Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (darn)

Metallica felt mildly uncomfortable under the gaze of the professors as she and the others sipped their hot chocolate. To say it had been chaotic when they got back to the castle was a understatement. Metallica thought Professor Weasley was going to run up to Taurus and Brutus and suffocate them to death in a hug. Luckily, Professor Weasley was far too "professional" for such antics. Professor Verbatim had looked as if he wanted to do that to Metallica as well. Thank God he didn't. That would have been far too embarrassing and hard to explain to others.

Aries and Herms sat on either side of Taurus, neither giving him much space. To Metallica it looked as if both had been afraid of losing a piece of them. That must be the way it felt to be a triplet; connected. Must be nice. Trevor did the same to Metallica, scrunching up next to her to the point that she was about to fall off the bench. A quick, dark look his way corrected the problem. Of course, he looked hurt by the look. Stupid puppy eyes. William and Brutus sat silently together, Brutus's eyes all red and puffy. He sniffled every now and then and Metallica shook her head. It was done and over with, so would he get over it already? Slightly more annoying then Brutus's sniveling cry babying was Marble's odd, fairytale, off into Never Never Land, I-Know-Something-You-Don't look. The girl acted as if she had expected the fire and all that happened after it. Which, remembering all that the girl had said earlier, Metallica mused that perhaps the girl had expected it. It sent shivers up her spine. Marble was just plain freaky.

"The headmaster would like to speak to you about what happened after you have had awhile to breathe." Professor Weasley told the children.

Professor Verbatim crossed his legs, his black cloak feathering the stone floor as he sat. "I believe some points should be deducted from Gryffindor for the fire and 'heroics' that occurred here today."

Everyone stared at him with gaping mouths. "WHAT?"

"You can't do that!"

"It's unfair!"

"No right…"

"Bloody Hell…"

"Brutus Ronald Weasley!" Professor Weasley glared at the young red headed child. Brutus, at least, had the dignity to look slightly chastised. Although, Metallica couldn't help but to notice, it looked like he looked slightly gitty as well. Did the weasel like being punished or something? Wizards were odd, odd people…

"Seems the apple does not fall far from the tree…" Verbatim murmured under his breath. Professor Weasley shot him a warning glance.

"How'd you get the fire out?" Herms asked. Metallica rolled her eyes. Leave it to Herms to ask that question.

Professor Weasley shared a side glance with Professor Verbatim. "The headmaster is the one that put the fire out. It was an old spell." She closed her mouth as if to say that was the end of the conversation. Inwardly, Metallica laughed. Professor Weasley was old if she had forgotten how curious young minds could be. But it could wait. Metallica sipped her hot chocolate with little marshmallows. She knew how to play the waiting game. Well, at least, sometimes she did.

"Now about those points…"

If looks could kill, Verbatim would be dead by now. "I do not think that will be necessary Professor Verbatim." Professor Weasley eyed the younger man. "I believe these children have suffered enough."

"What about the other children? They suffered, did they not?"

Oh Verbatim, Metallica thought, do not tangle with this woman.

"Miss McLeod," Metallica whipped her head up to Professor Weasley, "the headmaster would like to speak to you first. He said…well he wishes to see you."

Metallica had a feeling she knew what the headmaster had told Professor Weasley.

She did not need as much time as the others to recover.

But since when had she ever?

[C][o][n][f][e][r][e][n][c][e]

The tortoise was chewing Metallica's shoe. Did tortoises normally chew people's shoes? Metallica didn't know, but she really wanted the creature to stop. The headmaster sat at his desk, one hand twirling in his beard, the other twirling a yellow lollipop in his mouth. His blue eyes tinkled with mischief and Metallica groaned and leaned her head back.

It was going to be another one of 'those' meetings.

"So Miss Metallica McLeod," the headmaster began, "care to share a story from your recent adventure?"

"No."

"Ah, that is not very friendly of you."

"Well good, 'cause I ain't friendly."

"But you are friends with Mr. Trevor Longbottom-Dursely and the Malfoys are you not?"

"That's got nothin' to do with this."

"But my dear, that has something to do with everything. Everything has everything to do with everything and nothing at all." He waved a boney and aged hand in the air. "Life is funny like that, don't you think? What we think means nothing means everything. What we think means everything, means nothing." He peered at her thoughtfully. "I wonder, if we knew then, what we knew now, what would we do? What would we change?" Metallica didn't look at him. "What would you change, my dear?"

Too much. Too, too much. "I'm too young to know, ain't I?"

"No, I don't believe that at all." Metallica stared at him. She didn't like where this was going. Not at all. "What was it?"

"Huh?"

"What spell was it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Lying is a weakness. I didn't think you had a weakness." He stared at her thoughtfully.

"I don't 'do' weaknesses."

"Hmpf." The headmaster laughed. He waved his hand and a large spell book appeared in his hand. He placed it on his desk and shuffled through the pages lazily. "Phos. A nifty spell. The ancients used to love it." He eyed Metallica. "Tell me, how did you come across this spell."

Metallica said nothing.

"Tell me, Metallica McLeod, do you know what Phos means?"

Again, Metallica said nothing.

