Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or suggested references to the Harry Potter books. Like everybody else, I'm impressed with the story and can't help but imagine my own version to the ending.

Sorry it took so long, but I'm on spring break, so I figured this week I'd get in a chapter for everyone.…

Cat galloped down the hall, her shrill laugh echoing up into the rafters. As the vibrations rippled over stone and wood, it chilled, becoming a ghostly sound, with the swinging cords of dust that hung from every object.

Ginny smiled as the sound sent chills running down her spine, and she put a protective hand over her belly to see what the twin's reactions to the hollow sound would be. They shifted under her hand, and Ginny felt a little fist ball itself under the taut stomach. She sighed, rubbing soothingly, keeping an eye on Will and Cat.

Cat glanced ahead and noticed with pleasure a flock of pigeons pecking about in the sunlight that filtered through the hole in the roof. Holding her breath, she ran into the midst of them, then yelled "FLY, BIRDIES, FLY!"

After the initial surprise wore off, the birds lifted their wings, cooing and flapping in different directions. Cat laughed and spun with her arms outstretched and her head thrown back. The scattering birds seemed to make a dance around her.

Cat's smile froze for a moment on her face, as a heady, strange timeless sensation rose up and seemed to swamp her senses. Time almost slowed, and the bird near her face seemed to take forever for his wing to flap. In her mind, she wondered why it felt so right.

"CAT!"

Time seemed to snap back in her world, and the pigeons took off in a flurry. Cat tried to get her mind to catch up with it too. But, when she stopped spinning, the vision in her head continued to spin too. Cat stumbled, her head reeling, and crashed into the dust covered statue of armor. She fell in a heap, the pieces of hammered metal skidding and spinning until they crashed across the floor.

Cat shook her head as the last pains of dizziness disappeared, and she glanced down the hall to see who had called her name.

Will hurried up to her, his face twisted in annoyance. "You scared them! They didn't like it!"

Cat grinned sheepishly at him, getting to her feet. "Who, the pigeons?"

"Yes, the pigeons! Must you always annoy animals? They have feelings too, you know."

Cat blinked her eyes at him mischievously, and began skipping further down the hall. "Well, I like scaring them. Besides," she said, cocking her head to listen, "I think I hear some more down that way!" With that, she took off faster.

Will heard the cooing too, and the urge to catch his sister with retribution in mind was all too appealing.

Ginny noted with a slight tingle of dismay her children running off into the shadows, and she carefully picked up her pace, although it was nothing to match theirs. "CAT! WILL! Slow down! I can barely see you!" She raised her voice after them.

If Cat and Will heard, they ignored their mother's commanding tone. Chasing each other was more fun then listening to rules.

The feeling of prey being hunted made Cat feel giddy, and her breath came out in pants as she tried evading her brother. But he was faster, and Cat had slipped once on some wet floor. As a result, he was tailing her, ever closer.

As Cat veered to go around a corner, Will slammed into her, his arms tightening around her waist. "Gotcha!" He yelled victoriously.

But the push, and the fast turning around the bend sent them careening into the wall, where they were engulfed in a thick tapestry that smelled of mold and dust. Cat and Will coughed on it, and they pushed at the rotten folds. Cat looked up, and noted that the tapestry had once depicted a knight of some sort, but time had bleached his image to a ghostly gray.

Ginny came waddling around the corner, a very tiffed retort on her tongue. She saw her children crash into the tapestry, it's corners billowing with the movement and air. Before she could voice her displeasure, it stuck in her throat.

As Cat and Will turned curious expressions her way, the knights eyes seemed to glow, and the knights arms lifted from its sides. The tapestry moved of its own accord, and wrapped itself around her children. Cat and Will's surprised gasps were muffled as it tightened around them.

Ginny reached for her wand with lightening speed from out of her cloak and pointed it at the tapestry attacking her children. "ABSCIDO PROLIX!" She yelled.

A beam of blue light exploded from her wand and engulfed the knight tapestry in its essence. The eyes of the knight seemed to glow angrily, but it did not release her children.

The blue light seemed to scream and then began to tear like cloth. Ginny's spell was shredded into long strips of blue light that were gripped in the knight tapestry's grasp. The knight turned its head, glaring at Ginny from out of its helmet, and tossed the shredded spell back at her.

Ginny spun and threw herself into an alcove, her back to the opening. The spell missed her, its broken tendrils caressing the nape of her neck with heat, before it exploded against the glass window in the hall.

