Title:Game Without Tears

Disclaimer: I do not own, wish I did, but I don't. I only own my plot line. Full disclaimer, first chapter.

Author: ShaeLynn Teelle

All other information: See first chapter.

Polite constructive criticism welcome. FLAMES WILL BE FED TO THE DRAGON IN MY BED.

Chapter 21: 'Til the End

There were no visitors between Dumbledore's agreement to the bonding ceremony and the day the Headmaster entered the Slytherin rooms again. The door to the rooms opened and Dumbledore came in, followed closely by Professor Lupin and Harry. Only Vincent and Draco were in the room when the three entered. Draco went to the other two bedrooms to retrieve the occupants while Vincent watched the visitors.

It was only a few moments before Draco returned with the other three Slytherins. Daphne and Gregory were already at each other's side and Pansy moved to Vincent, linking their hands together. Dumbledore coughed once and nodded at Harry and Remus. The two placed their wands onto the mantle of the fireplace and watched the Slytherins as Dumbledore had explained what they needed to do prior to their bonding.

"All of your wands must be placed out of reach as the magic could conflict with the bonding spell. Everything is already prepared with the Ministry and we only wait on you. Now," he continued, turning to face the two couples that stood near each other. "Pansy and Daphne, as you were both raised within pureblooded households I believe that you have already created the bonding ribbons to be used in the spell."

"Of course, Headmaster," Pansy answered while Daphne simply nodded and the two handed over the entwined ribbons they had made since the Headmaster agreed to the bonding.

"Good. As it would be improper to use only you five for the positions needed, I have asked Harry and Professor Lupin to fill two of the places. If any of you have a strong objection to either or both of them, speak now without recourse for if you have mistrust with what you know of them it could affect the spell."

The two couples looked between themselves, then turned to Draco. "Your choices of Professor Lupin and Harry Potter are well received, Professor Dumbledore."

"Excellent. Mr. Malfoy, if you would be willing to bear as a witness for both ceremonies, all the positions are filled and we will be ready to proceed."

"I will gladly bear as a witness for my friends, sir."

Dumbledore nodded again and turned to the two couples once more, "Which of you would like to be first?"

The four looked at each other and it seemed with unspoken agreement, Daphne and Gregory stood back to allow the other couple to begin. Dumbledore motioned for everyone to take their places in the center of the room where it was most open after ensuring that all of their wands were far enough away as to not interfere with the spell.

Dumbledore stood in front of the couple, only a few steps away from them. Harry stood to Pansy's left and Draco stood to Vincent's right. Remus was in line with Dumbledore on the other side of the couple, the four making a diamond around the couple. Dumbledore looked between Pansy and Vincent for a moment before he began.

"Face each other and join hands, left to left and right to right."

The two did so, their hands crossed over each other. Dumbledore pulled the violet and black ribbon from the pocket he had placed it in and wrapped it twice about the crossed hands, letting the ends dangle towards the ground.

"Two stand before us who ask to be bound to the other," Dumbledore intoned slowly, his quiet words echoing about the room as though they themselves were magic. "Before these three, who bear witness, they have come together."

The Headmaster stopped and took a step backwards away from the couple. Then, he began again, the words now echoing about the room though his voice had become no louder.

"Do you, Pansy Amelie Ann Parkinson, come to this union freely of your own will and without reservation, knowing any you have will cause the bond to reject you?"

"I, Pansy Amelie Ann Parkinson, do come freely and of my own will without reservation," her quiet words seemed to wrap about her as she spoke.

"Pansy Amelie Ann Parkinson, pledge your troth in whatever words befit you as long as it is honest and in complete sincerity."

"Our past shapes who we are. Our future is who we will be. And we are one, together, forever. To you I pledge my troth, Vincent Tomas Crabbe." Around Pansy's hands flared a light red mist and the Slytherin girl relaxed slightly at seeing it.