The headmaster flipped through pages. "Phos, otherwise known as "light" in ancient Greek, was created by one Ardelis Demeter for his love, the fair, and yet, magically weak, Andromeda. It was a spell created for its beauty, releasing a vibrant color from one's wand. It was said that the color that was released reflected one's soul. It was only later, when Andromeda's jealous and vengeful sister, the dark witch Anstice, used the spell on her beautiful sister, that it was learned how hurtful that beautiful spell could be. It killed her. Burning her from the inside out, drowning her in her own sorrows and miseries, her fears and wishes. Such a horrible way to die. Luckily, however, it only kills when malicious spite is in intent."

Metallica stared at the headmaster, saying nothing. She crossed her arms and tightened her jaw.

The headmaster intertwined his fingers. "One day, you shall share your story." He laughed. "And

I believe that day will be tomorrow. Your paper is due then, if I recall correctly." Metallica's

green eyes narrowed in anger. "Now, off to bed with you youngster. You have class tomorrow."

Metallica was dismissed.

This angered her.

You did not 'dismiss' Metallica McLeod.

She dismissed you. And that was how the world worked.

The tortoise was still chewing her shoe.

[R][e][l][i][e][f]

The boys- her boys-waited for her to return to the common room. Trevor looked up at her with

smiling eyes. Metallica gave them a weak smile. She took in the looks on their faces and

laughed. Herms, probably the smartest of them all, would most likely always carry a worry face

for them. If she was the person to give out pity, Herms would be the person she would pity. It

was a burden to be one to worry for everyone else. Out of the group, Trevor and Herms were the weakest ones. It was a good thing that it had been Taurus and Metallica and not Trevor and Herms that had been in the woods with the centaurs. Metallica shivered to think what would have happened if it had been those two instead of her and Taurus in the woods.

"Please tell me tomorrow's Saturday." She looked at the boys hopefully.

Aries smiled, dropping his raging angry for a small moment. "Sorry to disappoint, but it's Thursday." Metallica groaned as she jumped onto the couch. She threw one arm over her face.

"Do you think they'll give us a day off tomorrow because of our 'heroic' antics today?"

Taurus snorted. "I think it was either class or deducting points from the house. I for one do not care to be hated by the rest of Gryffindor. The red devil is hated enough right now, so we chose class."

Metallica groaned again. "Stupid idiot." Taurus said nothing, which was a bit odd in the other's opinion, but they let it slide. Something that had irked Metallica earlier in the day, before everything had happened, sprang back to life. "Trevor, do you remember what Marble said earlier?"

"Um…no." Trevor shook his head.

"About Molly." Aries tapped his fingers on the table. "About her being resorted? She was in Ravenclaw and now she's in Hufflepuff. How did that happen?" The boys shrugged their shoulders. "Well Aries, did Molly say anything to you about it?" He tapped his fingers again. Taurus and Herms looked at him worriedly. When he didn't say anything, Metallica asked again.

"What? Oh, no. She didn't say anything at all. Just kept blushing and twirling her hair."

"I wonder how that happened. I didn't think you could be resorted."

"You can't." Trevor stammered. "Or at least, it's never happened before. It's quite odd really." He looked at Metallica and Taurus. "I'm just glad you two are safe." He said quietly, so much so that Metallica almost didn't hear him. The clock rang out, telling the children to go to bed. And so they did.

That night, all Metallica could dream of was flashing lights and old temples from forgotten days.

[W][h][i][s][k][e][y]

Well old boy, you've about done it. Draco Malfoy added another empty glass bottle to the broken stack. As this rate, your liver is shot to Hell. Draco smirked. He could feel the tick tock of his life ticking. He should be dead soon. Very, very soon. Then he wouldn't have to live with the damn pain no more. He brought another fire whiskey to his lips. Let Scorpius deal with the family business. Let him carry the burden of the name Malfoy. Draco was going to die. He laughed evilly. Finally he'd get to move on. Scorpios could deal with everything. He could raise the triplets. Or, he laughed like an evil genius, Genevieve could take him. He roared with laughter on that one. His daughter had hated her half brothers, and, by extension, their children. Draco couldn't really understand why. It's not as if Astoria had been a real mother to them. No, that was what nannies were for my dear. Astoria. Draco shook his head. How had he ended up married to her? He chugged some more fire whiskey. Who cared? He married her and got an heir out of her. That's all that mattered.

Now Granger was another story. Weasley. He always forgot that. It was Weasley now, not Granger. Although he was surprised she hadn't revert back to her maiden name after she had 'tainted her soul' with Draco. Draco 'hmpfed'. His soul was so black, all who came in contact with him were darkened.

Just think about the poor grandkids. He drank some more. Taurus, Aries, and Herms. Poor suckers. They were tainted too; they shared his blood. His blood coursed through their small veins, tainting them, cursing them. Blood. It's what it boiled down to wasn't it? It always came back to it.

Screw the blood. Screw life. He just wanted it over with. About a hundred and forty five more bottles should do it. Or one. Who was counting anyway?

Draco Malfoy was a coward to the end, right Hermione?

A tapping sound came from the window.

That could only mean one thing.

An owl stood at the window sill. His gold eyes mocked Draco Malfoy. In his beak the mocking continued. A letter from Hogwarts.

This should be interesting.

So this is rated T for cussing. As you can tell, it's mostly Metallica and Draco that cuss. Sorry if it offends you, but I rated it T for a reason.