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Disclaimer

I own nothing of the Harry Potter franchise.

Glad to clear that up

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The point at me spell is owned by its creator

This chapter is slightly based in the canon events in Deathly Hallows

Chapter 7 - Hailey

"I'd like to announce that Mr. and Mr. Potter, also known as Mr. Sly and Mr. Gryff, have agreed in teaching a duelling club in Hogwarts and provide assistance to professor Stone in DADA classes. We will still need to set the details..."

Dumbledore announcement was stopped by the cheers and applause that were heard in the hall. The headmaster simply grinned and waited.

"Yes, well done and thank you, Sly and Gryff. Meanwhile, I would also like to ask if after dinner, we could have a special dessert." to that, confusion was general "Maybe a tale from Mr. Sly and Mr. Gryff's travels?"

Once again, cheers erupted in the great hall with everyone clapping the idea.

Sly and Gryff simply smiled.

"You bastard, you set us up." whispered Sly, only heard by Gryff. He could only agree.

After dessert, everyone was in expectation. Sly and Gryff traded a couple of words between them and with both madam Bones and the headmaster and in the end, it was Sly that rose from his seat.

"Once again, here we are, in front of an audience, retelling our stories." Sly started with a smirk, looking at everyone sat at the house tables and noticing that everyone was looking attentively at him. He glanced at Ravenclaw and noticed that Amy and Luna were indeed smiling at him and that Hermione and Daphne were looking very interested in what he would say.

"I'll assume that everyone read today's special edition of the Prophet, about mine and Gryff's realities and skip to the point where Gryff and I left his universe, attempting to travel two years into his past, in an attempt to warn and train him, his girlfriend and his friends and prevent her death and the death of many others." the nods and the whispers confirmed it.

"Very well then. There are some things I'd like you to remember, then. As I'll be telling the story, I may speak about you, friends of yours or people that you know, who acted in ways they usually wouldn't. In different realities, we also differ from one another. Take me and Gryff, for example, I am a Slytherin and Gryff is a Gryffindor. There are other things that remain the same, such as Mr. Malfoy being an idiot... in fact, scratch that, I think he was a bigger idiot in this reality..."

Nervous chuckles sounded.

"Either way, things may be different, do you understand?" They replied positively and Sly continued "Good. Since we still have the headmaster's pensieve, I may use it, or not, to show some events instead of just tell them. However, I make no promises."

"Now, on with our story. We performed the spell and we reappeared in Hogwarts' great hall, just by the doors, much like we did last night, without being thrown out from the portal. We appeared standing and on our feet. However, that didn't last because as soon as we appeared, we went under spell fire. We rose our shields and attempted to make peace while only shielding. We managed a cease fire and everyone lowered their wands. Only then we managed to look around. The great hall was just as it is, four house tables and filled with students. However, three quarters of the hall were clearly afraid while Slytherin house was just scowling and smirking. We looked to the staff table and we had a bad surprise. First, Dumbledore was absent. The seat of the headmaster was occupied by professor Snape, who was sneering and scowling at us. Then, there were three people that were convicted death eaters in our universes. They were the Carrows, Amycus and Alecto and Walden McNair. As we came to discover later, they were appointed teachers for that year."

"But they are death eaters." shouted someone, to which Sly nodded.

"The rest of the staff was there, McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Pomfrey... the usual, but it looked like they had their options limited and were in a situation similar to the Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. After being questioned by Snape on who we were, we said the same that we said here last night. Or at least, we attempted to. As soon as I said my name was Harry James Potter, Snape pointed his wand at me and shouted loud and clear, and I quote: "He is a Potter, capture him for the dark lord. They will know where the Potter bitch is!" and after that, Snape, the Carrows, McNair and the majority of Slytherin house started cursing us."

Everyone gasped and many looked in fear to professor Snape, who felt uncomfortable.

"As I said, things may be different from universe to universe. For example, in this universe we are in, Professor Snape isn't a death eater, correct?"

"NO, I'M NOT!" shouted Snape, drawing his sleeves. There was no dark mark in his arms.

