Hermione walked after the two stiff-backed wizards to the Headmaster's office. She hovered between righteous fury at being thwarted in her attempts to free Dobby and dread … the elf had seemed in such pain.

It had all seemed so cut and dried – all she had studied in history classes, everything her teachers in the muggle school, all her parents had ever said made it clear. Slavery was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Even the little mentioned in History of Magic books said that wizards abhored enslavement – too many of their kind had been enslaved by ancient kings and sometimes by each other. One of the few really good reasons they were so wary of muggles. So why did they seem to not mind the house-elves' plight? It made no sense.

They arrived to the office. The Headmaster sat behind his desk. Hermione stood in front of it with an unrepentant tilt to her chin and Lucius stood tensely to one side of the desk.

Lucius cursed himself for ever thinking of keeping his wand in his cane. There was no way to take it out to hex the obnoxious brat without the Headmaster noticing it. Lucius had long ago gotten the hang of wordless spells – he could do most spells needed in a duel silently – but he needed his wand. He glumly ran through the very short list of spells he could do wandlessly, they were mostly very necessary ones – accio, lumos and alohamora. So to do anything really nasty in front of Albus it had to be with a wand and silently – and he couldn't pull his wand.

Dammit.

"Miss Granger … apparently we have underestimated your concern for the house-elves. I thought – or perhaps hoped – that your classmates had explained about them by now. Did you simply feel they were mistaken or did you think they were lying to you?" Albus' voice had started off gently enough, but had a definate edge by the end.

"I've heard their 'explanations', but I'm afraid it still sounds like enslavement, to me." Hermione answered primly, hoping she didn't end up in worse trouble. "I thought they just didn't want to give up their … servants … if they had to admit it was enslavement."

Albus steepled his fingers and thought hard, while Lucius tried to figure out if he could cast with the wand still in the cane – but then he wouldn't be able to aim properly …

Albus finally leaned forward and looked at Hermione closely. "Do you approve of prisons, then, Miss Granger? The only alternative for most serious crimes in both the muggle world and the wizarding world is death or imprisonment. A 'work release bond' like the house-elves have is quite light in comparison, I would think."

Hermione leaned back, alarmed - she had only thought of freeing the house-elves – not that imprisonment or execution would be the alternative. "But their crimes could not be that bad … what could they do to wizards that would be so bad …?"

Lucius had been exploring the idea of sending a hex through the wand and cane. It would have to go through them and then essentially go sideways to hit the bushy-haired idiot, but with enough power behind it, it could be done … wait … what did she say?

"You think we enacted a justice spell over trivialities?" Lucius barked angrily.

"Well, you helped Madame Rosmerta 'capture' the house-elf she has now over a messed up pub." Hermione barked right back at him.

Lucius was momentarily speechless at her gall. Albus was impressed by how unimpressed she seemed by Malfoy Senior … it was most likely because she was unaware of exactly what Lucius was capable of, of course.

"Rosmerta's elf was not bound because of damage to the pub – though that was significant of course. It was because of the numerous injuries to the patrons that caused it to be closed for their safety … and most of all because her Chef, Renee was repeatedly attacked and injured – having your entire collection of meat cleavers flung at you at once is considered attempted murder … and justice magic treats it as such."

Lucius was hissing a bit by the end, and had enough built up anger to force the spell he had chosen through the layers of wood surrounding his wand and even got it to bend and aim toward the boorish muggleborn. Luckily the hex left no trail and hit her with no evidence left behind. Lucius even managed to calm a bit after this success.

"Gremlins … once they target a place do not leave until they have destroyed it. Sometimes wizards just evacuate a place until the gremlin has left, but if an injury or death has occurred the only thing they can really do is call on the justice magic – it is the only spell we've found to stop them." Albus said gently.

"Oh," Hermione hesitated. She hadn't really thought the house-elves had killed someone to end up in the servitude they endured. "What had Dobby done to deserve this 'justice'?" She asked.

Albus closed his eyes and groaned a bit. Lucius immediately reacted with renewed anger … wishing now he'd used a more vicious hex.

"It's considered very rude to ask what one's house-elf is guilty of." Lucius answered icily. At Hermione's very confused expression he added. "It's essentially like casually asking, "Who's dead in your family?" since so many of the house-elves are in service because of a death."

"Oh," Hermione said once again. This was more complicated than she had thought. She wasn't quite sure what to ask, now. "Perhaps I could read the book Mr. Malfoy has lent me and ask Professor Flitwick any further questions?" She said in a small voice, hoping to escape.