Ginny waited a moment, pressing the tip of her wand against her stomach to check the babies. They were alright. But her others weren't. With a mother's instinctive anger and fear drumming in her heart, she stepped out from the alcove, her wand ready.

But the hall was silent. The tapestry rested lifelessly against its wall of stone, its ragged ends hanging like it was dead. The knight's eyes were barely wisps of thread, unthreatening.

And Cat and Will were gone.

Ginny breathed heavily, glancing down the hall. "CAT! WILL!"

Her calls echoed down the empty halls. They were long and bare. She knew she would have been able to see them running in either direction if they had.

The fear rose to almost choke her as she stumbled toward the tapestry. "Will…Cat…" she began to whisper. Her hands pawed at the cloth, letting parts of it crumble to the floor as she searched for her children. She pushed it aside, ignoring the dust, seeing if they were concealed behind.

All that greeted her eyes was the blank stone wall.

"NO!" She bit out, gripping the tapestry in her fists. She yanked on it in anger, trying to rip it from its bracing, but it refused to budge permanently. She only succeeded in ripping a solid line down the knight's shoulder.

She looked desperately into its face, anger swirling in her eyes. "Where are my children?! WHERE?!"

The knight didn't answer her.

Will groaned as someone's shoe kicked him in the cheek. "OW! CAT! Ger'off!" He said, using his Uncle Ron's terminology in this case.

The foot moved carefully away. "Sorry, Will," Cat said apologetically, sitting up. She opened her eyes, but saw only darkness. She blinked, making positively sure she had opened her eyes before gripping Will's shoulder hard.

"OW! I said…" He stopped short, realizing why his sister was grabbing at him. "Okay, hold on a moment."

Will rolled onto his side so he could reach his back pocket, and pulled something out from it. He scooted over to Cat, who was beginning to shake like a bunny caught in the headlight of the Night Bus. Which considering the Night Bus was a terrifying thing!

"Here we go, Cat," he said reassuringly, cracking a long stick. The end blinked, than lit up like his mom and dad's wands often did.

Cat breathed in with relief as the light chased away the darkness. She was deathly afraid of the dark. Will never was; he claimed it was because there was always someone in the dark to talk to, like spiders or vermin.

That was hardly reassuring for Cat. But it helped that he was there.

"What's that?" She asked curiously, taking a hold of the stick. It was warm to the touch, and the glow smelled like lemon tart.

"It's an Alorhomora for Wandless Wizards," he explained, "Uncle Fred and George invented them for those kids who can't have wands to do magic yet."

"How come no one told me about them?" She pouted. "I would have bought them all out!"

Will stood, brushing his pant legs to get the dust off. "I don't think mom would have liked you staying up all night with a light on. Anyhows, I bought it with my own money last year. It's an old model, outdated by now."

Cat held the wand close to her, looking around them. "Where are we?"

They rested on a landing between two narrow walls that curved down into the dark. Cat reached forward, holding out her stick. It's light revealed the stone steps leading down into the darkness. Cold air drifted from down below to brush at her face.

She shuddered and got to her own feet, backing away from the edge of the landing. She cuddled closer to her twin brother, looking back at him. "Will, what happened with the tapestry? It was so quick!"

Will shook his head, feeling around the wall that enclosed them in this passage. "Not sure. First we're falling against the raggedy old thing, next it's wrapping us up and mom's yelling."

"That's creepy, you know? Dad and mom did say this place was full of strange things," Cat remembered.

Will nodded. "I think it…ate us, in a way. Not like that!" He reassured quickly when her eyes widened, "I think the tapestry just transported us from that side of the wall to this side of the wall, that's all."

Cat rubbed her sweaty palms together and thought. "So, mom's probably just on the other side!"

"Yeah," Will agreed, rapping his fingers against the stone. They were too thick to make a sound, and it only hurt his knuckles, so he stopped. "Guess we'll have to wait here until they can get us out."

He slid to the ground again, crossing his legs and folding his arms patiently. Cat slid down more slowly next to him, holding the Alorhomora for Wandless Wizards tightly to her chest. They waited, their shoulders brushing with each heavy sigh.

Those sighs became more frequent as time seemed to drag on, and on, and on, and on, and on….and on……

….and on….

….and on…

"AH! I can't stand this!" Cat wailed, uncrossing her legs.

