Hi! I changed the title, as you can probably see! It's basically Saving the Future in French. Hopefully, it's right, if I have any French readers could they please reassure me? Anyways, I'm starting this chapter right after my last update, but I probably won't have time to post it until next weekend. I'll try to get it out as soon as possible though. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Still. I hate disclaimers…sigh…=)
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Chapter 9
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Life went on for our favorite trio and their friends, somewhat peaceful unless one of the trio or the Weasley twins decided to pull a prank to liven up the boring castle. And though Harry, Fred, and George were the main pranksters, even Draco and responsible Luna had a take at it. Luna's had been especially creative and involved several flying snitches, a sock, a clothes iron, and pink lemonade. I will leave the rest for you to imagine, as it is too horrible to say, except for the fact that it definitely will be etched into all present for the rest of eternity…
Soon enough though, reality had to take place and Mrs. Norris was petrified. Like last time, Filch went on for days about his "poor, poor, kitten" and though nobody felt very sorry for the vicious cat the trio seemed unnaturally tense again to all who associated with them. Harry flinched every time something loud occurred, like someone banging a book closed and Draco walked around frowning unhappily all the time. Luna jumped and seemed to be more tense and frigid to all who knew her well.
No one knew why, except for a certain Severus Snape, who was quite tense himself. Though he dealt with it by making first years and Hufflepuffs cry and yelling at Neville Longbottom, instead of jumping at little noises. Dumbledore still had that annoying twinkle in his baby blue eyes, but even he seemed to be frazzled as numerous students seemed to be petrified out of nowhere. Draco seemed to be constantly around Hermione, studying with her. Luna also spent a lot of time with Draco and Hermione, mostly hanging out with Hermione but since Draco was constantly around Hermione Draco too.
Harry was left to his own devices, so he decided to take up sword-fighting. Besides now that he thought about it, he had defeated the basilisk in second year by, as Minerva McGonagall had told him in first year after the troll incident last time, "pure dumb luck." He really didn't want to be pierced by a basilisk fang again as one, it hurt (of course), and two, he wasn't one hundred percent sure if Fawkes would appear this time around. Or that if he would be that lucky.
The emerald-eyed teen didn't want to worry his two blond friends more than they already were, so he didn't mention anything. Still, one weekend when Draco and Luna were doing one thing or another, he donned his invisibility cloak under a normal cloak over a glamour and slipped out of Hogwarts through one of the secret passages he had discovered through his years of schooling. Harry knew that somewhere or another there would be a sword in the massive Potter vaults. And so he visit the Gringotts Goblins in Diagon Alley and gained access to his vaults after verifying his identity and making sure that Dumbledore and any other nosy people would never find out that he made that visit.
Harry had found a sword that would shrink and grow to his size and thoughts, a beautiful sword with one small modest emerald and an emerald sheath lined with silver thread and small diamonds along the edges. Sparkly and pretty for a sheath, but sensible and not so heavy that it was inconvenient for him to lift and would hinder him in a fight. The citizen dubbed Boy-Who-Lived took the sword and thanked the goblin waiting at the door before slipping back to the castle.
Once he entered the dorm he grimaced at the sight of two angry blonds with silver eyes glaring at him. "WHERE WERE YOU!" screeched a worried Luna. Draco's piercing eyes turned almost the color of brittle metal and Harry cowered unwillingly under the unforgiving gaze. Harry meekly held up the sword to his long time companions, but neither blond turned to it. "And why didn't you take us with you for backup?" interrupted Draco in a harsh voice. "You were busy?" Harry said in a small voice, knowing that they wouldn't like the answer and he was in for it.
All the time spent with his companions took away all of Harry's "Gryffindor courage" and left him looking at two pairs of cold silver gray eyes. "Oh, Harry!" cried an exasperated Luna. "We're never to busy for you! Especially regarding your safety!" Harry nodded silently and Draco strode forward and grasped his shoulders in a tight but not painful grip. "Never do that again. It doesn't matter what we're doing, we're in this together. I will not have you running around by yourself, whether for just retrieving a sword or killing a band of Death Eaters." Harry frowned very slightly and Draco tightened his grip to the point of serious discomfort. Harry nodded and Draco loosened his grip. Both Draco and Luna brought him into a hug and he wrapped his arms around them.