"Thank you, Professor." thanked Sly with a nod "You are not, but I can assure you that that son of a bitch in that universe was not only a death eater but also one of the most loyal of Voldemort's ass kissers. And no, he wasn't a spy. He was a murdering, raping son of a whore..."

"Sly!" shouted Gryff, stopping his brother's swearing "Language."

Sly cleared his throat in embarrassment and continued.

"Yes, sorry about that. As I was saying, we were under fire. What could we do? We retaliated, of course. We cast two bombardas against Slytherin house and more than half of those that were cursing us went down in one swoop. There was a moment of surprise and we used it to take care of the three death eaters in the staff table, who had been cursing us. Snape was by far the best duellist but we killed him as well.

"I think it was you..." replied Gryff, pensive, to which Sly shrugged.

"He died and he deserved it, no offense, professor Snape."

"None taken." replied Snape, a little pale, as were the Slytherins after hearing what they had.

"Gryff then jumped to Hufflepuff table and called out any more death eaters wannabees. He would be glad to give them the same treatment he would give to any death eater. Only then things clicked to everyone else and they started to cheer and applaud us. Even the staff, although they were concerned with the Slytherins. I myself went to the remnants of Slytherin table in the middle of the celebrations and... well, let's say that I saw several friend's faces... all dead and without the left sleeve on their robes, openly displaying the dark mark.

I was saddened but I was also disgusted by it. My friends, people I had fought with, side by side, were death eaters in that universe... and then I saw her..." Sly hesitated, sighing "I saw my wife, my queen, her eyes open but with no life, as beautiful as I remembered her, but without her robe's left sleeve... " Daphne gasped and she wasn't the only. Hermione, Luna, Amy and all those who knew who Sly's wife was were in shock. The rest also shared the shock, but without really understanding it.

"I was torn between crying or shrugging. She wasn't my wife, true and she was a death eater. So I walked away and ignored the fact that I had caused the death of my wife's counterpart in that universe, finding solace in the fact I had helped in killing several death eaters."

"We introduced ourselves, properly to the staff and the students and let me tell you, they were surprised, first because we claimed to be Potters and second, because we claimed to be dimensional travellers. The second point helped explain the first and we came to discover that the only Potter alive in that universe was called Hailey Potter, the girl-who-lived." whispers began in the hall.

"In that universe, Harry Potter was born a girl and much like in our universes, Hailey was able to survive Voldemort's killing curse with a ritual performed by her mother and fuelled by her death, unlike in this universe, where Voldemort chose to stun James and Lily Potter instead of killing them."

Lily dropped some tears and James shivered, as did many others.

"We swore wizard's oaths over our identity and were informed of recent events in that universe. First of all, Dumbledore had been murdered by Snape in previous May." several people gasped. Snape dropped his jaw and looked apoplectic, looking from the headmaster to Sly in shock, avoiding look to anyone else "Then, in August, Voldemort had taken control of the Ministry of Magic and effectively taken control of Wizarding Britain, initiating a genocide of muggleborns and selected halfbloods. Finally, we discovered that Hailey Potter hadn't returned to Hogwarts. Instead, she was undertaking a mission Dumbledore had given her, concerning Voldemort and his power. Long story short, she was trying to negate several rituals he had performed to be that powerful and even survive the killing curse." whispers began anew and Lily shivered, thinking of her "daughter" from another reality. She had to be really brave.

"We were told that two of her closest friends were also missing, presumably helping Hailey. No one knew where they were though, not even their families. By then, Gryff and I had a small conversation and decided to help Hailey bring down Voldemort."

Gryff snorted.

"We nodded our heads to each other, once." he whispered, heard only by those next to him.

"We wanted to find her and help her and we said so. It was McGonagall that advised us to attempt to speak with Hailey's boyfriend or former boyfriend. There were rumours that they had terminated their relationship in Dumbledore's funeral and he had returned to his seventh year while she hadn't."

"Let me tell you, Sly here was quite angry when he discovered that her boyfriend had let her go without him." replied Gryff with a grin, earning a glare from Sly.

