she and harry had been unable to tell ron and hermione about their lesson with dumbledore over breakfast for fear of being overheard, but they filled them in as they walked across the vegetable patch toward the greenhouses. the weekend's brutal wind had died out at last; the weird mist had returned and it took them a little longer than usual to find the correct greenhouse.

"wow, scary thought, the boy you-know-who," said ron quietly, as they took their places around one of the gnarled snargaluff stumps that formed this term's project, and began pulling on their protective gloves. "but i still don't get why dumbledore's showing you all this. i mean, it's really interesting and everything, but what's the point?"

"no idea," said harry, inserting a gum shield. "but he says it's all important and it'll help us defeat him."

"i think it's fascinating," said hermione earnestly. "it makes absolute sense to know as much about voldemort as possible. how else will you find out his weaknesses?"

"so how was slughorn's latest party?" elara asked her thickly through the gum shield.

"oh, it was quite fun, really," said hermione, now putting on protective goggles. "i mean, he drones on about famous ex-pupils a bit, and he absolutely fawns on mclaggen because he's so well-connected, but he gave us some really nice food and he introduced us to gwenog jones."

"gwenog jones?" said ron, his eyes widening under his own goggles. "the gwenog jones? captain of the holyhead harpies?"

"that's right," said hermione. "personally, i thought she was a bit full of herself, but —"

"quite enough chat over here!" said professor sprout briskly, bustling over and looking stern. "you're lagging behind, everybody else has started, and neville's already got his first pod!"

they looked around; sure enough, there sat neville with a bloody lip and several nasty scratches along the side of his face, but clutching an unpleasantly pulsating green object about the size of a grapefruit.

"okay, professor, we're starting now!" said ron, adding quietly, when she had turned away again, "should've used muffliato."

"no, we shouldn't!" said hermione at once, looking, as she always did, intensely cross at the thought of the half-blood prince and his spells. "well, come on . . . we'd better get going. . . ."

she gave the other two an apprehensive look; they all took deep breaths and then dived at the gnarled stump between them.

it sprang to life at once; long, prickly, bramblelike vines flew out of the top and whipped through the air. one tangled itself in hermione's hair, and elara beat it back with a pair of secateurs; harry succeeded in trapping a couple of vines and knotting them together; a hole opened in the middle of all the tentaclelike branches; elara plunged her arm bravely into this hole, which closed like a trap around her elbow; harry, ron, and hermione tugged and wrenched at the vines, forcing the hole to open again, and elara snatched her arm free, clutching in her fingers a pod just like neville's. at once, the prickly vines shot back inside, and the gnarled stump sat there looking like an innocently dead lump of wood.

"you know, i don't think i'll be having any of these in my garden when i've got my own place," said ron, pushing his goggles up onto his forehead and wiping sweat from his face.

"like you'd a garden," said elara amusedly and ron shot her a look.

"pass me a bowl," said hermione, holding the pulsating pod at arm's length; harry handed one over and she dropped the pod into it with a look of disgust on her face.

"don't be squeamish, squeeze it out, they're best when they're fresh!" called professor sprout.

"anyway," said hermione, continuing their interrupted conversation as though a lump of wood had not just attacked them, "slughorn's going to have a christmas party, you two, and there's no way you'll be able to wriggle out of this one because he actually asked me to check your free evenings, so he could be sure to have it on a night you can come."

elara and harry groaned. meanwhile, ron, who was attempting to burst the pod in the bowl by putting both hands on it, standing up, and squashing it as hard as he could, said angrily, "and this is another party just for slughorn's favorites, is it?"

"just for the slug club, yes," said hermione.

the pod flew out from under ron's fingers and hit the greenhouse glass, rebounding onto the back of professor sprout's head and knocking off her old, patched hat. elara and harry went to retrieve the pod; when they got back, hermione was saying, "look, i didn't make up the name 'slug club' —"

" 'slug club,' " repeated ron with a sneer worthy of draco. "it's pathetic. well, i hope you enjoy your party. why don't you try hooking up with mclaggen, then slughorn can make you king and queen slug —"

"we're allowed to bring guests," said hermione, who for some reason had turned a bright, boiling scarlet, "and i was going to ask you to come, but if you think it's that stupid then i won't bother!"

elara suddenly sat up straight, gaining immense interest in their conversation. harry seemed to wish he was across the castle grounds, far away from the conversation.

"you were going to ask me?" asked ron, in a completely different voice.

"yes," said hermione angrily. "but obviously if you'd rather i hooked up with mclaggen . . ."

there was a pause while harry continued to pound the resilient pod with a trowel.

"no, i wouldn't," said ron, in a very quiet voice.

kiss, kiss, kiss, elara chanted in her head over and over as harry missed the pod, hit the bowl, and shattered it.

