elara had not seen anya since that night, her visions had started to become shorter and more vivid; she had seen the quidditch pitch on fire and collapsing, but in an instant, it was normal again. she had not been able to talk to dumbledore. no matter how many books were read, nothing was found on 'praedo malorum'. her detentions kept increasing, her hand hurt, she hated umbridge. harry was moodier than usual and would only talk about his own visions unless prompted. the only good thing to come out of all this for elara was their long talks in the common room after everyone had gone to bed.

they talked about anya, their visions, the war firenze alluded to, lessons, ways to get at umbridge, what they think the future'd turn into, and if everything didn't go to shit, what'd they'd like to do after leaving hogwarts. usually, the talks would end in them falling asleep on the couch by the fire.

meanwhile, as the teachers and hermione persisted in reminding them, the o.w.l.s were drawing ever nearer. all the fifth years were suffering from stress to some degree, but hannah abbott became the first to receive a calming draught from madam pomfrey after she burst into tears during herbology and sobbed that she was too stupid to take exams and wanted to leave school now.

if it had not been for the d.a. lessons, elara thought she would have been relatively unhappy. she sometimes felt that she was living for the hours she spent in the room of requirement, working hard but thoroughly enjoying herself at the same time, swelling with pride as she looked around at her fellow d.a. members and saw how far they had come. indeed, elara sometimes wondered how umbridge was going to react when all the members of the d.a. received "outstanding" in their defense against the dark arts o.w.l.s.

"we're finally going to practice the patronus charm today," said elara jovially, clapping her hands together.

they cheered as everybody had been very keen to practice.

"thanks to multiple requests from fred, george, and rori, i'll cast a patronus, but mainly so you can see what they look like, the incantation, and the wand movement."

elara drew her wand and focused on her favorite memory. christmas day was the first in her mind. getting adopted, apologizing to the long bottoms, harry finally confessing he fancied her too, and her first kiss. an undeniable smile spread across her face.

"expecto patronum!"

a large and powerful hungarian horntail erupted from the tip of her wand. it flew around the room of requirement, opening its mouth to breath silvery fire. everyone ooh'd and stared at the magnificent patronus until it finally came to a stop at elara. the horntail bowed its head and dissipated.

"your patronus is unique to you," said elara. "it'll reflect your dreams and character traits, but most importantly, it'll keep you safe from dementors."

everyone was quiet. no one dared to speak in fear they miss important details.

"all right everyone, stand up, find a spot, and we'll begin."

harry sidled up at elara's side as everyone shuffled around to begin.

"so they listen to you, but not me," said harry grumpily, but he was smiling.

"i am kind of terrifying," said elara, nudging harry's side. she sighed. "i wish it could be like this forever."

"i do too," said harry.

elara planted quick kiss on his cheek and stepped forward, "to conjure a patronus, you need to focus on a happy memory. the more powerful the memory, the more effective the patronus."

"what did you think of, lara?" shouted aurora.

"i wonder what yours might be, rori," elara fired back, and aurora turned red. "all right, does everyone have a memory in mind?"

there were murmurs of affirmation across the room. elara smiled.

"a patronus is incredibly difficult magic — don't be disappointed if you don't get it the first few tries, however, since there is no immediate threat, it may be easier to conjure one.

"the incantation is, repeat after me, expecto patronum."

"expecto patronum."

elara clapped her hands together.

"good! now, just point your wand, focus on your chosen memory, and repeat those words. if you need help, just ask harry or me."

they set to focus on casting the patronuses. no one had immediate success. the first person to cast a corporeal patronus was the unassuming clover knight, who's lioness patronus astounded everyone in the room. ginny followed soon after, with a brilliant mare patronus.

elara kept reminding them, producing a patronus in the middle of a brightly lit classroom when they were not under threat was very different to producing it when confronted by something like a dementor.

"oh, don't be such a killjoy," said cho brightly, watching her silvery swan-shaped patronus soar around the room of requirement during their last lesson before easter. "they're so pretty!"

"they're not supposed to be pretty, they're supposed to protect you," said harry patiently when he saw elara scowl. "what we really need is a boggart or something; that's how lara and i learned, we had to conjure a patronus while the boggart was pretending to be a dementor —"

"but that would be really scary!" said lavender, who was shooting puffs of silver vapor out of the end of her wand. "and i still — can't — do it!" she added angrily.

elara sailed over to her. she placed a hand on lavender's wand, pushing it downwards slightly.

"you're doing better than i did," said elara soothingly. "anger won't produce anything. you've got to think of a really, really happy memory."

"well..." began lavender slowly, "i had lots of fun at the yule ball..."

"why don't you try that?"

