Once Upon a Hogwarts – Chapter Twenty-One
By Lily in a Pond
Disclaimer: This story's almost finished, and you're still asking for a disclaimer? For shame!
A/N – There's only a few more chapters to go, so stay tuned!
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Halloween was a shoddy affair. Harry could practically feel the tension radiating in the Great Hall when he came downstairs for breakfast. Even the enchanted pumpkins seemed to be saying things with their glowing eyes.
"Hey, Harry!" squeaked a familiar annoying voice.
Harry groaned. I was hoping to see less of Colin Creevey this year, he thought bitterly. But some things just can't come true.
"Hullo, Colin," he replied dully, staring blankly into his porridge.
Colin took no notice of Harry's mood. "Can I have your picture, Harry? As sort of like a memento, in case you die?"
Harry's head shot up so fast he could have sworn he heard something crack in his neck. "I am not going to die tomorrow! Why does everyone keep focusing on that?" he snapped.
Colin backed away slowly. "Uh…….I'll be er…going now….I think…….bye, Harry!" And with another frightened look back at Harry, Colin fled away from the Great Hall.
Harry sighed and picked up a piece of toast, idly crumbling it. "Why is my life so miserable?"
"Because you made it miserable with your stupid scar," came a slightly nasal voice from behind.
"Theo," Harry greeted.
"Harry," Theo returned. "Excited about tomorrow's battle? Wait, what am I thinking?" Theo laughed sarcastically. "Of course you're not, you're either going to kill or be killed."
Harry rolled his eyes. "You have no idea how many people have told me this today."
"I already know. Five since now," Theo volunteered. Seeing the surprised look in Harry's eyes, he explained, "I've got eyes everywhere."
"Yeah, everywhere but your face," Harry muttered.
"Pardon? Did I just hear the great and powerful, all-mighty Gryffindor Harry Potter grow the equivalent of a snake backbone?" Theo exclaimed.
"Snakes don't have backbones," Hermione cut in as she sat down next to Harry. "They're invertebrates."
"Redundancy, 'Mione," Mandy interjected, reaching for the jam. The others stared at her.
"What?" Mandy protested. "I just came over for the peach jam, it's not like I'm a ghost or something. Wait, am I?" She quickly looked down. "Nope, I'm not. So, spill. What's the reason with your preoccupation with my face?"
"Where were you yesterday, Mandy?" Hermione asked. "I mean, you were missing all of the afternoon and dinner!"
"I think you two know where I was," Mandy said, glancing at Harry and Hermione.
"Wait, you mean, the thing about the thing?" Hermione asked excitedly.
"Oh, that thing!" Harry exclaimed.
Theo looked between them. "What's the thing?"
"It's something," Hermione told him absentmindedly before turning back to Mandy. "So, you mean that the thing is the thing we were trying to destroy, but you destroyed the thing first and the thing is gone, like, forever?"
"What's the thing?" Theo whined behind her.
"Yeah, the thing's gone forever. No more thing in your lives," Mandy replied happily. Then her face darkened. "Unfortunately, the thing didn't awake the other thing, so now both of the things are gone for good."
"What is the thing?" Theo yelled angrily.
"Hello, all," Ron said cheerily as he plopped down and grabbed the scrambled eggs. "Lovely day, isn't it?" Harry grumbled something incoherent and emptied a peppershaker on his toast. "What are you guys talking about?"
"The thing," Hermione said and Ron's face brightened.
"The thing's gone?" he asked excitedly, food spewing everywhere.
"Ugh," Hermione said. "Ugh."
"Go on, go on, don't include me in your conversation, forget everything I ever did to you," Theo muttered at the same time and stalked off to the Slytherin table.
Mandy looked back at him. "What's wrong with him?"
Ron shrugged and reached for the pancakes. "Probably suffering from some kind of control-freak disease."
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Draco was wet. Draco was uncomfortable. Draco was hungry. And most of all, Draco's hair was messed up. Badly.
To sum it up, Draco Malfoy was not a happy man.
Of course, you wouldn't be very happy if you were currently floating in water that seemed to stretch forever.
No, you would be pissed, which was what Draco was feeling at this time.
"Dominic Cortes is going to pay big-time for this!" he yelled, shaking his fist at a duck that floated by, quacking happily.
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Pansy entered the Slytherin Common Room and immediately tripped over a stuffed animal.
"Argh," she mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her head. "Gack."
"You want to explain why you're on the floor, Pans?" Morag asked, leaning imperiously over Pansy.
