* ~ The Eighth Year Universe Series ~ *

PART THREE

The Eighth Year

Chapter 59: The Quidditch Cup

"Nev, stop pacing."

"I'm just worried for her," Neville said as he walked in front of Harry's armchair for the umpteenth time.

"She'll be fine," Theo said, "She's not going to have a heart attack running, is she?"

Neville rolled his eyes, "That's not what I mean. I've got faith that she'll get the grades she needs, even in DADA. But this is the hardest bit for her, and I don't want her to lose out on this opportunity."

"Nev, you two jog around the lake twice every single morning," Harry said with a smile, "In rain or shine."

"And you've had about 60 mock duels," Draco added, "She isn't going to fail."

"She's been gone for hours now, though," Neville said as he glanced at the clock, "Don't you think she should be back soon?"

"You don't know how many people they have to see in one day," Theo yawned, "Just try and relax."

"I can't," Neville admitted sheepishly as the common room door opened. His eyes snapped to it, and he was relieved when he saw Lilly walk in. She looked exhausted and in dire need of a shower.

"Why are you covered in mud?" Harry asked the girl in amusement.

"Because there was a surprise factor in the physical test," Lilly said matter of factly, "They thought it would be fun to make us run an obstacle course just to see how fast we could do it."

"Do you know how you've done then?" Neville asked. He was trying not to be too pushy, "Did they tell you?"

"If you know, please tell him," Draco said dryly, "He's been whining and pacing for the last 2 hours."

Lilly grinned, "You were that worried for me?"

"Well, it's the dream job, Lil," Neville said as he bit his lip, "Do you know how you did?"

"Yeah," Lilly replied, "They told us there and then. I ran the 800 metres in under 3 minutes, so I passed that test. I won my mock duel, so I passed that test too. The obstacle course had to be completed in 5 minutes or less..."

"How long did it take you?" Neville and Harry asked in unison.

Lilly laughed, "Now Neville, I understand. He's my boyfriend. Why are you so concerned, Harry?"

Harry grinned at the Ravenclaw, "Well, partly because it's your dream job but also because I kind of want you at the hospital attached to the Auror training facilities. I'd feel a hell of a lot safer."

Lilly smiled broadly, "Well, that's good because I did the obstacle course in 3 minutes and 44 seconds. Assuming I get an O in Transfiguration, Charms, Arithmancy, Herbology and DADA, I'll be one of two trainee Trauma Healers keeping you Aurors alive."

Neville grinned and pulled her into a hug, mud and all, "Which you will do because you are fantastic!" he said as he kissed her in front of the rest of the common room, much to the amusement of their friends.

When they pulled away from each other, Neville wrinkled his nose, "But you do kind of smell."

Lilly laughed as she playfully whacked him on the arm, "Oh shut up, you cheeky git!" she exclaimed as she disappeared upstairs for a well-deserved shower.

After the busy events of early May, the rest of the month dragged by slowly. In every class, they were preparing for their exams, and when they weren't in class, they were still preparing for their exams. Hermione was constantly stressed, which was driving Draco insane.

Everybody else was trying to squeeze in as much practical work as possible for their practical exams, which led to many oddly shaped people making their way into the hospital wing. McGonagall had banned practising in the common room after Annie had ended up in the hospital wing with a horse's body. It didn't help that she couldn't stop neighing for two days afterwards…

Everything got worse when they got their exam timetables handed out the following Monday morning. Hermione voiced her opinion on this very loudly that morning, "Isn't it ridiculous that we only get our timetable a few weeks before the exam?"

"It doesn't make a difference, Hermione. You'd have studied for the last month anyway whether or not you had the bloody timetable," Theo said in exasperation.

"These exams are important, Theo!"

"Yeah, we know that, Hermione," Sadie said in an attempt to be diplomatic.

"Harry, how the fuck do you deal with her when she's like this?" Draco muttered, he was entirely at his wit's end, "I love her, but I swear I'm going to kill her."

Harry snickered at this, "Honestly, I just sit there and nod… and I ignore her a lot."

"Right, nod and ignore," Draco said, "I'll do that."

