A/N: This chapter is actually a bit pointless, but, hey, there've got to be
some of them in my story as well, right?
Chapter 36: Family Visits
After 4 and a half days of very hard practice Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco were finally able to Apparate anywhere at will within a second, during battle as well. Dumbledore just would not stop telling them how proud he was.
"Very, very, very well done," he told them for the millionth time, his eyes twinkling brightly at them. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco grinned at their headmaster. "Now, I have changed the plan around a little bit. It is now almost 11 o'clock and your families will be arriving at about noon in the Entrance Hall. I have to go and send a letter to the Ministry of Magic and will be back within the hour to meet your parents. When they have arrived you will be able to see them, and after that I will explain to them your part in the defeat of Voldemort. Now, do you all know what you'll do during the next hour, to kill off time?"
"QUIDDITCH!" shouted the five students happily.
"Ah, yes. Quidditch. What would we do without it," said Dumbledore. "At noon you will make your way back to the castle to meet your families, all right?" he asked. The five students nodded vigorously. "Good. You kids have fun and I'm off to write the Ministry. I will see you at noon," he said and then walked off up to the castle.
"QUIDDITCH!" shouted Harry, Ron and Draco, before running off to the Quidditch Pitch. Hermione and Nora rolled their eyes and laughed, even without rain it echoed off of everything, despite the fact that they were in a large clearing. It was a mystery. When they finally entered the Quidditch Pitch the guys were already in the air, racing each other, their t-shirts fluttering in the wind. Though it was rather warm, the five of them were wearing jeans, instead of shorts, but Hermione and Nora were wearing tank tops as well, so they were dressed a bit more 'summer-ly' than Harry, Ron and Draco. The two girls flew up in the air as well and hovered in the middle, waiting for the guys to join them.
"You know, we could use that form of Apparating for pranks and stuff at school," said Ron.
"Yeah, that'd be awesome," agreed Harry. "To annoy Filch or something," he added, grinning.
"Yeah, but first we have to get to Hogwarts, then. Ooh, and it could be used to sneak out of school and into Hogsmeade," said Nora.
"Damn, I wish we were back at school," muttered Draco glumly.
"Yeah," said the others gloomily.
"All right. Quidditch!" said Ron.
"So how are we going to play?" asked Nora.
"Well, you'll be Chaser with Hermione. Ron will be Keeper and me and Draco will be Seeker," said Harry.
"Ok, let's begin," said Hermione and the game started. It wasn't a real serious game, since they had a very large shortage of players, but it was just for fun. It felt really good to be back out in the air again and the five of them soared happily through the sky, the cool wind rushing through their hair.
Before they knew it Harry told them all to stop and that it was already 4 past 12. The five of them hurriedly put their brooms in the changing room, which they only used to keep their Firebolts; they never changed into their Quidditch robes since they could play Quidditch in their normal clothes just as well. Together they walked into the clearing, hoping they hadn't made their families wait.
"You know what?" said Harry.
"What?" asked the others.
"Well, Nora once complained that we never knew our way around here but now that we learned that form of Apparation, we can just Apparate everywhere," he told them.
"Hey, you're right," said Nora. "Finally! Thank Merlin we don't have to follow sir Cadogan around everywhere!" she exclaimed. Just then someone called her name and she looked around. "Was I too loud?" she whispered to the others, unsure of who, or what, had called her. Her friends shook their heads and she furrowed her brow. Just then the source of who had called her name came running over the clearing at a breakneck speed and before Nora had time to register what was happening she was knocked off of her feet by her sister.
"Oof. Merlin's beard you're heavy, Lily," she muttered as she got up. Nora gave Lily a big hug, but her sister pried herself loose and then ran over to Harry, who stood to the side with the others. Harry picked Lily up as Nora walked over to him, brushing the dirt off of her clothes.
"Seriously, I think she likes you way better than me," muttered Nora, glaring at her sister, while mouthing 'traitor'. Lily grinned and then put her arms around Harry's neck, giving him a hug.
"Hey there, little one," said Harry. Lily pouted.
"I am not little."
"You are to me," replied Harry. Lily kept pouting.
"Acknowledge the others too, all right? Or they may feel left out," said Nora as Hermione and Ron walked over to Lily.
"Hey," they both said, smiling.
"Hi Ron. Hi Hermione," Lily said happily. Hermione gave her a hug, which was almost impossible with Harry holding her, but she managed.
"Who's that?" asked Lily, looking at Draco. It was very clear he felt a bit uncomfortable.
"Don't be so rude, Lily," scolded Nora, before replying her sister's question. "That's Draco. You met him before, remember? At Hogwarts? In January?" Lily seemed to be thinking it over. After a few seconds her face lit up.
"Yeah, I think so. You're the really hot Slytherin who asked 'Who's the little one?' when you first saw me, aren't you?" she asked.
"Er. . ." said Draco while looking over at the others. He could see Nora blushing at her sister's straightforwardness, and Harry and Ron grinning at the little girl. "I guess I am." He wasn't really sure how to react at being called 'really hot' by an 11 year old.
"Are you going to go out with my sister?" demanded Lily.
"Erm. . ." Draco glanced at Nora who was blushing furiously, covering her eyes with her hand, and looking at her sneakers. Draco had no idea how to answer this question. He wanted to go out with Nora, he really did, but he wasn't sure if she wanted to go out with him. He was already very happy that they were now really good friends, especially after that fight they had, and he didn't want to push his luck by asking her out. But those three words kept going through his mind. 'I love you.' Had she really meant it or just said anything to try and distract him.
"Well? Are you going to go out with my sister?" asked Lily again. Draco did not know how to answer. If he said 'No', he may offend Nora, if she really had meant the 'I love you' thing. If he said 'Yes', Nora would know how he felt about her, but he may end up looking like a fool because she hadn't meant the 'I love you'. Either way, he'd look stupid, even if his reply did work with how Nora felt about him. The thought of using the form of Apparation seemed very tempting at this moment.
"All right, Lily. That's enough," said Nora strongly.
"But-" began Lily.
"No. Enough is enough. You have got to learn some manners, young lady," scolded Nora, her arms crossed. Lily looked at Harry, who was still holding her, for back up.
"Don't look at me," he told her, patting her head gently. "Your sister's right on this one. It's a bit rude to ask someone personal questions when you've only just met him."
"I didn't just meet him. I met him at Dean's funeral," argued Lily. Harry chuckled.
"Even so. You don't know Draco very well. Unless you know him like we do, you're not to go asking him such question," he told her.
"All right, all right. You sound just like my mum," said Lily. "Sorry," she mumbled to Draco.
"So, did you get the picture we sent you?" asked Hermione, changing the subject. Lily immediately cheered up.
"Yeah. Yeah I did. It was really great. I loved it!" she exclaimed happily.
"Wait," said Nora, and all eyes turned on her.
"What?" asked Ron.
"How come you wanted to know if Draco was going to go out with me?" demanded Nora, looking directly at her sister. She had never told anyone except Hermione, Padma and Justin that she had started going out with him, and she told them they had broken up, too. So then how did Lily know there was something there? 'Is it that obvious!?' She thought horrified.
"Well, in the picture you guys kept kissing. For hours in a row, mind you," Lily told her sister. Nora's mouth fell open as she looked in shock at her sister. Draco wore the exact same expression.
"Wait, they were kissing in the picture?" asked Hermione. Lily nodded.
"You two weren't kissing in real life, were you?" asked Ron, a hint of suspicion in his voice as he looked at them suggestively.
"NO!" yelled both Nora and Draco at the same time. Harry and Hermione chuckled as Ron backed away quickly. Just then a lot more people walked over to them, Dumbledore in the front. He was actually far ahead of their families, but then Dumbledore does take larger strides. Harry, getting a bit tired, put Lily back down on the ground as Dumbledore walked over to them.
"You'll meet your families now, you're friends are coming later, and when you're all sick of each other again I'll take them into the castle and explain everything to them," he said, smiling at them. "I'm sure everyone will be asking you questions as to why you are here, but tell them I will clarify later. One more thing: It would be better if you five told Lily about your part yourselves, as she would comprehend much better. She's still too young for my prose."
"Ok," replied the five students and Lily. They looked at her, eyebrows raised, and then chuckled for one second before every one of them was being pulled into a bone crushing hug by mothers, fathers and, in Ron's case, the two Weasly twins, Fred and George.
"Aw, ickle Ronnikins is growing up so fast," said Fred in a voice that sounded horrifyingly like his mother's as he squeezed Ron more and more.
"And just think," added George as he ruffled Ron's hair and pretended to sob. "Yesterday he was only a little tiny boy, picking his nose and eating whatever came out of it." Ron was by now struggling very hard to break free of the strong grip Fred had, but to no avail, and his face turned more and more blue as he tried to breathe. Finally Mrs. Weasly noticed what her two sons were doing and ran over, shrieking at the top of her lungs.
"Fred! George! Leave him alone! Can't you see you're suffocating him!? My poor Ronnikins! Let him go, Fred!" she shouted as she pried Ron loose of the two twins. "Seriously, one of these days you two are really going to kill him," she muttered. Fred and George shrugged.
"Well, that was our intention, but who cares?" they both said. Ron slowly backed away, laughing nervously. He knew his brothers weren't really trying to kill him, or were they? He remembered they had tried the exact same thing at the funeral in January, and had given their mother a reply that hinted they were doing it on purpose as well. By now, Mrs. Weasly had moved on to Harry, who was receiving a bone-crushing hug much like Fred and George had given Ron. When she finally let go, Mrs. Weasly had tears in her eyes and Harry was panting for breath, though trying to act as though she had not nearly suffocated him. It was then that Harry noticed the whole Weasly family was present, even Bill and Charlie were there, as well as Percy and Ginny and, of course, Mr. Weasly, who walked up to Harry, looking rather excitedly.
"Hey, Harry," he said, patting Harry on the back. Then he looked around, his eyes wide. "This place doesn't have any Muggle items hidden somewhere, does it?"
"Erm. . . not that I know of," replied Harry. Mr. Weasly looked a bit crestfallen.
"Oh. Well, that's too bad, then," he said. "So, how've you been?" Harry told him he'd been all right, he didn't know whether to put in the nightmare that nearly drove him insane.
A few feet away, Narcissa was fussing about with Draco. Giving him hugs and kisses and trying to make his hair look a bit decent.
"Mum, I'm all right," said Draco, trying to fend his mother off. "Mum, you're embarrassing me," he hissed, but on the other hand it felt good to see his mother again. He wondered how she was doing, after Nymphirah's death. He could see dark rings under her eyes and she looked a bit worn out as well. Her eyes didn't hold as much happiness and joy as they did when she'd look at his little sister and she seemed rather thin.
Nora was being smothered with all sorts of hugs and kisses as well, as her mother and father rushed over to her.
"This castle is too dangerous for you children to stay in! It looks like it could fall apart any second!" rattled her mother. Nora rolled her eyes. "Do be careful here, won't you? Won't you!?"
"Yes, mum. I'll be very careful," replied Nora, a bit fed up. Her father was a bit calmer and he smiled encouragingly at his daughter. When Mrs. Glassyd was finally done with her lecture, Mr. Glassyd pulled her away and Sean, Nora's brother, stepped up.
"Hey there little one," he said, smiling.
"I am not little. Lily's the little one," replied Nora, her arm crossed, though she was smiling.
"To me, you're the little one. Lily's the littlest one," said Sean. Nora supposed he was right; he was nearly 2 meters and she must look pretty small to him, and Lily even more so. "So, how are you holding up?" he asked, pulling his sister in a hug.
"I guess I'm all right," replied Nora. "How's Kate?" she asked softly.
"She's fine, now. Though at first she didn't want to believe Dean was dead. But she's fine, now," answered Sean. (A/N: He's married to Dean's sister, Kate. Remember? Probably not. Anyway, the story.)
