Once Upon a Hogwarts – Chapter Nineteen

By Lily in Pond

Disclaimer: California is my domain, but Harry Potter and Hogwarts is unfortunately, all Jo's.

OoOoOoO

Pansy Parkinson scowled fiercely as she walked – no, rampaged – up the Slytherin boys' staircase.

A pack of smirking Slytherin second years coming down stopped smirking immediately when they saw Pansy and quickly moved aside for her, knowing that the rumor saying Pansy had a crazy temper accompanied with little patience was indeed, true.

Pansy started pounding on the door that read 'Seventh Year Boys'.

"BLAISE ZABINI! GET YOUR SLIMY SLYTHERN ASS OUT HERE AND FACE ME LIKE A REAL MAN!"

"Hey Pansy," Morag greeted Pansy, sticking his head out of the door. Evidently, he had been studying; he still had his reading glasses on. (Morag's vision and hearing were so freakishly sharp, everything he saw at close view was super-blurry.) "Blaise would like to tell you to 'Go bugger off and go bugger yourself'."

Another voice yelled something out.

"Also, Theo adds that you are a 'skanky be-yotch who really needs to mind her own business and to remember to give him his moisturizer back'." Morag pushed up his glasses with his index finger and raised his eyebrows. "Wait, Theo uses moisturizer? Ep – !" A hand appeared covering Morag's mouth and dragged him back inside. Then the door shut rather rudely in Pansy's face, barely missing her nose.

"Also, Draco and I would like to say that we had absolutely no part in Theo and Blaise's prank on you and that we are only in the dormitory because we are trapped in. Though Theo didn't really do anything with the actual prank; he just planned it," Morag's muffed voice came from the other side of the door.

"You know, if I went and got Mandy, we could break this door down the Muggle way!" Pansy shouted. "So you better watch out! I might be barging in here any moment now!"

"Well, you're still here without Brocklehurst, and we're not getting any younger," Draco quipped. Snickering could be heard.

"Speaking of youngness, you're not going to look so young anymore, Pansy!" Theo shouted. "I'm not letting you use my night cream anymore!"

Pansy could practically hear the stares of the other boys.

"Alright Theo, you're a girl, so get out," Blaise said. The door was opened a crack and Theo was pushed out, landing unceremoniously in a heap of rumpled robes near Pansy's feet.

Theo quickly jumped to his feet and smoothed down his robes. "Okay, I'm ready to break the door down now."

"Puh-lease," Pansy scoffed. "You're the weakest link of all the Slytherins, physically. Including the girls. Even the firsties."

Theo opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it. "Oh, who am I kidding? I'm a girl, I use moisturizer, and night cream, and I'm weak. Plus I…………I got…………….a nose job!"

Pansy, who was on the verge of going downstairs to search for Mandy, immediately whirled around. "WHAT?"

"Nothing!" Theo yelled, face turning bright red. "I use girly products and I'm weak and then – I – just – stopped- talking!"

Pansy was rolling around the floor in hysterics now. "You – !" she rasped out. " – You – got – a – nose – job!"

Theo slammed his fist into the wall. "Ow!"

Pansy only laughed harder.

"If you must know………..Patil tricked me into it………." Theo mumbled. "She told me she was just going to make a few changes………………and shrink stuff…………."

Pansy rolled over on all fours and started pounding her fists into the carpet. "Patil – tricked – you!"

"Goodbye Pansy," Theo said icily. "I won't be seeing you around, then."

Pansy gave a little wave. "Bye, Theodora," she choked out.

Theo gave a little girly huff and flounced away, to Pansy's amusement.

OoOoOoO

Hermione was jauntily strolling around the Charms corridor occasionally saying things like, "Hey, you! No magic in corridors! And I can totally tell you off for this because I'm Head Girl!" or "You there! Why do you look so suspicious? And I can so tell by the look on your face and because I'm an excellent Head Girl!"

Needless to say, Professor McGonagall had just personally complimented Hermione on what she was doing as Head Girl and the wonderful example she was setting for the other students. (And that was really saying something as Professor McGonagall always seemed to in her office these days.) But when Hermione asked about Harry? Hmm, about Mr. Potter, you say? I'm starting to regret making him Head Boy.

