiling and the half-moon gave the room an eerie atmosphere.
“We should probably go and check that everyone’s alright,” she went on.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Ron told her. “It happens.”
“Not like this, it doesn’t,” she frowned back. “I’m going to check.”
Ron waved her off and watched as she hurried out the door.
Just wait. In a few moments, Hannah and that other girl – who Ron couldn’t remember the name of right now – would walk in, looking for Hermione.
She worried too much.
Ron let out a sigh and stared back up at the enchanted ceiling.
This year was supposed to be fun and relaxing, now that Tony was teaching.
Instead, they got an unscheduled alarm and Tony in hospital not even a week apart.
Although, he considered, maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise. The summer had been eventful and exciting, hadn’t it? It only stood to reason that the trend continued. And considering their school careers thus far, Ron wondered if he would’ve been worried if their last year had gone off without a hitch.
Hopefully, though, there wouldn’t be another funeral, especially involving another of Tony’s mates.
The Italian hadn’t much been acting himself in the past few weeks – though, Ron was working on guesses and limited knowledge of what Tony acting like himself would entail. The marriage bond probably played a role in that somehow with this supposed ‘feedback loop’, but being a full-blooded Italian teaching at Hogwarts couldn’t be off the table, either.
Merlin only knew what was going on with Tony, who Ron and Hermione would sometimes run across on their rounds with no recollection of how he got there.
Ron thought about bringing it up with Harry, but Hermione insisted that Tony’s odd behaviour was a result of Tony missing his brother Sherlock and that they should just give him time. There was nothing to worry about, all things considered.
He thought about that, knowing he would be just as upset and out of sorts if anything happened to one of his own brothers – maybe not Percy, though -, and decided she was right.
Letting out a sigh, Ron propped his elbows on the table behind him and looked around.
No one was in that corner. No one in this corner, either.
He was alone.
He took out his radio a few minutes later. “Hermione?”
“Ron, I’m sorry,” she sighed, her voice sounded like she was moving around. “I ran into one of the Ravenclaw Prefects and he swears that there’s someone out by the Greenhouses. Hannah should be on her way to get you right now.”
“Did you find anything?”
“No, not yet. Four of the other Prefects are out here, too. Ask Harry to check the Map and see if there’s anyone by the Greenhouses.”
“Okay,” Ron stayed put instead of going by himself to see what was going on. He didn’t want to cause unnecessary panic when Hannah got to him and he wasn’t there. Turning the dial on the radio, he waited a moment before contacting Harry to check the Map.
*Right,” his friend readily agreed. *I see you in the Great Hall. Hannah’s stopped a floor below you.”
“Why?” he frowned.
*I dunno.”
“Think I should -,” he paused when he heard a clear footstep to his right. He blinked and turned his wand light on to look, but it just confirmed he was alone.
*Ron?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Just thought – never mind. So, should I go find –”
He startled slightly as the table behind him moved like someone was roughly sitting down on the other side, though a look over his shoulder showed no one there.
He swallowed before raising the radio again. “Harry, I’m alone, right?”
*Yeah. I’m watching you on the Map right now. It’s just you.”
Ron felt the hair on the back of his neck begin standing up. He trusted Harry to tell him the truth, because – as they’d all come to trust – the Map never lied.
On the other hand, maybe the charms on the Map were needing to be renewed or something. They needed to talk to either Sirius or Remus about that.
Then again, it had been a stressful day what with Tony and his class being under attack earlier. Maybe it was getting to him.
“Harry, maybe we should ask one of the Marauders to check the Map in case something needs to be fixed,” he spoke into the radio.
*Okay,” he agreed. *I’ll write to Moony and see if he can visit sometime soon.” Their former Professor had, after all, told them and Tony that he was the one who came up with most of the spells.
Ron breathed deeply. “The sooner, the better.”
He looked carefully around the Hall, but it was even creepier when his light didn’t reach all the way into the darkness. Knowing was different than believing he was alone, so he got up and went all the way up to the Staff table and looked around. If something really was wrong with the Map, then how could Ron or Harry know for sure that the Hall was empty?
It seemed empty, though.
*Ron,” Harry said over the radio, *I think Hannah’s moving to the Hall, now.”
“Alright,” he acknowledged, signing off and frowning at the empty space before him. He stood completely still and swallowed as he heard something just outside the circle of his wand’s light. “Now – now, see here,” he tried hard in channeling his Mum at her most annoyed and straightened. “I’m a Prefect. So – so, you better get back to your bed before I really get mad or one of the other Prefects comes in here. Then you’ll be in trouble. So… get lost.”
“Okay.”
Ron was slamming into Hannah just outside the doors before it fully caught up with him.
“Ron? What hap- what’s wrong?” the bewildered Hufflepuff whirled around on the floor to see what he was running from, but Ron was already up and gone, not even Hermione calling out as he passed the stairs drew his attention.