"Will you be staying all day?" questioned Nora. Sean shook his head.
"Sorry. I have to get back to work soon," he replied.
"Oh. Well, say 'hello' to Kate for me, will you?"
"Uh-huh. You take good care of yourself, remember?" warned Sean. Nora nodded, smiling. "All right, then."
Hermione was trying to explain to her father that she was all right and why she was here without giving away anything about her part in Voldemort's defeat. She wondered how he was holding up, without her mum.
"So, wait. You're here for something special!?" exclaimed her father. Hermione had no idea how he could get worked up about that. 'Something special' could be almost anything. She nodded. "Well, I'll be. My little girl taking part in something 'special'" muttered Mr. Granger. Then he sniffed and Hermione shot him a horrified look.
"Please, dad. You're not going to start crying here, are you?" she muttered. Mr. Granger shook his head, but he sniffed again.
"Of course not, honey," he replied. "It's just. . . my little Hermione, all grown up and here for something 'special'. If only I knew what it was. If only your mother were here to see how much you've grown," he said, looking up at the clear blue sky. A pair of birds flew across it, twittering and flying around each other.
"Yes, well. How are you?" asked Hermione, trying to change the subject before her father got even weirder.
"Fine. Which reminds me: how's Nora holding up?" asked Mr. Granger.
"She's all right, now. But she's changed. We've all changed. There are only very few times when it's as if we're at Hogwarts and just having fun," replied Hermione.
"Like, oh let's think, in the rain?" questioned her father, looking at her knowingly. Hermione grinned impishly.
"Yes. The rain is one of the few things that takes our mind off of everything," she answered, still grinning. Just then Mr. Weasly walked over, looking like a 7 year old who had found a large pile of candy.
"Hi," he said holding out his hand. Mr. Granger shook it.
"Hello," he replied.
"Now, you live in the Muggle world right?" asked Mr. Weasly. Mr. Granger nodded and Hermione could definitely see where this was going, thus she walked over to Nora and her parents. "Could you tell me how exactly does an engine work?" Hermione heard Mr. Weasly ask. She chuckled to herself as she reached Nora.
"Hello," she said brightly to Nora and her family.
"Hello, darling," replied Mrs. Glassyd and she pulled Hermione in a hug. "Good to see you again, and so cheerful as well. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine," replied Hermione.
"Good, good," said Mrs. Glassyd, smiling at the two girls. Then she looked around, searching the area for someone. "Oh, where has Lily gone off to now?" she muttered crossly. Hermione and Nora looked around as well. Nora found her sister first.
"There she is. I'll go get her," she said and walked off to where Lily stood, a few feet away from Harry, Ron and Draco who were all talking, swooning over Draco. "Lily, what on earth are you doing?" asked Nora as she reached her sister.
"Checking out the totally hot Slytherin," came Lily's reply.
"Who, Draco? Really? You like him?" Nora asked in disbelief. Lily shrugged.
"Well he is really, really hot, so. . . maybe," she answered.
"Right, well, mum told me to come get you," said Nora and she dragged her sister off towards their mother.
Draco stood talking to Harry and Ron about Quidditch and how it would be so cool to play for a team like the Chudley Cannons when he heard Nora's voice asking her sister what on earth she was doing. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Lily gazing at him. Instantly he felt himself turn read.
"Checking out the totally hot Slytherin," came Lily's reply. Draco felt himself turn even redder. He could see Harry and Ron grinning at him and heard Nora ask if Lily liked him.
"Well he's really, really hot, so. . . maybe," replied Lily. Draco blushed even more.
"Looks like you've got yourself a new girlfriend," teased Harry. "And from the same family, too. You'd better be glad Nora's brother is married already, or he'd begin drooling over you as well."
"Oh, stuff it," replied Draco. Harry and Ron laughed.
Nora dragged Lily over to where their parents and Hermione stood.
"Where were young lady?" demanded Mrs. Glassyd.
"I was with Harry," replied Lily.
"No, she was standing a few feet away from him and drooling over Draco," contradicted Nora. Lily glared at her sister.
"Lily, what are we going to do with you," muttered Mrs. Glassyd, but she was still smiling fondly at her youngest daughter.
"Hey! Nora, Hermione! Come here!" shouted Harry and Ron. Both Hermione and Nora said goodbye to Nora's family and then walked over to their friends, talking animatedly about when Terry would finally come. Though they did not see it, Lily was watching her older sister with envy: she wished she had four great friends that she never separated with and she wished she were more like Nora. Her sister was always smiling, well, except for when Dean died, and always had enthusiasm for everything. Nora was even an excellent Quidditch player and Lily knew that she was adored by more than half of the male population at Hogwarts. Lily sighed. She felt so small.
"What is it?" asked Hermione when she and Nora had finally reached Harry, Ron and Draco.
"Well, we were just talking and the three of us are all pretty sick of our parents already, so we thought we'd go to the lake and swim a bit," explained Ron.
"Ooh, can we join? My mum just won't stop nagging at my head," said Nora and Hermione nodded.
"Yeah. I never knew my dad could be so annoying. . . and weird. It's like my mum's death affected his mind," she said, frowning.
"So it's all set, then? We sneak off towards the lake for some fun," said Harry. The others nodded. They all checked to see if no one was watching them. The parents were all talking with each other, about their children, Lily standing sulkily with her parents. Sean was conversing with Bill and Charlie. Percy was busy with his work for the Ministry of Magic, as always, and Fred, George and Ginny had been shown the Quidditch Pitch by Ron and were now up in the air on the Firebolts.
"All right. We should go now, while everyone's busy," said Hermione quietly.
"Wait, shouldn't we tell them with a note or something that we've gone off somewhere. Otherwise they may think we've been kidnapped," said Nora.
"Good point," said Harry. He scribbled a sloppy note and Hermione cast a spell so it would keep floating in the air. Then the five of them ran for it, hoping their sudden movement wasn't noticed by any of the others. They ran towards the forest, hurried into it, darted through the trees, and didn't slow down until they were sure they couldn't be seen. The five of them laughed at their success.
"Good. Now, let's have some fun!" shouted Ron and he began running again towards the lake, the others close behind. When they finally reached it, Hermione cast a spell again, and a second later they were all standing in their swimsuits.
"Now, let's see," said Draco devilishly. "Who of us five are ticklish?" Nora and Hermione completely froze up, knowing perfectly well what was going to happen next. "Oh, yes. The two ladies over there are. How could I forget?" said Draco and he slowly came nearer to them, Harry and Ron closing in as well, all of them smiling evilly. Finally Nora and Hermione were able to move again and they quickly ran away, Hermione seeking refugee in the water and Nora running around it. When she had run a full circle around the lake she stopped dead in her tracks. There, standing in front of her, was Draco. Apparently he had just stood there, waiting for her to finish the circle. Nora mentally slapped herself. She could be so stupid some times. The two of them looked each other in the eyes as Hermione's screams reached their ears. An impish grin spread over Draco's face and Nora, deciding to stop running around the lake, ran into it, Draco following behind.
"Quit it! Quit it!" screamed Hermione over her own laughs as Harry and Ron tickled her sides. Nora dove into the water and swam to the ground, waiting for Draco to come by. He had no idea where Nora had suddenly gone off to and looked around, carefully scanning the area, but she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he felt something grab his ankles and he barely had time to shout before he was dragged underneath the surface. He thrashed around as wildly as he could until he saw Nora, grinning evilly at him. He immediately stopped, and glared at her. Then he shot straight towards her and began tickling. Nora tried to escape and swam to the surface. When she broke through the water she took a large gulp of air. Beside her Draco did the same.
"You're evil," they said at the same time. This caused them to add to the laughter that was already sounding through the air. The both of them tried to catch their breath after having stayed under water for so long and just watched in silence as Hermione struggled to escape from the clutches of Harry and Ron.
"We really should help her," said Nora. Draco only shrugged. Neither of them moved. Draco poked Nora in the side once. She smiled, though she kept watching Hermione and her futile attempts to flee. Draco poked her again, a bit harder. Nora let out a giggle and moved away.
"Don't you dare start tickling me again," she threatened, though it wasn't at all intimidating as it was over laughs.
"Try and stop me," replied Draco, closing in on her again. Nora decided to try another tactic, something other than running away screaming. She swam rapidly towards Draco, not at all knowing what on earth she was going to do when she did reach him. When she was about to crash into him he bent down and picked her up so that she was hanging over his shoulder. Nora blinked, needing a moment to remember how she had gotten into this position.
"Let go," she said, trying to squirm herself loose, but unfortunately Draco had a pretty strong grip on her. "Let go," she repeated, while wriggling even more. But it was very hard to try and break free when her face was so close to his ass and she couldn't stop staring at it. (A/N: *drool*) Draco began heading over to the others, wanting to ask them what they were going to do next.
"Hi, Draco," said Harry as he took some time off of torturing Hermione. "What'd you catch?" he added.
"It's this really energetic animal," replied Draco as he tried to stop Nora from squirming. Harry walked around his friend and stopped to look at Nora.
"Why, I don't believe it. That must be the largest swimming deer I have every seen," Harry exclaimed while smirking at Nora. She glared in return and tried to whack him. "Feisty, aren't you?" said Harry, and then he walked around Draco again. Finally Hermione managed to escape from Ron and she ran over to Harry and Draco for cover.
"Why's she over your shoulder?" questioned Hermione bewildered as she saw Nora. Draco shrugged.
"I felt like annoying her," he replied simply.
"I see. Ooh! That gives me an idea for a game we could play!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Really what?" asked the other four intrigued.
"Well, me and Nora could each get on one of your shoulders and then try to push each other off. It's not a great idea, but at least we'll be doing something other than torturing some of us," she added glaring at Harry and Ron. They just smiled innocently in return.
"But there'll be one of us left," said Draco.
"Well, one of you could be the referee," Hermione said.
"I'll be the referee!" shouted Ron immediately.
"All right," said the others.
"Now," began Hermione. "As you, Nora, are already on one of Draco's shoulders, it will only make sense that you team up with him and I'll team up with Harry." Nora gave an indignant cry.
"Why do I have to pair up with Draco!? He's evil, I tell you! EVIL!" she shouted.
"Oh, quit whining. You wouldn't help me when Harry and Ron kept attacking," replied Hermione.
"Hmmm. True," said Nora. "All right, I'll team up with Draco, but if he doesn't let me go soon SOMEONE WILL HAVE A VERY BAD HEADACHE IN THE MORNING!" She yelled loudly. She was immediately dropped, of course. "Much better," she said as she stood up. Both Harry and Draco went underwater so that the two girls could climb onto their shoulders. When they were both seated the two guys rose out of the water and wobbled slightly.
"Whoa, hold steady, you wuss," said Nora, though it wasn't harshly.
"I would be able to, if someone wasn't such a fat cow," replied Draco.
"Well, I've never!" said Nora in fake resentment. Draco snorted as he made his way towards Harry. And thus the battle began. Hermione and Nora struggled to throw each other off, but no luck yet. Ron had run out of the water a long time ago and was now standing on top of the large rock, ready to jump into the water.
"Uh-oh," said Nora. She had been watching what on earth Ron was doing and hadn't been able to stop Hermione before it was too late. She tried to hold her balance, but it was impossible and she fell into the water. Hermione and Harry raised their arms in victory. Draco whispered something to Nora and she nodded, grinning evilly. The two of them snuck up to Harry and Hermione who were making a small victory lap around the lake, which made no sense at all, and swiftly pulled Hermione off of Harry's shoulders. The both of them shouted in surprise.