"Hermione! Haven't seen you in a while!"

Hermione turned around and saw the owner of the voice: a redheaded female Weasley who also went by the name Ginny.

"Ginny! Hi! What do you mean by 'haven't seen you in a while'?"

Ginny laughed. "I mean that we haven't really talked, you know? Like, really talked."

"Ah. I remember those good discussions we used to have last year."

"Yeah, well, I've been pretty busy lately what with trying to get you and Malfoy together and then finding out you guys were actually going out – oh, no!" Ginny's face turned bright scarlet and she covered her eyes with her hands. "Oh no no no no no no no no no no!"

"Ginny," Hermione's voice was lowered to an almost hissing pitch, "What did you just say?"

"No! I said nothing!" Ginny squealed. "I said I've been busy, and that was it! Excuse me, Hermione, I gotta go!" As Ginny turned around and trued to run for it, Hermione grabbed onto Ginny's robes.

"Not so fast, young lady," Hermione snarled. "Now you tell everything."

Ginny sighed. "I'm really sorry for this, Hermione, I'm sorry." Then, in one swift motion, she pinched the inner part of Hermione's thigh. Hard.

Hermione squealed. And immediately let go of Ginny. "Ginevra Molly Weasley! You get back here this second! I'm – I'm Head Girl!" she screamed, in a desperate attempt. "I can get one hundred points taken off Gryffindor!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Ginny screamed, running to the banister and preparing to jump off, or slide off, or whatever it was that she did that usually captured attention. "I'm sorry Hermione, but this is the only way I'll get outta here without Theo skinning me alive for telling you about our conspiracy! Oh crap, I just did it again!"

Hermione gasped loudly. "I knew Theodore Nott would be at the bottom of a conspiracy! He always had a sort of sinister and frightening edge to him! And the way he's always alone and dark and gloomy and practically swimming in his own solitude! And – oh, you're gone already," Hermione mumbled, realizing that not only was Ginny long gone and out of sight, Hermione had been apparently ranting to an empty wall for a minute.

"Oh, sweet holy mother of Merlin," Hermione moaned, sinking down the wall. (One of the portraits cried, "Ho! Watch the fabric, dear!") "What in the world did Theodore Nott plan? Did it even work? And oh, my god, it was bad enough that people were getting us together, but now, those people are identified! And they were my friends! I feel…………………so used…………..…so much like a test animal……..like one of those furry little mice who had absolutely done nothing and were killed so people could examine them for their own pretentious reasons!"

Then she seemed to realize what she just said, coming to her senses when Draco Malfoy looked at her quizzically from above.

"Hermione? What are you doing on the floor? And why are you referring to yourself as a mouse? I mean, I can understand the whole hair/fur thing and the brown eye and hair resemblance, but why? Why would you be an animal who eats tons and tons of cheese?"

Hermione smiled. Draco Malfoy was insulting her again, she thought happily. The world was not going to implode with the evilness of Theodore Nott's decidedly sinister plot.

OoOoOoO

"First, we need to stop by Sirius's house to pick up the locket and destroy it. Then, we need to have a rather interesting conversation with all the snakes in the country, see where Nagini's hiding out. Then, if we have time, we can stop by Diagon Alley and pick up some stuff from Fred and George's place. And then we'll Apparate back to Hogwarts and we'll be back in time for dinner and no one will be the wiser," Harry concluded, passing around a neatly labeled itinerary to Ron. "By the way, have you seen Hermione? According to my schedule, unless she's here in ten minutes, we'll have to start the mission by ourselves."

Ron frowned down at the paper. "But what about the Ravenclaw Horcrux? Where in the world are we going to find that?"

Harry grimaced. "I was kind of hoping you wouldn't touch up on that," he muttered. "Unfortunately, I have absolutely no clue where it is. All I know is that it's supposedly an hourglass. I don't know what size the bloody hourglass is!"

Ron shook his head. "There's no way we'll be able to destroy that today, we don't know anything about it."