"Oh my gosh, this is the worst exam timetable ever!" Hermione shrieked, and Draco let his head drop onto the table with an audible thump.

"Why?" Daphne asked. Although she sounded like she was scared of the answer, Hermione was very snappy at the moment.

"I have Arithmancy on the 7th, Ancient Runes on the 8th and Transfiguration on the 9th!"

"Hermione, calm down," Harry said gently, "Transfiguration is your best subject. Arithmancy and Ancient Runes are kind of similar, so revising for one is going to be like revising for the other, and you've already done a ton of work for both anyway."

Hermione nodded, Oh so she only listens to Harry then? Draco thought irritably to himself.

"At least DADA is last," Harry said thoughtfully. He liked having his best exam last. It meant that he finished on a high.

"And Divination is first," Daphne said as she scanned the timetable.

Draco chuckled and added, "Yeah, good luck with that one."

Harry laughed and said, "Oh, I'll just bullshit my way through it. I usually do."

"Just over two weeks until the first one," Theo said thoughtfully as he chewed on a bit of sausage, "I suppose I should start revising then."

Sadie rolled her eyes fondly at her fiancé, "Has anyone ever told you that you are incorrigible?"

Theo just winked at her and continued eating his breakfast.

Before any more could be said on the exams, McGonagall stood from the head table and called for attention.

"I would like to announce that things will be slightly different in regards to the end of this school year. As we have both eighth and seventh years graduating from Hogwarts, we will be adjusting the schedule slightly. The eighth-year prom will be on the 18th of June; the eighth years will then be invited to a coffee morning with the professors on the 19th of June. Finally, there will be a graduation ceremony for the eighth years on the 20th of June," McGonagall explained.

"The seventh year prom will be held the following week on the 25th of June, with the coffee morning on the 26th of June and the graduation ceremony on the 27th of June," McGonagall continued, "Each student is allowed to invite two guests to the graduation ceremony, I would ask that you provide names of these guests to me by the end of May. Thank you."

With that, she took her seat once more, and the hall buzzed into life excitedly.

"Wow, it's not that long until we leave here," Sadie realised.

"I know," Hermione said, she sounded slightly sad about it, but they all felt that way.

"What's it like anyway? Graduation?" Harry asked. Students weren't allowed to go to other years graduation ceremonies. It was only for the students graduating, the professors and those who were invited as guests.

"I don't know," Daphne said honestly, "But I've heard it has something to do with leaving on the boats like we arrived here in first year."

"That's kind of neat," Lilly said thoughtfully.

"Who are you going to invite?" Harry asked the group in general.

"My parents," Hermione replied.

"My mum, I guess," Lilly shrugged, "And my dad, but he's in Japan, so I doubt he'll come."

"I'm inviting my mother too," Daphne replied, "And Astoria."

"Yeah, me too," Sadie with a smile, "And my brother Sorenson if he's not too busy with work."

"I think I'll invite Percy," Susan said with a smile that made the others chuckle. She was falling in love with the Weasley as much as she hated to admit it.

Blaise said, "I suppose I ought to invite my mother. I just hope she doesn't bring my step-father. He is annoyingly supportive at big events. With any luck, he will be working."

Theo chuckled, "Well, I'll invite my mother and my sister. Are you going to invite your mother, Draco?"

"Yeah," Draco said, he was lost in thought for a moment, "And Aunt Dromeda. I think she'll be allowed to bring Teddy since he's a baby and therefore not a full person."

"I'm not inviting anyone," Neville shrugged, "Because there isn't anyone I can invite."

"I know that feeling," Harry sighed, "Pretty much everyone I want there will be watching from up high...my parents, Sirius, Remus…."

"Why don't you invite mum and dad?" Ginny asked from her spot next to Blaise, "You know they love you like a son, and they would be delighted to come."

Harry smiled at the redhead, "That's a good idea, Gin. I think I will do that."

"Is there really no one you can invite Neville?" Lilly asked sadly, "Your parents are-"

"-insane people who have no idea who I am," Neville snapped, "They think I'm the cleaner, Lilly! What makes you think they will know who I am at graduation?"

"I'm sorry, Neville, I was just trying to help," Lilly said quietly.