Dumbledore stepped forward again for a moment, "Your troth is pledged and your magic has accepted the truth behind your wish to bond." Then, Dumbledore stepped back again and repeated the process of obtaining Vincent's troth.

"Forever and a day will never be long enough to stay by your side. To you I pledge my troth, Pansy Amelie Ann Parkinson."

At his words a bright yellow mist flared around his hands, the color mixing with the red around Pansy's hands to form a pale orange that lit the couple's faces even more than the smiles gracing their features.

"Let the witnesses come forth," the Headmaster spoke again in the quiet, motioning for Harry, Draco, and Professor Lupin to step closer.

First he turned to Draco and asked, "Do you, Draconis Morgan Fay Malfoy, witness and attest to the truth of this bond without coercion of any kind?"

"I, Draconis Morgan Fay Malfoy, do so witness and attest this bond without coercion."

Then, Dumbledore turned to Harry, repeating the question and Harry answered back in the same manner Draco had. Dumbledore finished the questioning with Remus before motioning the witnesses back to their original places and taking a step back himself before continuing.

"Keep true to each other and the bond will flourish. Be false to the other and the bond will destroy you. Go now and live your future with patience, acceptance, and fortune."

The orange glow which had surrounded the joined hands flashed brightly, then, disappeared completely along with the ribbon. The two embraced each other tightly and from above the fireplace the joyous cry of two phoenixes was heard. Everyone in the room, including Dumbledore, looked up at the painting in surprise, but there was nothing about the portrait that had changed.

Vincent glanced at Draco, who gave a barely perceptible nod that only Harry caught. Dumbledore and Remus were both watching the portrait for a moment. Then, when he seemed sure that there wasn't a threat from whatever had caused the sound, Dumbledore turned back to the couple still standing before him.

"Congratulations to you both. Now, let us bond Miss Greengrass and Mr. Goyle."

Pansy and Vincent moved away from the group, passed Draco who gave Vincent a firm hug and Pansy the same with a gentle kiss to her cheek. Daphne and Gregory moved forward, offering the same silent congratulations that Draco had as they passed the bonded couple. The two took their places within the diamond of the four wizards and Dumbledore again began the ceremony, this time wrapping their hands with a blue and tan ribbon and asking if they came without reservation.

"Daphne Bideelia Greengrass, pledge your troth in whatever words befit you as long as it is honest and in complete sincerity."

As Daphne spoke, the soft sounds filled the room, "There is light in every darkness and you are my beacon in a sea of night. To you I pledge my troth, Gregory Rheginault Goyle.

A deep green mist surrounded Daphne's hands and she smiled brightly up at Gregory. He smiled back slightly and gave a brief nod to her before Dumbledore repeated the process again with Gregory. Then it came time for Gregory to pledge his troth.

"My body, my heart, my soul, will protect you forever. To you I pledge my troth, Daphne Bideelia Greengrass." The mist which surrounded Gregory's hands was violet, mixing with Daphne's green until the mist had turned gray, almost black.

Dumbledore continued as he had with Pansy and Vincent and had Harry, Draco, and Remus voice their position as witnesses. He gave the final warning and congratulations, ending the ceremony as the dark gray mist flared and disappeared, taking the ribbon with it. They embraced amidst a second round of phoenix cries that had nothing to show where they were really from.

After staring at the painting above the fireplace for even longer than he had the first time, Dumbledore cleared his throat and turned his attention back to the pair before him. "Congratulations to you both as well. A bonding meal will be sent up within the hour for you all. Unfortunately, there is much that needs to be done at this time and I am unable to stay until then, though I do hope to stop back in later for some pudding. For now, good evening, and congratulations to all once again."

Then, Dumbledore left the room, seeming to be in a hurry of some sort that had those left in the room looking after him even after the door had closed behind him. The five Slytherins took their usual places before the fire, this time, the two couples sat even closer to each other than usual, as though craving their bonded's touch. Harry's gaze moved between the Slytherins, Remus, and the door Dumbledore had so hastily left through.