"Do you want to tell the story?" asked Sly, inviting Gryff to stand up and taking his place. Gryff grinned and raised his hands in sign of peace. The great hall chuckled for some moments, allowing Sly to continue.

"Yes, I was, I'll admit that and believe me, I wanted to beat the boy."

"Who was he?" asked James, ready to glare at such boy who dared to abandon his "daughter" from another reality.

"Neville Longbottom." replied Sly, intending to continue. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to because of a commotion at Hufflepuff table. A sandy haired boy was feeling quite insignificant, being glared by the girls and receiving half felt claps from the boys.

"I didn't do anything!" he tried to explain, unheard under the roar that his female house mates were making against him.

"SILENCE!" shouted Sly, his voice amplified by a sonorus charm. Everyone obeyed at once and he rubbed his temples.

"What did I say in the beginning? Different universes, different people and in that Neville's defence, it was all Hailey's fault. They broke up because Hailey didn't tell him the truth and I can assure you that she regretted it completely. Now leave poor Longbottom alone, will you? Besides, the other Longbottom was a Gryffindor, as was Hailey and we all know that Gryffindors don't have much in brains department." Nearly one quarter of the hall replied with an indignated "HEY" while the Slytherins laughed and Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws just chuckled.

"As I was saying, we went to talk with him and he wasn't really interested in talking about Hailey. His words were: "I have no idea where she is and I don't care. She chose not to trust me but told everything to the other two. I would gladly helped her back then but now, I don't give a damn.". I really wanted to use legillimancy on him but thought better than that. It wouldn't help Hailey at all to do that. We left Neville alone and went back to McGonagall, who suggested to check on a number of safe places. We checked every single one of them and we didn't find them. Meanwhile, McGonagall informed us that a taboo had been casted upon Voldemort's name and that we should call him another thing. We went with Baldy."

To that, people gaped and snorted. Sirius and James roared in laughter.

"Hey, he was bald and who would guess we were talking about Voldemort calling him Baldy?" asked Gryff, earning more laughs "Although, I admit, it was weird. That's why we went back at Voldemort in later dates".

"Who were the other two with Hailey?" asked Tracy Davies after the laugh stopped. Sly smirked when he saw her sat very closely to Theodore Nott.

Gryff snorted.

"The other two were the most spineless, useless bastards I had ever the displeasure to meet. It was an affront just to even look at them... and I really did wanted to kill them after I found out..." admitted Gryff with a snarl, looking at Gryffindor in anger. Those that realized it cowered and realized what he meant.

"Found out what?" asked Hermione. She couldn't help her curiosity. She did noticed the apologetic look Gryff gave her.

"We'll get to that in a bit." continued Sly "To answer your question, Miss Davies" It was clear at that point that Sly knew Tracy at his universe. She had never met him personally nor had anyone said her name loud "They were, supposedly, Hailey's best friends, Ron Weasley" there was a gasp coming from Gryffindor and they all saw a smug Ron Weasley, ignoring all what Gryff had said "and Hermione Granger."

Hermione gasped. She could accept that there was another universe where she had been a Gryffindor, just as Gryff's but to be friends with Ron "The Red Pig" Weasley, that was just too much.

"I refuse to believe for even a second that an alternate version of myself was ever friends with that pathetic excuse for a human being!" she shouted as she rose from her seat, trembling in anger.

"I'm not overjoyed either, book..." he wasn't able to finish his insult thanks to a silencio charm cast by Gryff.

"Let's make one thing clear, Weasley. I didn't like you in my universe and at this rate, I'll like you even less than I did by the end of the night. You will shut the hell up and let Sly speak, are we clear?" roared Gryff and the entire hall shivered, with the exception of Sly, who smirked "Miss Granger, please, remember Sly's words, if you will. I like to believe that that person had serious problems. In fact, I have met other versions of you and I can assure you, if you exclude that particular universe, both you and your counterparts were intelligent, powerful and extraordinary women."