Albus sighed, "Lucius, if I might have a few moments with Miss Granger … I think we will be done."

Lucius heard the dismissal and nodded, "I should be speaking with Professor Pucey, anyhow." He said, making for the door. He hoped the hex didn't start showing symptoms until he was well gone from the office.

Albus looked at Hermione seriously once Lucius was gone.

"Miss Granger … I need you to listen very carefully." Albus leaned forward, willing the girl to understand. She was smart – brilliant really, but blinkered in her rather black and white view of the world. "You have been favoured with a great gift – magic. This gift comes with a price – misuse of magic comes with the promise of a severe judgement. Most magical beings are aware of this … including gremlins. The fact that justice magic worked on gremlins means they understand the concept of right and wrong. Magic can be extremely rewarding ... and equally extreme in punishment."

Hermione gulped a bit and nodded slowly. The Headmaster was considered to be wise and just – he was also the Head of the Wizengamot. If he said the servitude of the house-elves was warranted … she would have to accept it, though she did not like it. She wished he had made it clear months ago … as it was she'd had to try to make a decision based on information from Slytherins, purebloods and friends of theirs that were likely to have been brainwashed by them – like Dean and Seamus.

Albus watched closely, not sure if her sudden agreement was real or not.

"I want to also make sure you understand that there are some insults that those that were raised in the wizarding world will not tolerate. The word 'enslaver' is one of them." Albus said this gravely, while Hermione just looked confused. "I know dueling has been mostly gone from the muggle world. It is no longer as common here as it used to be, as well. Certain injuries, wrongs and insults can allow a wizard to call for justice by means of a duel."

"Mr. Malfoy can't challenge me to a duel … I'm just a student." Hermione squeaked in horror.

"No, but according to dueling law if an underage wizard causes grave injury or insult one of their parents must stand in as their champion in the duel … usually their father or brother." Albus hoped he wasn't scaring her into fleeing back to the muggle world. "To be honest, there is little point to Lucius demanding your father face him for your insult … as he has no magic. Though there are wizards who would not care if he was defenceless." Albus carefully watched her now pale face.

"B-but he could just refuse to participate ..." Hermione sputtered. "...couldn't he?" She added uncertainly.

"Of course … but you must understand that much of our world is controlled by rigid adherance to traditions and loyalty to family values. A refusal would reflect poorly on your family – and you. That refusal would likely follow you for years." Albus held up his hand to stop her sputtered protests at 'such backwardness'.

"Our world is made of of people who can do amazing feats – or horrendous ones … then they can cover their tracks, or erase memories of the events … and pop half a world away – essentially leaving no trace of their actions. Dark Lords like Grindelwald … and Voldemort, as well as many others arrive at dismally regular intervals. We are fewer in number than muggles, but what there are of us is more difficult to control. Governments and ministries are not enough, Miss Granger – after all governments and even coutries come and go. Traditions – even the ones you don't understand as yet – they are in place for a reason - to keep wizards from creating total chaos. Duels may seem barbaric – but the 'one on one' battles have often prevented bloody feuds or even wars in the past."

"But they would expect a man with no magic to face a wizard?" Hermione asked in fear.

"No, he could make an apology – tradition would demand that Mr Malfoy accept an apology." Albus answered. "Particularly since your father has no magic – continuing the duel would make him a pariah."

Albus sighed, but could see the wheels spinning in her mind, now. Perhaps Lucius was right - some sort of class on wizarding world customs needed to be reintroduced. The one that had been removed from the curriculum had been hopelessly dry, boring … and worst of all – terribly condescending to the muggleborns who needed it the most.

He sighed, when he made this announcement, Lucius would smirk … Severus would give him that 'I told you so' look. Even Minerva would be rolling her eyes and sighing in exaggerated relief.

Albus took out his favourite never-out quill – an old, discarded feather of Fawkes' that wrote with bright orange ink that sparkled nicely - and wrote down a list of books – on dueling traditions, wizard etiquette and a history book that explained many of the more important customs.

"Some of these might be useful, if you are interested in furthering your knowledge of the world you are now living in." Albus said gently. "And I'm afraid you are going to be joining Mr Longbottom and Mr Zabini in their last two weeks of detention with Mr Filch."

Hermione had perked up upon receiving the list of books, and then wilted at hearing her punishment. She nodded in understanding and made her way to the door – and started itching at her left arm, and then her back. Must be the new student shirt she had bought.