"Foul!" the both of them yelled, searching for Ron, but the referee was currently busy doing a summersault in the air as he jumped off of the large rock again, beside the waterfall, and didn't hear them. Nora looked around, scanning the area, not for Ron, but for someone else. She looked scared as her eyes darted everywhere. Nora was almost positive she was going insane, but she was also pretty sure that she could hear a voice yelling, "send 'em off, ref! Red card!" It scared her. It was exactly what Dean had yelled at Harry's first Quidditch game in their first year, and it scared her.
"What's wrong?" asked Draco, seeing Nora's frightened and desperate look. She closed her eyes, shook her head and opened her eyes again.
"Nothing," she replied. 'Just hearing voices' she added in her thought.
"Oh. All right, then," said Draco, but he kept shooting anxious glances her way for the next few minutes.
"Hey, isn't that your sister?" he asked, a while later, stopping mid- battle, pointing to the path that led back to the castle. Nora followed his gaze and her mouth fell open.
"It is," she replied. Draco slowly went underwater, letting Nora get off his shoulders to go to Lily. She swam rapidly through the water and ran on to the shore.
"How on earth did you get here, Lily? Do mum and dad know you left?" asked Nora worriedly.
"Yes. They said to go find you because they were going to get something explained by Dumbledore," replied Lily. "Where's Harry?" she then asked. Nora rolled her eyes.
"He's over there," she answered, pointing to where Harry, Hermione, Ron and Draco were in the water. Lily immediately began running, but Nora held her back. "Let's get you into a bathing suit first," she said and then cast the switching spell Hermione had used before. Lily's clothes immediately turned into a bathing suit and together the two made their way over to the others.
"Harry!" shouted Lily and she swam as fast as she could. Nora frowned at her sister, wondering how on earth she could be so damn fond of Harry. When Nora reached the others Lily was once again in Harry's arms.
"Merlin, woman, you swim slower than a Flobberworm," said Ron, Nora smiled at him a little too friendly.
"Keep it going like that, and you'll be a Flobberworm," she threatened.
"So what do we do now?" asked Draco. He could feel Lily's eyes boring through him, and he definitely didn't like it. When Lily finally looked away from him he inched over to Nora and whispered "Save me!"
"Maybe I won't. Serves you right since you wouldn't put me back down for ages," she whispered back. Draco looked at her in a mock hurt expression.
"Aw, come on. It's not like I haven't teased you before, like you haven't teased me, for that matter," he replied.
"True," said Nora.
"So you'll help me?"
"No."
"Hag," whispered Draco sourly. Nora just smiled sweetly at him.
"Dumbledore said you five would explain to me what he's explaining to mum and dad right now," said Lily, looking at them expectantly. The five older students looked away, pretending to be busy with other things. They really didn't want to explain their part in the defeat of Voldemort to her. For one thing, she might get scared. For another, it was just so much easier if Dumbledore did it for them.
"Come on! I just turned 11! You can tell me!" said Lily, miffed that everyone was treating her like a little girl.
"All right. We'll go to the shore and then tell you," said Hermione. Lily beamed and then urged Harry to the shore. When they were all finally out of the water the six of them sat in a small circle, Lily seating herself in Harry's lap.
"Go on, tell me," she whined, not being able to bear staying in the dark any longer.
"All right," said Nora who was sitting next to Harry and her sister. "But promise you won't overreact."
"Erm. . . I promise," Lily said a little hesitantly. "Tell me!" she then pleaded.
"We all have a part in Voldemort's defeat," said Harry.
"Oh," was all that came out of Lily's mouth. When she finally registered what he had said she looked at all of them. "All of you?"
"Uh-huh," said the five older students.
"And what do you have to do, then?" asked Lily, a bit scared.
"Well, me and Draco fight Voldemort and, hopefully, eventually kill him," answered Harry.
"And Hermione, Ron and I we just fight the Death Eaters and our presence helps Harry and Draco fight better," said Nora. Lily looked at her, her brown eyes frightened.
"How do you know this?" she asked.
"A Prophecy was made about us. Well, actually about me, Harry, Hermione and Ron. Draco only got a part in it this year," replied Nora.
"So this was already known when you were born?"
"Before that, even," said Hermione.
"Are you going to die?" questioned Lily, an uncomfortable feeling settling in her stomach; Maybe, in a few weeks, none of them would be alive, and she wouldn't have an older sister anymore, or Harry. She looked at the five intently, hoping very much they would shake their head laughing and say: "Of course not, silly. None of us is going to die." But to her misery they all shrugged and mumbled some things.
"We don't know," replied Harry softly. "We might or we might not. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out."
"But you can't die," whispered Lily, and everyone was sad to see that thick pearly tears were rolling down her cheeks. "I need you guys."
"But you're not the only one who needs us," said Nora. Lily looked at her. "Every other person in the world needs us, too. If we don't fight, Voldemort will be free to reign the world and many, many more people will be killed. Just think of all the little children whose parents will be, or were, murdered by him. And it'd be good for us to fight him, too. Revenge will be sweet. Think of Harry, he has neither parents nor a godfather, all because of Voldemort. Hermione, she has no mother anymore, and Draco," Nora smiled weakly at her sister. "Draco lost his little sister, just a few months ago. She was only your age." Lily's bottom lip quivered as she looked at Draco, but this time it wasn't the searching, hungry look she had given him before, this time it was filled with sorrow.
"Ain't that just the way that life goes down, down, down, down." Everyone turned to look at Hermione, who had all of a sudden sung a single line. She blushed while muttering "sorry."
"When are you going to have to fight Vol-. . . him?" asked Lily.
"We don't know," answered Nora.
"But then how will you be prepared?"
"Well, we have been practicing very hard ever since we arrived here," Nora said. Then she disappeared.
"NORA!?" shouted Lily in fright.
"Calm down. Over here," said Nora. Lily looked to her left and saw her older sister standing behind Hermione.
"How'd you do that?"
"It's a form of Apparation. We all learned," answered Hermione and before Lily had time to blink she, too, had disappeared and reappeared behind Draco.
"Ooooh," said Lily in aw.
"Anything else you want to know?" asked Ron. Lily nodded.
"Why does he kill so many people and make them sad?" she asked quietly.
"Because he's a Slytherin," replied Ron. The others rolled their eyes at Ron's answer, but Lily blinked.
"But Draco's a Slytherin, too," she said confused.
"What Ron meant to say," began Hermione. "Was that Voldemort is just pure evil. He wants to be the most powerful wizard in the world and he thinks that he can accomplish that by gaining many stupid followers and murdering numerous innocent people."
"No, I said it right. He is a Slytherin," argued Ron. Hermione just sighed and shook her head at Ron.
"If Draco is in Slytherin, isn't he evil, too? Sean once said that all the stupid, ugly and mean students get sorted into Slytherin," Lily told them, the confused expression still present on her young and innocent face.
"Well, students are sorted into Slytherin because they have great cunning-" began Harry, but Lily interrupted him.
"What's 'cunning'?"
"It means they're smart and good at making plans and stuff."
"Which is why Draco's in there?"
"I guess," said Harry, shrugging.
A/N: uh-oh. Writers block.
"But you'll be careful, won't you? When you fight him?" Lily asked, her eyebrows in a sad frown. The five older students nodded.
"We'll be dead careful. I promise," said Nora and she gave her little sister, who was still sitting on Harry's lap, a kiss on her forehead. Lily smiled.
"Let's go back to the castle. I think Dumbledore will be done explaining now, and the sooner our parents start rambling about how dangerous everything will be, the sooner we get it over with," muttered Ron as he got up. The others nodded and together they walked through the dark forest heading back towards the castle.
"Hmmm. It's not raining, is it?" asked Nora, looking up towards the sky.
"Merlin. You only just got out of the water and you already want to get wet?" asked Ron. Nora shrugged.
"I just feel like running around in it," she replied.
"Me too," agreed Hermione and she grinned at Nora, who returned it. They linked arms and skipped ahead, wanting to see if it was or wasn't raining. They couldn't see in the forest; the trees were so heavily packed that even sunlight had a hard time making it's way through the many leaves.
"Mad," muttered Harry, Ron and Draco together. Lily looked at them.
"Who's mad?" she asked. Harry smiled at her.
"No one is. Let's hurry up a bit, before those two do something stupid," he told Ron and Draco, who nodded. The four of them hurried through the forest, only to find Nora and Hermione standing right by the edge of it, pouting.
"No rain, then?" asked Draco, smirking at them. Hermione and Nora hit him as hard as they could on the arms. "All right. I deserved that," Draco muttered while rubbing his arms.
"So what do we do now?" questioned Harry.
"Eat," replied Ron
"Besides eat," said Hermione.
"Eat," answered Ron simply.
"Other than eat,"
"Eat."
"Can't you think of anything else but 'eat'?"
"Eat."
"Ron, be quiet," said Nora.
"Eat!"
"Don't make me cast a silencing charm," she threatened.
"Eat? Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat."
"That's it," snarled Nora. "Silencio!" and finally Ron fell silent.
"Thank Merlin," muttered Harry, Nora, Hermione and Draco at the same time. They turned to look at Lily; her laughter had gotten their attention. They followed her gaze and saw Ron writing the words "EAT FOOD" in the air with an orange light that came from his wand.
"You know, I'm kind of hungry as well," said Draco softly. Nora spun around and hit him on the arm.
"What did I do?" said Draco indignantly, looking at the place on his arm where he had been hit.
"You annoyed me," replied Nora simply.
"That's not true. If Ron hadn't gotten you all worked up I wouldn't have irritated you," argued Draco. Nora shrugged.
"Well then there's probably something you may have done a long time ago that annoyed me then and you're paying for it now," she said.
"Then you've probably done something a long time ago that annoyed me then, and you're going to pay for it now, as well," said Draco, smiling at his own cunningness.
"You can't hit girls," said Nora stupidly.
"No," agreed Draco. "But I can tickle them." Nora looked horror struck.
"You wouldn't," she hissed. "At least, not again today."
"Watch me," whispered Draco and a second later Nora shrieked and ran out of the forest and over the clearing in front of the castle as fast as she could, Draco right behind her.
"It's good not to be at the receiving end of tickles for once," said Hermione as she watched the two sprint over the grass. Ron, who would usually have responded that comment with tickles, was now too busy writing silly sentences in the air with his wand for Lily's amusement and Harry was just too tired to start tickling Hermione again.
"Aaah!" screamed Nora as Draco pounced and pinned her to the ground. She struggled hard to escape from his strong grip, but her strength failed her as Draco began tickling. Mid-laugh she stopped though and thought: 'What the hell am I doing!?' Then she concentrated hard, trying to stop giggling for a few seconds, and finally she succeed in Apparating away. Draco looked a few meters to the left where Nora stood, trying to regain her breath.
"That certainly took you long enough!" he called to her. "And you call yourself a witch!" Nora just stuck out her tongue, unable to come up with a better come back. Draco laughed at her childishness.
"All right. Ron's annoyance has convinced us all. Let's go eat," said Hermione as she reached them. There was a loud cheer to be heard coming from Ron.
"You took my silencing charm off?" said Nora indignantly.
"Yes. I had to, or he'd begin tickling me," replied Hermione.
"Blackmailer," muttered Nora to Ron who had just arrived with Harry and Lily. The six of them entered the castle and Lily tried hard not to gape at the beautiful room. All five, Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco, had to drag Lily into the Dining Room with difficulty. As soon as they sat down, Lily in Dumbledore's seat, food appeared and Ron gave a groan with longing as he tried to pile everything on his plate at once. As usual the others were lot slower and chewed everything a few times, instead of shoving it into their mouths and swallowing it all at once.
When they were all done eating, about an hour later, the six of them leaned back in their chairs contently. Draco glanced at his watch, did a double take and stared at it in shock.
"What?" asked Hermione who had noticed his weird behaviour.
"It's already 6 o'clock," he said.
"WHAT!?" shouted the others.