Will opened an eye and studied her. "What?"

Cat scowled at him. "I'm not going to just sit here while mom and dad and Aunt Hermione take their sweet time rescuing us. I want to do something!"

Will opened both eyes and yawned. "Can't you entertain yourself in your mind, any?"

"No," she said regally, "I like action. Your head is a boring place for that."

"Well, what can you possibly do here?" Will asked, re-closing his eyes. Odd, he felt like having a nap.

Cat blew at her bangs, and studied the winding staircase, thinking. True, the darkness was frightening, but the stairs could lead anywhere…

"Let's go down the stairs!" she decided, vaulting to her feet.

Will mumbled in agreement, his mind blissfully blank…before her words registered and his eyes snapped open. "What!"

Cat grabbed at his sleeve, and pulled. "Come on! We won't go too far, just follow the stairs down, and we won't go off on any turns, we can't get lost!"

"What about the dark?!" He pointed out desperately, "It gets really, really dark down there. And there will be rats! And spiders!" He added the last for good measure.

Cat grinned at him. "Nice try, but I have a light. And your there, so I don't have to worry about the animals. I'm going."

Cat went down two steps before stopping and looking at Will. "Well? You coming, or not?"

Will glanced at the steps, then back at the wall where his mom would be appearing any minute. It was a hard choice. Wait for mom to get them, which was boring and wouldn't make her mad, or exploring the creepy dead castle which wasn't boring and would make mom mad.

But Cat looked insistent, and twins stuck together.

With a sigh, he got to his feet. "Fine, no turns, and we only go a little ways."

Cat punched the air with her fist, did a little jig on the step, and grabbed a hold of her brother's hand. With a tug, they began to traverse the stairs downward.

Harry ran down the hall, Hermione following him. He was leading, following his instincts to find his wife and kids. Hogwarts looked so different now. He frantically wondered where they could be.

"Look," Hermione pointed, coming to a halt in a beam of sunlight. The roof had fallen in at some point due to storms and weather. Hermione was too worried to even think to mark it down on her list of things to fix. "The dust…its small footprints." She looked up at Harry. "They came this way."

Harry nodded, glancing around for more clues. "The armor further down the hall is all over. Cat or Will probably knocked it over. This way."

They hadn't gone much further when the sound of desperate human calls came to their ears. "That's Ginny!" Harry bit out, quickening his pace after the voice.

They went around a sharp corner, and saw her, standing in front of a rather bedraggled looking tapestry.

"Ginny!" Harry called, hurrying up to her. Ginny turned, her eyes holding a scared look, and threw her arms around her husband. "HARRY! Oh, thank goodness Hermione found you!"

"I'm sorry," he said, enfolding her in his arms gently but protectively. "What's wrong? Is it the twins?" His hand went to her stomach, feeling for himself. The fear of every daddy-to-be was galloping in his head and squeezing at his insides.

"Yes, its…NO! Not them, their fine. It's Will and Cat!" Ginny gripped his shoulders, trying to hold in the hysteria she knew wouldn't help any of them. "They were running and fell into the tapestry. Then, it came alive and took them away!"

Hermione stepped closer to them, putting a hand on Ginny's back. "Away?" She questioned. She was scared too. They were her niece and nephew as well.

"I don't know how else to describe it!" Ginny bit out in frustration. "It wrapped itself around them and then they were gone!'

"Did you try anything?" Harry asked, intent.

Ginny pushed away from him, staring at the tapestry. "YES! I threw a spell at it to cease and let them go, but it threw it back at me in pieces! I've ripped, shredded and begged it, but nothing has worked!"

Harry moved to the tapestry, studying it. "I don't remember this one from Hogwarts. Do you, Hermione?"

Hermione moved to his side, sliding her wand back in her robes. "No, but I know who the tapestry depicts."

She took a step closer, dragging a finger down the knights face. "Sir Bartholomew of the Black Knights. Led some of England's most bloodthirsty campaigns in the Dark Ages. That is until some German forces killed him and his horde. They came back as ghosts. Some even say it is they who forced the Nazi out of England when they tried to land on the beach and invade the countryside. They made a movie about the experience, I believe…Bedknobs and Broomsticks."

"I don't care who the knight is. I want to know where my children are," Ginny said hurriedly.