Albus frowned upon seeing the sudden scratching and glanced at Fawkes. The bird cocked his head and trilled the phoenix equivalent of a chuckle. Albus shook his head. Well what could he expect – no retaliation from a Malfoy?

Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z

Tom sat on a stone wall that bordered Hogwart's grounds – separating it from the Dark Forest and some fields that surrounded part of the grounds. The fields had been let go over the past few decades – almost engulfed by the forest. The past summer they'd been cleared 'to make a yew maze' for reasons no one would name. The maze had been planted and the yew had spells to encourage very rapid growth.

He watched as Hazelette winged her way across the maze. It wasn't so tall as yet that a person could hide effectively from a dragon flying overhead. Hazelette had had no difficulty picking up Black's scent in the maze the very day they'd arrived to help guard Harry. Black had been using the partially grown maze to sneak close to the castle grounds, they assumed.

Within days she had sniffed out his cave and had said he'd been exploring the nearby forest and grounds on a regular basis. She would lose the scent at times and say that there had been 'a dog there', but all dogs smelled alike to her, and she could not track him well, because there were dogs around the forest a lot – Fang and several dogs from Hogsmeade frequented that part of the forest.

Tom – as well as Severus and Lucius had been astounded at the number of secret passages Lupin knew – five in all, including the one that Ginny had shown everyone. All of the passages went to Hogsmeade – though one was caved in, like Ginny's tunnel and one of them had two openings – trap doors, really that opened along the edge of the trail from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade. These they had trapped in case Black tried to use them as a hideout. One of the alarms had sounded a day or so later, indicating Black had tried to get in – either to get into the castle or to use it as a hideout.

Aurors led by Hugo attempted to track Black from there, but eventually Black had apparated away, leaving the trail cold.

Hazellette winged back to land by Tom. There was a cleared area above the maze. This had a large rocky outcropping that a bunch of wizards and witches from the ministry were working on when weather permitted. They were secretive about the reason for it, but it looked suspiciously like something for dragons – considering the massive chains they were securing inside it. There were spectator stands being built around it, and since Severus and Lucius had been muttering about a Tri-Wizard tournament for months... Not difficult to put 2 and 2 together.

Meanwhile Hazellette got to try out the place and critique it for comfort – from a dragon's point of view. When Tom had first told the workers what she had said, they had looked at him like he'd spoken in Gobbleygook. In spite of the fact that most well-read wizards knew that the older dragons spoke to humans mentally and were, in fact, quite wise … wizards always seemed to act stunned the first time a message was relayed to them from a dragon.

Hazellette cheerfully rambled about her latest flyover. "... I could smell him here and there – but much of it seemed to be old scent – we need a good rain to get rid of the old, so I can get a line on fresh scent. I seem to find a big concentration over by the east side of that one hill on the other side of the acromantula's … hope they don't make a meal of him before we can catch him … reminds me of my second rider when we visited Sumatra to check on a subspecies of Chinese fireball called a sumatran scarlet … not sure it was that different, really … but we took a side trip to Borneo and they we showing us their new spiders … then a bunch of muggles stumbled onto them … let me tell you that was a mess ..."

Tom let the disjointed monologue flow over him, Yvane enjoyed listening to her and it was increasingly obvious she was only a year or two from 'going to her next great adventure'. If tossing her deer to eat and listening to her rambling tales made her happy, Tom was pleased to do so.

And speaking of deer … he turned as Hagrid puffed up to them, carrying a dead deer over each shoulder. He had hesitant students trailing behind him. The fourth years – including Fred and George were herded forward by Heather Black, who was continuing to give information on Welsh Greens and reassuring them that Hazellette was totally safe.

Hazellette managed to wait until Hagrid tossed her the deer until she snatched greedily at them. She ate with typical dragon messiness, and a few of the students made faintly gagging noises. Cho Chang, in spite of having grown up with dragonkeepers on Lyonesse had never really gotten used to body parts flying around while dragons ate. Cho was definately looking a bit green.

Tom never tired of watching the students reactions the first time they saw a dragon. For some it was not a first view of dragons – but even they were a bit awestruck at seeing 'the famous Hazelette'.

Tom looked up in the sky – it was snowing lightly again – only a week until the Christmas break would begin. The weather was uncertain and there was to be a Quidditch match before the break started. Why did the school let students play in such horrible weather, he fretted?

Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z

Lucius had started itching soon after he had left the Headmaster's office and frowned. Why was he itching? He'd cast the poison ivy hex on the girl, not himself. He shrugged and continued to his rooms, likely the wool was just a bit scratchy.