"No way," said Ron checking his own watch. He shook it a couple of times and checked it again. "Hmmm," he then muttered.
"What's so bad about it being 6 o'clock already?" questioned Lily.
"Nothing much, its just time went by really fast and we didn't notice," replied Harry shrugging. "Hey, didn't Dumbledore say our 'friends' would be arriving as well?"
"Ooh, yes. Let's go into the Entrance Hall and wait for them!" exclaimed Hermione, suddenly looking very excited and full of energy. She then jumped out of her chair and exited the Dining Room.
"Wow," muttered Draco as Harry and Ron ran out of the Dining Room in full blast as well.
"You can say that again," said Nora as she got out of her chair, though slowly and decently.
"Wow," said Draco with a confused look on his face.
"It's a saying, moron. Seriously, sometimes you're as dim as Ron," Nora told him.
"I am not," argued Draco offended.
"Let's go, Lily," said Nora, leading her sister into the Entrance Hall, ignoring Draco's last words. There, in the hall, were already three couples furiously making out. Nora immediately backed into the Dining Room, dragging Lily along with her, and tumbled over Draco, who had been right behind them.
"Oof," said Draco as he landed on the floor, Nora on top of him. Lily had managed to grab hold of the table and was still standing. "What's with the backing up?" asked Draco as Nora rolled off of him and seated herself on the ground. She glanced at Lily and then leaned forward to whisper something in Draco's ear.
"I'm not going to go blind, you know, if I see them kissing," said Lily, crossing her arms.
"I know you won't, but I thought they may want some privacy," Nora told her as Draco helped her up.
~*~*~*~
Many, many, many mind killing minutes later the three of them were sitting on the floor, still in the Dining Room, playing the same awful game for the millionth time.
"Is it red?" asked Nora wearily, wishing she were ANYWHERE but here, playing this stupid game.
"No," replied Lily happily.
"Is it yellow?" asked Draco, bored out of his skull.
"No," replied Lily, smiling cheerfully, obviously not noticing the very large lack of interest from the other two.
"Does it have hair?" said Nora, saying whatever entered her head, and playing this game only for Lily's entertainment.
"Yes," Lily answered.
"Is it blonde?" asked Nora, catching on.
"Yes," replied Lily, looking less happy by the guess.
"Is it Whisky?" asked Nora after a looooong sigh. Lily frowned.
"Hmpf. You guessed too quickly," muttered Lily.
"Whisky?" questioned Draco, looking at the two sisters.
"One of our golden retrievers," replied Nora sullenly.
"What's the other one named, Scotch?" he said sarcastically.
"Vodka," replied Lily happily. Draco raised an eyebrow.
"All right, let's go," said Nora quickly, afraid Lily would start another game again. "They'll have had plenty of privacy by now." The three of them exited the Dining Room and entered a very empty Entrance Hall.
"Well, they didn't really miss us a lot, did they?" asked Draco, looking around. Nora glowered. She walked outside, in the cool air.
"Not here either," she told Lily and Draco as they followed her out.
"Oh well," Lily said happily. "All right, I've got another item in my mind!" she then exclaimed. Draco groaned but Nora ran off of the front steps and over the clearing.
"Wait! Where are you going!?" shouted Draco. "Don't leave me behind here!" he added desperately; what if he was forced to play the game again!? He watched as Nora stopped and lay down on the grass. "What the-?" he muttered.
"Let's go," Lily told him and she dragged his hand and pulled him over to where Nora was lying.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" questioned Draco when he had finally reached her with Lily.
"Doing something a whole lot more fun," replied Nora. Draco looked at her as if she were mad. "I'm watching the sky," Nora told him, answering his unasked question. Draco lay down next to her, wondering what was so special about the sky. Lily lay down in between them and looked up at the sky as well.
"Oooh, pretty," she exclaimed. Draco thought she had a point, though he wouldn't have said it in her words. Since it was a bit after 7, time sure flies when you're bored the hell out of your skull, the sun had started to set as night prepared itself.
"You sure have the weirdest ways to entertain yourself," Draco said. "Dancing in the rain, lying in the grass watching twilight. . . but I have to say, it's rather relaxing."
"It's entertainment through nature. Beats watching television, doesn't it?" replied Nora.
"Beats tillie- what?"
"Oh, right. You wouldn't know. Never mind that. But it beats most of the other things you've done, doesn't it?" Draco nodded, only to remember that she wouldn't be able to see it.
"Yeah. . . yeah it does," he replied. They watched as sunlight grew dimmer, only to be drowned by the darkness of the night, tiny little specks that were stars glinting brightly and happily above them. Sometimes a cold breeze would sweep over them, but the wind stayed low most of the time, almost as if it knew such a wonderful night should not be disturbed.
"Makes you feel pretty insignificant, doesn't it?" asked Nora softly a long while later as she roamed the sky, looking for her favourite stars. Draco rolled on his side and leaned on one elbow, so he could look at her over Lily, who had slowly fallen asleep.
"What do you mean 'makes you feel pretty insignificant?' We're the only ones who can stop Voldemort from taking over the world and killing half of the population. I'd say we were rather important," he told her. Nora turned her head to the side and looked at him.
"You know what I mean," she said. Draco flashed her a grin.
"Yes. Yes, I do. But I feel less significant than I did when I was younger," he replied. Nora smiled and turned to look at the stars again. Draco saw the stars reflect in her sorrow-filled eyes. He noticed she had the look of a person forced to grow up too quickly. Did he look like that as well? And the others? After watching her for a few more seconds he lay back down and continued watching the stars as well, wondering what was written in them. He wondered if they would still be alive in a few weeks time, if they would ever be given the fortunate chance of living without fear again and if the sorrowed looks, engraved in their faces and eyes, would ever leave.
"We'd better get this one to bed," said Nora when Lily had turned over in her sleep and cuddled up to her older sister. Draco stared at her blankly; he had been so drowned in his own thoughts that he had not heard a single word she had said. "Bed. Lily. Sleeeeep," Nora told him with the air of explaining something to a very thick person, which was sometimes a bit true.
"Oh, right," said Draco and he got up, too. Nora picked the still sleeping Lily up in her arms and together the three of them headed towards the castle, two of them drowned in their own thoughts again as the wind picked up and blew around them. When they had finally reached their bedrooms Nora and Draco said goodbye to each other and each entered their own room. Nora laid Lily down in her bed and pulled the covers over her. She then went out on her balcony, which was on the side of the castle and overlooked the clearing, and watched the sky. She was finally free to think of what she had heard by the lake. Dean's voice echoing through it. It had run through her mind the whole day, but only now was she really paying it attention. It had sounded as if he had really been there, but she knew he wasn't. . . or was he? Nora didn't know. His voice had sounded so close, and so real, but it might as well have been her imagination. She felt like she was losing it. At some times she would feel perfectly happy and normal, as she had in the earlier years at Hogwarts, but at other times she felt as if she could just break down completely and cry all day/night long. Her eyes wandered over to the forest and she had to know. Yes, she knew she was being silly, but checking couldn't hurt, could it? Nora walked back in, checked to see if Lily was still fast asleep and then snuck out of the room and down the stairs, not even thinking of grabbing a cloak or sweater.
She swiftly opened the doors and walked outside. Once in the cool fresh air she broke into a run and headed towards the forest, the form of Apparation drowned out of her mind by the thought of Dean. She darted through the trees and ran deeper into the forest. When she reached the lake she just plopped down into the sand and looked around, catching her breath. She scanned everything thoroughly, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"Dean?" Nora whispered quietly. No answer. She knew she was being stupid, but her heart sank. Now was a good time to let all of her held in tears go. It wouldn't help, it wouldn't bring Dean back, but she'd feel a slight bit better. So she sobbed. She just sat there in the middle of a large dark forest, not knowing where in the world it was, and sobbed, giving involuntary jerks as she cried into her hands. When she had calmed down a bit she looked around again through tearful eyes, sniffing every now and then, and without even knowing it she began to sing the song that had helped her through many dark times before.
Draco walked through the forest slowly. He hadn't been able to sleep; too many thoughts kept rushing through his mind so he went outside and made his way to the lake. He always went there when he wanted to think, and talk. He always went outside, to a secluded area, and talked. He talked to Nymphirah, telling her what had happened and what he was feeling, as if she was there, listening to every word he said. . . and maybe she was, who knew? When he walked around the large bush that hid the lake from view he stopped in his tracks. He could hear someone, or something, singing. He strained his ears and recognized the song as the one Nora had been singing to him after Voldemort tried to deprive him of his sanity. Draco guessed it was probably Nora who was sitting there on the sand singing, though this time it wasn't in a beautiful clear voice. This time it was in a broken voice and after every few words she would pause, sniff, and then give an involuntary jerk as she starting crying again. Draco slowly walked over to her.
"You know. It's not safe for young a woman your age to sit alone in the middle of a dark forest without any protection," said Draco as he stopped beside her, looking down at her. Nora snapped her head towards him and then hastily wiped her tears away.
"Merlin, Draco. You scared the hell out of me," she said, giving a weak smile. As much as she had wished her voice to sound normal and casual, it was more strangled and hoarse. Draco sat down next to her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, not really knowing what to say.
"Well, cry as you may have guessed," replied Nora miserably, not in the mood to keep hiding it anymore. "What about you?"
"Couldn't sleep, so I came to talk," he answered. Nora looked at him confusedly.
"With who? Surely you didn't know I'd be out here as well?" she asked. Draco shook his head.
"With Nymphirah," he said. This did not really improve Nora's vision of him being weird. "I just talk out loud and pretend she's out there, watching over me, listening to every word I say. Sometimes I can even hear her mirthful laugh when I tell her I've done something stupid again," Draco explained, feeling quite silly. "But I know she's not listening. That she's not there watching me."
"How do you know?" asked Nora. Draco shrugged.
"I just do. I don't believe there's a heaven, so she can't be floating around in it, watching me and laughing as I do something dumb," he replied.
"I don't believe in heaven either, but that doesn't mean the ones long gone aren't watching over us," Nora told him. Draco looked at her.
"Really? So you mean she's always floating around me, watching what I do?" he asked hopefully.
"Well not all the time," began Nora, but on seeing Draco's hopeful look falter, she added hastily: "But then at night you can always tell her about the things she missed. Like how you spent a whole hour playing a silly mind killing brain with me and my sister in the Dining Room." Draco chuckled.
"Yeah. I bet she probably tuned out on that one. I don't think even she could have stayed interested in that for too long," he said. Nora chuckled. After fifteen minutes of silence Draco got up. Nora looked at him.
"Where are you going?" she asked, not really wanting to be left all alone.
"Bed. I feel much better than I've felt all day. I think I'll be able to sleep now," Draco replied.
"Oh."
"You should go to bed, too. It's getting awfully late," he said. Nora shrugged. "Come. You're going to bed as well." And he helped her up. The two of them walked silently through the dark forest. Owls hooted every now and then, adding to the creepiness of the woods. Only when they reached the castle, a while later, did Nora feel completely safe. The both of them walked up the steps and into the hall towards their bedrooms. They said goodnight and each entered their own room. Nora checked to see Lily was still sleeping and then fell on top of the covers, falling asleep instantly, not even bothering to change into her nightclothes or getting under the bedspread.
A/N: Ooh, another long chapter. A bit more Nora and Draco than I expected, but I hope you liked it anyway. Review, please?
Lillypotterfan - I'm so glad you like my story so much! I'm so happy I could just float out the window. . . but I won't, because this still has to be put up on ff.net. Anyway, I'm really glad you think the Nora character is a great addition, I don't think many people like the fact that there's another main character. But you do, yay! And I'm also glad you're reading my story, even though you'd prefer H/G and R/Hr. Thanks for reading and reviewing! It's very much appreciated (as you may have already noticed.) =)
Chapter 36: Family Visits
After 4 and a half days of very hard practice Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco were finally able to Apparate anywhere at will within a second, during battle as well. Dumbledore just would not stop telling them how proud he was.
