Chapter 48
Badass McGonagall
Romania

The next day felt hollow without Hermione present. But even in dark times, there are always one good news to be heard – in this case, two. Friday's prophet declared Sirius' innocence, and the return of Voldemort. The article contained Fudge's speech made that very morning.

"It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord—well, you know who I mean—is alive and among us again," Fudge had said in his speech in a tired voice, "It is with almost equal regret that we report the mass revolt of the dementors of Azkaban, who have shown themselves averse to continuing in the Ministry's employ. We believe that the dementors are currently taking direction from Lord—Thingy.

"We urge the magical population to remain vigilant. The Ministry is currently publishing guides to elementary home and personal defense that will be delivered free to all Wizarding homes within the coming month."

Harry was back to being 'The Boy who lived' and not the 'The Boy who lied.' England… well, he was 'The Insane One' but he never got insulted by the Daily Prophet as much as Harry, and he wasn't really bothered by it… so eh, him being a 'normal' student in the wizarding world's eye didn't change a lot of things for him.

But what made Romania angry is that the Prophet didn't mention that they were the ones that ridiculed Harry, Dumbledore and Arthur and made them into a laughingstock.

The last week of school contained to hard work – not after the confirmation about Voldemort. Many students seemed to be in fear, though they seemed to live a normal life. Perhaps its not real to them yet. The fact that he is back.

Romania knew how that felt – the fact not feeling real. He'd see horrible sights, and it would be hard to believe. Refusal of reality. It was not just the humans – nations refused reality too.

Reality can be harsh, which is why humans sometimes end their lives themselves. Nations sometimes felt like that too - dying. They would hope they could die. But it was impossible to commit suicide.

And, like all creatures, in the end, nations would fear death – more like fear what will happen next. To take an example, Britannia died knowing that Rome will take her country and her sons. She was sure to have feared for them during her last moments.

All nations died in a war.

All nations died worrying.

Peace? What peace?

Nations didn't have peaceful deaths.

That was the curse upon the nations.

Ah, did he mention that Hermione had woken up? Hermione recovered pretty quickly thanks to magic, and now she was in the school hospital wing – she had asked to be moved from St. Mungo's to school as she wanted to be in the school.

Even if there was only five days of school left, the adults had allowed her to be moved to Hogwarts.

Hermione was not the only one is the Wing; the rest of the people who went to face the Death Eaters were in it too. That meant Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville. England was with them, and he preferred to be in the Hospital Wing than the Slytherin Dorm. Right now, the children of the arrested Death Eaters such as Malfoy was prying to hex, jinx- just do anything to England, Harry, Romania – the ones who were there when the Eaters were arrested.

Harry, Romania and Norway made frequent visits to them.

And speaking of Neville, Luna and Ginny, they thankfully didn't questioned Lucius Malfoy's attitude towards the Magic trio in the ministry, which saved a lot of secrets and time.

Harry still hadn't told his friends about the prophecy. The Magic Trio said they'll wait for him to tell them, and Harry nodded.

Harry, Romania and Norway was heading to Hagrid's hut when they had an unpleasant encounter with Malfoy and his goons.

The trios met eyes with each other and froze in place.

"You're all dead," Malfoy said in a low voice.

"Well we're not," Norway said, "And we're not dying any soon."

"You're all going to pay," Malfoy said in a menacing whisper, "I'm going to make all of you pay for what you group of trollheads has done to my father…"

"Wow, soooo terrifying," Romania sarcastically drawled.

"I s'pose Lord Voldemort's just a warm-up act compared to you three—what's the matter?" Harry added; Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had all looked stricken at the mention of the name of the Dark Lord, "He's your dad's mate, isn't he? Not scared of him, are you?"

"You think you're such a big man, Potter," Malfoy said, walking forwards to the two nations and Harry, "You wait. I'll have you. You can't land my father in prison—"

"I thought I just had," Harry said, making Romania and Norway nod in approval of a roast.

"The dementors have left Azkaban," Malfoy quietly said, "Dad and the others'll be out in no time…"

"Huh I don't know about that," Romania said, "Are they even smart enough to figure out a plan to get out of the place?"

Malfoy, triggered, reached for his wand, but the nations and Harry was faster. Three wands were pointed at Malfoy even before Malfoy got his wand out.

