Secrets, Lies and the Daily Prophet (Alt. Fifth Year Fic)

Chapter Twenty-One: Harry's Punishment

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Harry sat dazed and alone in his thoughts for a few minutes before Ron knocked on the wall.

"Hey, Harry. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Come on in."

"What did Cho want to talk to you about?"

Harry moved to close the compartment door.  "She wanted to know what happened to Cedric."

"What did you tell her?"

Harry sighed. "As much as I thought I could tell her. I left certain things out, but told her enough that she knows that I didn't just kill him so I could try to date her."

"Why would she think that?" asked Ron.

"Malfoy implied that. He stopped by here just to annoy the hell out of me."

"I'm glad we hexed him last time when we got the chance," Ron said bitterly.

"Yeah, well I don't know how smart that was, but he certainly deserved it."

The trolley witch came by and knocked on the glass door. Harry opened it and made purchases for them and for Hermione.

"I hope that meeting breaks up soon," Harry said.

"Oh, I've got to tell you this. Hermione stayed with us at the Burrow for the last three days. Her parents were at a dentist's convention and couldn't see her off to school. Anyway, I was afraid she'd be mad at me because of Winky. As it turned out, Hermione seemed totally cool with it. She talked with Winky almost non-stop the whole time. Then yesterday she told us that we needed to leave an extra hour early today because she needed to stop at a Muggle bookstore on the way. She used this strange machine which spit out Muggle paper money and she came out with a big bag of books," said Ron as he rolled his eyes. "Just what she needed more books! I can't believe she can even move that trunk of hers."

Hermione slid open the compartment door and smiled brightly at them.

"You seem awfully quiet. You weren't talking about me were you?"

"Ah, maybe just a little. Please sit down, there's some cauldron cakes over there that we saved for you," Harry said as he went to close the door again.

"It's hot in here, Harry. Can't we leave the door open or open a window?" Ron complained.

"Not yet, I have to talk to you two about something and I need to make sure no one overhears. I put a silencing charm on the door earlier."

"What's up?" Hermione asked.

"First of all, I need both of you to prove to me that you are really Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Tell me something that only we would know."

"Okay, we made a Polyjuice Potion in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom," said Hermione.

"Wormtail slept in my bed for three years," said Ron with disgust.

"Fred gave Dudley magical toffee last summer," said Harry. "I think that should satisfy everyone. Okay, now that I know both of you are who I thought you were, we're going to have to come up with a signal and some passwords. We need to be sure that when we first meet each other that we aren't talking to someone who's been Polyjuiced to look like us. The signal can be something simple. For instance Ron you could sniff and say 'umm' and Hermione maybe you could lick your lips and say, 'well' before you say anything else."