"Very, very, very well done," he told them for the millionth time, his eyes twinkling brightly at them. Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco grinned at their headmaster. "Now, I have changed the plan around a little bit. It is now almost 11 o'clock and your families will be arriving at about noon in the Entrance Hall. I have to go and send a letter to the Ministry of Magic and will be back within the hour to meet your parents. When they have arrived you will be able to see them, and after that I will explain to them your part in the defeat of Voldemort. Now, do you all know what you'll do during the next hour, to kill off time?"
"QUIDDITCH!" shouted the five students happily.
"Ah, yes. Quidditch. What would we do without it," said Dumbledore. "At noon you will make your way back to the castle to meet your families, all right?" he asked. The five students nodded vigorously. "Good. You kids have fun and I'm off to write the Ministry. I will see you at noon," he said and then walked off up to the castle.
"QUIDDITCH!" shouted Harry, Ron and Draco, before running off to the Quidditch Pitch. Hermione and Nora rolled their eyes and laughed, even without rain it echoed off of everything, despite the fact that they were in a large clearing. It was a mystery. When they finally entered the Quidditch Pitch the guys were already in the air, racing each other, their t-shirts fluttering in the wind. Though it was rather warm, the five of them were wearing jeans, instead of shorts, but Hermione and Nora were wearing tank tops as well, so they were dressed a bit more 'summer-ly' than Harry, Ron and Draco. The two girls flew up in the air as well and hovered in the middle, waiting for the guys to join them.
"You know, we could use that form of Apparating for pranks and stuff at school," said Ron.
"Yeah, that'd be awesome," agreed Harry. "To annoy Filch or something," he added, grinning.
"Yeah, but first we have to get to Hogwarts, then. Ooh, and it could be used to sneak out of school and into Hogsmeade," said Nora.
"Damn, I wish we were back at school," muttered Draco glumly.
"Yeah," said the others gloomily.
"All right. Quidditch!" said Ron.
"So how are we going to play?" asked Nora.
"Well, you'll be Chaser with Hermione. Ron will be Keeper and me and Draco will be Seeker," said Harry.
"Ok, let's begin," said Hermione and the game started. It wasn't a real serious game, since they had a very large shortage of players, but it was just for fun. It felt really good to be back out in the air again and the five of them soared happily through the sky, the cool wind rushing through their hair.
Before they knew it Harry told them all to stop and that it was already 4 past 12. The five of them hurriedly put their brooms in the changing room, which they only used to keep their Firebolts; they never changed into their Quidditch robes since they could play Quidditch in their normal clothes just as well. Together they walked into the clearing, hoping they hadn't made their families wait.
"You know what?" said Harry.
"What?" asked the others.
"Well, Nora once complained that we never knew our way around here but now that we learned that form of Apparation, we can just Apparate everywhere," he told them.
"Hey, you're right," said Nora. "Finally! Thank Merlin we don't have to follow sir Cadogan around everywhere!" she exclaimed. Just then someone called her name and she looked around. "Was I too loud?" she whispered to the others, unsure of who, or what, had called her. Her friends shook their heads and she furrowed her brow. Just then the source of who had called her name came running over the clearing at a breakneck speed and before Nora had time to register what was happening she was knocked off of her feet by her sister.
"Oof. Merlin's beard you're heavy, Lily," she muttered as she got up. Nora gave Lily a big hug, but her sister pried herself loose and then ran over to Harry, who stood to the side with the others. Harry picked Lily up as Nora walked over to him, brushing the dirt off of her clothes.
"Seriously, I think she likes you way better than me," muttered Nora, glaring at her sister, while mouthing 'traitor'. Lily grinned and then put her arms around Harry's neck, giving him a hug.
"Hey there, little one," said Harry. Lily pouted.
"I am not little."
"You are to me," replied Harry. Lily kept pouting.
"Acknowledge the others too, all right? Or they may feel left out," said Nora as Hermione and Ron walked over to Lily.
"Hey," they both said, smiling.
"Hi Ron. Hi Hermione," Lily said happily. Hermione gave her a hug, which was almost impossible with Harry holding her, but she managed.
"Who's that?" asked Lily, looking at Draco. It was very clear he felt a bit uncomfortable.
"Don't be so rude, Lily," scolded Nora, before replying her sister's question. "That's Draco. You met him before, remember? At Hogwarts? In January?" Lily seemed to be thinking it over. After a few seconds her face lit up.
"Yeah, I think so. You're the really hot Slytherin who asked 'Who's the little one?' when you first saw me, aren't you?" she asked.
"Er. . ." said Draco while looking over at the others. He could see Nora blushing at her sister's straightforwardness, and Harry and Ron grinning at the little girl. "I guess I am." He wasn't really sure how to react at being called 'really hot' by an 11 year old.
"Are you going to go out with my sister?" demanded Lily.
"Erm. . ." Draco glanced at Nora who was blushing furiously, covering her eyes with her hand, and looking at her sneakers. Draco had no idea how to answer this question. He wanted to go out with Nora, he really did, but he wasn't sure if she wanted to go out with him. He was already very happy that they were now really good friends, especially after that fight they had, and he didn't want to push his luck by asking her out. But those three words kept going through his mind. 'I love you.' Had she really meant it or just said anything to try and distract him.
"Well? Are you going to go out with my sister?" asked Lily again. Draco did not know how to answer. If he said 'No', he may offend Nora, if she really had meant the 'I love you' thing. If he said 'Yes', Nora would know how he felt about her, but he may end up looking like a fool because she hadn't meant the 'I love you'. Either way, he'd look stupid, even if his reply did work with how Nora felt about him. The thought of using the form of Apparation seemed very tempting at this moment.
"All right, Lily. That's enough," said Nora strongly.
"But-" began Lily.
"No. Enough is enough. You have got to learn some manners, young lady," scolded Nora, her arms crossed. Lily looked at Harry, who was still holding her, for back up.
"Don't look at me," he told her, patting her head gently. "Your sister's right on this one. It's a bit rude to ask someone personal questions when you've only just met him."
"I didn't just meet him. I met him at Dean's funeral," argued Lily. Harry chuckled.
"Even so. You don't know Draco very well. Unless you know him like we do, you're not to go asking him such question," he told her.
"All right, all right. You sound just like my mum," said Lily. "Sorry," she mumbled to Draco.
"So, did you get the picture we sent you?" asked Hermione, changing the subject. Lily immediately cheered up.
"Yeah. Yeah I did. It was really great. I loved it!" she exclaimed happily.
"Wait," said Nora, and all eyes turned on her.
"What?" asked Ron.
"How come you wanted to know if Draco was going to go out with me?" demanded Nora, looking directly at her sister. She had never told anyone except Hermione, Padma and Justin that she had started going out with him, and she told them they had broken up, too. So then how did Lily know there was something there? 'Is it that obvious!?' She thought horrified.
"Well, in the picture you guys kept kissing. For hours in a row, mind you," Lily told her sister. Nora's mouth fell open as she looked in shock at her sister. Draco wore the exact same expression.
"Wait, they were kissing in the picture?" asked Hermione. Lily nodded.
"You two weren't kissing in real life, were you?" asked Ron, a hint of suspicion in his voice as he looked at them suggestively.
"NO!" yelled both Nora and Draco at the same time. Harry and Hermione chuckled as Ron backed away quickly. Just then a lot more people walked over to them, Dumbledore in the front. He was actually far ahead of their families, but then Dumbledore does take larger strides. Harry, getting a bit tired, put Lily back down on the ground as Dumbledore walked over to them.
"You'll meet your families now, you're friends are coming later, and when you're all sick of each other again I'll take them into the castle and explain everything to them," he said, smiling at them. "I'm sure everyone will be asking you questions as to why you are here, but tell them I will clarify later. One more thing: It would be better if you five told Lily about your part yourselves, as she would comprehend much better. She's still too young for my prose."
"Ok," replied the five students and Lily. They looked at her, eyebrows raised, and then chuckled for one second before every one of them was being pulled into a bone crushing hug by mothers, fathers and, in Ron's case, the two Weasly twins, Fred and George.
"Aw, ickle Ronnikins is growing up so fast," said Fred in a voice that sounded horrifyingly like his mother's as he squeezed Ron more and more.
"And just think," added George as he ruffled Ron's hair and pretended to sob. "Yesterday he was only a little tiny boy, picking his nose and eating whatever came out of it." Ron was by now struggling very hard to break free of the strong grip Fred had, but to no avail, and his face turned more and more blue as he tried to breathe. Finally Mrs. Weasly noticed what her two sons were doing and ran over, shrieking at the top of her lungs.
"Fred! George! Leave him alone! Can't you see you're suffocating him!? My poor Ronnikins! Let him go, Fred!" she shouted as she pried Ron loose of the two twins. "Seriously, one of these days you two are really going to kill him," she muttered. Fred and George shrugged.
"Well, that was our intention, but who cares?" they both said. Ron slowly backed away, laughing nervously. He knew his brothers weren't really trying to kill him, or were they? He remembered they had tried the exact same thing at the funeral in January, and had given their mother a reply that hinted they were doing it on purpose as well. By now, Mrs. Weasly had moved on to Harry, who was receiving a bone-crushing hug much like Fred and George had given Ron. When she finally let go, Mrs. Weasly had tears in her eyes and Harry was panting for breath, though trying to act as though she had not nearly suffocated him. It was then that Harry noticed the whole Weasly family was present, even Bill and Charlie were there, as well as Percy and Ginny and, of course, Mr. Weasly, who walked up to Harry, looking rather excitedly.
"Hey, Harry," he said, patting Harry on the back. Then he looked around, his eyes wide. "This place doesn't have any Muggle items hidden somewhere, does it?"
"Erm. . . not that I know of," replied Harry. Mr. Weasly looked a bit crestfallen.
"Oh. Well, that's too bad, then," he said. "So, how've you been?" Harry told him he'd been all right, he didn't know whether to put in the nightmare that nearly drove him insane.
A few feet away, Narcissa was fussing about with Draco. Giving him hugs and kisses and trying to make his hair look a bit decent.
"Mum, I'm all right," said Draco, trying to fend his mother off. "Mum, you're embarrassing me," he hissed, but on the other hand it felt good to see his mother again. He wondered how she was doing, after Nymphirah's death. He could see dark rings under her eyes and she looked a bit worn out as well. Her eyes didn't hold as much happiness and joy as they did when she'd look at his little sister and she seemed rather thin.
Nora was being smothered with all sorts of hugs and kisses as well, as her mother and father rushed over to her.
"This castle is too dangerous for you children to stay in! It looks like it could fall apart any second!" rattled her mother. Nora rolled her eyes. "Do be careful here, won't you? Won't you!?"
"Yes, mum. I'll be very careful," replied Nora, a bit fed up. Her father was a bit calmer and he smiled encouragingly at his daughter. When Mrs. Glassyd was finally done with her lecture, Mr. Glassyd pulled her away and Sean, Nora's brother, stepped up.
"Hey there little one," he said, smiling.
"I am not little. Lily's the little one," replied Nora, her arm crossed, though she was smiling.
"To me, you're the little one. Lily's the littlest one," said Sean. Nora supposed he was right; he was nearly 2 meters and she must look pretty small to him, and Lily even more so. "So, how are you holding up?" he asked, pulling his sister in a hug.
"I guess I'm all right," replied Nora. "How's Kate?" she asked softly.
"She's fine, now. Though at first she didn't want to believe Dean was dead. But she's fine, now," answered Sean. (A/N: He's married to Dean's sister, Kate. Remember? Probably not. Anyway, the story.)