The corridors flew past before he got through the Tower entrance and he immediately turned to his dorm, running into Harry just inside their door and both went down hard.
“Ron? What happened? You left the Hall in a hurry,” Harry tried untangling them, but Ron just held tighter.
“Ron!” Ginny, Neville, Vince, Hannah and Hermione almost tripped over them as they piled into the room.
Hermione had been startled when her friend tore past the stairs that she’d been climbing up and she hadn’t thought twice before following him.
The shaking redhead was all but choking their best friend and it was all the group could do to coax Ron into letting him go. Harry didn’t move far, though, as Ron leaned back against Dean’s bed.
It took a few moments before Ron got the words out, but he did and Ginny immediately brightened.
“Remember before the wedding, when Tony was just going mental because he thought he kept seeing and hearing something that wasn’t there? This is probably somehow connected to that.”
“I think you’re right, Ginny,” Hermione nodded thoughtfully. “But I do wonder how Tony never thought to warn us about it.”
“He didn’t know, either,” Harry reminded her. “Mac told us about it.”
Eventually, Hannah, Vince, Neville and Ginny went back to their duties and activities and left the Trio alone.
“If Tony’s been dealing with that,” Ron finally managed to calm his heart, “it’s a wonder he’s not completely barmy, yet.”
“I wonder why you’re experiencing it,” Hermione mused. “You’re not Italian. I don’t think.”
“No,” Harry tilted his head. “You’re the second oldest. That may have something to do with it. Or the bond, but me and Hermione haven’t noticed anything unusual. Well, more than normal, anyway.”
“I was wondering that, myself,” Hermione nodded.
“But it makes sense. I was watching the Map the entire time and he was all by himself.”
“But didn’t the both of you say something to Ginny about updating the Map? I suppose it could be any of those things, though.”
They agreed that the incident was explainable and that they didn’t need to tell Tony, which would worry him and possibly set his recovery back, and Ron eventually let himself be convinced that that was the case.
“And you were alone in the Great Hall at night,” Harry pointed out. “That would mess anyone up.”
Ron breathed deeply. “You’re right. But it really felt and sounded like a little kid was right next to me.”
It certainly wouldn’t be something that he would be forgetting any time soon.
Having someone answer in an empty room reminded him of Harry using the Invisibility Cloak, but the Map hadn’t shown anyone else with him. The first thing they needed to do was to find out if the Map was working as it should be and that wasn’t going to be a problem.
Since it had been nearing the end of their shift, anyway, Ron and Hermione didn’t go back out. Not that Ron was willing to leave the Tower at this point.
The rest of the evening passed uneventfully – or if it didn’t, no one told them – and Ron found himself in bed, staring at his bed canopy and fiddling with that small toy soldier he found last year.
“Are you okay, then?” Harry sat next to him on the bed.
“Yeah, just shaken, I guess. I can’t believe Tony wasn’t more affected than he was.”
“Maybe he was and we just didn’t notice. He’s a good undercover Agent, after all, remember? We wouldn’t be able to accurately tell how he’s feeling affected by it and we definitely wouldn’t be able to tell how Sherlock’s death is affecting him now.”
Tony probably didn’t want them to worry that much, Ron figured. They were all affected by Sherlock’s death even though Ron hadn’t exactly spent time with him enough to make an accurate connection, but Tony had been devastated before the funeral and he, Watson and Eames had all been shaken to their cores.
Ron knew after their encounters in Diagon Alley that Eames and Watson weren’t taking it well, but Tony…
“You think Tony’s not showing how badly he’s been affected because he can’t afford to?” the thought made him upset. If Tony was hiding from all his co-workers – except Palmer -, that was one thing that Ron understood. On the other hand, Tony was their teacher and Ron only knew some of what that was like after co-leading the DA in Fifth Year.
Maybe Tony felt that he couldn’t… grieve without having time to himself. Everyone from everywhere up to this point had needed something from the man and Tony just couldn’t refuse because then he could be in trouble for knowing Sherlock. DI Lestrade had been in a lot of it and everyone had yet to hear from him about that.
“Harry? Maybe we should give Tony some time to really come to terms with it,” he suggested. “I don’t think he’s been alone enough to do it.”
“You’re probably right, but I don’t think Tony really does well by himself. Besides,” he worried his bottom lip, “I don’t know if I want him to be alone like that without us.”
That possibility hadn’t occurred to Ron and he swallowed thickly. “Well, we’ll just have to make him know that he’s got us,” Ron nodded.
Harry gave a slight smile. “Yeah, but maybe he hasn’t had someone in a long time that he wouldn’t recognize it.”
That just made them both sad, but it really was getting late so they cut that thought off and went to bed.
Before Ron dropped off, however, he placed the toy soldier on the pillow next to his and studied it.
“You know,” he told it, “I kind of wish you could watch after Tony. He needs all the help he can get.”
He stared at it for a long time until sleep took hold.
* **