Disclaimer: Anything familiar to JKR's books probably comes from there and is hers not mine. Also, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, the Wizarding World, and anything else that has to do with it belongs to the lovely JK Rowling, not me. I'm just playing in her sandbox and building my own Hogwarts in it.

Chapter Thirty-Six

When Remus saw people snickering as he walked to the Head Table in the Great Hall on Monday of the third week of November, he sighed and turned to Severus.

"What did they do to me this time?" he asked, already knowing who had pranked him.

"Your hair is emerald and silver with two snakes nesting in it, one of each color," Severus informed him, his lips twitching in amusement, the other professors trying not to laugh along the table.

"Could be worse," Remus mused as he waved his wand and pointed it at the entrance to the Great Hall, hearing moans of disappointment when the prank disappeared.

"How did you know how to get rid of it?" Minerva asked, looking at him in surprise.

"I live with two of the three biggest pranksters in the school at the moment, Minerva," Remus sighed. "Believe me, after four summers of their pranks, you know how they think and do things. Speaking of which…" Remus turned towards the table with the teens who spent much of their summer at Marauder Manor. "Ginny, Tracey, and Harry, detention in my office tonight!"

"Moony!" Harry groaned loud enough for the entire Hall to hear, most likely knowing it would amuse everyone and trying to do just that. "Isn't it bad enough you cancelled the prank before it was supposed to be done? Now you're going to put us in detention?"

"Do you want me to make it tomorrow night as well, Harry?" Remus questioned, trying not to smile at his best friend's son's antics.

"No, Professor Lupin!" Harry called loudly, turning back to his breakfast and pretending to be serious for a few moments before bursting out laughing along with the Hall.

"He was aiming for the laughter, wasn't he?" Pomona Sprout asked Remus, and he nodded while smiling gently.

"The three of them know the detention won't really be more than helping me grade some of my essays for an hour or two," Remus admitted. "They're just aiming for a laugh to rid the school of some of its tension."

"Well, they've always done a good job of it," Filius declared quietly, and Remus could only smile.

…

"Draco, we've practiced enough!" Daphne yelled at their captain. "Some of us have homework we need to do, and we don't want to just rush it all at the end. Besides, our next match isn't until January – it's still December!"

"Oh, fine!" Draco called back. "Practice is done so the pile of homework awaiting us NEWT students can be lowered at least a bit." Graham was the only one who could laugh on the starting team, but all of the reserve team joined in due to their being fourth year or below, so they didn't have as much homework as OWL or NEWT students.

"Thanks for that, Daphne," Harry told her as he got close enough. "I thought we would be out here for another hour, which meant we'd be up until long past midnight doing homework. Why are our professors torturing us so much?"

"Because they think more and more homework actually helps for our exams?" Blaise suggested as he flew over. "It's either that or they're sadistic and hiding it behind their masks of being a teacher because they love torturing us so much."

"It's the first one, idiot," Daphne sighed, hitting Blaise's arm while shaking her head sadly.

"Oi! I'm just trying to lighten the mood before we get sucked into our homework," Blaise exclaimed, but Daphne just continued to shake her head as they landed outside the changing rooms and she headed into the girls'.

"Just leave it, Blaise," Harry suggested before entering the boys'.

…

Harry watched from a side room on screens as the students of Hogwarts proved that they knew a war was coming. Random students numbering a dozen were in a small village fighting against Hermione, Daphne, Tracey, Hannah, Neville, Blaise, Graham, Natalie, Euan, Padma, Terry, and Draco. Everyone had two swords, four daggers, fifteen throwing knives, a broomstick, dragonhide armor, and their wands for the battle, but nothing more. They would have to use anything they might find in the village to fight as all pouches had been left out of the training simulation.

At the moment, the random group of students was building three different forts while actually hiding in three buildings a little ways away, using the thread they had found in one of the surrounding houses to set up a trap. One of the students was a seventh year who knew how to place charms on a string and then hide the string in plain sight, charming it so that those who touched the string wouldn't feel it. That meant anyone who touched those strings would be instantly Stunned.

Of course, on the other side of the village, Harry's friends were taking normal objects such as chairs and tables and brooms and transfiguring them to look like the twelve in the group, animating them to walk and look around as if looking for an attack. The real people were invisible and behind them, walking very slowly as they followed the animated dummies towards the hidden maze of charmed string.