"Will you be staying all day?" questioned Nora. Sean shook his head.
"Sorry. I have to get back to work soon," he replied.
"Oh. Well, say 'hello' to Kate for me, will you?"
"Uh-huh. You take good care of yourself, remember?" warned Sean. Nora nodded, smiling. "All right, then."
Hermione was trying to explain to her father that she was all right and why she was here without giving away anything about her part in Voldemort's defeat. She wondered how he was holding up, without her mum.
"So, wait. You're here for something special!?" exclaimed her father. Hermione had no idea how he could get worked up about that. 'Something special' could be almost anything. She nodded. "Well, I'll be. My little girl taking part in something 'special'" muttered Mr. Granger. Then he sniffed and Hermione shot him a horrified look.
"Please, dad. You're not going to start crying here, are you?" she muttered. Mr. Granger shook his head, but he sniffed again.
"Of course not, honey," he replied. "It's just. . . my little Hermione, all grown up and here for something 'special'. If only I knew what it was. If only your mother were here to see how much you've grown," he said, looking up at the clear blue sky. A pair of birds flew across it, twittering and flying around each other.
"Yes, well. How are you?" asked Hermione, trying to change the subject before her father got even weirder.
"Fine. Which reminds me: how's Nora holding up?" asked Mr. Granger.
"She's all right, now. But she's changed. We've all changed. There are only very few times when it's as if we're at Hogwarts and just having fun," replied Hermione.
"Like, oh let's think, in the rain?" questioned her father, looking at her knowingly. Hermione grinned impishly.
"Yes. The rain is one of the few things that takes our mind off of everything," she answered, still grinning. Just then Mr. Weasly walked over, looking like a 7 year old who had found a large pile of candy.
"Hi," he said holding out his hand. Mr. Granger shook it.
"Hello," he replied.
"Now, you live in the Muggle world right?" asked Mr. Weasly. Mr. Granger nodded and Hermione could definitely see where this was going, thus she walked over to Nora and her parents. "Could you tell me how exactly does an engine work?" Hermione heard Mr. Weasly ask. She chuckled to herself as she reached Nora.
"Hello," she said brightly to Nora and her family.
"Hello, darling," replied Mrs. Glassyd and she pulled Hermione in a hug. "Good to see you again, and so cheerful as well. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine," replied Hermione.
"Good, good," said Mrs. Glassyd, smiling at the two girls. Then she looked around, searching the area for someone. "Oh, where has Lily gone off to now?" she muttered crossly. Hermione and Nora looked around as well. Nora found her sister first.
"There she is. I'll go get her," she said and walked off to where Lily stood, a few feet away from Harry, Ron and Draco who were all talking, swooning over Draco. "Lily, what on earth are you doing?" asked Nora as she reached her sister.
"Checking out the totally hot Slytherin," came Lily's reply.
"Who, Draco? Really? You like him?" Nora asked in disbelief. Lily shrugged.
"Well he is really, really hot, so. . . maybe," she answered.
"Right, well, mum told me to come get you," said Nora and she dragged her sister off towards their mother.
Draco stood talking to Harry and Ron about Quidditch and how it would be so cool to play for a team like the Chudley Cannons when he heard Nora's voice asking her sister what on earth she was doing. He looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Lily gazing at him. Instantly he felt himself turn read.
"Checking out the totally hot Slytherin," came Lily's reply. Draco felt himself turn even redder. He could see Harry and Ron grinning at him and heard Nora ask if Lily liked him.
"Well he's really, really hot, so. . . maybe," replied Lily. Draco blushed even more.
"Looks like you've got yourself a new girlfriend," teased Harry. "And from the same family, too. You'd better be glad Nora's brother is married already, or he'd begin drooling over you as well."
"Oh, stuff it," replied Draco. Harry and Ron laughed.
Nora dragged Lily over to where their parents and Hermione stood.
"Where were young lady?" demanded Mrs. Glassyd.
"I was with Harry," replied Lily.
"No, she was standing a few feet away from him and drooling over Draco," contradicted Nora. Lily glared at her sister.
"Lily, what are we going to do with you," muttered Mrs. Glassyd, but she was still smiling fondly at her youngest daughter.
"Hey! Nora, Hermione! Come here!" shouted Harry and Ron. Both Hermione and Nora said goodbye to Nora's family and then walked over to their friends, talking animatedly about when Terry would finally come. Though they did not see it, Lily was watching her older sister with envy: she wished she had four great friends that she never separated with and she wished she were more like Nora. Her sister was always smiling, well, except for when Dean died, and always had enthusiasm for everything. Nora was even an excellent Quidditch player and Lily knew that she was adored by more than half of the male population at Hogwarts. Lily sighed. She felt so small.
"What is it?" asked Hermione when she and Nora had finally reached Harry, Ron and Draco.
"Well, we were just talking and the three of us are all pretty sick of our parents already, so we thought we'd go to the lake and swim a bit," explained Ron.
"Ooh, can we join? My mum just won't stop nagging at my head," said Nora and Hermione nodded.
"Yeah. I never knew my dad could be so annoying. . . and weird. It's like my mum's death affected his mind," she said, frowning.
"So it's all set, then? We sneak off towards the lake for some fun," said Harry. The others nodded. They all checked to see if no one was watching them. The parents were all talking with each other, about their children, Lily standing sulkily with her parents. Sean was conversing with Bill and Charlie. Percy was busy with his work for the Ministry of Magic, as always, and Fred, George and Ginny had been shown the Quidditch Pitch by Ron and were now up in the air on the Firebolts.
"All right. We should go now, while everyone's busy," said Hermione quietly.
"Wait, shouldn't we tell them with a note or something that we've gone off somewhere. Otherwise they may think we've been kidnapped," said Nora.
"Good point," said Harry. He scribbled a sloppy note and Hermione cast a spell so it would keep floating in the air. Then the five of them ran for it, hoping their sudden movement wasn't noticed by any of the others. They ran towards the forest, hurried into it, darted through the trees, and didn't slow down until they were sure they couldn't be seen. The five of them laughed at their success.
"Good. Now, let's have some fun!" shouted Ron and he began running again towards the lake, the others close behind. When they finally reached it, Hermione cast a spell again, and a second later they were all standing in their swimsuits.
"Now, let's see," said Draco devilishly. "Who of us five are ticklish?" Nora and Hermione completely froze up, knowing perfectly well what was going to happen next. "Oh, yes. The two ladies over there are. How could I forget?" said Draco and he slowly came nearer to them, Harry and Ron closing in as well, all of them smiling evilly. Finally Nora and Hermione were able to move again and they quickly ran away, Hermione seeking refugee in the water and Nora running around it. When she had run a full circle around the lake she stopped dead in her tracks. There, standing in front of her, was Draco. Apparently he had just stood there, waiting for her to finish the circle. Nora mentally slapped herself. She could be so stupid some times. The two of them looked each other in the eyes as Hermione's screams reached their ears. An impish grin spread over Draco's face and Nora, deciding to stop running around the lake, ran into it, Draco following behind.
"Quit it! Quit it!" screamed Hermione over her own laughs as Harry and Ron tickled her sides. Nora dove into the water and swam to the ground, waiting for Draco to come by. He had no idea where Nora had suddenly gone off to and looked around, carefully scanning the area, but she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he felt something grab his ankles and he barely had time to shout before he was dragged underneath the surface. He thrashed around as wildly as he could until he saw Nora, grinning evilly at him. He immediately stopped, and glared at her. Then he shot straight towards her and began tickling. Nora tried to escape and swam to the surface. When she broke through the water she took a large gulp of air. Beside her Draco did the same.
"You're evil," they said at the same time. This caused them to add to the laughter that was already sounding through the air. The both of them tried to catch their breath after having stayed under water for so long and just watched in silence as Hermione struggled to escape from the clutches of Harry and Ron.
"We really should help her," said Nora. Draco only shrugged. Neither of them moved. Draco poked Nora in the side once. She smiled, though she kept watching Hermione and her futile attempts to flee. Draco poked her again, a bit harder. Nora let out a giggle and moved away.
"Don't you dare start tickling me again," she threatened, though it wasn't at all intimidating as it was over laughs.
"Try and stop me," replied Draco, closing in on her again. Nora decided to try another tactic, something other than running away screaming. She swam rapidly towards Draco, not at all knowing what on earth she was going to do when she did reach him. When she was about to crash into him he bent down and picked her up so that she was hanging over his shoulder. Nora blinked, needing a moment to remember how she had gotten into this position.
"Let go," she said, trying to squirm herself loose, but unfortunately Draco had a pretty strong grip on her. "Let go," she repeated, while wriggling even more. But it was very hard to try and break free when her face was so close to his ass and she couldn't stop staring at it. (A/N: *drool*) Draco began heading over to the others, wanting to ask them what they were going to do next.
"Hi, Draco," said Harry as he took some time off of torturing Hermione. "What'd you catch?" he added.
"It's this really energetic animal," replied Draco as he tried to stop Nora from squirming. Harry walked around his friend and stopped to look at Nora.
"Why, I don't believe it. That must be the largest swimming deer I have every seen," Harry exclaimed while smirking at Nora. She glared in return and tried to whack him. "Feisty, aren't you?" said Harry, and then he walked around Draco again. Finally Hermione managed to escape from Ron and she ran over to Harry and Draco for cover.
"Why's she over your shoulder?" questioned Hermione bewildered as she saw Nora. Draco shrugged.
"I felt like annoying her," he replied simply.
"I see. Ooh! That gives me an idea for a game we could play!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Really what?" asked the other four intrigued.
"Well, me and Nora could each get on one of your shoulders and then try to push each other off. It's not a great idea, but at least we'll be doing something other than torturing some of us," she added glaring at Harry and Ron. They just smiled innocently in return.
"But there'll be one of us left," said Draco.
"Well, one of you could be the referee," Hermione said.
"I'll be the referee!" shouted Ron immediately.
"All right," said the others.
"Now," began Hermione. "As you, Nora, are already on one of Draco's shoulders, it will only make sense that you team up with him and I'll team up with Harry." Nora gave an indignant cry.
"Why do I have to pair up with Draco!? He's evil, I tell you! EVIL!" she shouted.
"Oh, quit whining. You wouldn't help me when Harry and Ron kept attacking," replied Hermione.
"Hmmm. True," said Nora. "All right, I'll team up with Draco, but if he doesn't let me go soon SOMEONE WILL HAVE A VERY BAD HEADACHE IN THE MORNING!" She yelled loudly. She was immediately dropped, of course. "Much better," she said as she stood up. Both Harry and Draco went underwater so that the two girls could climb onto their shoulders. When they were both seated the two guys rose out of the water and wobbled slightly.
"Whoa, hold steady, you wuss," said Nora, though it wasn't harshly.
"I would be able to, if someone wasn't such a fat cow," replied Draco.
"Well, I've never!" said Nora in fake resentment. Draco snorted as he made his way towards Harry. And thus the battle began. Hermione and Nora struggled to throw each other off, but no luck yet. Ron had run out of the water a long time ago and was now standing on top of the large rock, ready to jump into the water.
"Uh-oh," said Nora. She had been watching what on earth Ron was doing and hadn't been able to stop Hermione before it was too late. She tried to hold her balance, but it was impossible and she fell into the water. Hermione and Harry raised their arms in victory. Draco whispered something to Nora and she nodded, grinning evilly. The two of them snuck up to Harry and Hermione who were making a small victory lap around the lake, which made no sense at all, and swiftly pulled Hermione off of Harry's shoulders. The both of them shouted in surprise.