Hermione had to fight a blush and attempted a half-felt glare at Gryff. His words really touched her. Daphne, Amy and Luna had to fight a grin at Hermione's reaction.

"If I may continue..." asked Sly with a bored tone, being interrupted by none other than Lavender Brown.

"Hermione was your girlfriend!" she shouted with a gasp, attracting the attention of the entire great hall upon her. Hermione gasped, as did her friends who knew the truth while all others just gaped at her. Sly and Gryff groaned.

"Ok, listen up, this is the last time I'll repeat this!" roared Sly, scaring everyone in the hall "DIFFERENT UNIVERSES WITH DIFFERENT PEOPLE! Gryff and I are supposed to be counterparts from different universes and we are quite different from each other. In my universe, Severus Snape was a spy for the light in the death eaters ranks. In this universe, he is... well, I'm not sure, I haven't had the pleasure of having a proper conversation with him, but he's not a death eater. " to that, Snape rose his eyebrow, not sure what to think.

"And in my universe, Snape was both a git and a great guy, depending on the occasion." said Gryff, almost roaring, just like Sly "Also, Neville Longbottom was a Gryffindor and my best male friend. Yes, I was in love with A Hermione Granger " Gryff made sure he stressed the A but the gasp he heard told him that his words would backfire on him "but she died and that woman, sat at Ravenclaw table, as much as she looks like her and sounds like her it is not my 'Mione. Are we cleared?"

"But..." started Lavender again.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for insisting in that subject." said Lily Potter and the commotion quieted immediately.

"Although I am enjoying the debate about parallel identities, I'd like to hear more about Miss Potter's universe." said Dumbledore with a smile, his eyes twinkling. Sly sighed and Gryff sat down, offering an apologetic look to Hermione, who glared at him. That one he knew he deserved it.

"Where was I?" asked Sly.

"You searched the safe houses where you thought they could be." replied Daphne promptly, receiving a grateful nod from Sly.

"We still didn't found them in the safe houses. We considered what to do: we could cast a Taboo over Hailey's name, which would be useless, considering how common that name is or we could attempt to search for her using trial and error... It wasn't the best idea but it was the only one. We decided to use a modified version of the point at me spell, using it on maps instead of outside. We were able to..."

"How?" asked three different voices at the same time, making Sly sigh.

"We modify the spell to point a direction on the map, just like a compass and used smaller scaled maps to pinpoint the location." explained Sly, earning an understanding AH in reply. He didn't notice how the professors were nodding approvingly and Flitwick was taking notes.

"To modify the spell, track Hailey to a region and actually search for her and finding her, we spent almost four weeks, but in the end, we were able to track her to a place called The Forest of Dean. We got there and started to look for her, quietly and thoroughly and eventually, we were able to find a small area in a clearing that was hidden under heavy wards and notice-me-not charms. We knew it had to be her so, instead of putting down the charms and the wards, we called her, softly. She didn't come so we just started to speak to her, telling her who we were and our stories. When we finished, we even gave her a wizards oath in how we really wanted to help her against Baldy. That, of course, led us to explain who Baldy was and all about the taboo. When we started thinking we were talking to the air, a small and frail girl came out into the open, appearing out of nowhere, pointing her wand at us. In fact, why don't I show you?" asked Sly, drawing his wand and pointing at his temple, extracting a silver thread from his head. He placed it in the pensieve and reduced the lights in the great hall. At once, the memory started playing:

Sly and Gryff were being held at wandpoint by a smaller girl. She looked frail and thin, way more than she should. Sly and Gryff knew exactly why she was like that. In her face, the girl was very similar to Lily Potter but she had black hair and hazel eyes. She had dark circles around her eyes, which were bloodshot, an indication that she had been crying and not sleeping well at all. Her hair was messy and slightly entangled and her clothes were dirty. She didn't even cared with basic cleaning charms.

"Are... Are you really..." she asked in a roughed voice from the lack of use.

"We are who we claim we are, Miss Potter. We are your counterparts from alternate realities. We came here by accident but want to help you against Baldy." that made Hailey smile nervously.

"Baldy? Really?" she asked and both Sly and Gryff grinned.