"Do you wanna see the sword?" asked the emerald-eyed teen after a couple of minutes of silence. Luna rolled her eyes. Only Harry could change his moods that often and still seem perfectly normal and relaxed. They let go of each other and Harry brought up the sword, which he somehow managed to keep from stabbing Draco or Luna in the side during the hug. Draco nodded in approval, high praise for him, as he had seen a lot of brilliant weaponry during his Malfoy days. Well, traditional Malfoy days. Luna wasn't as sure, but she thought it looked durable and pretty, and that was all that mattered. She also nodded.
Harry beamed at their approval and they all dropped back onto Draco's bed. "Wait, did either of you put on silencing or privacy charms before Luna just start screaming at me?" Harry asked. Luna nodded and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry?" Harry told her, "It's okay. Now that I think about it, it was sort of silly of me." "Sort of?" she raised her eyebrows at Harry, and Draco glared at him. "Okay, really silly."
"And yes, I did," Draco replied to Harry's earlier forgotten question. Harry sighed and leaned back onto Draco's bed and asked, "So, what now?" Luna and Draco shrugged, and Draco spoke, "I guess we just have to wait it out until something drastic starts happening. Have you been hearing the voices yet?" Harry nodded and Draco chastised, "And you've never told us?" "Sorry," replied Harry. "This year sure has been slow compared to the other years," Luna said. "Yep," Harry replied. "But we get to relax a bit, instead of being so high strung twenty-four hours a day."
The rest of the day consisted of chattering with each other, and soon they lifted the silencing and privacy charms so that the other dorm-mates wouldn't become suspicious as to why they couldn't open the door. In a couple of weeks was the disastrous Quidditch game, and both Draco and Harry were nervous at the fact that Harry had fallen of his broom last time and gotten all bones in his arm removed by Lockhart. Harry wanted to avoid that, really much, as the Skele-Grow had not exactly been pleasant.
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The Quidditch game came, and Harry was feeling very nauseous over breakfast. He stirred around his eggs, bacon, and hash browns without taking a bite and Luna had to threaten to force feed him. Even Hermione, sitting at the Ravenclaw table, sent Harry a fierce glare over her own pumpkin juice goblet and Harry sheepishly started nibbling. At Draco's insistent glare he began eating a bit faster, hoping to placate him.
Soon it was time for the game, and Harry and Draco left to go change with their team-mates. Harry and Draco took off at the signal and Harry began scanning the air for the snitch. It was Slytherin against Ravenclaw, different from last time. A flash of gold flew by the goals and Harry flew slowly in circles to it. Unfortunately the Ravenclaw seeker saw it too, and though Ravenclaws are better at sportsmanship than Slytherins, their seeker was quite vicious. Not to mention older than Harry's physical body. Harry was almost rammed but he dodged. Even more unfortunately, apparently Dobby decided to stop by again, and see if Harry Potter was really not in danger, and cursed the bludger AGAIN. Poor Harry forgot that part and was once again whacked off his broom seconds after grabbing the Snitch.
Draco flew after him, but a particularly vicious jealous Ravenclaw bumped into him and he had to swerve to avoid falling off himself. So again he landed painfully on the grassy floor. Draco dropped to the floor in a graceful leap and landed by Harry's side. The blond really wanted to start healing Harry, but the best he could do for the brunet was to keep Gilderoy Lockhart away from him. Harry moaned slightly as Draco put feather-light fingers on his arm, and Draco sighed. Broken again. By now adults were swarming as well as the Quidditch team. "Give Mr. Potter some room!" Minerva McGonagall yelled over the frantic whisperings of both the Slytherin and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams.