"Someone left their stuffed piece of crap on the floor and I tripped over it."
Morag turned red. "I may know who that um….stuffed……….piece of crap belongs to."
"Oh, really? Who?"
"It's er……well, this may be quite shocking….but, um……..it's mine," Morag whispered. "But I wasn't going to keep it, I was going to give it to someone!" he finished quickly.
Pansy stared incredulously at him. "Well, I really hope you're giving it to a girl."
"Trust me, I'm not gay."
"Funnily enough, that was what I was thinking for seven years," Pansy muttered under her breath and Morag started on his homework.
"Hey! I heard that!"
"Well, you have ears for a reason," Pansy sneered, getting out her quill and parchment. Morag scowled.
"Well, at least I don't think Professor Jocular is saying, "The basics of our sex can," when he's really saying, "The aces of our next hand – '," he retorted and Pansy's face turned bright red.
"That was low, Morag, even for you, even for you."
Morag shrugged in a superior way and returned to his homework. He failed to notice an inkbottle was floating rather precariously above his head, with Pansy smirking widely behind his back.
SMASH!
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"Are you guys ever going to tell me where you went and what the thing is?" Theo scowled, popping up behind Ron and making him, Harry, and Hermione jump only a relatively normal seven feet in the air.
"How the hell did you get in here?" Ron yelled. Theo shrugged.
"It was no easy feat, but, as you know, even the portraits accept bribes."
"And the Fat Lady's price was……?" Hermione asked, raising her eyebrows.
"She's going on a date tomorrow with one of the Slytherin portraits. James Henley, the late Lord Sheridan of Cornwall, to be exact."
Harry looked apprehensive. "I'm almost afraid to ask this, but how did you manage this?"
Theo scrunched up his nose. "Well – "
"Ooh, you look like a bunny!" Parvati Patil squealed as she passed by with Lavender Brown, who winked at Ron.
Theo looked miffed. "Excuse me, but Slytherins do not appreciate comparisons to woodland fauna!"
"Ooh, now you look like one of those spotty owls!" Parvati cried, smiling widely. "I never knew you had so many talents!"
Theo's foot began tapping a slightly salsa-y tune on the floor. "Well, acting is one of my many attributes," he answered. "And hey, apparently, so is modesty."
Parvati laughed. "And you're also funny! Want to get a drink sometime?"
Theo contemplated this. "Sure, why not? It's not like you're a conniving gossip who just happens to go on dates with slimy Slytherin snakes."
"Alliteration," Hermione stated in a bored tone.
Parvati was currently writing something down on a planner that suspiciously resembled a piece of enchanted, scented, pink parchment all bundled up. "So, I'll see you Sunday, then?"
Theo shrugged. "Sure."
Parvati smiled. "Great! I mean, you would not believe the nerve of that Dean Thomas, he actually had the audacity to refuse to Hogsmeade with me."
"I do not believe that you know the word 'audacity'," Hermione muttered underneath her breath.
"I mean, who cares if you already have a girlfriend?" Parvati rolled her eyes. "It's not like you're engaged or whatever!"
"And it's not like you're American or whatever, but you're definitely talking like one," Hermione added in an undertone.
As Parvati and Lavender left the room, Theo turned back to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"So, are you ever going to tell me what the thing is?"
"No," Harry snapped. "We don't trust your Slytherin faiths...that is, if you have any."
"I'm pretty sure we don't," Theo muttered. Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement.
"Since you have overstayed our welcome, I think you should go," Ron said. Theo looked strangely at him.
"Why?"
Ron sputtered. "Because you're…………you!"
"Well, that was something I've definitely heard before, but I've never actually placed!" Theo retorted sarcastically.
"No, we mean that you're a Slytherin. We're Gryffindors," Hermione patiently explained. 'You're snakes, we're lions. You're green, we're red. You're cunning, we're brave. You have famous leaders like Voldemort while we have Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore doesn't count, 'Mione," Ron reminded her. "Everyone that's dead doesn't count as a famous witch or wizard."
"Oh. Then we have Harry."
"I don't count either, since tomorrow I'm apparently going to die," Harry mumbled.
"Well, won't that little statement nip you right in the you-know-where if it turns out tomorrow you don't die and instead live, but what you said to Fate made you die," Theo replied cheerfully.
Hermione swiveled around. "Harry's already worrying himself into a freshly dug grave, Theo. Can you please leave off for one minute about how he's going to die!" she snapped.