"I know. And the battle is only three days away."

Ron sighed deeply. "Where did all the happy times go? I mean, this was definitely not how I imagined my years at Hogwarts would be. Where did……………..our innocence go?"

"Well, you lost yours to Lavender," Harry cracked, making them both chuckle. "But seriously though? I think somewhere between fighting Voldemort and his Death Eaters, we…………………..we realized that everything………………………..we realized that everything wasn't going to be picture perfect as we planned," he finished softly. "I mean, before you win the battle, you have to fight the battle. I think that was what we realized, that before taking down Voldemort, we were going to have to put aside our dreams and hopes of our future together and just…………………….sacrifice things……………..sacrifice the things we love………………"

Ron was silent after this.

"You know, Professor de Vellofides was right," Harry said. "We did have to grow up quickly. We were thrust into a cruel world so early. We were just kids………….just kids who were forced to grow up………………….to grow up to fight."

Ron forced a cheery smile onto his face. "Where is Hermione? I mean, she wasn't in the library or any of the classrooms or the Slytherin Common Room, snogging Malfoy."

"Ron," Harry said, narrowing his eyes. "How do you know the Slytherin Common Room's password?"

Ron looked sheepish. "I bribed Crabbe and Goyle with some stuff Fred and George sent me. Don't worry, they were testers!" he added quickly. "Oh wait, that's a bad thing."

Harry laughed. "You really know how to infiltrate rooms. With candy!"

Hermione burst into the Common Room, looking quite red in the face.

"Oh, you guys, thank god you're here, you would not believe what Ginny just told me!"

Harry and Ron stood up. "Sorry 'Mione, but that'll have to be put on hold for a while. We're going Horcrux Hunting now."

Hermione shook her head. "There's no time to be playing childish games at a time like this – oh." She laughed sheepishly. "You were talking about the real thing, weren't you?"

Harry and Ron nodded.

"Come on, according to my schedule, we should be going out Hogwarts boundaries to Apparate to Sirius's house now, so we're only a few minutes behind schedule," said Harry, consulting his paper. "But that's okay, maybe we'll find out where Nagini is hiding by accident."

Hermione peered at the paper closely as they headed out the door. "Hey Harry, is that by any chance a modified version of that homework planner I gave you and Ron in fifth year?"

"Yup," Harry replied proudly. "It's my detailed itinerary of today, starting with Apparation to Sirius's house and ending with Apparation back to Hogwarts and eating dinner."

"Okay, let's check off our supplies," Ron said, holding up another list.

Hermione looked surprised. "Since when did you guys start being organized?"

Ron and Harry blushed. "Ever since we met Orla Quirke and discovered that she was really organized and had a knack for making charmed to-do lists and schedules."

Hermione gaped. "But you just said that the itinerary was yours, Harry!"

"It is mine. I just didn't make it."

"Anyways," Ron cut in. "Three wands?"

"Check."

"Check."

"I know I have my own, so I won't bother saying 'check'. Okay, next. Invisibility Cloak?"

"Check."

"Various potions, including Love, Luck, Sleep, Calmness, Blinding, and Truth?"

"Check."

"Wait, wait, wait, time-out." Hermione made a 'T' with her hands. "You're not fooling me with the 'luck potion' again, Ron."

Ron shook his head. "No, this is really Felix Felicis. I nicked it from Slughorn's supply when I had detention with him."

Hermione exhaled loudly, but said nothing.

"Okay, let's see. Shield Cloaks, Shield Gloves, and various defensive products from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?"

"Check, check, and check."

"Wait a minute," Hermione cut in. "If you guys assembled all the supplies, what did I do?"

Harry patted her on the shoulder. "I figured that since you've practically planned everything for us over the years, we're giving you a little break on this one. So you get to sit back and be our backup. You know, somebody that survives and runs for help while we………………bleed to death."

Hermione turned a delicate shade of green. "That's an…………………interesting job."