"Well, don't," Neville said irritably, "I came to terms with the fact my parents would miss all of the important days in my life a long time ago. My 17th birthday, my graduation, my wedding, the birth of my children. They are never going to be there, and they are never going to know me. As far as I'm concerned, they are dead."

"At least you got to see them," Harry said under his breath, "You might not have known them, but you visited them."

"Yeah, and do you know what that's like?" Neville said bitterly, "It's like staring into the Mirror of Erised for your entire life! You can look all you want, but there is nothing there!"

Lilly sighed, "Look, Neville, I'm not going to sit here and apologise a hundred times over. We established a while ago that I'm not Hannah. I won't cry and apologise. I'll tell it to you straight. Your parents are probably never going to be cured, this isn't going to change, and you will have to deal with it for the rest of your life. So you need to try and accept peoples help instead of pushing people away."

"I know…you're right," Neville muttered as Lilly slipped her hand into his, "But that doesn't mean I want you to be. I want to have people to invite to my graduation, and I haven't got anyone, not since my gran died."

"Well, maybe you don't have anyone to invite," Lilly agreed as she looked at him, "But that doesn't mean you don't have people there who love you. I'll be there."

"And I'll be there," Harry piped up, "I mean, I love you, man."

Neville laughed despite himself, "Yeah, I love you too, mate," he said in amusement.

Daphne chuckled and changed the subject while the mood was reasonably happy, "Do you know what else I was wondering about? What do you think the prom will be like?"

"A huge party, from what I've heard," Draco said with a smirk, "It should be good."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, although he still felt an aching wrenching feeling in his gut about leaving Hogwarts for the last time.

Harry sighed as he walked into the common room with the remnants of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They had just had a particularly dreadful practice.

"It wasn't that bad, Harry," Neville said.

"It was dreadful!" Harry snapped, "Without Ginny, we are screwed! She's our best chaser, and while Demelza is alright, she's no, Ginny! We're going to have to up our game to beat Ravenclaw at the weekend."

"We'll be fine," Neville said, "You know the drill. Just stop Terry from catching the snitch until Gryffindor have scored at least seven goals."

The Slytherins had been listening quietly to this conversation from the moment that Harry and Neville had entered the common room.

"I think the cup could go either way at the moment," Susan said honestly as she looked up at her friends, "I mean Slytherin are looking good in terms of points, but with the way Ravenclaw has been playing, Gryffindor stands a chance of winning the cup. It should be an exciting match."

"Indeed," Draco said with a challenging look in his eyes that made Harry roll his eyes at his friend. He was looking forward to the Quidditch match the following Saturday, and he really wanted to win the Quidditch Cup, but the feeling that was overriding both of those was sadness. There was this nagging feeling that he couldn't quite shake off, and he knew that it had everything to do with this being the last match he would ever play as the seeker for Gryffindor.

When the morning of the 29th of May dawned, it didn't feel like any other Quidditch match day to Harry. He felt sick like he had when he had played his first game, but it wasn't nerves. It was sadness.

Harry didn't feel right as he made his way down to the great hall, where he joined the rest of the team on the Gryffindor side of the table.

"What's up, Harry?" Daphne asked with a frown when she saw her boyfriend.

Harry faked a smile, "Oh nothing, just…it's the last game I'll play for Gryffindor."

Hermione could see the sadness in Harry's eyes. She smiled and reached across the table to take his hand, "Hey Harry, don't treat it like a sad thing. Take advantage of it, make the most of it and enjoy yourself."

Hermione had this way of saying things in a way that Harry understood or could identify with, and once more, she had worked her magic. He brightened up significantly after that and managed to eat some toast before heading down to the pitch with the rest of the team.

As the team stood together in the changing rooms for the last time, Harry felt his eyes well up a little, "Come on, team, we can do this, it's our last chance, we can win this."

Neville smiled, "We'll win it for you, Harry."

"Yeah, let's bring it home for Harry!" Natalie McDonald said.

Dennis punched the air, "For Harry!" he and the team shouted. Harry did cry very briefly.

Only Neville noticed, and he whispered, "We'll do our best, promise."