"reparo," he said hastily, poking the pieces with his wand, and the bowl sprang back together again.

the crash, however, appeared to have awoken ron and hermione to elara's and harry's presence. hermione looked flustered and immediately started fussing about for her copy of flesh-eating trees of the world to find out the correct way to juice snargaluff pods; ron, on the other hand, looked sheepish but also rather pleased with himself.

"hand that over, ron," said hermione hurriedly. "it says we're supposed to puncture them with something sharp. . . ."

ron passed her the pod in the bowl; harry and elara both snapped their goggles back over their eyes and dived, once more, for the stump.

"dammit, harry," muttered elara.

"what?"

"they were so close to admitting, then we wouldn't have to deal with their sexual tension anymore."

"was it this bad when we were like this?"

"ginny did complain to me constantly. so did nymphie."

"gotcha!" yelled harry, pulling a second pod from the stump just as hermione and ron managed to burst the first one open, so that the bowl was full of tubers wriggling like pale green worms.

the rest of the lesson passed without further mention of slughorn's party. although elara and harry watched their two friends more closely over the next few days, ron and hermione did not seem any different except that they were a little politer to each other than usual. elara supposed she would just have to wait to see what happened under the influence of butterbeer in slughorn's dimly lit room on the night of the party. in the meantime, however, she had more pressing worries.

katie bell was still in st. mungo's hospital with no prospect of leaving, which meant that the promising gryffindor team harry had been training so carefully since september was one chaser short. harry kept putting off replacing katie in the hope that she would return, but their opening match against slytherin was looming, and elara had to nag him to finally accept that katie would not be back in time to play.

harry had cornered dean thomas after transfiguration one day. most of the class had already left, although several twittering yellow birds were still zooming around the room, almost all of hermione's creation; nobody else had succeeded in conjuring so much as a feather from thin air except for elara, who conjured one or two.

the only problem was ron.

it was well known that ron was an inconsistent player who suffered from nerves and a lack of confidence, and unfortunately, the looming prospect of the opening game of the season seemed to have brought out all his old insecurities. after letting in half a dozen goals, most of them scored by ginny, his technique became wilder and wilder, until he finally punched an oncoming demelza robins in the mouth.

"it was an accident, i'm sorry, demelza, really sorry!" ron shouted after her as she zigzagged back to the ground, dripping blood everywhere. "i just —"

"panicked," ginny said angrily, landing next to demelza and examining her fat lip. "you prat, ron, look at the state of her!"

"i can fix that," said elara, sliding beside the two girls, pointing her wand at demelza's mouth, and saying "episkey."

"and ginny, don't call ron a prat, you're not the captain of this team —" said harry, who had landed.

"well, you seemed too busy to call him a prat and i thought someone should —"

elara forced herself not to laugh.

"in the air, everyone, let's go. . . ."

elara understood little about quidditch, but she was aware this was a terrible practice.

"good work, everyone, i think we'll flatten slytherin," he said bracingly and the chasers and beaters left the changing room looking reasonably happy with themselves.

"i played like a sack of dragon dung," said ron in a hollow voice when the door had swung shut behind ginny.

"no, you didn't," said harry firmly. "you're the best keeper i tried out, ron. your only problem is nerves."

elara and harry kept up a relentless flow of encouragement all the way back to the castle, and by the time they reached the second floor, ron was looking marginally more cheerful. when elara pushed open the tapestry to take their usual shortcut up to gryffindor tower, however, they found themselves looking at dean and ginny, who were locked in a close embrace and kissing fiercely as though glued together.

"get a room, idiots!" yelled elara loudly, and they sprung apart.

"oi!" said ron angrily.

"what?" said ginny.

"i don't want to find my own sister snogging people in public!"

"this was a deserted corridor till you came butting in!" said ginny.

dean was looking embarrassed.

"er . . . c'mon, ginny," said dean, "let's go back to the common room. . . ."

"you go!" said ginny. "i want a word with my dear brother!"

dean left, looking as though he was not sorry to depart the scene.

"right," said ginny, tossing her long red hair out of her face and glaring at ron, "let's get this straight once and for all. it is none of your business who I go out with or what i do with them, ron —"

"yeah, it is!" said ron, just as angrily. "d'you think i want people saying my sister's a —"

"don't finish that sentence ron," warned elara, knowing full well both she and ginny would hex ron if that last word came flying out his mouth.

"a what?" shouted ginny, drawing her wand. "a what, exactly?"

"he doesn't mean anything, ginny —" said harry automatically.

"oh yes he does!" she said, flaring up at harry. "just because he's never snogged anyone in his life, just because the best kiss he's ever had is from our auntie muriel —"

"shut your mouth!" bellowed ron, bypassing red and turning maroon.

"no, i will not!" yelled ginny, beside herself. "i've seen you with phlegm, hoping she'll kiss you on the cheek every time you see her, it's pathetic! if you went out and got a bit of snogging done yourself, you wouldn't mind so much that everyone else does it!"

ron had pulled out his wand too; elara and harry stepped swiftly between them.