Within minutes of reaching the maze, all of the dummies had been Stunned along with half of the group. It had taken a little bit for the group to realize they should just stop moving and send out large blocks of marble all around them to destroy the strings so that the trap was broken. Unfortunately, it had taken them so long to figure this out that all of those Stunned had been captured and locked up on the cellar of a house that was empty and actually looked untouched.

The group of six got together, keeping some distance between themselves in case of an attack – a habit learned from Harry taking advantage of his friends being so close that a spell that paralyzed anyone touching one another worked easily, winning him a one-on-twenty fight in moments – as they slowly moved through the village. A few revealing charms led Harry's friends toward one of the houses with students in them, and it didn't take them long to find the windows and just fire Stunners into the house until they heard thumps as each person fell. Another revealing charm told them that everyone was unconscious, and they moved on, finding the cellar with the others and freeing them after disabling the protections on the trapdoor.

From there, Harry's friends split up and found the other two houses, Stunning those inside with an overwhelming number of Stunners. The village disappeared, and Harry's friends revived the others, congratulating them.

In Harry's opinion, that fight could have gone either way. It had been an interesting one for sure.

…

Fawkes sang a light trill as Albus Dumbledore sighed, shoulders slouched as he looked out the window over the snowy grounds of Hogwarts, students running around and throwing snowballs at one another. He could see, right in the middle of the largest snowball fight out there, Harry and his friends showing off their prowess with magic by making the fight very unique.

His students were having so much fun, yet they were always so sad. This war was hurting them so badly with the deaths that occurred and loss everyone had felt whether personally or through friends. Professor Dumbledore knew that he wasn't the only one to feel it; the students and other teachers felt it, too. Unfortunately, none could do anything about it.

And the war! Oh, how Albus Dumbledore hated to think of the war, but it was one of the topics at the forefront of his mind. Rarely could he think of anything else, for even the thought of his own students brought it to his mind.

How could they win this war? Yes, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and the one of the prophecy, wasn't dark as Albus Dumbledore had feared, but Harry wouldn't listen to the Headmaster when he tried to speak of Horcruxes. With the only leads he had coming up empty, Professor Dumbledore was afraid that Tom Riddle would remain "immortal" forever.

He had hoped that Harry would be able to convince Horace last year to give them a memory that could possibly confirm how many Horcruxes Tom had made, but Harry had never listened, and so Albus Dumbledore had been forced to say things to his old friend he had never wished to say to him. At least Professor Dumbledore had learned that Tom had split his soul into seven pieces, though finding that information had cost him Horace coming back this year as a professor, despite what he had told the students and staff.

Unfortunately, that information did him very little good if he had no idea where to look for the Horcruxes – well, except for the most deadly and worrisome one. He had been watching one Harry James Potter for over six years, and at the end of Harry's fifth year, when the teen had had a vision of the Department of Mysteries from Tom, the Headmaster's worse fears had been realized. The famous scar on Harry Potter's forehead contained a piece of Tom's soul, the Horcrux he had never intended to make.

This meant that Harry would have to be hit with another Killing Curse, and Albus Dumbledore just did not understand the Slytherin well enough to know what he would do if the Headmaster told him of this fact. Had Harry been a Gryffindor with a different path through Hogwarts, Professor Dumbledore would have felt safer saying that Harry would sacrifice himself for his friends, but this Harry Potter wasn't like that. The sole Potter could decide that potentially dying just to kill Tom Riddle was too much for him and leave.

Albus Dumbledore suspected that wouldn't be the case, but until he was sure of what Harry Potter would do, that would have to be his secret…

…

Ginny sat in the library next to the only one of her brothers still at Hogwarts, both of them doing their homework. Or, they were trying to do their homework, but Ron kept getting distracted by the sight of Hermione reading a book and writing an essay a few tables away, which in turn distracted Ginny.

Barely withholding a sigh, Ginny thought about how Hermione and her brother had been dancing around one another since the summer. They talked together quite often, and she had heard from Neville that Hermione sat with Ron most of the time in class. Ginny herself had caught both of them glancing at one another when the other wasn't looking. The one thing they hadn't done was ask the other out!

This time, Ginny allowed herself to sigh, drawing the attention of her aforementioned brother. "Ron, if you like her so much, go ask her out," Ginny told him quietly. Ron looked shocked and almost… scared.

