My Kingdom For A Dementor!
By: Starling and Dragon-sama
Unusual happenings in Snape's Potions dungeon. Will true love prevail? Will good triumph over evil? And what other strange things are brewing in the Great Hall?
It was a beautiful day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the famous Hogwarts trio was happily strolling through the corridors of their beloved school. But their contentment was to be short-lived, as they were heading for their most hated class: Potions.
Upon arriving in the dingy dungeon, the trio was greeted by the scowling face of Severus Snape, potions professor. As they were on time, he merely waved them to their seats and began the lesson.
"Today we are making the Deux-Ex-Machina potion. As it is a very advanced and complex potion, I do not expect any of you, except for the truly gifted," and here the greasy-haired professor gave his beloved Slytherin students a self-satisfied smirk, "to be able to complete this potion correctly. You will be graded on it, of course, and no accommodations will be given for any lack of intelligence. The instructions are clearly written on the board, so even the most dense of you should be able to follow directions. You have one hour to complete it. Begin," he snapped, gliding over to his desk and sitting down to correct papers.
Harry grumbled darkly as he began preparing his ingredients, adding them to his simmering cauldron. After a few minutes, a voice behind him asked, "Harry, can I borrow your scales? I forgot mine today, and I need to weigh these boar's eyeballs."
"Sure," Harry said pleasantly, turning to hand his scales to a smiling Ginny Weasley. He turned back to his potion, then stopped. He blinked and turned back around to regard the red-head with a confused expression. He opened his mouth to ask her why she was in his potions class, as she was a year below him, when he noticed Draco Malfoy drop something into her cauldron. Immediately the potion began to boil and froth, and Harry leapt to his feet.
"What did you do, Malfoy?" he demanded of the smirking Slytherin.
"Do?" Draco sneered. "I didn't do anything. Much." He laughed derisively.
Ginny watched on fearfully as Harry and Draco stared off. Harry looked about to kill the blond Slytherin boy, and Draco clearly would have loved to return the favor. But just then, Ginny's cauldron began to shake and rumble, and turned an ominous fiery red. She gasped and stepped back, shutting her eyes and feebly protecting her face with her arms as she heard the cauldron explode.
Draco had only a moment to react. He leapt in front of Ginny as the bubbling miasma blasted all around him, shielding her from the worst of the contents of the cauldron. When the noise died away, he stared down at Ginny who had fallen to the floor and was looking up at him with wide innocent eyes.
"Ginny..." he said, then his voice caught in his throat.
She stared up at him. "Draco," she said breathlessly.
Tears streaming down his face, Draco took her hand and helped her to her feet. "I never... realized how I've always loved you, and my little pranks were merely a display of hidden passion."
He drew her close and she leaned into him, sighing. "Oh, Draco," she whispered. "I never knew you felt that way. I forgive you because... because I love you too!"
Harry was gaping in utter astonishment, potion dripping down his face, wondering if he'd swallowed any of it. Ron leapt up beside him, shouting, "Malfoy! Get away from my sister!" In two strides he covered the distance between him and the crying Draco and lifted the shorter boy by the front of his robes.
"Ron! No!" Ginny cried in despair, futilely tugging at her brother's arm.
"Oh Ron," Draco bawled. "I'm so sorry all of the terrible things I have said to you. Ginny has shown me that being a muggle lover isn't so bad."
"Do you really mean it?" Ron asked, lowering the boy.
"With all my heart," Draco said, wiping his eyes on the shoulder of his potion-soaked robe.
"I... I'm sorry too!" Ron said, pulling Draco into a brotherly embrace. Harry took off his glasses and cleaned them, then put them back on. Nope. Ron and Draco were still hugging.
"Well anyone that Ron forgives," Hermione said graciously, "Can't be such a bad person."
"Thank you so much, guys," Draco blubbered. Ron set Draco at arms length, smiling warmly.
"Take care of my little sister," he said. Draco and Ginny beamed at him, then looked into each others eyes.
Snape stood up at the commotion, glowering darkly as his eyes flicked from the shattered cauldron that had blown up about 5 minutes ago, to the astonishingly friendly gathering of Slytherins and Gryffindors.
Snape strode towards them, starting to growl, "What is the meaning of--" but his foot slipped on a puddle of discarded potion and he began to fall, slowly, like a tall, thin tree. Overcoming the weirdness of the situation, Harry caught Snape with Seeker-like reflexes, helping the professor back on his feet.
"Are you okay Professor?" he asked. Snape burst into tears, throwing himself around Harry's neck.
"Oh Harry," he wept, "After all I've done to you, you still treat me like a human being! You're the only one who understands!" Snape sobbed unabashedly into Harry's shoulder while Harry frantically tried to dislodge the professor's greasy head from his general location. "I should never have let my old rivalry cloud my judgment of the truth! You are truly a remarkable, remarkable *sob* boy!"