Harry took a deep breath, trying to think. "Okay, wait." He reached into his robes and removed his wand. He pointed it at his hand, and said "Vulgo!" The air around his hand shimmered, then the Marauders Map appeared, rolled up and tied with some brown twine.

"Oh, you're a genius, Harry!" Hermione said, stepping closer. "Alright, where are we?"

Harry studied the blobs with their names on them, and the landmarks on the map. "It looks like we're standing in the hall not quite off from the Alchemy department, and..." His lips curled, "That Door is Snape's old Potions store room/closet." He pointed across from them, on the other wall of the hall. The door was covered in hanging dust mots.

"Okay, that should do it." Hermione reached into the folds of her robes and removed a rung of rusty keys.

Harry and Ginny watched her with twin expressions of oddity as she flipped threw them, and drew out a small blue book that was attached by a chain. "Aha! Now we're getting somewhere. Okay, page 51 is kitchens, oh… page 52 is closest, I suppose, to Snape's Closet. Okay, tapestry of fruit…tapestry of cats…Tapestry of Sir Bartholomew!"

She glanced up at them, noting their expressions and cleared her throat. "When they gave me the keys to this place, they gave me this book to things I would need to know, like spells to open secret rooms and passageways and such. It's like the Webster's Encyclopedia of Hogwarts, I suppose."

"What's the spell?" Harry asked quickly, knowing Hermione could start lecturing, especially when she was nervous.

Hermione snapped the book shut and let the keys slip into her pocket again. "Okay, well, according to this, I have to say it. Something about being the owner, again. First, let's remove this stupid tapestry. It's the wall we need. And Bartholomew can go to the dump for all I care, he's in such a mess."

"I perfectly agree," Ginny grumbled. Harry stepped forward and gripped the molting tapestry in both fists. With a jerk, the whole epticist came crashing down. Harry pulled it aside, while Hermione bent to run her hands over the wall.

She didn't feel any special levers, so she flattened her palm against the smooth stone and breathed out, clearing her mind except for the worry and desperation. Emotion could be important when working a spell.

"Proloquor Quovis…Quovis Proloquor," she said loudly, putting as much control and authority as she could into her command.

There was nothing for a moment, then the wall groaned, and seemed to dissolve into the air. "Quick!" Ginny hissed, pushing them towards the opening. Harry and Hermione followed her without question into the dark, hoping they'd see the twins.

"Will! Cat!" Harry yelled. His voice seemed to echo emptily back to him.

"Harry…" Hermione said quickly, gripping his arm. They all turned their heads in time to see the wall they had just come through reappear, shutting them into the darkness.

There was a moment of inactivity, where all you heard was the breathing of three individuals in the dark, before three "Alorhomora!" 's broke the silence.

Harry held up his wand to the wall, its glow revealing their entrapment. He looked questionably at Hermione. "Will the password work to get us out again?"

Hermione studied the wall, and nodded. "I'm pretty sure."

Harry chuckled without humor. "Great." He moved the wand so it lit the steps. "They must have went down there."

Ginny moved around them, keeping a hold of the wall. "Then let's go! Who knows what's down there, and they can be walking straight into it!" Images of her children being eaten by three-headed dogs or giant snakes were flashing all over in her frantic mind.

Harry quickly went to her side, taking a hold of her arm. "Ginny, don't forget the twins! I won't have you falling and hurting both them and yourself!"

"Then help me, but we have to get to them! Hermione?" Ginny asked, looking back. She gripped Harry's hand hard, but gave him a reassuring smile. Harry smiled gently back at her, before concentrating once again on the steps below.

"I'm right behind you," Hermione reassured, keeping one hand on the wall and the other firmly pointing her wand over their heads at anything that might come up out of the darkness at them as they searched for the kids.

They kept going, every once in a while calling out the twins names, but receiving no reply. Hermione began to imagine horrifying images of blood and monsters, which wasn't unheard of at Hogwarts.

Was she responsible for the destruction of Harry's children? She should never have let them come and walk here. She knew the castle was still unsafe, yet she…

Ginny's gasp of hope broke her worrying, as she and Harry tried to hurry down the last of the stairs. "Lights! I see lights! And the bottom!"

"WILL! CAT! Are you there?!" Harry called, helping his wife off the last step. They burst into the room, with Hermione right behind them.

Ginny searched desperately around the room, looking only for her kids.

