Beyond
Never Alone, Book III

Chapter Ten – Unity

"Well?" asked Harry in Pansy's mind.

She jumped a little,

"You stinker!" she growled, hitting him playfully, "I should have known you'd do that!"

Everyone else in the room looked at the couple curiously.

"Anything interesting during the Prefect's meeting?" he asked, dipping into her mind once again. She loved the way the warmth of his mental touches made her feel.

"Nothing actually spoken." she thought back to him. "There were a few things thought that were rather interesting."

"Such as?" he queried within her thoughts.

"Hermione's not a virgin." she whispered into his mind.

Harry snorted, then glanced at Hermione, and quickly repositioned his eyes on his wife.

"Ron's doing?"

She nodded subtly.

"Well, I totally needed to know that," Harry groaned into her thoughts, "Anything less... disturbing that was interesting?"

"Password to Gryffindor tower is Mimubulus Mimbletonia. Slytherin's is Death Wish, and Hufflepuff's is Powdered Donuts.."

"Powdered what?"

"Mhmm. Totally strange."

"That all?"

"Nope. Johnson's engaged."

"To whom?"

"Don't know. Didn't bother finding out, doubt it'd be anyone I know. I guess I really just didn't care?"

Harry smiled and kissed her softly.

"What... are they?" he heard Pansy ask beside him as they prepared to board their carriage for the ride up to the school grounds.

At first, Harry was a little puzzled, then saw the nightmare steeds with sickly black wings that carried the load of the carriages.

"Don't worry." said a dreamy voice from the carriage, "I can see them, too."

It was Luna Lovegood.

"You're just as sane as I am."

Harry snorted aloud. He climbed into the carriage with Luna.

"See what?" said Hermione, pulling Ron into the carriage behind her.

"The thestrals." she said simply, pointing at the creatures in front of their cart.

Hermione leaned her head over, but saw nothing. Ron did the same and exchanged a puzzled look with her.

"Only people who have seen death can see them." she said, her voice still quite detached from reality.

"I saw Krum murdered last school year." Harry looked at Pansy, "I saw it too," she said in a small voice, "Before we made love..." her voice trailed off.

"So that's why you two were late." laughed Ron with a knowing smirk.

"Ah, don't play innocent, either of you." Harry cackled, pointing at both Ron and Hermione. Both of them blushed a lurid shade of red.

Neville and Gabrielle climbed into the cart as well, filling the last two available seats. Neville sat beside Luna and Gabrielle, cleverly... sat on the Pansy-free side of Harry.

Gabby still looked torn-up about the goings-on in the Hogwarts Express. Harry mentally shared his memory of the occurrence with Pansy, who after hearing Gabby's comments about Harry, was a hint agitated with the once bridesmaid.

"She has no claim to him." said Pansy softly into Harry's thoughts, gently caressing his hair as she laid a kiss on his cheek, "Nor to you."

Gabby turned and rested her forehead onto Harry's shoulder and cried silently.

As was typical of the start-of-year celebrations, the Great Hall was decorated beautifully. Harry could hear a few audible gasps from Gabby Delacour who passed beside him as she stared off into the sky of the Hogwarts ceiling. She'd seen it before, but it still amazed her.

Sitting down at their usual spots, Harry stared waiting for the basics to begin. After a few more moments of allowing everyone to settle down and find their seats, McGonagall rose from her seat, pulled a ragged hat from thin air, and dropped it haphazardly onto a stool that stood before the group of first years.

You see, thought I must you divide,
I must in you confide,
I cannot help but wonder,
If this ritual's a blunder.

See, you may find
That when with your kind
Strength abounds, employs
But without, destroys

Now comes the storm,
Now is the time to perform
Four apart though you now will stand,
Without unity as one, you'll fall to the sand.

So now rise up, all ye valiant,
Join, come, let me chose your pride.
If it be Gryffindor, be sure
Your heart is quite pure.

Be it Ravenclaw, you're sharp.
But let that not inflate you,
Loyalty, friendship,
Most grand in Hufflepuff

If you've got the best stuff,
Perhaps you'll do in Slytherin,
I must fuss my way through,
Because, believe me, this dividing is tough.

"At least it was longer than last year's." said Pansy dryly.

"Yeah, it was. But, I dunno, I think last year's might have been better." responded Harry, "It sounds like he had some bad FanFiction writer writing that song for him. I'd sue."

Pansy rolled her eyes as the names were called to be sorted.

"ABBOT, MARIETTA"

"HUFFLEPUFF"

A few more names were called.

"DELACOUR, GABRIELLE"

There was a dramatic silence as the author used useless ramblings of narration to draw out the awaiting house of the little Delacour girl. In a quick fit of rage, one of the few reviewers knocked some sense into the writer and magically, a house's name was called,

"GRYFFINDOR!"

After another fifteen or so more first-years were sorted, and Gabbrielle had taken her seat at the Gryffindor table, already chatting animatedly with Colin Creevy, Dumbledore stood to speak,

"Now before we consume twice our weight in potatoes, I'd like to make a few announcements. First years please note that the Forbidden forest is still quite forbidden." his eyes twinkled down toward Harry, "Also, we are pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank for Care of Magical Creatures."

There was a polite applause as the woman stood and bowed awkwardly.

"And Ms. Dolores Umbridge for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position."

"I know her." said Fred in a dull groan. "She works for Fudge."

"At the Ministry?" asked Hermione stupidly.

"Yes," replied George, "Well, it would appear to be here now," he groaned, "for now." he added in cynical afterthought.

A positively revolting woman stood, her sausage like fingers clasped tightly over one of her blouse's pink buttons. She looked like a cross between an overgrown frog and an obese cow. The sight was absolutely nauseating.

As Dumbledore attempted to finish his speech, she "hem-hemmed" (if that's really an action, laugh some.) Dumbledore paused, McGonagall looked annoyed enough to kill.

"Excuse me," she said in a false girlish voice, "Thank you." she said with an evil grin as she looked outward at the students.

"I'm honored to be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!" she said, no enthusiasm in her voice whatsoever, save for the ounce that made a few of the teachers a hint antsy. "I can't wait to teach all your bright, young, smiling faces. We'll be such special friends!"

Harry felt his stomach lurch. This bitch was sickening.

"This year, we'll find, through learning and study that progress, for the sake of progress must be discouraged. We'll prune practices that need pruning and.." she croaked. Not like, you know, having a sudden dryness in your throat croak... no.

Like a frog, croaked.

Harry turned to see Pansy's eyes wide open, staring into Umbridge's eyes. Umbridge turned around and sat in her chair. Her eyes wide with fear.

Hell. Harry loved Pansy.

A/N: I'm well aware that Gabby Delacour should have gone on the boats with the other first years. She didn't. That's that.

I found this chapter to be a little funny, hopefully you did as well. As always, I'd love to see some reviews, so leave couple on your way out. Be sure to check out my one-shots and give them a look too. Also, be sure to check my profile for stories that have won my "TML FanFiction Eagle Award". Stories that I find particularly enjoyable will occasionally be "awarded" with an Eagle Award of either Gold, Silver, or Bronze quality and placed in my profile with a link to the story as a reward. Only the best stories make the list, so they're worth checking out while waiting for my updates!