"okay — " lavender knitted her eyebrows together, "expecto patronum!"

a bunny that looked eerily like her old pet, binky, erupted from the tip of her wand.

"i've done it! i've done it!" lavender shouted gleefully, staring fondly at her patronus.

neville was having trouble too. his face was screwed up in concentration, but only feeble wisps of silver smoke issued from his wand tip.

"you've got to think of something happy," elara reminded him.

"i'm trying," said neville miserably, who was trying so hard his round face was actually shining with sweat.

"there must be something — "

"lara, i think i'm doing it!" yelled seamus, who had been brought along to his first ever d.a. meeting by aspen and dean. "look — ah — it's gone. . . . but it was definitely something hairy, lara!"

hermione's patronus, a shining silver otter, was gamboling around her.

"they are sort of nice, aren't they?" she said, looking at it fondly.

the door of the room of requirement opened and then closed again; elara looked around to see who had entered, but there did not seem to be anybody there. it was a few moments before she realized that the people close to the door had fallen silent. next thing she knew, something was tugging at her robes somewhere near the knee. she looked down and saw, to her very great astonishment, dobby the house-elf peering up at her from beneath his usual eight hats.

"hi, dobby!" said harry cheerfully.

"what are you — what's wrong?" said elara.

for the elf's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. the members of the d.a. closest to elara and harry had fallen silent now: everybody in the room was watching dobby. the few patronuses people had managed to conjure faded away into silver mist, leaving the room looking much darker than before.

"harry potter, sir, elara tonks, miss . . ." squeaked the elf, trembling from head to foot, "harry potter, sir, elara tonks, miss . . . dobby has come to warn you . . . but the house-elves have been warned not to tell . . ."

he ran headfirst at the wall: elara, who had plenty experience of dobby's habits of self-punishment, made to seize him, but dobby merely bounced off the stone, cushioned by his eight hats. hermione and a few of the other girls let out squeaks of fear and sympathy.

"what's happened, dobby?" harry asked, grabbing the elf's tiny arm and holding him away from anything with which he might seek to hurt himself.

"harry potter . . . she . . . she . . ."

dobby hit himself hard on the nose with his free fist: elara seized that.

"who's 'she,' dobby?" said elara.

but she thought he knew — surely only one "she" could induce such fear in dobby? the elf looked up at them, slightly cross-eyed, and mouthed wordlessly.

"umbitch?" asked elara, horrified.

dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head off harry's knees; elara held him at bay.

"what about her? dobby — she hasn't found out about this — about us — about the d.a.?"

she read the answer in the elf's stricken face. his hands held fast by elara and harry, the elf tried to kick himself and fell to the floor.

"is she coming?" harry asked quietly.

dobby let out a howl, and began beating his bare feet hard on the floor. "yes, harry potter, yes!"

harry straightened up and looked around at the motionless, terrified people gazing at the thrashing elf. its okay, elara thought, harry has a plan. he always has a plan.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" harry bellowed. "RUN!"

well —

they all pelted toward the exit at once, forming a scrum at the door, then people burst through; elara could hear them sprinting along the corridors and hoped they had the sense not to try and make it all the way to their dormitories. it was only ten to nine, if they just took refuge in the library or the owlery, which were both nearer —

"harry, lara, come on!" shrieked hermione from the center of the knot of people now fighting to get out.

elara scooped up dobby, who was still attempting to do himself serious injury, and ran with the elf in her arms to join the back of the queue with harry.

"dobby — this is an order — get back down to the kitchen with the other elves, and if she asks you whether you warned me, lie and say no!" said elara. "and i forbid you to hurt yourself!" she added, dropping the elf as she and harry made it over the threshold at last and slamming the door behind them.

"thank you, elara tonks!" squeaked dobby, and he streaked off.

elara glanced left and right, the others were all moving so fast that she caught only glimpses of flying heels at either end of the corridor before they vanished. elara grabbed harry's arm and they started to run right.

"i've got an idea — " said elara, out of breath.

"what — "

he had no time to respond as elara had pushed him into the wall and changed her hair into a shiny platinum blonde.

"just go along with it," whispered elara, casting a look over her shoulder.

"okay."

she pressed her lips on his. the ruse didn't work well however, as someone made a loud retching noise and yanked them apart.

"merlin, potter, would it kill you to snog my cousin in a more concealed place? i don't ever need to hear that!"

"five galleons to watch, draco," snipped elara.

"i was going to let you off, lara, but for that — hey, professor — PROFESSOR! i've got two!"

"god, what did you have for breakfast this morning? carnation instant bitch?"

umbridge came bustling around the far corner, breathless but wearing a delighted smile.