Remus suddenly turned to the five before the fire and spoke, slightly distracted, "Congratulations to you all and I wish you all the best. I must take my leave as well and I will be unable to return later, unlike the Headmaster. Good evening."

With that Remus fetched his wand from the mantle and began walking towards the door. He didn't really seem to think it strange to be so unaware of his surroundings at that moment and it was only when he neared the door that he remembered Harry was also in the room. He turned to the black haired boy with an apologetic expression on his face that Harry shook his head at before nodding to the group before the fire and retrieving his own wand.

When Harry made a move to follow Remus from the room Draco's voice stopped him from behind, "Potter."

The Gryffindor reassured Remus that he would be fine. The door closed behind the werewolf and Harry turned again to face the small group.

"Malfoy."

"Are you not allowed to come here on your own that you only enter these rooms when you are accompanied by an Order member or my mother's spirit?"

Harry started slightly, surprise on his face when he answered, "No, I have permission just as any of the Order members do that know of where you are and I have come without anyone else before, just not often. I wasn't sure if I would be welcome at all."

Draco nodded and gestured towards the fire with one hand where a second arm chair, much like the one he had claimed, appeared between the two couches. "Would you care to join us, Harry? Much of what we do lies in comfortable silence, but you are welcome to talk and I'm sure there are some questions the others might care to ask you about general things outside these rooms."

For a moment Harry simply stared at Draco in shock before glancing around at the other four. Vincent and Gregory merely nodded silently, never having been up for a lot of talk. Daphne was smiling at him, but it wasn't until Pansy began to laugh that Harry recovered from his shock.

"Don't look so surprised, Potter. Besides the Headmaster, you and Professor Lupin are the only two to enter these rooms that look on us and treat us as though we aren't going to jump up and curse you the first chance we get with wands that we don't have. But Professor Lupin is a professor and you are not. I'd like to think that you're beginning to see us for who and what we are rather than what we had to be. Your company isn't stressful under relatively normal circumstances," Pansy said, her eyes glancing towards Daphne and leaned against Vincent beside her. "You've helped us before and you've tried to help us even more. Thank you," Pansy finished before she closed her eyes and sighed softly.

"Well, Harry?" Daphne asked quietly. "We don't bite, despite being of Salazar's house."

Harry nodded and sat quietly in the chair beside Draco's. There was silence in the room for a time that was only broken by a soft humming. It took Harry a few moments before he realized that it was Daphne filling the comfortable silence. Finally, after Daphne's humming had drifted off to a contented smile, Harry spoke, asking a question that he had been wondering about since after the ceremonies had ended.

"Were any of you aware that a phoenix was going to sing for you?" he blurted out before realizing that it sounded almost accusatory. "I mean, none of you seemed very surprised or anything when that happened."

"We didn't know. None of us knew that would happen," Gregory answered quietly.

"We knew there was more to the paintings in these rooms than any would originally have thought, but that was just as unexpected for us as it was for you. We're just better at hiding our thoughts and feelings than you are," Vincent answered as he wrapped his arms about Pansy and held her tightly.

"How did you know there was anything different about the paintings here from the paintings anywhere else in the castle?"

"Tell me, Harry," Draco spoke in response, a smirk playing about his lips. "Have you ever seen a portrait in Hogwarts that doesn't move?"

"Yes. There's not a great many of them, but there are at least two dozen. Some of the people I can recognize and some I've never been able to identify."

"What paintings?" Draco asked quickly, excitement in his voice at the thought that perhaps another piece of the Founder's mystery might be cleared up.

Harry was taken aback by the eagerness in Draco's question, "There are a few in some of the upper corridors that aren't often used. And there are several portraits in the kitchens of strange looking house-elves that don't move either, but the other house-elves talk to them as if they were conscious like other wizarding paintings. I've found out that a few of the portraits are of old Professors here from when Hogwarts was first a school, but there doesn't seem to be much information other than when and what they taught."