Will and Cat were in the middle of the room, apparently unhurt as they looked up at her. "Mom! Dad! Aunt Hermione!" They both yelled, launching themselves across the room.

Ginny, a strangled sob etched in her throat, fell to her knees, taking both of them in her embrace. Harry joined her, pulling Cat out of her mother's arms so they could both assess their children.

"You alright?" He asked his daughter, holding a hand to her head. Cat nodded enthusiastically, still clutching the glowing stick to her. Harry shifted to look at Ginny and his son.

"He's alright," She nodded, pressing her face into Will's neck, letting the fear she had had bottled up inside of her be replaced by anger. "Damn it, don't ever scare me like that again!"

"Sorry, Mom," Will said dejectedly. He'd known they'd be in trouble.

"I thought I'd told you to stay with your mother!" Harry scolded, setting Cat on her feet. Cat looked down at her feet, shuffling them. Dad didn't often get mad at her. "It's not like we had much of a choice! It just grabbed us!"

"Cat..." Her father's stiff voice made her wince.

"Sorry, Mom," she finally said, "But look what we found…."

"We're going back home right now, young lady," Ginny said, setting Will down too. "And your going to have that nap, double time!" Ginny took a hold of both her children's dirty hands, and began to pull them towards the opening of the stairs.

"Wait," Hermione said quietly, putting a hand on her arm to stop her ascent. Ginny turned to retort, and saw the wide, wary eyes on Hermione. "Harry," Ginny began, looking to him, but he too was quiet, watching the room.

Ginny looked, and the children felt her fingers tighten on their hands.

The chamber was glowing with a green-eerie color. It was a fog, as Hermione could feel it on her skin. Cold, and liquidy. But it wasn't that which made her wary. It was the recognizable things floating in it.

The ghosts from their old years of Hogwarts.

Just floating there, suspended in the glow. Their heads were tilted either back or forward, some with their chins resting on their bunched beards. Their eyes were shut, in a silent sleep. Kind of like astronauts in space, Hermione thought.

"Hermione?" Harry inquired, "Did you know they were down here?"

Hermione's incredulous gaze swiveled to him. "Of course I didn't. In fact, I didn't know the ghosts were still in the school. They weren't mentioned in the sale transcript from the auction."

"You can buy ghosts?!" Cat asked, her voice filled with surprise and hope.

Hermione's lips quirked around the edges. "In a sense. They live on the property, and most the time they can't leave it. Since I didn't see the ghosts floating around at the auction, I figured they'd left or been excommunicated from the residence by the Ministry."

Harry made a sound in the back of his throat, and stepped around the room. "I don't think the Ministry does much excommunicating for wizard residences. The only excommunicating I've seen jurisdiction for is in the muggle's homes, in the countryside. They're the ones who don't like the ghosts."

He stopped in front of one ghost, studying her face, before he grinned. "Well, look who it is." He held his wand-light closer to the ghost's face, and motioned for Hermione to step closer. Cat and Will pulled their mother up closer, so they could see too. "Moaning Myrtle!"

Hermione gaped at Myrtle's sleeping face, the mouth open with spittle hanging suspended from her chin, and couldn't stop the grin. "Well, goodness…I never thought I'd see her out of her toilet!"

Cat and Will looked at each other and shrugged. It beat them why their parents were that excited. The ghost didn't look that interesting, and all they did was float there. But it was cool to walk through them. They'd been able to do it several times before their parents and aunt had showed up.

"But what are they all doing down here?" Ginny asked, swiveling her had to view the entire room. She counted about twenty altogether. Most were recognizable from their earlier school days, but some were new. Ah, but Hogwarts was vast, and no one had ever been through its entirety before. Not even Dumbledore knew all the schools secrets! There could have been a ghost or two in some basement or dungeon that was never seen…or hadn't wanted to have been seen.

Hermione began to move around the maze that was the ghosts, not touching them. "I don't know…perhaps when Hogwarts closed, they came down here and…fell asleep?" She finished lamely.

Harry couldn't stop the grin that spread over his face. "Like Sleeping Beauty? Kiss the ghost, Hermione maybe it will wake up."

"A perfect time for you to be cracking jokes, Harry," Hermione said dryly, stopping in front of one ghost who caught her eye. Her features relaxed, and a pleasant expression settled over her face. "Oh, Nearly Headless Nick," she said quietly.

