HSWW Part 8

Hogwarts Grand Hall

Draco, Pansy and Goyle returned to the Grand Hall later that night. "Well! Looks like nobody's here yet." Draco rolled his eyes when he saw Luna still spinning around between the tables.

Goyle frowned over at Luna "`Cept her." he pointed in her direction for a moment before looking around waiting for the others with his left fist balled resting in his right hand absently as he waited "Where are they?"

"Why hello again!" Luna giggled as she stopped spinning. She began to walk towards the three Slytherin but had to try very hard to walk in a straight line, "Wow! I feel a little dizzy!" She laughed as she almost fell over on Pansy and Goyle.

"The hell you are!" Pansy growled as she tried to keep Luna standing up. She panted and wiped her hands on her robes, "Now, has anyone shown up since we left?"

Goyle growled and reached out with one arm and steadied Luna effortlessly scowling slightly scratching his head looking at her as he kept his right arm on her arm holding her steady "Yeah, you seen Potter or Susan lately?"

Luna giggled, "No silly!" She gave a surprised look and gasped, "But I did see Snape's twin!" Luna's face changed to a look of confusion, "Actually I saw his triplets!"

"Oh dear lord." Pansy muttered, "I don't suppose anyone's coming then." She shrugged, "Sorry Draco."

Harry walked into the Grand hall "Its pointless." he said

"Oh pointless is it?" Draco smirked, "I never looked at a break-out from Azkaban as being pointless."

Harry shook his head "No I mean if we cant use magic, we're basically muggles."

Goyle scowled at Harry "No duh, we all already know that!" he said, shoving Luna twards him, tired of holding her up "Hold tha'" he chuckled

Harry thought for a moment and smirked "Well Goyle that means you could take on Malfoy easy then can't you? Because after all, you are bigger than him." he said laughing

Goyle's scowl grew even deeper "Draco is my freind, I`d never hurt him, but you on the other hand..."he said cracking his knuckles "Are lucky Draco says we need to work together." he smirked

Susan walked slowly into the hall and asked "What's going on?" to everyone in general.

"What's going on is that we all need to stop fighting!" Draco shouted impatiently

"Right." Pansy replied, glaring at Harry as she grabbed Luna from him.

"Thanks." Draco replied, giving Pansy a small wink, "Right then, I have just talked with Professor Snape and I believe that with Hogwarts being in this state, there may be a break-out at Azkaban. And I have a feeling that something may be coming to this school."

Goyle stared at Harry angrily not wanting to have to team up with him "Why can't we handle it ourselves Draco?" he said cracking his neck

"Because we may need him." Draco muttered where only he and Goyle could hear what he was saying, "Maybe as bait."

Hermione entered the open doors and managed to find a seat next to Harry. "What did I miss?" she whispered, under her breath to him.

Harry wispered in Hermione's ear "I'm not sure but Malfoy want to use me as bait for something, I'm not sure what though" he said quietly

Draco tried to put on a smile once he realized that Harry had heard him. "Why would I use you as bait? We're in this together, remember?"

Susan looked at Draco sourly and said "Well I can answer you that. You don't like Harry, remember Draco?" Susan then asked Draco "So I think you would use him as bait, it fits you perfectly."

"How long did it take you to think that up?" Draco sneered, "And besides, we want him on our side for this." He smirked at Pansy and Goyle, "Afterall, who wouldn't want the Boy Who Lived on their team if they have to go up against the Ministry?"

Susan looked at Draco angerly and asked "So you're not going to use Harry as bait then Draco?"

"Of course not." Draco said, holding back his laughter at how good of a lier he was.

"Yeah right Draco, everyone knows you can't stand Harry at all and you'd do anything to get him suspended from Hogwarts." Susan said calmly back at Draco.

Draco rolled his eyes and turned to Pansy and Goyle, "A little help?" He mouthed to them.

"Look, if we wanted Harry out, why would we be asking him to help us?" Pansy snapped back, "Right now, we aren't plotting to get rid of him. We're plotting to get our school back!"

"That's possibly true, but you wouldn't mind loosing him in the process," Hermione retorted. She folded her hands and rested both lower arms on the table, staring intently at Draco, Pansy, and Goyle.

Harry nodded "I agree with Hermione"

"Thank you,Harry," Hermione said, not taking her eyes off the three. "Unfortunately for everyone to work together, we need to set aside our differences and learn to trust each other or we may as well sell our wands."