"Ginny, I have no idea what you're talking about," he tried, but they both knew it was hopeless, and he dropped his face into his hands.

Watching her older brother like this made Ginny realize that he had never actually dated since coming to Hogwarts, sticking more towards Dean and Seamus than anyone else, and then he began to spy for Harry and grew more independent, though he had plenty of friends due to the HPs. It made her feel a bit sick to realize that she truly had been neglecting her brother all these years, and it had only gotten worse when the HPs were formed because she had so much to do. Well, it was time to make it up to him, at least a little.

"Ron, take it from me, you need to just talk to her," Ginny said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "As much as you hate to think about it, I've been dating Harry for almost three years now, and we've both helped many of our friends get together. You need to stop avoiding the topic and just tell her how you feel. You might be surprised by what she says in return."

"You think so?" Ron asked, glancing up at her with his blue eyes, his face both hopeful and worried, obviously afraid of being rejected. Well, Ginny wouldn't say it, but Ron had no need to fear being rejected, not by Hermione.

"I know so," she replied, smiling and nodding in Hermione's direction. "Go, and take your stuff." Ron nodded and began packing up, glancing at Hermione and then at her. When he was done, he stood and then glanced down at her.

"Thanks, Gin," he told her, a hesitant smile on his lips.

"Anytime, Ron," she reminded him. "Anytime."

Ginny watched as her brother walked over to Hermione and sat next to her, drawing the bookworm's attention from her homework so that they could talk quietly. Hermione looked shocked as Ron spoke earnestly, but Hermione's shock soon turned to happiness as she nodded and hugged Ron. Ron sent a smile in Ginny's direction before focusing on Hermione once more, and Ginny knew her work was done.

With how Ron had matured after all that he did his first few years at Hogwarts, changing his opinion of Slytherins so much that he was now close to a large number of them, studying more than ever before, and just growing up overall, well, her brother had made himself worthy of Hermione. Ginny couldn't have picked a better partner for either of them if she had tried.

…

Harry stood leaning against the wall near the door of the study room that had been taken over by those working on the communicators, watching and listening with Ginny and Tracey as the researchers debated about what would and wouldn't work.

From what Harry could tell, they had completely gotten the material and shape and size for the communicator, even finding spells so that they would adjust to each person after only seconds, but they were having trouble figuring out how to send out and receive any sort of signal as well as how to distinguish between people. It was very good work, considering how much they had finished. Harry felt that they only needed one or two more ideas before it would all snap together because they had most of the research they needed for all of it; something just wasn't working correctly.

"Any ideas?" Ginny asked in a whisper without looking at him or Tracey. The three of them had gone largely unnoticed by the rest of the occupants in the room due to their distraction, and they were hoping to keep it that way so that they wouldn't be dragged into the research.

"I was thinking…" Tracey began slowly, turning to look at Harry. "Do you still carry your special books around with you all the time?" Harry nodded hesitantly, knowing Tracey was referring to the various journals and notes that had been written by others such as his parents or Samuel. "Can I have the Journal one for a minute?"

"Sure," Harry agreed with an easy shrug before opening his school bag and reaching into the pocket along the side of the larger-than-it-appeared bag that held the book. "Wait… are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"Probably," Tracey replied as she took the book from him and began flipping through the pages quickly, Harry looking over her shoulder as she came to the part that they both knew they wanted to read. "Think a slightly modified version of this would work?"

"Well, if we took out those parts and added in something while changing that a bit, it probably could," Harry decided after thinking it over, pointing at various parts of the notes Samuel had written. "Of course, we'll have to change it ourselves before passing it on, but it's probably what they need for it. However, there's still that other problem to deal with. Wait…" Harry flipped through the book and pointed to other research Samuel had done. "That could be modified to fit this as well, but it would take more work, so it would probably be best to just point them in the right direction and see what they come up with."

"As long as we check any and all modifications before they even try to use them, sure," Tracey had to agree with a shrug and a nod.

"Okay, confused Gryffindor who can't read that book here," Ginny declared, and they closed the book while laughing lightly at her.

"Don't worry, you'll hear in a minute," Tracey promised as Harry clapped his hands a couple times to catch the attention of those in the room, startling many of them.

