'Why not?'
'Because he's really, really old and it's nasty,' said Ron, firmly.
'Hes not that old,' said Ginny.
The cloak rustled as Harry, Ron and Draco tried to turn to look at Ginny, before realizing this was impossible. Harry was fairly sure, however, from the tone of her voice, that she was smiling.
'Hes not,' she insisted.
'Ginny,' said Ron warningly.
'Hes kind of attractive, actually,' she said.
'Can we go back to talking about Dementors in the front yard?' said Ron. 'Because this is freaking me out.'
At that moment, Fleur came around the corner. She had put on a formfitting silver robe, and gave a wink in their general direction as she paused at Lupins door and knocked. They saw her open the door and thrust her head in. Whatever she said was inaudible, but in a short time, Lupin came to the door, looking both distracted and faintly surprised. 'Why can?t we talk about your homework in my office?' he said, stepping outside and shutting the door behind him.
'It is just so much more pleasant to walk as we talk,' said Fleur, laying her hand on his arm.
'If you say so,' said Lupin, sounding extremely dubious.
'As anyone ever told you that you are a very good teacher?' asked Fleur, using her grip on Lupins arm to steer him down the corridor.
'Oh, yes, I get told that all the time,' he said, as he unknowingly passed Ron, Draco, Harry and Ginny in the hall.
'As anyone ever told you that you are also very attractive?'
'Well, Dumbledore told me that once, but it was after the New Year's staff party and he was a bit squiffy on butterbeer…'
Lupin's voice faded, and they were gone.
Although he couldn?t see their faces, all around him Harry could feel the other three shaking with laughter. Even Ron was laughing. It was like being caught in a mini-earthquake. 'Shh,' he hissed, trying to keep from laughing himself. 'Shh, wait until we get into the office…'
Once inside the office, Harry tore the invisibility cloak off them, allowing Draco, who was now nearly crying with laughter, to collapse onto the desk. 'I almost love Fleur,' he said finally, regaining his composure. 'As anyone told you that you are also very attractive??'
Ginny was shaking her head. 'The poor man, he really doesn?t deserve that kind of abuse.'
'Its for a good cause, Ginny,' said Ron, grinning. Whatever minor pangs of jealousy he might have been feeling over Fleur seemed to have vanished. 'Hey, Malfoy,' he added. 'What?re you doing?'
'Getting our ingredients,' said Draco, who was now crouching on the floor next to Lupins bookcase. 'Its here…got it.' He pulled out a small blue vial, unstoppered the cap, sniffed it, and made a face.
'Wolfsbane,' he said, and handed it up to Harry, who squinted at it and passed it on to Ginny. 'Mugwort we ?ve got upstairs…And here it is…the Orb of Thessala.'
'Thats a snow globe, Malfoy,' said Harry. 'Nice try.'
The nymph in the globe winked at Draco as he put her down.
'Sorry,' he said, and continued rummaging. 'Right,' he said, after a few moments. 'Got it.'
And he handed something up to Harry — something that looked like a black glass tennis ball.
'You?re sure?' said Harry, looking at Draco hard.
'If its not an Orb of Thessala, I?m the one that gets blown up,' said Draco. 'So yes, I?m sure.'
'Blown up?' echoed Ginny, looking very pale as Harry handed her the Orb.
Draco waved a hand airily. 'That hardly ever happens,' he said.
'Just finish the spell right and we?ll all be fine.'
Ginny looked up at Ron, who was looking equally nervous. 'I don?t know…'
'Just do it,' said Draco, who was now looking under Lupins desk.
'And fast. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Why don?t you two go on back to our room and we?ll meet you there in a few minutes. Take the invisibility cloak.' He popped his head up over the desk, saw the three of them preparing to leave, and hastily added, 'Potter. You stay here with me.'
Harry paused. 'All right,' he said, stepping back into the office. Ron and Ginny turned to look at him; he shrugged, and they drew the cloak up over themselves, vanishing from sight.
The office door opened and closed behind them, and Harry turned back to Draco, who was emerging from underneath Lupins desk, carrying the adamantine case that held Slytherins sword. There was a bright light in his eyes, and Harry felt a vague stab of apprehension run through him.
'Come on, Potter,' said Draco. 'Help me get this thing open.'
'I thought the Dark Mark was Voldemorts symbol,' said Hermione, looking at Wormtail. She had decided that there was no point in not saying Voldemorts name, considering that she had somehow managed to get herself kidnapped by the one wizard in history who had been even worse.
Slytherin, who seemed to have no use for a wand (of course not, she thought, hes a Magid, just like Harry) had bound her arm to Wormtails and ordered them both to follow him out of the room.