"Thanks, Nev," Harry said. His best friend understood how much it meant to him. It would feel amazing to win the Quidditch Cup in a year where he had actually played in every game and hadn't had an injury.

The team made their way out onto the pitch, and Harry felt a lump in his throat, which he pushed down. They made their way into the centre, where they lined up opposite the Ravenclaw team.

"Shake hands," Madam Hooch ordered as the crowd cheered and shouted in the stands. The atmosphere was always good at the last match of the season.

Harry walked forward and shook Terry's hand.

"I hope you win it, man," Terry said good-naturedly, "You want it more than we do."

"Hey, don't go easy on us, Boot," Harry joked.

Terry laughed, "No chance," he said with a grin. The two eighth years made their way back to their teams, and Hermione's commentary began.

"The sky is blue and free of clouds; the sun is shining! The conditions are great for Quidditch, but that glare off the sun might cause some problems for the chasers. Great for the seekers, however!"

Draco shook his head in amusement from where he was sitting next to Hermione in the teachers stand. Luna was playing in the match, which meant Draco had been roped into doing the music. Harry found that slightly worrying since Draco had minimal knowledge of Muggle music.

"Mount your brooms," Hooch said, and everybody did so.

"The snitch is released, and the quaffle is thrown into the air. Play begins!"

Harry shot off into the distance and hovered in the middle of the pitch, not too high or low. His eyes scanned the entire pitch. He knew what he had to do, let the others score loads before he caught the snitch.

Harry couldn't see what was going on until he steadied himself, but he could hear the commentary, "Gryffindor in possession to begin with! Demelza has the quaffle, she passes to Natalie - who passes to Annie - back to Natalie - and she's going for the goals - yes! She scores! 10-0 to Gryffindor!"

"It's more than a feeling, more than a feeling!"

"Gryffindor in possession again - and oh my god, I can't believe it - Demelza is going for it - and YES! Another goal! 20-0!"

Harry grinned. This was a good start. He punched the air happily and started to fly slowly around the pitch as he kept a lookout for the snitch.

"A bludger is headed for Natalie - she's been hit in the arm, but she's okay! - oh no, she's dropped the quaffle!" Hermione was shouting. Harry could see her jumping up and down on the bench. So far, Draco's music taste hadn't been too bad, but now that Ravenclaw had the quaffle and looked like they might score, Harry wondered what he would play if they did.

"Ravenclaw in possession - Luna has the quaffle - she passes to Mandy - and back to Luna - no, it's Mandy - and Luna again, she scores! 20-10!"

"Don't stop me now, I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball!"

Luna had scored a great goal; she had gotten it past Dennis expertly. He wasn't a great keeper, not compared to Ron anyway. They had lost two of their best team members with the departure of the two Weasley's. The loss of Dean had also weakened the team massively.

The following 10 minutes were surprising, Luna scored three consecutive goals, and then Mandy scored two more after that. Dennis was keeping as well as ever, but Ravenclaw seemed to have gone from terrible to terrific. Had this been a tactical move, or was it just luck?

"What a twist! Ravenclaw are leading 60-20!" Hermione exclaimed.

Gryffindor seriously needed to up their game, and they did. Natalie scored twice, then Demelza scored, taking the score to 60-50.

Harry cursed as he looked around. He needed to wait until his team scored twice more, at least, before he could even catch the snitch. Gryffindor's good luck ended after those three goals. Ravenclaw was in possession of the quaffle again, and the Gryffindor chasers couldn't get it back as hard as they tried.

Between them, Luna and Mandy scored another four times. Then Gryffindor managed to get the quaffle back briefly and scored once more, taking the total to 100-60 to Ravenclaw.

Harry cursed once more as he glanced around the pitch desperately. To win this, he would need to catch the snitch. Thankfully Gryffindor started to play to their usual standard as Hermione announced that the game had been ongoing for an hour now.

Demelza scored again, and it was a good goal, then Natalie scored, which took the total to 100-80; they were catching up. Luna scored yet another goal after that, but then Gryffindor's chasers scored another three times, which meant the overall score was 110-110, a perfect tie.

