'What?'
'Don't say anything to Harry about this, all right?'
A short silence. 'All right.'
Sirius went out of the room, shut the door behind him, and fell back against it, his hands over his eyes. Why exactly he had lied to Draco about having been given something by James, he wasn't sure. One thing he was sure of, though. He would be going to Gringott's tomorrow.
Ron and Ginny sat with Harry and Hermione (recently arrived via Floo Powder) at the table in the Weasley's warm, yellow-lit kitchen, drinking tea and eating digestive biscuits straight out of the packet.
'He's really all right?' Hermione asked for the eighth time, and for the eighth time, Ron nodded.
'He's fine…unfortunately.'
Hermione threw a biscuit at him. 'Karma, Ron.'
Ron caught the biscuit and handed it to Ginny, who grinned at him.
'I'm not worried about my karma,' said Ron smugly. 'Considering.'
'True,' Harry pointed out. 'You did save Malfoy's life. Although you dithered a bit at first…'
'Did not. Well, a little. He just looked so dead, it seemed pointless.'
'He was dead,' said Hermione, eating a biscuit. 'Clinically, anyway, he must have been dead. No pulse, no heartbeat…no brain waves, maybe…'
'Does Malfoy ever have brain waves?' put in Ron, but Hermione ignored him.
'It's interesting,' she added, her eyes lighting up, 'that Draco being clinically dead was enough to counteract the love potion. It's an intersection of magic and science I hadn't really considered before, and the possible implications-'
'Have another biscuit, Hermione,' said Harry, firmly, shoving one into her hand.
She smiled at him. 'Am I being boring?'
He kissed her ear. 'Yes, but in a very interesting way.'
'Ginny's interested,' said Hermione, pointing at Ginny, who had her chin on her hand and was smiling.
'Not, I'm not,' said Ginny candidly. 'I was just thinking that Ron has now officially gotten more action with Draco than I have.' She turned a dazzling smile on her brother. 'Congratulations, Ron!'
Ron blanched. 'I have to go brush my teeth,' he said, making as if to stand up, but Ginny grabbed his arm and yanked him back down.
'You've already brushed your teeth twelve times and it hasn't helped,' she said. 'Face it. You kissed Malfoy, and there's nothing you can do about it!'
'Now, now,' said Harry, grinning like a fiend. 'It was a medical procedure. A medical procedure that just happens to look a lot like necking.'
'You were the one who got all hysterical!' said Ron, pointing a shaking finger at Harry. 'I would just have let him die!'
Harry rolled his eyes. 'No, you wouldn't, Ron, because you're a good guy and good guys do not just let other people die, even total pills like Malfoy.'
'Argh,' said Ron, and put his head down on the table.
'Ron's having issues,' Ginny sang, hopping up to retrieve some milk from the sideboard. 'Ron's having iss- ues…'
'I hate you all,' said Ron, in a muffled voice.
'Oh, come on. We're just winding you up. Hey, how did you know all those anti-drowning spells, anyway?' Harry added, curiously. 'Not that they worked, but still, it was impressive.'
'Well, they would have worked if he hadn't been so far gone already,' said Ron. Then he looked over at Ginny, who looked back at him, and sighed.
'We had a brother,' she said, looking down at her hands. ' In between Percy and Charlie. He drowned in the quarry when he was three years old. We never knew him, but Mum and Dad have insisted on all of us knowing anti-drowning spells, just in case anything ever happens.'
Hermione glanced over at Harry, who looked astonished. Apparently neither of them had known this fact about Ron's family. They could both, however, tell that questions on this topic would not be welcome, so restrained themselves. 'Why didn't they just fill in the quarry?' wondered Hermione instead.
Ron shrugged. 'You can't. They tried. It's got some kind of magical protection on it — fill it in, it just reappears the next day. So they put up wards around it. They only took them down when Ginny was twelve, the figured we were all old enough not to fall in, and all of us can swim, so…Harry, how did you know that other stuff?'
'CPR?' said Harry, and made a face. 'I used to have to go with Dudley to swimming lessons, but I wasn't actually allowed to take lessons with him, because that cost money. So I used to sit in on the CPR classes. I must have sat through the same class about fifteen times.'
Hermione grinned at him. 'I figured you nicked it off watching
'Baywatch.''
Harry looked indignant. 'I've never watched 'Baywatch!''
'Bet you have.'
'I have not.'