Luna had, among the chaos, gotten out of the Slytherin stands and was now kneeling right next to Draco. "Harry just can't ever catch a break, eh," she tried to say this lightheartedly, but both blonds could here to pain in the words. By now Severus and Minerva, as well as Dumbledore were by Harry's side. Lockhart was also approaching, but backed away after Luna's uncharacteristic (at least to him) cold glare. A student had obviously called for Poppy Pomfrey, as the matron came running with a Hufflepuff in tow.
Harry had cracked open his eyes and the resident MediWitch had dropped next to Draco and Luna. She took one look at Harry and conjured up a stretcher before gently levitating him onto it. Harry moaned slightly as his broken arm came in contact with the stretcher. Just because he had had much worse doesn't mean that he had to like it. Draco and Luna trailed behind the frowning MediWitch to the castle. Harry was set on a bed and given water and a spell used to set bones. Not exactly what you would call comfortable, but better than the Skele-Grow potion used last time.
The brunet was also given a sedative, and Harry took it with a reluctant look at his friends, who were still by his bedside. Luna and Draco both nodded encouragingly, so the emerald-eyed teen gulped it and succumbed to the peaceful sleep the potion brought on. Madame Pomfrey (who by now knew that the trio would stick together no matter what, as she had tried kicking them out before causing an incident she would rather forget…) transfigured two stiff white hospital beds into comfortable armchairs. Draco thanked her, and Luna sent a grin, before both collapsed into the soft plush green chairs to wait for their friend to wake on the morrow.
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The next morning Harry was the second to wake, with an already alert Draco and his side. The first thing Harry did was reassure Draco that yesterday (was it yesterday?) was in no way his fault, and was completely unpreventable. Draco, who Harry knew extremely well, was already up and fretting and relaxed slightly under Harry's consistent and constant reassurance. Luna woke up soon afterwards and went to the kitchens to bring breakfast. She brought back sausage, mushroom, and cheese omelets with coffee and hash browns and a small chocolate muffin that they split up after their omelets. As they sat sipping their coffee the resident blonds both sighed at the fact that Harry was, once again, injured.
Harry tried to cheer them up, and promised that it wasn't their fault, although he did wonder why Dobby started now, and not before. By then the matron of the Hospital Wing had walked in the trio chatting over coffee (an odd sight for twelve year olds and an eleven year old girl) and told Harry that as long as he'd be careful, as his arm was a bit tender, he would be able to continue classes. And the plus side was that he would still be able to right, as it was his non-dominant arm that got whacked by a bludger and the impact to the floor.
Two blonds and a brunet thanked her, and she bustled away to do who knows what. Harry, Draco, and Luna went to class and besides that life went on quite mundanely. School rolled by quickly. Apparently a lot of the timeline was still the same, as the Dueling club taught by Lockhart (*scoff*) and Snape was still in session. Luna had decided that they shouldn't go, but rather go through a real training session in the Room of Requirement. Both Draco and Harry agreed immensely, so it was done.
The three friends met up the same day that the club was set to meet with almost half the school (what a disappointment that would be) in their usually exercise clothes, mini-sized. Two blonds and a brunet grinned at each other in remembrance, and Harry even asked the room to show Potter Manor's training area. There were targets on one side of the wall (that suspiciously looked like the people that had wronged the trio, even a large model of Voldemort…) for spell work, and a muggle-styled gym for a physical workout. Draco, Harry, and Luna grinned at each other, and set to work. A personal favorite of them was blasting Voldemort's head off, and they teasingly fought over who got to do it first. Thankfully, the Room regenerated everything, and they even made a game out of it, "Blow Voldy's head off!" so eloquently named by Harry.
By the time their workout was finished they were all hot and sweaty, and took showers courtesy of the Room. Afterwards the friends sat down to cold drinks and cookies, also courtesy of the Room. All three of them looked tired, but extremely satisfied. "Do you want to see me with my sword?" Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry's question, and Luna nodded. Harry asked the Room for a practice sword and breathed in, remembering all he had practiced during his free time for the past months. A practice dummy, also in the form of "the self-proclaimed Most Evil Dark Lord of the Century" appeared and Harry smiled giddily. "Hey, look, another game! Slash Moldy-Pants!" Luna and Draco rolled their eyes, but focused on Harry.