"Pr--professor! Get a hold of yourself," Harry said, but the rest of the class began gathering around the broken man, patting him consolingly on the back and smiling at Harry. At last, Snape let himself be led back to his desk.
"You may have the rest of the day off!" the professor cried joyfully. "Or you may stick around if you would like some of my special recipe for hot chocolate and..." here he looked at Harry with misty eyes, "Harry, I would like to look into adopting you as my son!" Harry broke into a dead run out of the classroom, leaving a trail of dust behind.
The Great Hall was empty since everyone else was in class. Harry gasped breathlessly, trying to make sense of it all. Was it the potion? But why wasn't he affected? Why was everyone acting so strangely? It was like a bad fanf--dream. Just then, a bell tolled throughout the school and the rest of the Potions class came out into the Great Hall, all carrying steaming mugs of hot chocolate. Draco and Ginny had their arms wrapped around each other and were sharing from the same cup. Hermione was patting Draco on the back, saying, "You're such a great guy, Draco!"
"Aw, I'm not that great!" Draco said demurely.
"Yes you are!" Ron said fervently. Harry gagged.
Just then Lucius Malfoy burst in through the front doors, dark robes billowing. They slammed shut behind him from the force of his entry. "What's this I hear about you and a Weasley, Draco?"
"Father, I..." Draco said, clutching Ginny protectively. "I love Ginny! She is the light of my life, the spark of my inspiration. She is my everything, my whole world! I love you too father, but I would defend her to the death!"
"You're so romantic," Ginny and Hermione said as one, sighing dramatically.
Lucius suddenly clutched his head, falling to his knees.
"Father, what is wrong?" Draco asked, concerned.
"Ah, at last," Lucius said looking up with kind eyes, "I have been freed from Voldemort's control!"
"But how father?" Draco asked, starry-eyed.
"Your love and devotion gave me the strength and resolve to break the Imperius curse Voldemort had cast on me for all these years! Son..." his eyes teared up. "I had almost lost hope."
"Father..." Draco said, looking at his father with new respect.
Ginny put a hand on Lucius's shoulder, looking lovingly up into his face. "May I call you... Daddy?" she asked, squeezing Draco's hand behind her.
Lucius burst into tears. "Of course!" he sobbed, pulling his son and Ginny close into an embrace. "I give you my blessing, now that at last it is mine to give!"
Everyone began cheering, filling the hall with sound. Harry in the meantime was trying to edge towards some exit or egress that was not blocked by cheering students, which at this moment included only the front door. The front doors burst open again, slamming shut behind the man who just entered. It was Cornelius Fudge.
"What's all this? What's all this?" he demanded nervously, turning his bowler hat in his hands. "Lucius!" he called, "I was looking for you. I need to discuss... what's wrong, man?"
Lucius threw himself at Fudge's feet. "Oh... it was horrible. I have been forced to be a puppet of Voldemort for all these past years! He made me do terrible things, and oh the consequences we now face. Fudge, my friend," He was now standing, holding Fudge at arm's length. "Voldemort has risen again."
Cornelius gasped. "You're not serious!"
"No, that's me," Sirius said coming in beside Dumbledore. "Uh... oops," he said, popping back into his animagus form.
"It's all so true," Lucius said, struggling to keep his composure in the wake of such tragic events. Cornelius burst into tears.
"I have been so wrong!" he said, "Never would I suspect such a terrible thing. But now my eyes have been opened, and I'm so sorry I didn't see this before!"
Cornelius and Lucius patted each other on the back, sobbing into each others robes. Harry's eyes almost bugged out, and he made a strangled noise in his throat, which caught the attention of Cornelius.
"Harry!" Cornelius said congenially. "I never should have doubted you when you told me Lucius was forced to serve under Voldemort."
"Uh... I never..." Harry sputtered. He'd said Lucius served willingly, what was all this about Malfoy being under the Imperius curse? Something about the whole scenario seemed horribly wrong. Fudge wasn't listening, and he grabbed Harry's wrist, dragging him along with Lucius up to Dumbledore.
"Ah Cornelius," Dumbledore said with a grandfatherly smile. He continued down the heads, "Harry, Lucius. What seems to be the er... problem?" He looked extra long at the weepy Lucius.
Caught between sniffles and sobs, Lucius managed to tell his entire story to Dumbledore, who listened with a grave air about him. The wizard seemed about to speak, when the front doors suddenly burst open again and who should come scampering through but Peter Pettigrew, the man who truly deserved the name 'Wormtail'. Harry opened his mouth to shout, but was cut off as Wormtail threw himself at Fudge's feet, tears brimming in his eyes.
"Minister, it was me," he wailed. "I was the Potter's secret keeper! I framed Sirius Black for the deaths of those thirteen people. I tried to keep it inside me, but such a terrible secret was too much to bear."