"Ask him, he gave the idea." replied Sly, pointing at Gryff, who shrugged.

"All others were too obvious." Gryff replied. Sly chuckled and Hailey smiled.

"Can we talk, miss Potter? I assure you, we have much to talk about." asked Sly politely and Hailey dropped her wand slowly.

"I saw the magical oath and you are still alive." Hailey said, inviting Sly and Gryff to enter the warded area. They did it and found themselves inside a wizarding tent, with three beds, a kitchen and some appliances, as well as several books spread around the beds. There was a cup with cold tea in the kitchen table and Hailey invited them to sit.

The memory ended and Sly brought up the lights again.

"As you can see, Hailey wasn't exactly in a good shape when we found her. We looked around and sat down with her. It was clear that she wasn't eating properly, so Gryff went to Hogwarts kitchens and brought food for the three of us. She did ate everything, that's how famished she was and then we decided to talk about serious business. After answering the questions she had about us, we asked about her life.

If anything, her life was very similar to ours before discovering she was a witch. Her parents had been murdered by Voldemort on Halloween 1981 and she was placed with her muggle relatives, where she was abused. At eleven, she received her Hogwarts letter and went to Hogwarts, where she became friends with Hermione Granger. During Halloween, Hermione was bullied by Ronald Weasley and took shelter in a bathroom. Hailey went to her and managed to get her out from the bathroom before the troll appear. They were having dinner when Quirrel appeared, shouting about the troll.

According with Hailey, they ignored Weasley for several days until he apologized to Hermione. After that, somehow "here, Sly rolled his eyes " they became the golden trio of Gryffindor.

Hailey joined the quidditch team on her first year and had the adventure with the dragon egg and in the forbidden forest and eventually, the rescue of the philosopher's stone. In her second year, things happened much like in Gryff's reality and she ended up saving Ginevra Weasley from the chamber, killing the basilisk in the same idiotic way as Gryff. I swear, Gryffindors and stupid plans... " he whispered, heard by all, generating another indignated huff from the gryffindor population.

"In her third year, Sirius Black escaped Azkaban and Hailey had to fight Dementors, learn the patronus charm, discover that Sirius was innocent, discovering her godfather and the true Potter secret keeper, loose her chance at a good home because of the git Snape, who refused to listen and wanted to kill Sirius... although, being a death eater, it wasn't surprising...

"What was the form of her patronus?" asked Lily, curious.

"It was a doe. According with her, Remus had said that it was the same as her father's... which he had named Lily-Flower, after her mother..." replied Sly with a soft smile, making Lily smile herself.

"Hailey incapacitated Snape and told Sirius and Remus to deliver Peter to the DMLE. They did it but it was a full moon and Remus turned to his werewolf form and Peter ran away in the confusion. Sirius had to run away and Hailey went back to Durzkaban again."

"In her fourth year, she went with Hermione and the Weasleys to the world cup and the attack occurred in the same way. She was selected as the fourth champion of the TriWizard tournament and was made a pariah by the entire school. Only Hermione and Neville Longbottom believed in her.

Much like Gryff, she decided to out fly the bloody dragon and after that, she was a hero again. Then, the Yule ball came and she was really nervous because she had to find a date. Her problems ended in the same day when Neville went to her and asked her to the dance. She accepted and was quite happy. Hermione went as Krum's date and Weasley went stag because he thought that he would saving both of them of making a fool of themselves. They both enjoyed their dance and Neville and Hermione were Hailey and Krum's hostages. Neville became closer to the trio after that, much to Weasley's dislike and eventually, it was time for the third task. She wanted to share the victory with Cedric and both were portkeyd away to the graveyard. Cedric was killed and she was captured with her blood being used in a dark ritual to bring Voldemort back, much like us. " Sly hesitated for a bit before continuing "Voldemort placed her under the imperio... his intention was to have her before killing her" Lily gasped and James paled, as did Sirius "but she was able to resist the imperio and she was forced to duel the bastard. Priori Incantatem happened and she ran away with Cedric's body." Lily was in tears, both of fear and happiness for the girl.