Harry wanted to find the snitch more than ever now; he was flying as fast as he could without his vision being blurred when he saw it. The sun caught it at the right moment; Harry saw the golden glint bounce off of the surface of the tiny ball; it was hovering near the ground by the entrance to the towers.

Harry shot towards it immediately, and he could sense Terry following him. He reached the snitch just as it shot inside the area underneath the stands. Harry followed it inside the stands on instinct and admittedly because he was a little bit insane. Terry didn't follow him inside, and Harry found himself wishing this was a Slytherin vs Gryffindor match just for old times' sake.

"You're fucking mental Potter!" Terry cursed after him.

"Merlin," Harry cursed to himself as he sped through the area and avoided hitting the wooden beams, "This is a lot tighter than it was the first time."

Harry could only just hear the commentary as he followed the snitch, dodged and weaved through the beams but kept his eyes firmly on the little golden ball.

"Harry is under the stands! Oh, my goodness! Is he injured? Will he come out?" Hermione's voice asked. Harry would have rolled his eyes if he wasn't trying to keep them on the snitch.

Harry got so close to catching it, and then the snitch shot up through a very narrow gap. Harry took a deep breath and followed it; he grimaced because his arms and legs burned as they rubbed against the wood. Harry came out and realised that he was in the stairwell of one of the stands, but the snitch was still hovering there as if it was waiting for him. He forgot about his injuries as he grinned and followed it up the stairs. He reached the entrance, and just before the snitch could get away. Harry reached out and caught it, his arm was crushed between two slats of wood in doing so, and he cursed loudly. He was reasonably sure that he had broken his arm, so he quickly switched hands so that he was holding the snitch in his good arm. Then he shot into the stand to screams, it happened to be the teachers stand, and Harry nearly knocked Draco to the ground as he flew past him.

The Slytherin exclaimed, "What the fuck, Potter?"

"Malf – Black! Language!" McGonagall reprimanded, although she was jumping up and down because Harry had caught the snitch, which meant that Gryffindor had won the match.

"He's alright! And he has the snitch! Gryffindor wins, 260-110!" Hermione exclaimed as she jumped up and down and wrapped her arms around Draco, "Which means Gryffindor now have 600 points and have won the Quidditch Cup!"

Harry cheered loudly and embarrassingly let a few tears fall as he flew to the ground. He tried to steady himself and block out the searing pain in his arm and down his sides too. He landed clumsily on the ground. Hermione took the sonorous charm off of herself and hurried to the pitch with Draco hot at her heels. By the time they got there, Daphne, Sadie, Theo, and Susan were already standing around Harry and the rest of the team. Lilly was assessing his injuries as they waited for Madam Pomfrey to reach them.

"Well, there are some very bad friction burns Harry," Lilly said, "They'll need to heal up on their own and ouch, splinters. Not nice; that's a broken arm, too…in about three different places. It was certainly a spectacular finish, though."

Harry laughed weakly as Pomfrey appeared and levitated Harry onto a stretcher.

"Friction burns, a broken arm which is fractured in three places and a lot of splinters, Madam Pomfrey," Lilly said politely.

"Thank you, Miss Moon," Madam Pomfrey said genuinely. They knew that Lilly had been helping out in the hospital wing a lot recently to gain experience for her elite training programme.

On this one occasion, Madam Pomfrey had allowed Harry's friends to sprawl all over her hospital wing as she, with Lilly's help, treated the accident-prone Gryffindor boy.

"Can you tend to the broken arm, please, Miss Moon?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she assessed the bleeding friction burns on the sides of Harry's arms and legs.

"A numbing charm or a prop charm?" Lilly asked.

Pomfrey replied, "A numbing charm for now."

Lilly cast the charm, and Harry, who was now beginning to feel the effects of the powerful pain-relieving potion, grinned lopsidedly at his friends, "We won the cup!"

"We did it, Harry!" Neville said with a grin, "Just like we told you that we would!"

"Trust you to end up in the hospital wing after your last Quidditch match," Daphne said with a fond smile.

Harry laughed happily, "I don't care. I don't care about anything right now because we won it!"

Madam Pomfrey assured his friends that it was just the pain-relieving potion and numbing charms taking effect that made Harry burst into a fit of the giggles. She assured them that he wasn't actually going mad.