Goyle scowled at Harry Hermione and Susan folding his arms tightly against his chest obviously not excited about working with them "Yeah well, shut it and listen up, you." he shot an angry look at Harry "Are not the leader, we're not dealing with the Dark Lord." he said looking stonely at Harry "You don't know the Ministry as well as Draco does." he said standing at his full height taller than anyone else in the circle looking down his nose at them as if daring one of them to argue the point cracking his knuckles threatiningly

Pansy gave a sarcastic smile to Hermione, "Wow you have such a way with words. No really, that speech truly inspired me. Because you know, Draco hasn't been saying that for the past five minutes!" She snarled, turning to Draco, she smirked, "And you're welcome for the help."

"Thank you." Draco muttered through gritted teeth. He turned to Goyle, "And that's where you may be wrong." He turned to face Harry, "As I said, there may be a mass break-out at Azkaban. And my best guess is that Bellatrix Lestrange will have something to do with it." He glared at Harry, "And we are all aware that you know well enough that she has connections with Voldemort."

Harry shook his head "Goyle shut it will you. I've had quite a lot of experience with the Ministry. But the one you do want info from is Ron, since his dad has worked there."

"The only exerience you've had with the Ministry is nearly getting your wand taken away." Goyle smirked and shook his head laughing "What we need is someone at the top, at the very least someone who is freindly with top Ministry officials." he looked contemptuously at Harry "Arthur Weasly hardly qualifies." He looked over and and hissed at Draco "You shouldn't shoot me down when I'm trying to help you out." he scowled "Besides there's no proof of the breakout from Azkaban, we should be focusing on getting our damn magic back."

"I'm actually surprised to be saying this, but you're absolutely right!" Draco smiled at Goyle, "Actually you just gave me a plan. We need to get into the Ministry somehow. And we do need someone who is familiar with its authorities to talk to them." He looked apologetically at Ron, "And yes, unfortunately, your father is not a popular one to the people we need right now." He looked towards Harry, "I suggest that we all go, Harry you should probably use that cloak of yours to stay unnoticed and if there are no objections, I'll volunteer to talk to the Ministry."

"Seems like a good idea to me." Pansy added in, looking around for any response from the rest of the group.

Goyle smiled happily looking a little suprised himself that Draco said that he was right he looked at the others standing confidently deciding to stay silent to not ruin the great moment. I was right. he thought to himself beaming.

After hearing no objections, Draco turned to Pansy, "Right then, I think that you should come with me."

Pansy turned to him in shock, "What?! And why is that?!"

"Oh trust me, it'll be more effective if a few people go."
Draco replied blankly, "Seems like it is a bigger concern that way. Which it is, so it makes sense." He turned to Goyle, "I suppose you can come with us too, seeing as how most of the Ministry has seen you with me." He smiled at his look of shock, "Today must be your lucky day, sparking a good idea and getting into the Ministry." He raised an eyebrow at Pansy's still shocked face, "We clear?"

"As crystal!" Pansy gave a nervous laugh before turning to Goyle, "We're gonna die." She whispered and turned to Draco again, "Right! So when do we leave?"

Goyle looked quite happy until Pansy whispered then he looked angry turning to her "Not if I can help it." he said cracking his knuckles and lookng at the others disdainfully "They ain`t coming with us are they?"

"Of course they are." Draco muttered, "Aren't they?" He asked the group again.

Susan said plainly looking at Draco "Of course I am in, I'll do whatever it takes to be able to use our magic again"

Harry thought for a moment "Well I did have a few confrontations with Fudge but he isn't high ranked anymore". he said quietly

"I think Fudge would be the least of our worries." Ginny said joining in on the discussion. She blushed slightly when she saw Harry but got over it quickly.

"I don't suppose anyone else had thought of a way to smuggle in seven or more teenagers without using magic?" Hermione asked, her mind always moving, thinking, remembering.

Goyle scoffed "And Gryffindor is supposed to stand for bravery." he smirked and looked Hermionie "We don't need to sneak in"

Harry thought for a moment "Actually I could sneak in Dumbledor's office and take the Gryffindor sword. It still is a weapon" he said

"It could help." Ginny agreed. "So Goyle if you are so smart how do you think we should get in? You think we can just stroll in?"

Goyle nodded "Thats excactly what I was thinking." he smirked at Ginny

"With all those death eaters? Just stick to eating Goyle. It is what you are good at." Ginny rolled her eyes at Goyle and took a step back.

Goyle shook his head "I'm the stupid one? What about polyjuice potion?"

"It might work. But who would we be?" Ginny asked Goyle, "It might look strange if a bunch of teachers showed up."

Goyle rolled his eyes "We wait for a few Ministry officials and I grab em one by one and beat them to a pulp." he nodded

"Good luck. I hope you like prison." Ginny waved to him.

Harry sat down and sighed "You know Ginny this really sucks" he said with a sigh

"Not being able to use magic? Yes it does." Ginny looked away from Goyle. "I don't know what they are so scared of."