"Trust me, it is," Ron said helpfully. "You know, this summer when Charlie came to visit, he and Bill enchanted some Muggle darts and one hit Pig, you know, my late owl? And then Ginny and I just sat there and watched Pig…………………………die," Ron gulped. "You know, it's actually not that pleasant." Ron threw his hands to the sky and wailed, "Why, God? Why? Why did you have to take Pig away from me? Why?"

Hermione handed him a tissue. "Cheer up, Ron. Somewhere, Pig is watching you and eating some really expensive owl treats. I mean, he's probably really happy there in…………………owl heaven."

"Let's move, men!" Harry barked, jabbing Ron and Hermione in the shoulder painfully. "There's no time to act like sissies here! We're already fifteen minutes behind schedule! Let's move!"

Ron gaped. "The soul of Oliver Wood has split yet again."

Hermione smiled encouragingly at him. "Well, come on Ron. Let's not make Harry go into another one of his infamous temper tantrums."

Ron laughed. "Fifth year was practically a temper tantrum in itself."

"LET'S MOVE, SISSIES! DO I HAVE TO MARCH MYSELF OVER AND DRAG YOU BY THE ARMS AND THROW YOU INTO THE TIME CONTINUUM!"

Ron groaned. "There's Wood again."

OoOoOoO

Mandy fingered the little silver hourglass in her hand and turned it over and over.

Mandy could already think of three reasons why this hourglass was definitely not a normal one.

1. When turned over, it didn't transport you to the past.

2. It had the initials "R.R." on it.

3. It was covered all over with sapphires.

"Hey," Bri Leonard said, her head sticking out from the door. "Did you want some pumpkin juice?"

Mandy wordlessly shook her head.

"Hey, what's that? Oh, is that a Time-Turner?"

Mandy shook her head. "It certainly looks like one, but it isn't. It's probably an enchanted hourglass or something."

Enchanted hourglass, the words rang through Mandy's head. Where have I heard that before, she mused. Where have I heard that before?

"Are you okay?" Bri asked her. "You look really pale and peaky, like you're a werewolf near the full moon." Bri laughed and checked her watch. "Oh no, it's almost one o'clock, people will be wondering where we are! Ready to go?"

Mandy stood up. "By the way, how did you get here? You're certainly not old enough to legally Apparate, unless you're extremely stupid and was held back a year, which I immensely doubt."

Bri blushed. "I didn't really get permission to go here, I just……………….you know…………….snuck out of the Hogwarts grounds and hopped on the Knight Bus."

Mandy groaned. "I hate the Knight Bus! Last time I went on, that weird conductor-person tried to hit on me, and he kept sputtering on and on about how he was going to be the next Minister of Magic. What a load of rubbish!" Mandy Summoned her cloak over the shed. "Anyways, I gotta go. I'll see you around."

"Or not," she added in an undertone, as she closed the shed with a loud snap! and turned on the spot, Disapparating in a quiet swirl of robes and cloak.

OoOoOoO

"Alright, getting the locket was relatively easy," Harry mused, crossing "Slytherin's locket", off his list. "Kreacher was pretty easy to work with, once I bribed him with some of Bellatrix's hairs to stop him from yelling insane profanities in our ears. Next, we have Nagini."

Ron groaned and rubbed his forehead. "This time, there won't be any fires, will it?" he grumbled, massaging the place where his eyebrows used to be.

"Oh, Ronald," Hermione sighed. "Don't be such a baby. You cast the fire, now you will pay the consequences of destroying something of Slytherin's, and so brutally."

"Yeah, you didn't have to yell, "Die, Slytherins, die!" and then spectacularly chuck the locket into the fire with possibly the best throw and aim and power we've seen in years," Harry added. "Also, lovely way to honor the dead. Making the ashes of the locket disintegrate into the air, and make then into fireworks is not a nice way to clean up someone's remains. Particularly someone's soul's remains."

"Kreacher will go back to Hogwarts now. Hogwarts is place where there are purebloods like Draco Malfoy," Kreacher growled from the grate.

"Yeah, yeah, go ahead, Kreacher," Harry said dismissively, waving his hand and consulting his schedule again. "Now, we need to go to Albania."