After that, Pomfrey told them that she needed to do some sensitive work on Harry's friction burns, so she asked everyone to wait outside except Lilly. They understood, but that didn't stop them from hovering outside the doors and making small talk as they waited for news on Harry.

"I hope he doesn't have to stay the night. Otherwise, the party tonight will be kind of pointless since he was the hero of the match," Hermione mused.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. Pomfrey has a soft spot for him; she'll let him out," Daphne said confidently.

At that moment, the doors opened, and Lilly came out with a smile. She had slightly bloody hands, which worried everyone for a moment, "Yes, I am covered in blood but don't worry, Harry's fine. The friction burns were really bad. We had to get rid of the damaged skin and regrow it, which would have hurt like hell, so we knocked him out for it. His arm has mended itself easily enough, though. He's awake, and you guys are allowed in as long as you stay quiet."

With that, the group noisily made their way into the hospital wing, making Lilly roll her eyes in amusement.

Daphne greeted her boyfriend with a kiss. The others congratulated him on the match and how close it had been and how it had been the best match in Hogwarts history, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

"So when are you getting out of here?" Daphne asked with a smile.

Harry, who had been happy and bright since he had seen his friends, sighed. His face fell, "Pomfrey's making me stay the night."

"What? Why?" Daphne asked. Hermione looked disappointed too.

"She says my skin needs to heal and that it won't until sometime late tonight," Harry said glumly. He had finally won the house cup, and he was being forced to spend the night in the hospital wing instead of celebrating.

"That sucks," Hermione said sadly.

Harry just shrugged and said with a forced smile, "Hey, don't worry about me. Just make sure you all enjoy the party."

"Okay, that's long enough!" Madam Pomfrey said sternly, "Mr Potter has a lot of skin to regrow tonight. He needs rest, out!"

They protested, but Madam Pomfrey was insistent, so the gang glumly filed out of the hospital wing. Daphne kissed Harry on the cheek before she left, and when the doors shut, Harry sighed sadly and closed his eyes.

It was a pretty crappy ending to a damn good day.

"Dragon, are you ready?"

"Ready, fox."

"Otter?"

"Ready, fox."

"Can you stop referring to us with animal names, and can we just do this?" Susan asked as she raised an eyebrow at Daphne.

Daphne, Hermione and Lilly were both dressed from head to toe in black, as were Draco, Theo and Neville.

"Okay, so does everyone know the plan?"

"Yeah, we know the plan," Theo said, "It's not hard to remember. Can we get going now?"

"Fine," Daphne said as she rolled her eyes at them all. She opened up the Marauders Map and threw Harry's invisibility cloak over herself, Hermione and Lilly. It was awkward because they had to hunch to avoid their feet being seen.

Draco, Theo and Neville disillusioned themselves and blended in with the colours of the common room, then the group left.

They made their way silently along the seventh floor and out onto the grand staircase. They didn't pass anyone on their way down it and only actually bumped into someone when they entered the first-floor corridor.

Filch was skulking about and nearly walked into Hermione, Daphne and Lilly, who thankfully managed to hold their breath long enough for the caretaker to walk past them. It wasn't very often that he hung around in corridors these days, but then again, they were very near one of Peeves' favourite haunts.

"Okay," Daphne whispered when they reached the large double doors into the hospital wing, "Diversion time."

Draco, Theo and Neville nodded, although nobody could see it because they were the same colour as the wall behind them. Draco reached into his pocket and threw a small circular object shaped like a mine. Theo stood on it to activate it, and instantly the corridor was engulfed in darkness. There was also a deafening bang, curtsey of Neville, and an invisible firework that brought Madam Pomfrey out of the hospital wing and Filch back into the corridor. Hermione was holding the hand of glory, which Draco had let her borrow, and she used it to lead herself, Daphne and Lilly, into the hospital wing through the darkness. They were the only ones who could see what they were doing.

Once they were inside, the girls gently pushed the doors shut and magically locked them. They knew that Pomfrey would get through, but it bought them time.

Daphne took the cloak off and hurried over to Harry's bed, where he was lying awake. She grinned as she threw him some clothes, "Get changed. We've got a party to get you to."