Harry nodded "Yeah everything sucks now. What is the use?" he said with a low tone

"We have to try. Can you go to the end of the school year without using magic? Because I know I can't." Ginny put her hand on his shoulder. "And anyway we aren't the only on that is upset of this but we are going to be the strong ones and try to get the use of our magic back."

Harry thought "Well I did read a couple books on how muggles fight. Their war strategies. We can build up on the one thing we dont have, our personal strength"

"It is the only thing we can do. But the real only problem we have is get in." Ginny looked up at Harry.

Harry nodded "Yes that is true." he said looking at Ginny

"The polyjucie potion could work, but would most likely doom us so what do we do?" Ginny looked at Hermione and back to Harry. "If it wasn't for the death eaters we wouldn't have a problem."

Harry put his hand on Ginny's shoulder "Don't worry, we will fix this problem"

"So what is the plan?" Ginny asked. She didn't think Harry had one but was going to make it up as they went along.

Harry shrugged "I'm not sure yet. But I'm sure Hermione will think of one. But you are still cute as ever Ginny"

Ginny smiled. "Why thank you Harry. I am sure we will have plenty of time to talk later. But focus on the task at hand."

Harry nodded "I know but I'm stumped on what do do"

"Well why don't we go back to our common rooms to think and we can meet back up later." Ginny said. "Maybe we can think of something."

"Actually, I think I have one," Hermione said from a seat a few feet from the group. She'd been scribbling ferociously away at several pieces of parchment with her quill, a few were crumpled up and a few more were spread out along the table. The few books in her bag were some help, but one was still open in front of her, just above the parchment she occasionally dotted or wrote a single word on.

"Hopefully, Granger, you can find a way to sneak all of us in." Draco muttered. He stared at the group and started counting them, "Right then, so if Pansy, Goyle and I all go straight in and Potter uses his cloak, we'll need a way to get in you," He pointed at Hermione, "All the Weasleys, Susan and Luna. Any suggestions Granger?"

Nodding, Hermione wrote a few more things before turning towards the group. "Goyle, I'm surprised to say this, but you were right. Polyjuice potion would work best in this case. Unfortunatly for the entire thing to work, Malfoy, you'd need to go in before any of us and aquire hairs of your father's friends in the ministry. Ron, Ginny, Susan, Luna, and I will have to play them, but we also need to know when they come and go in the building and what they do. It'll take months to make the potion so we've got time to do that," she said, glancing back to her paper. She repositioned herself back towards her papers and rolled up the parchment she hadn't crumpled, replacing them in her bag along with her book, quill and ink bottle. "I suppose I'm off to Moaning Mertyl's bathroom where we can meet later this week." She paused, having just finished packing her bag, and looked back to the group. "That's the only way to get us all in without looking suspicious," she added before standing briskly, stepping over the bench, and leaving the Great Hall.

"Wow I never thought that the day would come when Hermione said that Goyle was right about something." Ginny sounded shocked. "Well. Good luck Malfoy. And don't get caught."

Luna stopped spinning and stumbled over towards Malfoy, "I would be sad if you died." She giggled

Goyle stood there for quite some time mouthing You were right Goyle. obviously shocked himself that Hermionie Granger just said that. He smiled brightly and nodded slowly as if finally believing it himself "So, me, Draco and Pansy go to the Ministry now, and then later, after the potion is ready we all go." he scratched his head and looked at Hermionie "So it isn't true then, the rumors of you having polyjuice made up in case of an emergency?" he looked dissapointed

Pansy rolled her eyes at Luna and Goyle before turning to Draco, "Right, well then if we want to get this done, we should probably leave soon."

"I suppose." Draco sighed, "But I still have no clue as to how exactly we're supposed to just walk in, steal some hairs and walk out."

Goyle shrugged "Your dad's hair shouldn't be hard to get...." Goyle nodded "We'll only need uh" Goyle counted the others "Five...." he thought for a moment "Weasly can get his dad's hair and pretend to be taking Ginny to work with him so we will only need....four" he shrugged

"That's a good plan." Draco nodded in amazement, "Except we can't use my father's, it would look a bit strange for us to be talking to him and see his clone walk down the hallway. Besides, he'll suspect something." He turned to Pansy, "When we get there, I'll distract my father while you two get the hairs. You'll need to stay out of site though. When you're done, meet me outside the building. Better make it across the street to be safe." He looked around, "Well then I guess we'd better go." And he and Pansy and Goyle left for the Ministry of Magic.

Ginny looked back at Harry. "Who would have thought that Draco Malfoy and party would be working with us?"

Harry nodded "I know I'm stumped myself"

"Well I am going to the common room." Ginny slowly let her hand drop from Harry's shoulder and exited the great hall.

Harry stood up "Yeah I think I too will be off"

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