"No one believed her and both she and Dumbledore were called liars in the prophet. In the summer, she saved her whale cousin from being kissed by a dementor and was expelled from Hogwarts for underage magic and breaking the statute of secret." people gasped "And then re-instated and set for trial before the full wizengamot for the same trump charges. She was found innocent with Dumbledore's help and fifth year began. Her fifth year happened much like Gryff's and she grew closer to Neville and was leered by Snape, who used occlumency lessons as an excuse to rape her mind and torture her." to that, Snape was appaled. He couldn't believe in his counterpart's actions.

"Sirius died in the same way as in Gryff's universe and she was devastated. Not only that, Dumbledore told her about the prophecy. Hailey found comfort with Neville and they started to date in the end of the year. " to that, Neville blushed and he noticed people looking at him, especially a raven haired ravenclaw.

"Sixth year began and Hailey helped Dumbledore convincing Slughorn to return to Hogwarts to teach potions while Snape got DADA. She spent the year learning about Voldemort with the headmaster and even managed to discover the reason for his survival. They devised a means to negate that protection and started to work to make Voldemort mortal again." There was no way that Sly was going to speak about horcruxes to the great hall. He decided to tell only half truths "One night, in May, Hailey assisted Dumbledore with a ritual and Dumbledore was drained. It was also that night that Death eaters attacked Hogwarts with the help of Snape and Malfoy and were able to kill Dumbledore. Hailey, who had been petrified and hidden by Dumbledore under a powerful enchantment, saw her mentor dying at the hands of the traitor. Their mission complete, the death eaters retreated and Dumbledore had a funeral. That was also the day that Hailey and Neville had a fight over her secrets and trust and broke up. You see, Hailey never told Neville anything because she thought she would protect him. Had she told him, she would help her... but she was a gryffindor with a saving-people-thing...

Then, on the summer before her seventh year, Voldemort took the power and she became a fugitive. She was helped by Weasley and Granger for a time and they managed to discover another ritual that Voldemort had performed but were unable to break it. They lived for weeks in that tent and one night, Weasley started a fight with Hailey about the mission that ended with him and Granger running away and abandoning her."

Everyone gasped, especially Hermione. She couldn't believe that Hermione had abandoned her friend for Weasley. It was disgusting.

"That had been two weeks before we found her and she was broken because of that.

We packed her things, put her under a powerful glamour and took her to Gringotts. There, she claimed her titles as lady of the house Potter, Black, Slytherin and Gryffindor, much to her surprise and we apparated to Potter Manor.

I'm not going to bore you but we spent several months there, training Hailey hard for the battle to come. During that time, we bonded as a family and enjoyed Christmas together. We even visited Hailey's parents tomb on Christmas.

We were able to determine the rituals Voldemort had performed and decided to negate them at a later date, closer to the final battle."

There was no way that Sly was going to reveal that they had Hailey and Dumbledore had created a method to locate Voldemort's horcruxes. In Hailey's second year, Heiley had destroyed the diary and in the sixth year, they had destroyed the ring and the locket. They improved the locator and discovered what they already knew, that Hailey had a piece of Voldemort's soul on her scar. After a huge fight, Hailey accepted to find another horcrux and use Sly's spell on it, knowing that it would hurt and that she would be out for at least two weeks. There was one with Voldemort, or at least there were two pieces of the same soul near each other, one in Hogwarts and one in Gringotts.

Hailey had wanted to break in Gringotts and get the horcrux. Gryff had just asked if it could be done and Sly was appalled by the sheer stupidity of such a suggestion. He had to explain them very well why it wasn't a good idea to break in Gringotts. Eventually, they decided to go and claim the Horcrux at Hogwarts, after more training.

"We went back into Hogwarts in May, intending on finish everything. Hailey led and we followed. She had grown stronger and more confident and we shocked the hall when we entered. Hailey made a speech about how we were working to bring Voldemort down and that we were there for supplies and nothing more. We were asked to stay for dinner and Hailey accepted, more because she wanted to speak with Neville. They even left the hall to speak in private but after some minutes, Hailey came in with signs of having being crying."