"Potter! Lupei! Bondevik!"

The voice rang across the entrance hall – it was Snape. No matter what Dumbledore said, whatever Dumbledore still hadn't told the nations – Snape was still on Romania's list of disliked people.

"What are you three doing?" Snape coldly said, arriving at the scene.

"I'm trying to decide what curse to use on Malfoy, sir," Harry fiercely said.

Snape stared at him.

"Put those wands away at once," he said curtly, "Ten points from Gryff—"

Snape looked toward the giant hourglasses on the walls and gave a sneering smile.

"Ah. I see there are no longer any points left in the Gryffindor hourglass to take away. In that case, Potter, we will simply have to—"

"Add some more?"

McGonagall had just stumped up the stone steps into the castle. She was carrying a tartan carpetbag in one hand and leaning heavily on a walking stick with her other, but otherwise looked quite well despite the amount of stuns she had taken. Romania was so glad and happy to see her in a good state.

"Professor McGonagall!" Snape said, "Out of St. Mungo's, I see!"

"Yes, Professor Snape," McGonagall said, "I'm quite as good as new. I was able to speak and move slightly long before the time Miss Granger was moved into St Mungos. It's only that I couldn't walk. You two—Crabbe—Goyle—"

She pointed at the two gorilla-like humans with her walking stick, and the two walked over to her.

"Here," McGonagall thrusted her carpetbag into Crabbe's chest and her cloak into Goyle's, "Take these up to my office for me."

They turned and stumped away up the marble staircase without objection.

"Right then," McGonagall said, looking up at the hourglasses on the wall, "Well, I think Potter and his friends ought to have fifty points apiece for alerting the world to the return of You-Know-Who! What say you, Professor Snape?"

"What?" Snape said, "Oh—well—I suppose…"

"So that's fifty each for Potter, the two Weasleys, Longbottom, Lupei and Miss Granger," McGonagall, and a shower of rubies fell down into the bottom bulb of Gryffindor's hourglass as she spoke, "Oh—and fifty for Miss Lovegood and Mr Bondevik, I suppose. And one of your own, Professor- fifty points to Arthur Kirkland," she added, and a number of sapphires fell into Ravenclaw's glass, along with more green emeralds to Slytherin's – though Gryffindor was still ahead of Slytherin, "Now, you wanted to take ten from Mr. Potter, I think, Professor Snape—so there we are…"

A few rubies retreated into the upper bulb, leaving a respectable amount below nevertheless.

"Well, Potter, Malfoy, I think you ought to be outside on a glorious day like this," McGonagall continued briskly, and the wands in the air retreated back into their owner's robes.

Romania gave McGonagall a swift thumbs-up before Norway, Harry and Romania left for Hagrid's cabin.

They thought at first that Hagrid was not in when he did not answer the door. But it turned out he was only in his garden.

"All righ', you three!" the half-giant said, beaming, when the students approached the fence, "Come in, come in, we'll have a cup o' dandelion juice…"

They went in the hut, and Hagrid poured them some dandelion juice, which Romania did enjoy drinking.

"So, where've you been, Hagrid?" Harry asked.

"Bin hidin' out in the mountains," Hagrid said, "Up in a cave, like Sirius did. Speaking of him, Harry. He's been exonerated, hasn't he?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically.

"He can step outside of his house now, which is good," Romania said, "And I bet if he passed through that veil… Harry wouldn't be Harry."

"What about the veil?" Harry asked.

"That veil leads to your death, Harry," Norway said, "It is a one-way gate to the afterlife."

Harry froze.

"So if he was flung backwards when that spell hit him- if Vlad didn't grab him-"

"He would've died," Norway finished.

"Though he is alive and well," Romania said, "And taking better care of Kreacher. He still hates the elf, though it seems like they are trying to have some er, bonding time…?"

"Interestin'," Hagrid said, "Thouh' Sirius would never do such thin'."

"He should after what happened with Kreacher," Romania said.

"True, true," Hagrid said, pouring them more juice.

They had a nive long chat, catching up with things. Hagrid told them about Grawp, and how hes learning more now. And Hagrid was glad to hear about how Umbridge was shuddering in the Hospital Wing after being kidnapped by the Centaurs.