"it's them!" she said jubilantly at the sight of harry and elara. "excellent, draco, excellent, oh, very good — fifty points to slytherin! i'll take them from here. . . . come along, you two!"

"don't open any suspicious packages you may receive in the near future, dear cousin of mine," sneered elara as she glared at draco.

elara had never seen umbridge looking so happy. "draco, you hop along and see if you can round up anymore of them, draco," she said. "tell the others to look in the library — anybody out of breath — check the bathrooms, miss parkinson can do the girls' ones — off you go — and you two," she added in her softest, most dangerous voice, as draco walked away. "you can come with me to the headmaster's office."

she grabbed harry's arm and made to touch elara.

"touch me and i'll sue," said elara indifferently. she began heading towards the headmaster's office, trying desperately to fight the smile on her face.

they were at the stone gargoyle within minutes. elara wondered how many of the others had been caught. she thought of ron — mrs. weasley would kill him — and of how hermione would feel if she was expelled before she could take her o.w.l.s. and it had been seamus's very first meeting . . . and neville had been getting so good. . . .

"fizzing whizbee," sang umbridge, and the stone gargoyle jumped aside, the wall behind split open, and they ascended the moving stone staircase. they reached the polished door with the griffin knocker, but umbridge did not bother to knock, she strode straight inside, still holding tight to elara and harry.

the office was full of people. dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his expression serene, the tips of his long fingers together. professor mcgonagall stood rigidly beside him, her face extremely tense. cornelius fudge, minister of magic, was rocking backward and forward on his toes beside the fire, apparently immensely pleased with the situation. kingsley shacklebolt and a tough-looking wizard elara did not recognize with very short, wiry hair were positioned on either side of the door like guards, and the freckled, bespectacled form of percy weasley hovered excitedly beside the wall, a quill and a heavy scroll of parchment in his hands, apparently poised to take notes.

elara glared so magnificently at percy that he seemed to shrink backwards.

the portraits of old headmasters and mistresses were not shamming sleep tonight. all of them were watching what was happening below, alert and serious. as elara and harry entered, a few flitted into neighboring frames and whispered urgently into their neighbors' ears.

harry pulled himself free of umbridge's grasp as the door swung shut behind them. cornelius fudge was glaring at elara and harry with a kind of vicious satisfaction upon his face.

"well," he said. "well, well, well . . ."

elara replied with a glare more magnificent and malevolent than the one she threw at percy. "they were heading back to gryffindor tower," said umbridge. there was an indecent excitement in her voice, the same callous pleasure elara had heard as she watched professor trelawney dissolving with misery in the entrance hall. "the malfoy boy cornered them."

"that's incorrect, actually — " said elara, pretending she was offended. "we were just having a nice sn — stroll!"

harry coughed.

"did he, did he?" said fudge, disregarding elara's statement. "i must remember to tell lucius. well, potter, tonks . . . i expect you know why you are here?"

"yeah — no," said harry.

"i am utterly and absolutely bemused as to why my presence was requested here," said elara formally.

"i beg your pardon?" said fudge.

"i said — "

"no," said harry, firmly.

"you don't know why you are here?"

"no, we don't," said harry.

fudge looked incredulously from elara and harry to professor umbridge; elara took advantage of his momentary inattention to steal a quick look at dumbledore, who gave the carpet the tiniest of nods and the shadow of a wink.

"so you have no idea," said fudge in a voice positively sagging with sarcasm, "why professor umbridge has brought you both to this office? you are not aware that you have broken any school rules?"

"i was unaware there were school rules against young love," said elara sarcastically.

"there's a ministry decree against the proximity of boys and girls being closer than two feet," amended fudge angrily.

"i'm not sure what century you're stuck in, minister, but the gay students of this school are still laughing — "

"so it's news to you, is it," said fudge, his voice now thick with anger, "that an illegal student organization has been discovered within this school?"

"who would ever want to defy the ministry?" said elara, pulling off a pretty great concerned look. "with all the good you're doing — "

"yes, it is," said harry, hoisting an unconvincing look of innocent surprise onto his face.

"i think, minister," said umbridge silkily from beside him, "we might make better progress if i fetch our informant."

"bitch," murmured elara. harry shook his head.

"yes, yes, do," said fudge, nodding, and he glanced maliciously at dumbledore as umbridge left the room. "there's nothing like a good witness, is there, dumbledore?"

"nothing at all, cornelius," said dumbledore gravely, inclining his head.

there was a wait of several minutes, in which elara used to stare at percy, then elara heard the door open behind her. umbridge moved past her into the room, gripping by the shoulder cho's curly-haired friend marietta, who was hiding her face in her hands.