He hung like the others, head lying slightly on his left shoulder. Although, it was perfectly balanced so as not to fall off, as it had many times in the Halls of Hogwarts in the past. His mustache was still, not even twitching in his…sleep. His renaissance clothing was as proudly worn as before. His cravat might be giving him some ample comfort from the bony shoulder blade. That was, if he could feel that, what with being a ghost and all.

Hermione remembered how kind he was, positive, and sometimes uplifting in his advice. Although he had thrown horrible parties, by human standards. Perhaps it was the fact he had been their Gryffindor House ghost, one of its symbols, or perhaps it was the excitement from earlier, but his sleepy-suspension brought a sadness in her heart.

She knew why they slept. It was why she had needed to buy Hogwarts. Hogwarts was dead.

"It really is…" She said quietly out loud, thinking to herself.

Ginny cocked her head. "Hermione? What did you say?"

Hermione jerked her head in their direction, swallowing the feeling of tears in the back of her eyes. Why was that always happening? It annoyed the practical thinking side of her mind that she couldn't handle the simplest of emotional trials without tearing up.

"I know why they're asleep, guys," She said, addressing both of them. "I told you earlier that Hogwarts died when the School shut down, when Dumbledore died. It's essence left, its life force, and I think…the ghosts couldn't live without that, for some reason."

"So, perhaps they came here to hibernate in a sense, you think? Until the life came back?" Harry asked her, wondering himself. He stepped up behind Hermione, reaching out to touch Nearly Headless Nick. His fingers passed through the ghostly smoke, and he quickly pulled his hand back. Nearly Headless Nick didn't stir a lash. Harry let his hand fall to his side, thinking. His mind liked nothing better then an obstacle or mystery.

"I'd assume that," she said, turning back to Sir Nicholas, as he liked to be addressed back before he had slept, when he was…Hermione chuckled…alive.

On impulse, she reached out, and tenderly stroked his pale, dead cheek. Of coarse, her hand and fingers went right through him, but Hermione felt the cold, and she wondered if somewhere in his dead-sleepy state, he felt the warmth from her.

Then, Nearly Headless Nick snorted!

Hermione fell back against Harry with a gasp of alarm. He caught her by the shoulders, pulling her back. Ginny grabbed the kids hands and yanked them behind her, protectively. All gaped as a group as Sir Nick slowly stretched his neck, giving it a good shake, then opened his mouth slowly.

He rolled his jaw around, almost like coming out of a paralysis. A sharp, low pitched yawn erupted from his mouth, cutting off into a moan of relief as his back arched. As his spine bent, his famous head flopped over off its perch of bone, hanging by a single piece of skin. Hermione winced at the sound of his head hitting the shoulder he had just rested it on, wondering how it could sound so real-that scrape against bone that was smoke.

Flicking his laced cuffed hands, Sir Nick pushed his head up, focusing his eyes around the room, the look of an intelligent, alert person back in his pupils. His eyes passed over them once, before coming back and narrowing.

"I Say…Is that Harry Potter? Miss Granger? And, I dare say, Ms. Weasley?"

He floated closer. They stood still as he stopped in front of them, and felt relief when a grin split his face. "Well, I dare say it 'tis! Slightly older, but still my same old friends. Oh, it's been so long since we've seen old friends around here." His smile creased around the edges, and a sad sigh escaped his lips. "So Long."

He shook his head, as if to clear the sadness, and smiled. "So, somebody finally found us. We were beginning to wonder when we'd be awoken. Now, perchance who touched me?" He looked at everyone of them, even the two twins, as if expecting them to step forward.

Harry was the first to speak. "Hey, Nick. It's good to see you. Yes, uh, we found you. It was Hermione who touched you, right before you awoke."

Nick's head swiveled to Hermione, his smile slipping away to that of grave pride. Shocking Hermione further, he took a deep breath, puffing out his chest. With the smoothness given to smoke and ghosts, he bent in a bow, sweeping his hand beneath him.

"Miss Granger, I am honored. There is no one I would rather pick-no other candidate!-better then you. Oh, congratulations, Congratulations! Hogwarts is honored indeed, my Mistress!"

Hermione gaped at him a moment, then awkwardly pushed at her hair, which was beginning to frazzle in the damp conditions. "What are you talking about, Nick?"

He straightened, a look of humor and surprise on his face. "Why, don't you know? You're the new Headmistress of Hogwarts!!"