"She got what she deserved!" Hagrid exclaimed, "Thoug' tha' was a risky plan. Goin' into their territory like tha'."

"Hermione came up with the plan, and I think it went better than she planned," Harry said, "Because we were able to lure the threstrals after that."

"Great creatures, aren't they?" Hagrid beamed.

"They are, they really are," Romania said, setting down his glass of juice, "Hagrid, thanks for the juice. We should probably getting back up to the castle – we have to start packing."

"O' course! Say hello to Ron and Hermione for me – Arthur too," Hagrid said.

They waved goodbye and headed swiftly up to the castle.

The best thing to happen until the last day of school was the night before the last day of school. Umbridge had crept out of the hospital wing during dinnertime, probably hoping to depart undetected. She would've succeeded if it wasn't for her rotten luck; she met Peeves on the way. And Peeves still had Fred and George's words in his brain- imprinted in it. It seemed like the ghost was happiest when giving Umbridge the worst times of her life. And he did give her a great way of departing Hogwarts, as he whacked her alternately with a walking stick and a sock full of chalk.

He did that while making a whole load of sound, as he laughed loudly and Umbridge screamed loudly, so many students ran out into the entrance hall to watch the worst DADA teacher run away, while the Heads of Houses tried only halfheartedly to restrain their pupils. Actually, they seemed to enjoy it themselves.

Not to mention Scotland – after exchanging quick words with McGonagall, he had supported McGonagall to run after Umbridge (Peeves had her walking stick) and shout words of cheer after her. McGonagall seemed happy that she got to say everything she couldn't say because she was in Mungo's.

Scotland seemed overjoyed when he shouted: "Ya go cower back in yer wee house, ya Pink Frog! Don't worry, I will make sure this is put in the History curriculum! This is about the ministry after all!"

Students cheered at the two professor's shouts. Ron seemed happy that he was out of the hospital wing and able to see this.

That night was no doubt one of the best nights in Hogwarts.

-0-Harry-0-

Harry had only just started to pack by the time the last dinner in Hogwarts arrived.

"Just do it tomorrow," Ron said, "Come on, I'm starving…"

"And you can pack after lunch," Romania said.

"I won't be long… Look, you two go ahead…" Harry said, and the two left, leaving Harry behind. The truth was that Harry did not want to attend the end-of-term feast. He was worried that Dumbledore would make some reference to him in his speech. He was sure to mention Voldemort's return; he had talked to them about it last year, after all…

Harry was trying to pull out the robes he threw into his trunk to fold them and put them back in neatly, when he noticed a badly wrapped package lying in a corner of the trunk. Harry picked it up and examined it. It was the thing Sirius had given it to him just inside the front door of twelve Grimmauld Place.

Harry sank down onto his bed and unwrapped the package. Out fell a small, square mirror. It looked old; it was certainly dirty. Harry held it up to his face and saw his own reflection looking back at him.

He turned the mirror over. There on the reverse side was a scribbled note from Sirius. It read:

This is a two-way mirror. I've got the other. If you need to speak to me, just say my name into it; you'll appear in my mirror and I'll be able to talk in yours. James and I used to use them when we were in separate detentions.

Harry quirked his head, and said: "Sirius?"

And magically, Sirius did appear in the mirror.

"Harry! Everything fine?"

"Yes- yes- erm. I just found this thing," Harry said.

"Forgot about it, did you? Well I don't blame you," Sirius said, "Say, I think you can live with me now as I am exonerated and no longer a criminal – we'll discuss this later. Isn't it time for dinner? Go down and eat, Harry - I can see that you're in your dorm."

"Oh well- I'm packing. Haven't even done half the packing," Harry said.

"You got to have the full belly to work Harry," Sirius said, "Right now I'm trying to educate myself on how to make myself food… busy myself, I say. Goodbye Harry – see you soon."

"Ok er- bye Sirius," Harry said, and Sirius' image disappeared, and Harry could see his reflection again.

Harry tucked the mirror in his robes and ran down to Dinner, where he enjoyed the food. Thankfully, Dumbledore did not mention him at all – well, he did mention him, but he mentioned everyone else who went with him, so it was less embarrassing.

-0-0-0-

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-PotterheadNo.04