"Who were they?" Daphne asked, quite curious.

"Umm... Well, there was a Professor I. Ignatious, a Professor M. Natteron, and a Professor T. Trybell."

"Tyrone Trybell?" Gregory asked, sitting up straight on the couch.

"Possibly. There wasn't anything except his first initial in all the books I looked in. Do you know who he was?"

"If his first name is Tyrone, then, he was a direct ancestor of mine. I had studied the family tapestry before Hogwarts and memorized my line just to see who they were and I was trying to find out who I was rather than what I was expected to be. There were so many holes in the tapestry, though. There were entire branches that were burned off even before the Goyle name was brought in. No one is left with the last name of Tyrone. The last grouping that had that name were all women and married into other names, so the name was lost centuries ago."

"My family's tapestry isn't even whole anymore," Pansy spoke quietly in the silence that followed the slight revelation. "There was some kind of secret that half of my family kept since the beginning of our line and the other half knew nothing of. The secret had been lost for a long time now, but the side that didn't know of it found out somehow. That entire half of the family tapestry was torn away and ritualistically burned after every known member was killed. Every man, woman, and child was hunted out and destroyed, even those that were illegitimate. I tried to ask my father once what had happened, what was so horrible of a secret that it would require destroying even those that knew nothing about it, but... I never got a proper answer."

Vincent held Pansy tighter against him and she turned her face away from the others. The other Slytherins looked away, but Harry watched the strange events in confusion.

"What's wrong?" he asked quietly when no one else spoke.

"We were raised as Slytherins, Harry, even before we came to Hogwarts. Not all Slytherins come from families like ours, but I've heard that our families are by far the worst ones," Draco answered as though it would explain everything, but the confusion from Harry didn't change so he continued.

"We were taught as young children that we were to never question anything our parents did or anything our ancestors did. No wondering why, or how, or even what really happened. To ask was considered a possible betrayal, or at least a wavering of our parents' opinion. We weren't allowed to openly have thoughts of our own and that was closely watched, even after we came to Hogwarts."

"I still don't understand, but," Harry paused, trying to work through what he had learned from the five. "I don't know if I really want to know, to understand, why you've had to hide so much of yourselves from everyone."

Daphne gave a small laugh, one that held no humor, "We haven't hidden ourselves from everyone. But the consequences of any of the supportive Slytherin parents finding out that anyone is questioning how they were taught to be are... The consequences are not ones we wanted to face."

The silence that followed was not uncomfortable, but each were thinking of things they didn't want to. The break finally came when the smell of food invaded everyone's senses and they looked over to see that the table was full with the feast Dumbledore had promised them.

Everyone's thoughts turned to lighter items as the six sat down for their meal and the two couples lightly teased each other about various things. Many of the comments were lost on Harry, not knowing what they were referring to, but he enjoyed the rather relaxed atmosphere. As promised, the Headmaster came and joined them shortly after they had begun eating. The talking stayed on inconsequential topics for the rest of the meal. The only other topic that came up was just before Dumbledore took his leave again.

"Harry, if you could come up to my office when you are finished here tonight. There are some matters that need to be discussed about Headquarters and your friends there."

Once the Headmaster had left the room the five Slytherins turned towards Harry in question, but it was only Draco that spoke, "Has something happened, Harry?"

He turned to Draco, silent as he stared at him for several long moments. "Yes. There was an attack in the Muggle world. No one of importance was harmed, but Hermione's family lost their home and everything else in the attack. They are staying with the Weasleys at the moment, but we are trying to find some other way to help them."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry. They're still alive and they have each other. That's more than too many have right now."

Draco nodded and Harry took his leave as well. The rest of the evening was quiet in the main room of the suite until the two couples retreated to their rooms and Draco returned to his. He sat staring into the fire and thinking late into the night, only then finally succumbing to sleep.

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