"Foul!" the both of them yelled, searching for Ron, but the referee was currently busy doing a summersault in the air as he jumped off of the large rock again, beside the waterfall, and didn't hear them. Nora looked around, scanning the area, not for Ron, but for someone else. She looked scared as her eyes darted everywhere. Nora was almost positive she was going insane, but she was also pretty sure that she could hear a voice yelling, "send 'em off, ref! Red card!" It scared her. It was exactly what Dean had yelled at Harry's first Quidditch game in their first year, and it scared her.
"What's wrong?" asked Draco, seeing Nora's frightened and desperate look. She closed her eyes, shook her head and opened her eyes again.
"Nothing," she replied. 'Just hearing voices' she added in her thought.
"Oh. All right, then," said Draco, but he kept shooting anxious glances her way for the next few minutes.
"Hey, isn't that your sister?" he asked, a while later, stopping mid- battle, pointing to the path that led back to the castle. Nora followed his gaze and her mouth fell open.
"It is," she replied. Draco slowly went underwater, letting Nora get off his shoulders to go to Lily. She swam rapidly through the water and ran on to the shore.
"How on earth did you get here, Lily? Do mum and dad know you left?" asked Nora worriedly.
"Yes. They said to go find you because they were going to get something explained by Dumbledore," replied Lily. "Where's Harry?" she then asked. Nora rolled her eyes.
"He's over there," she answered, pointing to where Harry, Hermione, Ron and Draco were in the water. Lily immediately began running, but Nora held her back. "Let's get you into a bathing suit first," she said and then cast the switching spell Hermione had used before. Lily's clothes immediately turned into a bathing suit and together the two made their way over to the others.
"Harry!" shouted Lily and she swam as fast as she could. Nora frowned at her sister, wondering how on earth she could be so damn fond of Harry. When Nora reached the others Lily was once again in Harry's arms.
"Merlin, woman, you swim slower than a Flobberworm," said Ron, Nora smiled at him a little too friendly.
"Keep it going like that, and you'll be a Flobberworm," she threatened.
"So what do we do now?" asked Draco. He could feel Lily's eyes boring through him, and he definitely didn't like it. When Lily finally looked away from him he inched over to Nora and whispered "Save me!"
"Maybe I won't. Serves you right since you wouldn't put me back down for ages," she whispered back. Draco looked at her in a mock hurt expression.
"Aw, come on. It's not like I haven't teased you before, like you haven't teased me, for that matter," he replied.
"True," said Nora.
"So you'll help me?"
"No."
"Hag," whispered Draco sourly. Nora just smiled sweetly at him.
"Dumbledore said you five would explain to me what he's explaining to mum and dad right now," said Lily, looking at them expectantly. The five older students looked away, pretending to be busy with other things. They really didn't want to explain their part in the defeat of Voldemort to her. For one thing, she might get scared. For another, it was just so much easier if Dumbledore did it for them.
"Come on! I just turned 11! You can tell me!" said Lily, miffed that everyone was treating her like a little girl.
"All right. We'll go to the shore and then tell you," said Hermione. Lily beamed and then urged Harry to the shore. When they were all finally out of the water the six of them sat in a small circle, Lily seating herself in Harry's lap.
"Go on, tell me," she whined, not being able to bear staying in the dark any longer.
"All right," said Nora who was sitting next to Harry and her sister. "But promise you won't overreact."
"Erm. . . I promise," Lily said a little hesitantly. "Tell me!" she then pleaded.
"We all have a part in Voldemort's defeat," said Harry.
"Oh," was all that came out of Lily's mouth. When she finally registered what he had said she looked at all of them. "All of you?"
"Uh-huh," said the five older students.
"And what do you have to do, then?" asked Lily, a bit scared.
"Well, me and Draco fight Voldemort and, hopefully, eventually kill him," answered Harry.
"And Hermione, Ron and I we just fight the Death Eaters and our presence helps Harry and Draco fight better," said Nora. Lily looked at her, her brown eyes frightened.
"How do you know this?" she asked.
"A Prophecy was made about us. Well, actually about me, Harry, Hermione and Ron. Draco only got a part in it this year," replied Nora.
"So this was already known when you were born?"
"Before that, even," said Hermione.
"Are you going to die?" questioned Lily, an uncomfortable feeling settling in her stomach; Maybe, in a few weeks, none of them would be alive, and she wouldn't have an older sister anymore, or Harry. She looked at the five intently, hoping very much they would shake their head laughing and say: "Of course not, silly. None of us is going to die." But to her misery they all shrugged and mumbled some things.
"We don't know," replied Harry softly. "We might or we might not. We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out."
"But you can't die," whispered Lily, and everyone was sad to see that thick pearly tears were rolling down her cheeks. "I need you guys."
"But you're not the only one who needs us," said Nora. Lily looked at her. "Every other person in the world needs us, too. If we don't fight, Voldemort will be free to reign the world and many, many more people will be killed. Just think of all the little children whose parents will be, or were, murdered by him. And it'd be good for us to fight him, too. Revenge will be sweet. Think of Harry, he has neither parents nor a godfather, all because of Voldemort. Hermione, she has no mother anymore, and Draco," Nora smiled weakly at her sister. "Draco lost his little sister, just a few months ago. She was only your age." Lily's bottom lip quivered as she looked at Draco, but this time it wasn't the searching, hungry look she had given him before, this time it was filled with sorrow.
"Ain't that just the way that life goes down, down, down, down." Everyone turned to look at Hermione, who had all of a sudden sung a single line. She blushed while muttering "sorry."
"When are you going to have to fight Vol-. . . him?" asked Lily.
"We don't know," answered Nora.
"But then how will you be prepared?"
"Well, we have been practicing very hard ever since we arrived here," Nora said. Then she disappeared.
"NORA!?" shouted Lily in fright.
"Calm down. Over here," said Nora. Lily looked to her left and saw her older sister standing behind Hermione.
"How'd you do that?"
"It's a form of Apparation. We all learned," answered Hermione and before Lily had time to blink she, too, had disappeared and reappeared behind Draco.
"Ooooh," said Lily in aw.
"Anything else you want to know?" asked Ron. Lily nodded.
"Why does he kill so many people and make them sad?" she asked quietly.
"Because he's a Slytherin," replied Ron. The others rolled their eyes at Ron's answer, but Lily blinked.
"But Draco's a Slytherin, too," she said confused.
"What Ron meant to say," began Hermione. "Was that Voldemort is just pure evil. He wants to be the most powerful wizard in the world and he thinks that he can accomplish that by gaining many stupid followers and murdering numerous innocent people."
"No, I said it right. He is a Slytherin," argued Ron. Hermione just sighed and shook her head at Ron.
"If Draco is in Slytherin, isn't he evil, too? Sean once said that all the stupid, ugly and mean students get sorted into Slytherin," Lily told them, the confused expression still present on her young and innocent face.
"Well, students are sorted into Slytherin because they have great cunning-" began Harry, but Lily interrupted him.
"What's 'cunning'?"
"It means they're smart and good at making plans and stuff."
"Which is why Draco's in there?"
"I guess," said Harry, shrugging.
A/N: uh-oh. Writers block.
"But you'll be careful, won't you? When you fight him?" Lily asked, her eyebrows in a sad frown. The five older students nodded.
"We'll be dead careful. I promise," said Nora and she gave her little sister, who was still sitting on Harry's lap, a kiss on her forehead. Lily smiled.
"Let's go back to the castle. I think Dumbledore will be done explaining now, and the sooner our parents start rambling about how dangerous everything will be, the sooner we get it over with," muttered Ron as he got up. The others nodded and together they walked through the dark forest heading back towards the castle.
"Hmmm. It's not raining, is it?" asked Nora, looking up towards the sky.
"Merlin. You only just got out of the water and you already want to get wet?" asked Ron. Nora shrugged.
"I just feel like running around in it," she replied.
"Me too," agreed Hermione and she grinned at Nora, who returned it. They linked arms and skipped ahead, wanting to see if it was or wasn't raining. They couldn't see in the forest; the trees were so heavily packed that even sunlight had a hard time making it's way through the many leaves.
"Mad," muttered Harry, Ron and Draco together. Lily looked at them.
"Who's mad?" she asked. Harry smiled at her.
"No one is. Let's hurry up a bit, before those two do something stupid," he told Ron and Draco, who nodded. The four of them hurried through the forest, only to find Nora and Hermione standing right by the edge of it, pouting.
"No rain, then?" asked Draco, smirking at them. Hermione and Nora hit him as hard as they could on the arms. "All right. I deserved that," Draco muttered while rubbing his arms.
"So what do we do now?" questioned Harry.
"Eat," replied Ron
"Besides eat," said Hermione.
"Eat," answered Ron simply.
"Other than eat,"
"Eat."
"Can't you think of anything else but 'eat'?"
"Eat."
"Ron, be quiet," said Nora.
"Eat!"
"Don't make me cast a silencing charm," she threatened.
"Eat? Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, eat."
"That's it," snarled Nora. "Silencio!" and finally Ron fell silent.
"Thank Merlin," muttered Harry, Nora, Hermione and Draco at the same time. They turned to look at Lily; her laughter had gotten their attention. They followed her gaze and saw Ron writing the words "EAT FOOD" in the air with an orange light that came from his wand.
"You know, I'm kind of hungry as well," said Draco softly. Nora spun around and hit him on the arm.
"What did I do?" said Draco indignantly, looking at the place on his arm where he had been hit.
"You annoyed me," replied Nora simply.
"That's not true. If Ron hadn't gotten you all worked up I wouldn't have irritated you," argued Draco. Nora shrugged.
"Well then there's probably something you may have done a long time ago that annoyed me then and you're paying for it now," she said.
"Then you've probably done something a long time ago that annoyed me then, and you're going to pay for it now, as well," said Draco, smiling at his own cunningness.
"You can't hit girls," said Nora stupidly.
"No," agreed Draco. "But I can tickle them." Nora looked horror struck.
"You wouldn't," she hissed. "At least, not again today."
"Watch me," whispered Draco and a second later Nora shrieked and ran out of the forest and over the clearing in front of the castle as fast as she could, Draco right behind her.
"It's good not to be at the receiving end of tickles for once," said Hermione as she watched the two sprint over the grass. Ron, who would usually have responded that comment with tickles, was now too busy writing silly sentences in the air with his wand for Lily's amusement and Harry was just too tired to start tickling Hermione again.
"Aaah!" screamed Nora as Draco pounced and pinned her to the ground. She struggled hard to escape from his strong grip, but her strength failed her as Draco began tickling. Mid-laugh she stopped though and thought: 'What the hell am I doing!?' Then she concentrated hard, trying to stop giggling for a few seconds, and finally she succeed in Apparating away. Draco looked a few meters to the left where Nora stood, trying to regain her breath.
"That certainly took you long enough!" he called to her. "And you call yourself a witch!" Nora just stuck out her tongue, unable to come up with a better come back. Draco laughed at her childishness.
"All right. Ron's annoyance has convinced us all. Let's go eat," said Hermione as she reached them. There was a loud cheer to be heard coming from Ron.
"You took my silencing charm off?" said Nora indignantly.
"Yes. I had to, or he'd begin tickling me," replied Hermione.
"Blackmailer," muttered Nora to Ron who had just arrived with Harry and Lily. The six of them entered the castle and Lily tried hard not to gape at the beautiful room. All five, Harry, Nora, Hermione, Ron and Draco, had to drag Lily into the Dining Room with difficulty. As soon as they sat down, Lily in Dumbledore's seat, food appeared and Ron gave a groan with longing as he tried to pile everything on his plate at once. As usual the others were lot slower and chewed everything a few times, instead of shoving it into their mouths and swallowing it all at once.
When they were all done eating, about an hour later, the six of them leaned back in their chairs contently. Draco glanced at his watch, did a double take and stared at it in shock.
"What?" asked Hermione who had noticed his weird behaviour.
"It's already 6 o'clock," he said.
"WHAT!?" shouted the others.