"What happened?" asked James, with anger in his voice, looking enraged at Neville.

"I don't know, but nearly ten minutes later, Neville came in and snogged Hailey in front of everyone for a while." replied Sly with a smirk.

Gryff grinned. He had never told Sly, but he knew what had happened.

Flashback

Gryff said he needed to go to the bathroom and left the great. He was going to it when he heard two familiar voices, one of which he cared about, sounding distressed. He knew he shouldn't but he cast a notice me not charm and went to the two voices, intending on knowing what was happening.

"Neville, please, believe me, I never meant to hurt you." said Hailey with tears in her eyes and a hurt voice.

"Too late for that, isn't it?" asked an angered Neville "Why don't you run back to those useless back stabbing friends of yours that abandoned you in the forest? You know, the ones in whom you could trust but not in me, your own boyfriend."

"Neville, I trusted you but I wanted to protect you." she cried again, her heart breaking into tiny pieces.

"Of course, because I am weak and you were afraid they took that information from me." sneered Neville in anger.

That angered Hailey and she slapped him.

"I never said that, damn you."

"You might as well have. You were very clear that day. You didn't trust me, we were done. It's over. I moved on, maybe you should have done the same."

Hailey gaped and for moments she didn't say anything. She looked at Neville and just nodded, turning his back on him. Neville breathed hard for some moments and then leaned against the wall, sliding to the ground.

"That was stupid." said Gryff, removing the charm and appearing before Neville, who jumped from his position, attempting to draw his wand. He was disarmed by Gryff, who punched him in the stomach, making him fall again on the floor "I know you lied, Neville." said Gryff, looking at the boy.

Neville didn't reply. In fact, he didn't even looked at Gryff.

"She really loves you, you know? She tried to hide it but we could always see it in the way she spoke about you."

"She didn't even trust me to tell me the truth about what she was doing, how could she love me when she didn't trust me?" asked Neville in anger.

"She made a mistake and she paid for it, Neville. She is paying for it even now, as we speak." Neville didn't say anything at that "Neville, can you look me in the eyes and tell me you don't love her?"

Neville looked him in the eyes with a sneer.

"I don't love her." to that, Gryff chuckled.

"You're lying, Neville. I've lived a long time with Sly to get an idea on how to read people. Tell me the truth, will you?"

Neville dropped his head in embarrassment and whispered something that Gryff didn't heard.

"I'm sorry?" asked Gryff.

"I said I love her!" replied Neville with a shout, quite angry with himself, Hailey and Gryff.

"Then tell her that." said Gryff, picking Neville from the ground, handing him his wand "And while you're at it, ask her for the truth."

Neville stood there, looking at Gryff, without knowing what to do. The truth was that both Sly and Gryff scared him and knowing they were what could be considered Hailey's brothers only scared him more.

"Well, what are you still doing here?" asked Gryff, drawing his wand "Do you need proper motivation?"

Neville ran to the great hall, leaving Gryff chuckling. When Gryff returned from the toilet, Neville and Hailey were still snogging in front of everyone, protected by a silver shield to make sure no one the likes of the staff disturbed them. Gryff would recognize Sly's magic anywhere.

End of Flashback

Gryff was sure Hailey and Neville had spent the night together and that she had told him everything. It was perceptible in Neville's face the next morning.

After breakfast, Gryff, Hailey and Neville had gone to the Room of Requirement to locate the horcrux and got him in a couple of hours, after which Hailey wanted to destroy all remaining Horcruxes as soon as possible. They dosed Hailey in pepper up and other strengthening potions and Sly casted the spell on the diadem while Neville held Hailey. She screamed in pain, her scar bled and the green shade came out of her but in the end, she woke up after five days unconscious. Neville never left her side.

"We spent the night at Hogwarts and the following day, we negated Voldemort's protections permanently. After that, we prepared Hogwarts because we knew that sooner or later, Voldemort would come for us. In fact, we were being wanted by then with huge sums on our heads.