Harry breathed in and took a stance, before flying through steps, patterns, and positions. Luna and Draco's eyes widened slightly in shock and the speed in which Harry was moving and smiled. Trust Harry to be able to learn how to use a sword that fast. But then again, soaking stuff up like a sponge was always Harry's specialty, and he was brilliant at it.
The audience clapped as Harry spun to a stop, and Harry smiled. "Now all I have to do is make sure that the other sword or person doesn't get me first." Draco shoved him in the arm, and Harry collapsed onto the sofa in exhaustion. All in all it was a good day and all three friends were proud of their new progress.
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Soon, seemingly too soon, it was time again for "The Chamber of Secrets Adventure." Now, only Severus and the trio knew that Harry was a parselmouth, and it would come to the young brunet's advantage. Hagrid was once again arrested and taken to Azkaban, though Harry had managed to make sure that it was only hours before he would enter the Chamber of Secrets. The trio was supposed to sneak in, get the basilisk venom and the horcrux and leave. Severus tried to convince them to let him go along, but all three insisted that they go alone, as they work the best together.
The night that Ginny Weasley was captured they snuck out under the invisibility cloaks, and several charms made by Harry and Luna as surveillance and protection. Luna had donned a cloak, and Draco and Harry shared one, and together they sneaked to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. The silencing charms kept even Myrtle from seeing them, and at Harry's direction the sink opened, causing Myrtle to flying away screaming about ghosts…Anyway, they leapt in after putting down the invisibility cloaks and sneaked in together. Luna, as medical backup, had run to Ginny's side to guard her in case anything went wrong while Draco and Harry took up offense. Tom Riddle was there, and made his speech while Harry pretended to listen. Draco was to grab the horcrux from Ginny and Harry to keep the basilisk from attacking everyone until then, and they would then work together to get the basilisk venom.
Luna had tossed the book to Draco, and Draco grabbed his wand and began shooting hexes at the basilisk, aiming for the eyes along with Harry. Unfortunately Draco's wand was knocked out of his hand and he was left with no form of protection. Harry tossed Draco his (as it proved to be compatible) and continued dueling with his spare. Not as comfortable to duel with, but useable all the same. The basilisk thrashed around as a cutting curse hit it, and both males had to swerve out of the way according to the sounds, as looking at the basilisk would mean death.
Harry's wand was knocked out of his hand by a moving tail and he cursed. He unsheathed his sword and tried to prevent anything from injuring him. Luna wandlessly summoned both Harry's and Draco's wands to herself, and kept them safe. She was afraid that if she sent them over to Harry or Draco they might get distracted and get injured.
Soon Draco got in a good hex with his wand and the basilisk howled (hissed?...) in pain. However, it apparently wanted revenge and dove in to try and bite Draco. Luna screamed and got up, knowing how lethal the venom was, but she was too far away to help, besides blasting the large snake's body away from her friends. Harry gasped and tackled Draco to the floor, then groaned in pain as the fangs found itself in his midriff. Draco also blasted the snake away, unaware of Luna's hex, and dropped by his friend. Luna had raced over too and both were now kneeling by Harry.
Harry smiled weakly at his best friends and grimaced at the spreading poison and both blonds' glares, one worried, one angry. "More bad luck, eh?" the brunet asked. Draco glared at him again. "Why?" "You're my best friend," questioned emerald-eyed teen replied. Luna had broken out into tears, though she was valiantly trying to hide them. "Don't!" she cried. What she meant was left unsaid. Harry felt his vision beginning to blur and blacken around the edges. Now it was for Fawkes to come, or they'd be in big trouble. Harry's eyes closed and two blonds wept for their brunet friend in the foreboding silence and dampness.
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Cliffy! Mwhahahaha!...though the majority of you probably suspect the outcome…or do you? Sort of short, just under eight pages, but I've been pretty busy lately. I still have two projects and a presentation that are partly finished for Monday. Thanks for all the reviews, same pairings, I'll probably close the poll soon. Please review, and I hope you liked this chapter!