Cornelius looked down at him gravely, tears still staining his cheeks. "This indeed brings new light to the matter. As much as I hate to do it, I'm afraid you shall be sent straight to Azkaban," he said gesturing for Ministry members who just happened to be on hand to take the sobbing Pettigrew away. But as Peter was led sadly away, there was a popping noise as the black dog that had been seated quite calmly beside Dumbledore changed into Sirius Black!
"Wait!" Sirius said, holding up a restraining hand. The entire hall gasped. Harry looked ill. "Peter, are you truly regretful for the things you have done?"
"Yes, but I deserve what I get," Peter said, resigned to his fate.
"No Peter, James and Lily would forgive you. So I can forgive you," Sirius said, opening his arms. Peter ran into his old friend's embrace and the two of them dissolved into tears.
"Now wait just a minute!" Harry shouted angrily, but the cheering of the hall drowned out his words. Dumbledore beamed at them all as if nothing could have made him happier. It was truly a great day for Hogwarts.
The front doors burst open yet again, and Voldemort and his legion of Deatheaters stormed into the hall. Screams and panicked cries filled the hall as Cornelius finally released Harry's arm. Voldemort's red-eyed glare took in all the tear-stained faces, the sobbing Wormtail, the weeping Sirius, the sniffling Fudge, the crying Lucius.
"So," he hissed, "It comes down to this. Have you all betrayed me then?"
"No, Tom," Dumbledore said sternly, "You have only betrayed yourself."
"Don't call me that!" he snapped angrily at Dumbledore, pulling out his wand.
But then Snape stood up. "Do not deny your true self Tom," he said.
"Tom!" Lucius cried openly, "All can be forgiven if you but forgive yourself."
"I'm sorry, Tom," Wormtail said petulantly, "I just wanted to be your friend."
Voldemort, bane of wizards across the land, Lord of the Death Eaters, Heir of Slytherin burst into helpless, sobbing tears.
"I can't do it anymore," he wept. "All these past fifty years I have tried to find the flaws in others, but it was my own poor heart I was hurting!"
"Repent!" Fudge shouted triumphantly, "And thou shalt be saved," he ended in a low and forceful growl.
"I do! I do! What about you guys?" Voldemort said looking back at his Deatheaters. Instantly all the Deatheaters burst into tears, patting each other on the back and saying to Voldemort, "Let's just be friends." "Can't we all just... get along?" "Voldemort, you're so inspiring!"
"Call me Tom now," Voldemort smiled, letting the tears drip down his narrow, sallow cheeks.
"Three cheers for Tom!" somebody shouted. Everyone in the hall cheered in a great roar. And again, and again. Just then...
Dumbledore burst out sobbing. "I'm so sorry, all the evils I've done you people! All the innocent lives destroyed by my... oh wait. I forgot. I'm good. Never mind."
The cheering once again filled the Great Hall. But one raven haired boy was not around to hear. It seemed he had found some way to escape.
On a moonlit, misty ledge, dead trees creaking in the chilling wind, a single young figure threw back his black cloak dramatically. Harry Potter bore an intense and cunning gleam in his eye as he smiled heartlessly. "Well someone's got to be evil," he rasped, "It might as well be me." He threw his head back and laughed cruelly into the night.
Author's Notes (keeping original A/Ns):
*Oh my god, it's J.K. Rowling! Run!
^ Draco *wham* I'm sorry, *wham* *sob* I'm sorry Draco *wham* I'm *sob* sorry *wham* Everyone! *wham* I'm so sorry for mangling you like *sob* that! *Wham!* ... Owie.
*So Dragon-sama.... you okay?
^ ... Owie.
*Don't worry, I'll fix that. Avada--
^ *Smashes fist into co-author's face* I have a head ache now, so be good.
**pops nose back into place* Well thanks to my co-author's insistence, we did another fanfic together.
^ Yep! Oh, and I believe you spelled lept wrong! I should know! The stupid spell checker gets me on it every time!
*I sp...sp...spelled it wrong? NOOOOOOOOOOO! *rips apart plush gerbils*
^ AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!! I have finally caught Starling in a spelling error! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! *Gloats as mysterious wind whips hair back dramatically*
**flips frantically through a dictionary* left, lemon, length, leopard... there's no 'lept'.
^ AHAHA--What?
*It's... it's... it's L-E-A-P-T! Right there! Boo-ya.
^ Damn. *mutters* Must of remembered wrong.
*Anyway, this story was particularly difficult to write. It's hard to type when your sides are splitting with laughter.
^ I don't know, I found it a bit easier to type than 'Harry's Last Day at Hogwarts'. Maybe its me?
*We'll let our readers decide that. Until next time, ta!
^ You stole my line! 'Till insanity strikes again! Later.