There was a surprised silence, then Ginny cleared her throat. "I know this question is being repeated a lot, but what? What's this about Hermione and Hogwarts?"

Sir Nick clasped his hands together, tilting his head with expert balance. "dear me, I see I have to explain…Hogwarts has always had an aura of power controlling it, and that power is controlled by the Headmaster or Headmistress, or person in charge of it. Dumbledore, for example, could close off his study to others, or other parts of the castle. Since we ghosts are tied to the castle, this aura controls us too. He could order Peeves to stop his mischief, while no one else could. They also have a sensitive feel for their castle, and if there is trouble in it."

"The Founding Witches and Wizards must have established this aura of power so they could control the construction of Hogwarts," Harry realized, sharing his revelation with the group. "With magic, it would certainly be easier and quicker if the rooms assembled themselves at will."

Sir Nick nodded. "This aura stayed partly in the castle after its making. The power has been passed down. And now it goes to Miss Granger, oh the surprises life brings! Now, I assume you have the Book of Hogwarts?"

Hermione nodded, slipping it out of her pocket. Sir Nick smiled at the little book and keys. "I've been here many millennia's, my old friends. I've seen many Headmasters and Headmistress's in my lifetime. Headmaster Dumbledore was, without a doubt, the greatest."

He took a calming breath and smiled. "But you, Headmistress Granger, I believe will rival even the greatest expectations, am I right?"

Hermione smiled, almost shyly, and slipped the book and keys back into her pocket. "Perhaps, Sir Nick, perhaps."

Nick nodded, and turned to the rest of the room. "Well, are you going to wake them up?"

Hermione frowned, looking at his floating shape. "You mean I have to touch all of them? Can't they just wake up on their own?"

Sir Nick shook his head. "Their catatonic. They're asleep in the third realm, my Headmistress, and it's a very cold, drafty place! They need the promise of warmth before they stir up enough energy to leave it. And that warmth only comes from your aura and power as Headmistress."

When he continued to just stare at her expectantly, Hermione sighed, and rolled her sleeves up to her elbows. "Do I have to wake Peeves up?"

Sir Nick snorted in a very un-gentlemanly like manner, catching his head in the process. "I WISH not, but sensibilities demand I ask it. This is his home, after all."

Hermione shrugged, smiling a little. "Ah, I suppose your right. No one else could deal with him in their home, I imagine. Besides, he was good for a laugh!"

Harry grinned, putting an arm around Ginny. "Remember the day he saluted Fred and George? If nothing else, he deserves to exist for that."

Ginny grinned to, slipping her arm around Harry's waist. "I quite agree."

Hermione stepped up to a ghost, placing her hand on its shoulder, or in it actually. "Then I shall."

As she went about her new duty as Headmistress of Hogwarts, playing the part of ghostly alarm clock, Nearly Headless Nick glanced down at the curious twins near Harry and Ginny, and frowned.

"And who are you?"

Around midnight, Hermione shut the great gate, pushing her weight against it. With a clang it shut, but Hermione leaned against it a moment, looking up at the dark silhouette of the castle--her castle-- against the sky.

Now it was more then ever hers. Headmistress…She wasn't exactly sure if the title pleased or annoyed her. It wasn't what she had been aiming for, ultimately…Just a music school, to bring back the glory of Hogwarts. For Dumbledore really, and his image. For Harry, the triumph and battle that had won freedom.

She hadn't wanted a title, any glory really for herself, other than as a patron of the arts, or something. She had an empire of businesses to run. How could she do all that AND be a teacher AND be the Headmistress? Impossible, yet she was stuck with it. The power was unalterable, Sir Nick had explained. It was hers until she died…or sold the deed to another bidder.

But Hermione knew she couldn't do that. No, this endeavor had been burning in her heart and mind forever, its coils of promise scattering through her brain until it was a necessity to achieve it. Like all other homework assignments she had thrown herself into with a passion, Hogwarts was now her project.

And it was what she was meant to do. She was sure of it. So, she would be the Headmistress, if that was what it took. Hermione turned and began to follow Harry and Ginny, their children asleep in their arms. Nap time was long over.

But the work was just starting for Hermione, the new Headmistress of Hogwarts!

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I forgot about the rule about not answering reviews in chapters. Sorry, so I've replaced it. I promise the Hearing is coming next. Draco Malfoy vs. Hermione Granger! Oh, and Blaise Zambini is part of the jury!