After a few hours of increasing torment he fled to the dungeons to consult Severus. After reluctantly removing his shirt to show Severus the affected areas - his back and stomach - he explained the hex he'd cast and how he'd managed to do it in front of Albus without him realising it.

Then Lucius had to wait almost fifteen minutes before Severus stopped laughing.

"Ah, Lucius, what if he'd caught on ... imagine, doing time for hexing an underage muggleborn - with the poison ivy hex, no less?" Severus snickered.

"I don't understand why I'm itching." Lucius whined while he slathered on the ointment Severus finally produced.

"Don't you?" Severus sighed. "When you forced the spell to change direction - what you really did was split it - with the divided spell bending at 90 degree angles away from each other - one hitting her and one hitting you."

"Oh," Lucius muttered, he hadn't thought of that. Severus' knowledge of spell theory and spellcrafting always amazed him. He knew Severus had at one time even created some spells. He'd never understood why Severus had stopped.

"Well, I should probably 'just happen' to go up to the infirmary and see if Miss Granger is there, so I can assist." Severus said airily.

"You just want to snicker at her and make fun." Lucius accused with a sniff.

"You're just upset because you can't ... it would look too suspicious." Severus answered as he flooed away.

Lucius grumpily called for an elf to put ointment on his back. It was going to be a long three days waiting for the hex to wear off.

Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z

Harry and Draco gleefully eluded the bludgers the two Hufflepuff beaters were relentlessly bashing at them. Fred and George were never this brutal when they played during the summer. The Slytherin seeker, Vaisey was also under assault and dodging wildly while trying to keep track of Cedric.

Harry reluctantly admitted that the Hufflepuff team was the one to beat this year. Cedric was in his second year as Seeker and the twins had pulled out all the stops to keep their places as the best beaters that Hufflepuff had ever seen. Their keeper was pretty good as well, though the chasers were mediocre.

Draco and Harry made another goal while Flint drew the bludger's fire, and Flint managed to grab the quaffle on the other side of the goal, swung around the hoops like a comet and made a second fast goal, making the stands go crazy.

Severus and Lucius watched with smiles, trying to not look too smug while Sprout wrung her hands anxiously on the seats behind them. Dumbledore was clapping politely at all the goals, trying to not look like he was rooting for a particular team. Minerva looked glum - except for Oliver Wood, who would graduate this year, the Gryffindor team was looking rather mediocre. Ravenclaw had fielded Cho Chang as a seeker, but it was her first year and she didn't have much backup on her team.

It was Slytherin and Hufflepuff, therefore, battling for the Quidditch cup. This was the first game played between the two houses and it had been greatly anticipated. It was ill luck that the weather had become horrible, with a very wet snow being driven relentlessly by a fierce north wind. The teachers had cast a few wards to protect the spectators at least a bit, but the players were at the mercy of the weather. Poppy was praying for a quick end to the game before all the players got pneumonia.

Draco and Harry had taken the quaffle quite high on the pitch, after Fred and George managed to send both bludgers after them. They hoped to dive from a great height and lose them. Harry suddenly felt the horrible cold that heralded the arrival of dementors. Draco looked back when Harry's broom faltered and yelled at him.

"Harry, dementors! Five of them!" Draco screamed, but it was no use. Harry had already stiffened and was rolling off the broom while the dementors dove repeatedly to attack him. Draco dove after him, hearing the horrified cries from the stands. He'd seen his friend fall before and had been unable to help. There would be no miraculous transformation this time – not with dementors there.

Draco quickly drew even with Harry as he fell and grabbed an arm and managed to pull him half over the front of the broom, but that horribly unbalanced it, making it difficult to slow their descent at all.

Draco frantically pulled up on the handle, and was able to slowly pull out of the dive. But he could see it would not be quick enough – he couldn't level out the broom in time, or slow it enough.

This was going to be messy, he thought just before they hit the ground.

Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z

The teachers and Dumbledore watched in horror as the boys plummeted toward the ground. Albus drew his wand, trying to cast an Arresto Momentum, but the dementors and other players were in the way – blocking his casting. Severus and Lucius cast cushioning charms at the ground below the falling students, hoping it would be enough. The pair still hit the ground with sickening thuds.

They raced to the bodies and placed them carefully on stretchers after Poppy cast charms to immobilise them, in case of severe breaks and hovered them to the infirmary.

Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z~Z