Harry grinned and changed at top speed. Daphne grabbed his hand and pulled him over to a portrait by Pomfrey's office, where Lilly was waiting. The Ravenclaw girl tickled the portrait, and it pushed itself back into the wall to reveal a doorway. The quartet rushed through it and pushed the door firmly shut behind them.

"Where are we?" Harry asked.

Lilly replied, "Madam Pomfrey's brewing lab. There's an exit into the corridor this way, so be quiet because they will still be out there."

Harry nodded and let Hermione throw the cloak over them both. She and Lilly disillusioned themselves because there was no way all four of them would fit under the cloak. The portrait in front of them had a blackboard full of numbers on it, and Lilly entered a code onto the board, which caused the portrait to open. The foursome carefully made their way into the corridor where the blackness was beginning to fade. Madam Pomfrey and Filch were talking, and Pomfrey was trying to figure out why she couldn't get back into the Hospital Wing.

They were blocking the entrance to the grand staircase, so the trio had to take another route to the common room. They made their way outside into the relatively warm air and crossed the stone bridge. Then they re-entered the school in another wing of the first floor, where they made their way through the deserted corridors onto the grand staircase.

Despite being away from the crime scene, they didn't speak or take the cloak off until they entered the seventh-floor corridor where Draco, Theo and Neville were waiting. They had taken the disillusionment charm off of themselves.

"Thanks for breaking me out," Harry said with a grin as they flung the cloak off and took the disillusionment charms off of themselves.

"It was a pretty good plan, don't you think?" Hermione asked happily as they made their way towards the entrance to the eighth Year tower.

"Yeah, it was brilliant!" Harry said. He only winced a little as he began to make his way up the spiral staircase.

"It was my idea," Daphne said smugly.

Harry laughed at this, "I should have known," he said as he kissed her. He was silent as he concentrated on getting up the stairs without twisting too much, but when he reached the top of the stairs, Harry was surprised by the shout of, "Congratulations Harry!" that came from the portrait of the Marauders.

Harry grinned as his father said proudly, "Brilliant Quidditch player, my boy. I'm so proud of you!"

Harry's grin got even broader at that, and then Daphne led him into the common room, which erupted with cheering.

"You should have stayed in the hospital wing," Lilly said sheepishly as she undid Harry's shirt and pushed it off.

"I know," Harry winced, "But I wanted to go to the party."

The bandage on the right side of Harry's torso was stained red with blood; it made Hermione and Daphne wince.

"Besides Lil, you helped break me out," Harry teased.

"I know, and I probably shouldn't have done that," Lilly said with a pointed look at Neville, "A certain boyfriend of mine is far too convincing for his own good."

"Sorry," Neville muttered, "If I'd known there was going to be a drunken mock duel style thing and Harry was going to get hit, I wouldn't have snuck him out either."

Lilly shook her head as she peeled the bandage off, "Well, it's only done more damage which you'll have to deal with, Harry."

The skin underneath the bandage had been rubbed raw and was bleeding rather a lot. She calmly patted away the blood with a damp cloth as Harry gritted his teeth in pain. Daphne grabbed his hand, and Harry squeezed it as Lilly finished mopping up the blood and cleaning the injury. She murmured a few charms, replaced the bandage and handed him a potion.

"What's that?" Harry asked warily.

"It's a pain-relieving and numbing potion," Lilly replied, "It will send you straight to sleep, but that's a good thing if it means you'll sleep and let your injuries heal."

Harry chuckled and downed the entire potion. He sighed with contentment as the pain began to ebb, "You'll be a great Healer, Lil. I'm glad it will be you who fixes me up when I inevitably do stupid things as an Auror."

Lilly laughed, "If I get the grades I need. But thanks, Harry, I'm glad you think so."

"It also helps that you're much nicer than Pomfrey," Harry said sleepily.

"And you're getting high on pain potions," Lilly grinned with an amused glance at Neville, "So go to sleep and hopefully, everything will be nicely healed in the morning."

"M'kay," Harry murmured as he drifted into unconsciousness.

* ~ TBC ~ *

Songs Used:

Boston: More Than a Feeling

Queen: Don't Stop Me Now