Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

Harry had only just sat down at the Ravenclaw table for the first time, hoping to grab a quick bite of food. He knew he needed to go off and think about things, but there was a tiny remaining bit of phoenix's peace (even after the encounter with Draco) that he still wanted to cling to, some beautiful dream of which he remembered nothing but the beauty; and the part of him that wasn't feeling peaceful was waiting for all the anvils to finish dropping on him, so that when he went off to think and be by himself for a while, he could batch- process all the disasters at once.

Harry's hand grasped a fork, lifted a bite of mashed potatoes toward his mouth -

And there was a shriek.

Every now and then someone would shout when they heard the news, but Harry's ears recognized this one -

Harry was up from the bench in an instant, heading toward the Hufflepuff table, a horrible sick feeling dawning in the pit of his stomach. It was one of those things he hadn't considered when he'd decided to commit the crime, because Professor Quirrell had planned for no one to know; and now, afterward, Harry just - hadn't thought of it -

This, Hufflepuff said with bitter intensity, is also your fault.

But by the time Harry got there, Neville was sitting down and eating fried sausage patties with Snippyfig Sauce.

The Hufflepuff boy's hands were trembling, but he cut the food, and ate it, without dropping it.

'Hello, General,' Neville said, his voice wavering only slightly. 'Did you fight a duel with Bellatrix Black last night?'

'No,' Harry said. His own voice was also wavery, for some reason.

'Didn't think so,' said Neville. There was a scraping sound as his knife cut the sausage again. 'I'm going to hunt her down and kill her, can I count on you to help?'

There were startled gasps from the mass of Hufflepuffs who had gathered around Neville.

'If she comes after you,' Harry said hoarsely, if it was all a terrible mistake, if it was all a lie, 'I'll defend you even with my life,' won't let you get hurt for what I did, no matter what, 'but I won't help you go after her, Neville, friends don't help friends commit suicide.'

Neville's fork paused on the way to his mouth.

Then Neville put the bite of food in his mouth, chewed again.

And Neville swallowed it.

And Neville said, 'I didn't mean right now, I mean after I graduate Hogwarts.'

'Neville,' Harry said, keeping his voice under very careful control, 'I think, even after you graduate, that might still be a just plain stupid idea. There's got to be much more experienced Aurors tracking her -' oh, wait, that's not good -

'Listen to him!' said Ernie Macmillan, and then an older-looking Hufflepuff girl standing close to Neville said, 'Nevvy, please, think about it, he's right!'

Neville stood up.

Neville said, 'Please don't follow me.'

Neville walked away from all of them; Harry and Ernie reaching out involuntarily toward him, and some of the other Hufflepuffs as well.

And Neville sat down at the Gryffindor table, and distantly (though they had to strain to hear) they heard Neville say, 'I'm going to hunt her down and kill her after I graduate, anyone want to help?' and at least five voices said 'Yes' and then Ron Weasley said loudly, 'Get in line, you lot, I got an owl from Mum this morning, she says to tell everyone she's called dibs' and someone said 'Molly Weasley against Bellatrix Black? Who does she even think she's kidding -' and Ron reached over to a plate and hefted a muffin -

Someone tapped Harry on the shoulder, and he turned around and saw an unfamiliar green-trimmed older girl, who handed him a parchment envelope and then quickly strode away.

Harry stared at the envelope for a moment, then started walking toward the nearest wall. That wasn't very private, but it should be private enough, and Harry didn't want to give the impression of having much to hide.

That had been a Slytherin System delivery, what you used if you wanted to communicate with someone without anyone else knowing that the two of you had talked. The sender gave an envelope to someone who had a reputation for being a reliable messenger, along with ten Knuts; that first person would take five Knuts and pass the envelope to another messenger along with the other five Knuts, and the second messenger would open up that envelope and find another envelope with a name written on it and deliver that envelope to that person. That way neither of the two people passing the message knew both the sender and the recipient, so no one else knew that those two parties had been in contact...

When Harry reached the wall, he put the envelope inside his robes, opened it beneath the folds of cloth, and carefully snuck a peek at the parchment he drew forth.

It said,

Classroom to the left of Transfiguration, 8 in the morning.

- LL.

Harry stared at it, trying to remember if he knew anyone with the initials LL.

His mind searched...

Searched...