"Ooh, so the hair de-bushes and the claws come out – by the way, how's Polyjuice Potion coming along?" Theo sneered, smirking triumphantly as Hermione's face turned bright red. "You upset, Granger, now that Malfoy's gone?"
Hermione gasped. "Oh no! I forgot all about Draco!" she shrieked. "Harry, you go on and…you know……think happy thoughts about our futures, Ron, you……………eat something! I have to go now! I need to go to the library!"
"You know, for ages I've wondered if she's having an illicit affair with Madam Pince," Theo remarked. Harry and Ron gaped. "What? It makes sense, in a sick and twisted way."
"Hermione likes Malfoy, Theo," Ron replied, albeit a little hesitantly. "She's not a lesbian."
"Hey, I never said she was."
"My life is so miserable," a tiny voice said behind them, crumpling up his piece of parchment. Harry whirled around and started rounding on the kid.
"Your life is miserable?" Harry spat out. "Your life is miserable? Well, you're not either going to kill or be killed tomorrow, are you? You haven't been forced to grow up so quickly you have absolutely no idea what an innocent life is, have you? Your life isn't so miserable that you walk around with a scar and hear all the gossip about you! Your life isn't a life that's practically been set into stone ever since the day you were born! Your life isn't practically a piece of – !"
"Harry, stop it," Ron hurriedly cut in. "You're making him cry."
Behind his back, Theo was cheering.
"Wahoo! Go, Potter! Go and bash that kid's brains out!"
Ron shot a look oddly reminiscent of Hermione at Theo. "Theo, can you kindly go back to your own common room and bother the people there?"
"Fine, fine, I understand when I'm not wanted," Theo replied, holding up his hands in surrender. "See yas, Gryffindorks."
As Theo opened the portrait door, he immediately collided with a dark-haired boy.
"Oh, no, not again!" Dominic Cortes's voice moaned as he struggled to untangle himself with Theo, who was currently in a state of squished.
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"You wanted to see me, Professor?"
Professor de Vellofides looked up and readjusted his glasses. "Yes, yes, do come in, Harry. Sit down, sit down. Make yourself comfortable."
"Now," de Vellofides leaned back into his chair, "Harry, there's something I think you should know about Voldemort and his Horcruxes."
Harry leaned forward eagerly.
"I assume that you already know that Lord Voldemort has six Horcruxes, Professor Dumbledore informed me of this before his………passing. What you do not know is that the snake Nagini has already been destroyed, so that leaves five Horcruxes. Have you destroyed the five?"
"Well, I didn't actually destroy all five, some of my friends helped……" Harry muttered.
Professor de Vellofides smiled. "This is what Lord Voldemort never understood; teamwork. He always did things by himself and almost never trusted things with Death Eaters, except for some useless trinkets." Professor de Vellofides shuffled some papers on his desk and looked Harry in the eye. "So now, by this hour tomorrow, you and Lord Voldemort will be battling on true strength and power. Not on extra lives. The playing field is finally fair, Harry."
de Vellofides's eyes suddenly acquired a gleam. "I'm not sure if you know this, but I was in the Order of Phoenix, Harry. I fought alongside your parents, alongside Remus Lupin, alongside Mad-Eye Moody, and alongside many others you might know of. I was their friend, Harry. I was their friend."
"I know that," Harry sad, squirming slightly in his seat. There was something about Professor de Vellofides's office that made him uneasy. It was like there always seemed to be eyes watching him.
"Harry. You cannot lose this battle. You cannot lose this battle because you would be giving up everything that everyone who died lost their lives for. You have to stop Voldemort."
Harry nodded grimly, his mouth in a thin line.
"Remember, there are no more Horcruxes left, so you can have a fair chance with Voldemort. Don't waste this opportunity, because it might be your last."
Harry stood up stiffly. "I understand, sir."
"Good day, Mr. Potter, and remember, things are better accomplished when you have luck on your side," de Vellofides winked and Harry managed a weak grin as he stumbled out of his office.
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Hermione was frantically turning the pages of Magical Transportation and More, searching for anything that would explain why Draco was missing. Hermione swore loudly when she reached the end.
Ernie Macmillan looked up from where he was studying. "Can you please keep it down? I'm trying to study for NEWT's!"
Hermione rolled her eyes and sprinted out of the library. No, she would not acknowledge the fact that the library had failed her, but she wasn't going to give up anytime soon. As she reached the Fat Lady's portrait, someone came up and collided head-on with Hermione.