One week later, Voldemort came and we fought. I myself fought Voldemort for some time and I was able to weaken him. I knew it had to be Hailey to kill him because of the prophecy but that didn't mean I wouldn't give her the advantage against that son of a bitch."

"And she did killed him." replied Gryff with pride in her voice, raising her cup to Sly, who replied in the same way.

"Yes, she did kill the son of a bitch. After that, death eaters were convicted, we helped rebuild Hogwarts and the ministry, we got one more Order of Merlin first class because Hailey had insisted she wouldn't have done it without us and didn't want to take hers without us.

Then, in July, Neville proposed to Hailey and she said yes. Hailey asked me to take her to the altar. Her excuse was that even though Remus was a uncle for her, I was the older brother and she felt closer to us. So, I gave Hailey away and Gryff was Neville's best man. She was quite happy that day and not even her former best friends showing up ruined her day." said sly, smirking.

"I'd think they even made it better." laughed Gryff while Sly chuckled "They appeared at the celebration, which was being made at Hogwarts grounds, attempting to make peace with Hailey and when she ignored them, they threw a tantrum, saying they deserved something for having to deal with her and risking their lives because of her." Sly chuckled darkly "Where exactly Hailey kept her wand, we'll never know but she transfigurated the two idiots into partial pink chickens, making them run away in embarrassment while everyone was laughing at them."

"It was awesome." laughed Gryff, accompanied by everyone except for Ron Weasley who went red. Even Hermione laughed hard, especially after Sly showed them the image of pink Ron and Hermione with the body of a chicken under the waist. However, the best part was when Hailey complained that she had failed, since she wanted to make it a full transfiguration.

"Hailey added Longbottom to her already long name and she took her seventh year the following school year as head girl while Neville began a masters in herbology with Professor Sprout, to be near Hailey without the responsibilities of five families. Gryff also took his seventh year with Hailey and they both passed their NEWTS with distinctions."

"The DADA teacher helped in most classes." replied Gryff with a grin and Sly rolled his eyes.

"I had Remus Lupin's help." replied Sly, before continuing "The old man was quite a teacher but parenthoof suited him...

"Parenthood? Moony?" shouted Sirius, James, Lily and surprisingly, Snape, all at same time, surprising both Sly and Gryff.

"Yes, maybe a story for another time, perhaps?" they nodded ans Sly continued:

"Hailey even got her mastery in DADA and Charms in record time .Eventually Hailey got pregnant. Nine months later, she had a boy and named him Harry James, after us. The baby was fine, Hailey was fine and everything was fine, so we decided to move on.

We said goodbye to everyone and jumped realities again in 2006 in that universe, into 1997 of a new reality..." finished Sly with a caring smile.

Then, people started to clap and cheering.

"Well done, indeed." said Dumbledore with a chuckle "A very fine tale that convinced me that you are indeed more than able to fill the roles we have offered you."

"I have one question!" asked Hermione, raising her hand.

"Is this about that Hermione's fate?" asked Gryff with a disgusted look that told Hermione more than enough. She noded and Gryff sneered, sending Hermione a legillimancy memory. He softly asked her permission and Hermione allowed him entrance in his mind, where Gryff showed her the memory when he discovered that Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley would marry at the end of their NEWTS.

I didn't think you'd want this to be public. said Gryff's voice, retracting from her mind, leaving her disgusted and nauseated with what she had seen. She worded a silent Thank you to Gryff and he nodded.

"Well then, I believe we all enjoyed this dessert but now, hop to bed." ordered the headmaster, noticing it was quite late. Some students groaned but they all obeyed, taking a final glance at the two brothers who apparently would be their professors soon.

For once, Daphne was excited with the prospect of a DADA class. She left the hall with a smirk while Hermione was still disgusted with what Gryff had shown her.

Amy stayed behind and grabbed a sandy haired Hufflepuff into a broom cupboard.

"So, what is it about Potter women that attract Longbottom men so much?" teased Amy, making Neville blush. Amy laughed and snogged her boyfriend with no cares in the world.