"you don't know what you're talking about!" ron roared, trying to get a clear shot at ginny around elara, who was now standing in front of ginny with her arms outstretched. "just because i don't do it in public — !"

ginny screamed with derisive laughter, trying to push elara out of the way.

"been kissing pigwidgeon, have you? or have you got a picture of auntie muriel stashed under your pillow?"

"you—"

a streak of orange light flew under elara's left arm and missed ginny by inches; harry pushed ron up against the wall.

"don't be stupid —"

"harry's snogged elara! elara's snogged harry!" shouted ginny, who sounded close to tears now. "and hermione snogged viktor krum, it's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, ron, and that's because you've got about as much experience as a twelve-year-old!"

and with that, she stormed away. harry quickly let go of ron; the look on his face was murderous. all three stood there, breathing heavily, until mrs. norris, filch's cat, appeared around the corner, which broke the tension.

"c'mon," said elara, as the sound of filch's shuffling feet reached their ears.

they hurried up the stairs and along a seventh-floor corridor. "oi, out of the way!" ron barked at a small girl who jumped in fright and dropped a bottle of toadspawn.

"d'you think hermione did snog krum?" ron asked abruptly, as they approached the fat lady.

"what?" said harry confusedly. "oh . . . er . . ."

"well — " said elara.

the honest answer was "yes," but neither wanted to give it. however, ron seemed to gather the worst from the looks upon their faces.

"dilligrout," he said darkly to the fat lady, and they climbed through the portrait hole into the common room.

none of them mentioned ginny or hermione again; indeed, they barely spoke that evening. elara and harry did, however, share their usual kiss before going to sleep in their respective beds (sometimes she'll stay in harry's dorm for the night but after what happened, they didn't dare anger ron further).

elara awoke next morning feeling temperamental, especially towards ron, but by midday she would have happily sat ron on fire as he was not only cold-shouldering ginny and dean, but also treating a hurt and bewildered hermione with an icy, sneering indifference. what was more, ron seemed to have become, overnight, as touchy and ready to lash out as the average blast-ended skrewt. elara and harry spent the day attempting to keep the peace between ron and hermione with no success; finally, hermione departed for bed in high dudgeon, and ron stalked off to the boys' dormitory after swearing angrily at several frightened first years for looking at him.

in a fit of built-up anger, she threw a quill up in the air and set it on fire as it fell down. it was burnt to ashes within seconds.

"i'm surprised you didn't set ron on fire today," said harry, who had watched the quill burnt.

"i wanted to," said elara roughly, throwing herself on the couch.

they were silent for a moment. the fire was warm and calmed elara down slightly. maybe it was because she had a newfound connection to fire, or maybe because it was beautiful yet so dangerous, she had come to love the flame. if she got stressed, she'd flick her fingers until a tiny, dancing flame appeared.

"i know you said you don't think you can do this, and i know all of this is so frustrating, but how are you ultimately feeling about our current situation?"

elara took a deep breath.

"that i did not sign up for this shit and if you think i'm going to save everyone, you are absolutely right."

to elara's dismay, ron's new aggression did not wear off over the next few days. worse still, it coincided with an even deeper dip in his keeping skills, which made him still more aggressive, so that during the final quidditch practice before saturday's match, he failed to save every single goal the chasers aimed at him, but bellowed at everybody so much that he reduced demelza robins to tears.

harry tried boosting ron's confidence all through dinner, but ron was too busy being grumpy and surly with hermione to notice. harry persisted in the common room that evening, but his assertion that the whole team would be devastated if ron left was somewhat undermined by the fact that the rest of the team was sitting in a huddle in a distant corner, clearly muttering about ron and casting him nasty looks. finally harry tried getting angry again in the hope of provoking ron into a defiant, and hopefully goal-saving, attitude, but this strategy did not appear to work any better than encouragement; Ron went to bed as dejected and hopeless as ever.

breakfast was the usual excitable affair next morning; the slytherins hissed and booed loudly as every member of the gryffindor team entered the great hall. elara looked around for teachers and threw the slytherin table her signature middle finger on game days.

the gryffindor table, a solid mass of red and gold, cheered as harry and ron approached. harry grinned and waved; ron grimaced weakly and shook his head; elara gave a rather awkward wave as she was sort of part of the team, but not really.

"cheer up, ron!" called lavender. "i know you'll be brilliant!"

ron ignored her.

"tea?" harry asked ron as they sat down. "coffee? pumpkin juice?"

"anything," said ron glumly, taking a moody bite of toast.

a few minutes later hermione, who had become so tired of ron's recent unpleasant behavior that she had not come down to breakfast with them, paused on her way up the table.

"how are you two feeling?" she asked tentatively, her eyes on the back of ron's head.

"fine," said harry, who was concentrating on handing ron a glass of pumpkin juice. "there you go, ron. drink up."