A pair of brown eyes was the last thing Hermione saw before getting knocked to the floor.
"Urgh," Hermione mumbled. "Urgh."
The Fat Lady sniggered from above. "This seems to happen more and more, eh, Dominic? Maybe it's nature giving you a sign that you're bisexual!"
"Shut up," Dominic Cortes muttered and using the floor as a surface, hoisted himself up.
Unfortunately, that floor turned out to be Hermione's chest.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! You pervert! Get off me, I'm Head Girl and can have one thousand points taken off your house, even if you are from Gryffindor! Get away from me, PERVERT!"
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Harry was at the lake with Luna when it happened. There was already a depression over their heads and the gloomy expressions their faces didn't help.
"Are you sure about this?" he was saying before it happened.
"I'm positive," Luna answered grimly, a set expression on her face. The girlish light in her eyes was gone, replaced with a hardness no one could have ever imagined. "I'm absolutely sure de Vellofides is lying."
The silence that continued was pierced suddenly.
"Look!" Luna cried, pointing frantically towards the Forbidden Forest.
Over one hundred people in dark cloaks were emerging from the forest. Towering over them, giants followed. As Harry felt a chill down his spine, he looked up and saw dementors gliding slowly over the forest.
"Go into the castle and tell everyone in our year and everyone that wants to help to walk three times past the blank wall across from the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy on the seventh floor and think, 'recruiting space' while walking," he whispered frantically to Luna, sprinting the way up to the castle. "We need to get reinforcements."
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All over the castle, people were running in every direction. Chaos was everywhere.
As various seventh, sixth, fifth, and even fourth years came filing quickly into the Room of Requirements, Harry took a deep breath and looked outside the window Hermione had conjured, now Vanished to people who were looking in, but not to people who were looking out.
What he saw truly frightened him.
This was a battle. Not the pseudo fight they had in Hogsmeade, this was the real thing. Voldemort and his allies were coming in, and they looked ready to fight. Just the pure number of Voldemort's army shocked Harry. There was just so many………
Harry took another deep breath and took out his wand. He now knew what to do.
Harry cast a quick glance to where Hermione and Ron were assembling the other students into lines.
"I'm going out," he announced quietly and the room immediately silenced.
"No! Harry, you can't!" Ginny screamed. "You'll be killed!"
Harry turned to her. "No. This is what I must do. This is what we have to do, we have to fight and defend Hogwarts. This is something that's going to happen sooner or later."
"And if Voldemort thinks I'm going to stand back and watch Hogwarts be destroyed, well, he's got a hell of a problem coming to him because we're not going down without a fight."
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A/N – I'm so sorry about the long wait for this chapter! I got a HUGE case of writer's block halfway, and was too busy with the new school year for another week. Hope this chapter was to your liking!
And the million-dollar reviews……
IMnOtReAlLYcRaZy – Strangely enough, when I read over my chapter, I was thinking of the same thing…..
Sam's Firefly – Now that Mandy's had her fair share of tragedy (and more!), it's finally time for me to give her the happy ending she deserves, with Blaise! Yay!
Me – I'm thinking of scheduling Daphne's appearance in the next chapter, or perhaps in the chapter after that, with the upcoming HUB. Trust me, Daphne will SUFFER!
BlackXxXblossom – Thank you! I'm glad you like my story, with it's little moments! Most of the greatest ideas used in this story were inspired by real life, though!
Classic.knight – Thanks, I hope I didn't overuse the, "Dominic Cortes-falling-on-everyone" thing too much. Fear not, as the last chapter will have a reunion of all the characters my reviewers have made! So, be expecting Dominic Cortes, Bri Leonard, Melody Brocklehurst, and Diana Greengrass in their triumphal return!
TriXter21 – Yup, took Draco that long to finally realize that hate and love are only fifth cousins twice removed!
AnimeAlexis – You guessed it! And yes, Draco is so pathetic he didn't realize that password was, "Draco Malfoy!"
White-Pink-Fluffy-Strawberriez – No, Mandy's dad is still, sadly, dead. But the good news is that the Horcrux is destroyed! Draco's not coming back from Australia until next chapter!
School-of-Rock101 – Thanks! I like comic relief in those really serious stories. Than again, my story wasn't supposed to be serious at all, it was supposed to be a fluffy romance!
Additional thanks to yummuy and yummers, Your Mom is my Heart., dragoneyes5000, amythestpony, and GoDeSs-Of-LiOnEsSeS!
See yas!
- Lily in a Pond