"No way," said Ron checking his own watch. He shook it a couple of times and checked it again. "Hmmm," he then muttered.
"What's so bad about it being 6 o'clock already?" questioned Lily.
"Nothing much, its just time went by really fast and we didn't notice," replied Harry shrugging. "Hey, didn't Dumbledore say our 'friends' would be arriving as well?"
"Ooh, yes. Let's go into the Entrance Hall and wait for them!" exclaimed Hermione, suddenly looking very excited and full of energy. She then jumped out of her chair and exited the Dining Room.
"Wow," muttered Draco as Harry and Ron ran out of the Dining Room in full blast as well.
"You can say that again," said Nora as she got out of her chair, though slowly and decently.
"Wow," said Draco with a confused look on his face.
"It's a saying, moron. Seriously, sometimes you're as dim as Ron," Nora told him.
"I am not," argued Draco offended.
"Let's go, Lily," said Nora, leading her sister into the Entrance Hall, ignoring Draco's last words. There, in the hall, were already three couples furiously making out. Nora immediately backed into the Dining Room, dragging Lily along with her, and tumbled over Draco, who had been right behind them.
"Oof," said Draco as he landed on the floor, Nora on top of him. Lily had managed to grab hold of the table and was still standing. "What's with the backing up?" asked Draco as Nora rolled off of him and seated herself on the ground. She glanced at Lily and then leaned forward to whisper something in Draco's ear.
"I'm not going to go blind, you know, if I see them kissing," said Lily, crossing her arms.
"I know you won't, but I thought they may want some privacy," Nora told her as Draco helped her up.
~*~*~*~
Many, many, many mind killing minutes later the three of them were sitting on the floor, still in the Dining Room, playing the same awful game for the millionth time.
"Is it red?" asked Nora wearily, wishing she were ANYWHERE but here, playing this stupid game.
"No," replied Lily happily.
"Is it yellow?" asked Draco, bored out of his skull.
"No," replied Lily, smiling cheerfully, obviously not noticing the very large lack of interest from the other two.
"Does it have hair?" said Nora, saying whatever entered her head, and playing this game only for Lily's entertainment.
"Yes," Lily answered.
"Is it blonde?" asked Nora, catching on.
"Yes," replied Lily, looking less happy by the guess.
"Is it Whisky?" asked Nora after a looooong sigh. Lily frowned.
"Hmpf. You guessed too quickly," muttered Lily.
"Whisky?" questioned Draco, looking at the two sisters.
"One of our golden retrievers," replied Nora sullenly.
"What's the other one named, Scotch?" he said sarcastically.
"Vodka," replied Lily happily. Draco raised an eyebrow.
"All right, let's go," said Nora quickly, afraid Lily would start another game again. "They'll have had plenty of privacy by now." The three of them exited the Dining Room and entered a very empty Entrance Hall.
"Well, they didn't really miss us a lot, did they?" asked Draco, looking around. Nora glowered. She walked outside, in the cool air.
"Not here either," she told Lily and Draco as they followed her out.
"Oh well," Lily said happily. "All right, I've got another item in my mind!" she then exclaimed. Draco groaned but Nora ran off of the front steps and over the clearing.
"Wait! Where are you going!?" shouted Draco. "Don't leave me behind here!" he added desperately; what if he was forced to play the game again!? He watched as Nora stopped and lay down on the grass. "What the-?" he muttered.
"Let's go," Lily told him and she dragged his hand and pulled him over to where Nora was lying.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" questioned Draco when he had finally reached her with Lily.
"Doing something a whole lot more fun," replied Nora. Draco looked at her as if she were mad. "I'm watching the sky," Nora told him, answering his unasked question. Draco lay down next to her, wondering what was so special about the sky. Lily lay down in between them and looked up at the sky as well.
"Oooh, pretty," she exclaimed. Draco thought she had a point, though he wouldn't have said it in her words. Since it was a bit after 7, time sure flies when you're bored the hell out of your skull, the sun had started to set as night prepared itself.
"You sure have the weirdest ways to entertain yourself," Draco said. "Dancing in the rain, lying in the grass watching twilight. . . but I have to say, it's rather relaxing."
"It's entertainment through nature. Beats watching television, doesn't it?" replied Nora.
"Beats tillie- what?"
"Oh, right. You wouldn't know. Never mind that. But it beats most of the other things you've done, doesn't it?" Draco nodded, only to remember that she wouldn't be able to see it.
"Yeah. . . yeah it does," he replied. They watched as sunlight grew dimmer, only to be drowned by the darkness of the night, tiny little specks that were stars glinting brightly and happily above them. Sometimes a cold breeze would sweep over them, but the wind stayed low most of the time, almost as if it knew such a wonderful night should not be disturbed.
"Makes you feel pretty insignificant, doesn't it?" asked Nora softly a long while later as she roamed the sky, looking for her favourite stars. Draco rolled on his side and leaned on one elbow, so he could look at her over Lily, who had slowly fallen asleep.
"What do you mean 'makes you feel pretty insignificant?' We're the only ones who can stop Voldemort from taking over the world and killing half of the population. I'd say we were rather important," he told her. Nora turned her head to the side and looked at him.
"You know what I mean," she said. Draco flashed her a grin.
"Yes. Yes, I do. But I feel less significant than I did when I was younger," he replied. Nora smiled and turned to look at the stars again. Draco saw the stars reflect in her sorrow-filled eyes. He noticed she had the look of a person forced to grow up too quickly. Did he look like that as well? And the others? After watching her for a few more seconds he lay back down and continued watching the stars as well, wondering what was written in them. He wondered if they would still be alive in a few weeks time, if they would ever be given the fortunate chance of living without fear again and if the sorrowed looks, engraved in their faces and eyes, would ever leave.
"We'd better get this one to bed," said Nora when Lily had turned over in her sleep and cuddled up to her older sister. Draco stared at her blankly; he had been so drowned in his own thoughts that he had not heard a single word she had said. "Bed. Lily. Sleeeeep," Nora told him with the air of explaining something to a very thick person, which was sometimes a bit true.
"Oh, right," said Draco and he got up, too. Nora picked the still sleeping Lily up in her arms and together the three of them headed towards the castle, two of them drowned in their own thoughts again as the wind picked up and blew around them. When they had finally reached their bedrooms Nora and Draco said goodbye to each other and each entered their own room. Nora laid Lily down in her bed and pulled the covers over her. She then went out on her balcony, which was on the side of the castle and overlooked the clearing, and watched the sky. She was finally free to think of what she had heard by the lake. Dean's voice echoing through it. It had run through her mind the whole day, but only now was she really paying it attention. It had sounded as if he had really been there, but she knew he wasn't. . . or was he? Nora didn't know. His voice had sounded so close, and so real, but it might as well have been her imagination. She felt like she was losing it. At some times she would feel perfectly happy and normal, as she had in the earlier years at Hogwarts, but at other times she felt as if she could just break down completely and cry all day/night long. Her eyes wandered over to the forest and she had to know. Yes, she knew she was being silly, but checking couldn't hurt, could it? Nora walked back in, checked to see if Lily was still fast asleep and then snuck out of the room and down the stairs, not even thinking of grabbing a cloak or sweater.
She swiftly opened the doors and walked outside. Once in the cool fresh air she broke into a run and headed towards the forest, the form of Apparation drowned out of her mind by the thought of Dean. She darted through the trees and ran deeper into the forest. When she reached the lake she just plopped down into the sand and looked around, catching her breath. She scanned everything thoroughly, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"Dean?" Nora whispered quietly. No answer. She knew she was being stupid, but her heart sank. Now was a good time to let all of her held in tears go. It wouldn't help, it wouldn't bring Dean back, but she'd feel a slight bit better. So she sobbed. She just sat there in the middle of a large dark forest, not knowing where in the world it was, and sobbed, giving involuntary jerks as she cried into her hands. When she had calmed down a bit she looked around again through tearful eyes, sniffing every now and then, and without even knowing it she began to sing the song that had helped her through many dark times before.
Draco walked through the forest slowly. He hadn't been able to sleep; too many thoughts kept rushing through his mind so he went outside and made his way to the lake. He always went there when he wanted to think, and talk. He always went outside, to a secluded area, and talked. He talked to Nymphirah, telling her what had happened and what he was feeling, as if she was there, listening to every word he said. . . and maybe she was, who knew? When he walked around the large bush that hid the lake from view he stopped in his tracks. He could hear someone, or something, singing. He strained his ears and recognized the song as the one Nora had been singing to him after Voldemort tried to deprive him of his sanity. Draco guessed it was probably Nora who was sitting there on the sand singing, though this time it wasn't in a beautiful clear voice. This time it was in a broken voice and after every few words she would pause, sniff, and then give an involuntary jerk as she starting crying again. Draco slowly walked over to her.
"You know. It's not safe for young a woman your age to sit alone in the middle of a dark forest without any protection," said Draco as he stopped beside her, looking down at her. Nora snapped her head towards him and then hastily wiped her tears away.
"Merlin, Draco. You scared the hell out of me," she said, giving a weak smile. As much as she had wished her voice to sound normal and casual, it was more strangled and hoarse. Draco sat down next to her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, not really knowing what to say.
"Well, cry as you may have guessed," replied Nora miserably, not in the mood to keep hiding it anymore. "What about you?"
"Couldn't sleep, so I came to talk," he answered. Nora looked at him confusedly.
"With who? Surely you didn't know I'd be out here as well?" she asked. Draco shook his head.
"With Nymphirah," he said. This did not really improve Nora's vision of him being weird. "I just talk out loud and pretend she's out there, watching over me, listening to every word I say. Sometimes I can even hear her mirthful laugh when I tell her I've done something stupid again," Draco explained, feeling quite silly. "But I know she's not listening. That she's not there watching me."
"How do you know?" asked Nora. Draco shrugged.
"I just do. I don't believe there's a heaven, so she can't be floating around in it, watching me and laughing as I do something dumb," he replied.
"I don't believe in heaven either, but that doesn't mean the ones long gone aren't watching over us," Nora told him. Draco looked at her.
"Really? So you mean she's always floating around me, watching what I do?" he asked hopefully.
"Well not all the time," began Nora, but on seeing Draco's hopeful look falter, she added hastily: "But then at night you can always tell her about the things she missed. Like how you spent a whole hour playing a silly mind killing brain with me and my sister in the Dining Room." Draco chuckled.
"Yeah. I bet she probably tuned out on that one. I don't think even she could have stayed interested in that for too long," he said. Nora chuckled. After fifteen minutes of silence Draco got up. Nora looked at him.
"Where are you going?" she asked, not really wanting to be left all alone.
"Bed. I feel much better than I've felt all day. I think I'll be able to sleep now," Draco replied.
"Oh."
"You should go to bed, too. It's getting awfully late," he said. Nora shrugged. "Come. You're going to bed as well." And he helped her up. The two of them walked silently through the dark forest. Owls hooted every now and then, adding to the creepiness of the woods. Only when they reached the castle, a while later, did Nora feel completely safe. The both of them walked up the steps and into the hall towards their bedrooms. They said goodnight and each entered their own room. Nora checked to see Lily was still sleeping and then fell on top of the covers, falling asleep instantly, not even bothering to change into her nightclothes or getting under the bedspread.
A/N: Ooh, another long chapter. A bit more Nora and Draco than I expected, but I hope you liked it anyway. Review, please?
Lillypotterfan - I'm so glad you like my story so much! I'm so happy I could just float out the window. . . but I won't, because this still has to be put up on ff.net. Anyway, I'm really glad you think the Nora character is a great addition, I don't think many people like the fact that there's another main character. But you do, yay! And I'm also glad you're reading my story, even though you'd prefer H/G and R/Hr. Thanks for reading and reviewing! It's very much appreciated (as you may have already noticed.) =)