"Tracey and I have a couple ideas to help get rid of those holes in your plans for the communicators," Harry announced once they were all quiet and facing him. "We'll modify a spell we have so that it can find the magical signature of a person and allow the communicators to recognize each person with one by name so that they can send messages to only those who they're meant for. You should have it in here within a few days.

"We also realize that you should probably look into the spells that allow wirelesses to work in our world," he continued. "It's how the Journals work, just in a different way than you'll be using. If you need help or a suggestion or just want us to check over what you're doing, you can come to us because we've got plenty of information on that. Unfortunately, we're the only two who can read the book, so it would be easier if you just research it yourself and figure it out on your own."

"However, before you even try to use a spell like that, bring it to us to look over first, since we already had a somewhat general idea of what the spell should look like," Tracey ordered, making it obvious that they would do it or face the consequences.

"Well, that's certainly a train of thought we haven't even touched on," Bradley decided as silence reigned in the room for many long moments, everyone else in the room besides Harry and Tracey shocked at the idea they had proposed. "Didn't even think about how similar this would be to a wireless. Thanks." Bradley turned back to the others, who were coming out of their shock finally. "We should hit the library to get the books we'll need to research this. Come on."

Harry smirked as Bradley led the still-shocked students from the room, knowing that the communicators were now that much closer to being completed.

…

Standing on the ramparts of Hogwarts, Harry watched as explosions tore apart the grounds while the aerial squad took care of the giants in record time. As those who had been out on the grounds to set off the large explosives that the twins had recently sent for testing backed up towards the castle, Harry called out the order for those watching from above to join the battle, following his own orders as he pulled out his broom and flew to the ground, shrinking it again and shoving it away the moment he was on the ground.

The grounds were a mess, but much of the attack had been held off as students worked to keep Death Eaters within the Entrance Hall as best they could with spells and traps while the rest moved around the grounds, wands and swords and knives and daggers moving together to take them out, though Harry was fighting a grin as a bit of the cherry jam that the house-elves had provided for the blood of the Death Eaters lands near his mouth so he could lick it up. The purpose of the jam was to show that blood could be unpredictable in what it did was on their bodies, moving and covering them this way and that – all without truly disgusting any but the most "fashionable" girls, who had reluctantly agreed to it in the end.

From the sounds he could hear around them, Harry knew that the giants were all out of the fight and out of the way because the aerial squad was taking out large numbers of Death Eaters. Distant screams from the direction of the castle spoke of what was occurring in there, and he was a bit relieved to be on the side with the twins' products, thank you very much; those two could be scary when they needed to create things for a battle.

Of course, when Harry ran out of Death Eaters sooner than he expected and saw the grounds changing into the normal room before his eyes, well, he knew they had been successful in teaching the students how to deal with an attack. They had gotten much quicker, and their fighting skills had improved with the experience the mock-invasions gave them against so many opponents.

Lifting his arms so Ginny could clean him of the jam, Harry looked around the room and couldn't help but feel proud of what these students had accomplished, all without the teachers – except Remus, of course, but he didn't count – finding out a thing. It truly was something to be proud of.

…

"Would you look at that list?" Harry sighed while standing in the Den, where the professors had placed the list for students who wished to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays, realizing everyone would sign it if they planned on it due to how the school seemed to work. The entire sheet had been filled and a second, longer page had been added and filled up as well.

"Purebloods had nowhere to go if their parents joined Tom," Maya reminded him, looking over his shoulder at the list. "See? There's Brandon, right there. In fact, at least half of that list is most of the students from Grimmauld Place last summer. Only the few with younger siblings that are being taken care of in one of the safe houses the Minister set up specifically for them with both Aurors and volunteer workers to keep them company are going home from that lot."

"And many of these are those who were orphaned since the war began," Euan added, pointing out a few names. "Some have been living with family they aren't very fond of, so they've decided to stick around since so many others are staying anyway."

"It makes sense, but it's so sad that Christmas is darker just because of Riddle," Harry grumbled as he and his two friends turned away to sit with some of the others in a group of couches, homework around them. "When this is all over, I hope we'll be able to change the laws so well that the chance of a Dark Lord coming back before at least half a millennia passing, at the minimum, is almost impossible."

"We hope so, too," Euan told him, gently grabbing Harry's arm so that he looked down to see Euan's sad smile before continuing to the others, knowing that he would do all he could in the Wizengamot to make a difference when all was said and done.

Posted: 5/2/12