As Kreacher disappeared with a loud pop, Ron looked quizzically at Harry and asked, "Why Albania? Of all the places in the world, why Albania? I've heard it's a horrible place, with lizards and poisonous toads and slithering snakes all around – oh." He blushed and ran his hands through his hair. "Ha ha, I've just answered my own question."

"Albania is also the place where Voldemort was once living," Hermione added. "The snakes might be able to tell us where he's hiding now."

Harry nodded and grabbed his cloak, which was now looking quite shabby with ashes and dirt on it. "Come on. Oh, and our destination is 'the Ragrotten Forest in Little Hallowtree, Albania."

"Sounds like a lovely place to live," Ron commented. Harry started sniggering obnoxiously.

OoOoOoO

"Hey, Pans, if your initials were 'RR', what would be your name?" Mandy asked, lounging in front of the Ravenclaw Common Room's fireplace.

Pansy scrunched up her nose. "I don't know, Rockin' Robin?"

"I won't even ask how you, a pureblood, know of that place," Mandy said, raising her eyebrows. "But seriously, who would you be?"

Pansy sighed. "Give me a minute to think."

"Rosie Roadwhore?"

Mandy spit her pumpkin juice all over Pansy. "Who the hell would call themselves that?"

"Oh, she's a stripper," Pansy said nonchalantly, calmly wiping off the pumpkin juice. "Theo and Draco dragged me to a strip club this summer. She was part of a team, I recall. I think her partners were Felicia Feel-Me-Up and Serena Cervix."

Mandy made a face. "That is disgusting."

"It was actually rather interesting," Pansy said. "Not that I'm interested in………………………….girls."

Then they each took a long of their pumpkin juice.

"So…………………….'RR', huh?"

Anthony Goldstein walked in.

"Anthony! Sweetie!" Pansy squealed, clearly relieved for the distraction. "If your initials were 'RR', what would be your name?"

Anthony tilted his head. "Well, the most obvious one would have to be Rowena Ravenclaw, since we're in the Ravenclaw Common Room."

Mandy gasped. A memory came flashing back at her.

"Just like a murder for a Horcrux, Voldemort," Harry said, thinking quickly. Harry knew that Voldemort still had some of his Horcruxes, so he knew this was the only way to get Voldemort to reveal what his Horcruxes were and where they were.

"We seem to have an understanding, then. That silly Myrtle girl for my diary, my sniveling Muggle relatives for the ring, the greasy haired, sniveling Mr. Burkes of Borgin and Burkes for the locket, that foolish woman – Smith or something – for Hufflepuff's cup, some of the Brocklehurst clan for Ravenclaw's hourglass, and finally, that old Muggle man for Nagini," Voldemort hissed. "You haven't destroyed anything yet by yourself, have you, boy? You're pathetic and useless, without Dumbledore around. You're just an ordinary wizard with no exceptional powers. An ordinary boy who is about to die." Voldemort smirked and raised his wand.

Some of the Brocklehurst clan for Ravenclaw's hourglass, the words repeated over and over again in Mandy's head. Over and over.

Then everything went black.

When Mandy opened her eyes, she saw three pairs of eyes staring at her.

"Are you okay?" Pansy asked in a hushed tone. "I've never seen someone black out like that before."

"You kept muttering stuff, "Stop him," or, "You will not run away this time," Blaise added, squeezing Mandy's hand.

"I brought you some stuff from the house-elves," Anthony said, pointing to a large assortment of food.

Some of the Brocklehurst clan for Ravenclaw's hourglass, Mandy remembered. An image of a house burning down flashed through her mind.

A small blonde girl was crouched in a corner, sobbing quietly.

Strange people wearing cloaks and mask had entered her house and attacked her father and family. One of the strange people was making her mother scream.

As Mandy silently watched the Death Eaters burn her house down and kill her family, Voldemort came in. Voldemort himself.

"I'm not going to kill you," he said quietly to Mandy's father, who was lying on the ground, screaming with the effects of the Cruciatus Curse. "I'm just going to make you suffer. I'm going to make you suffer for what you and your family did to my Death Eaters. Most of your family's dead now, anyways. But not you." He let a high-pitched laugh. "Oh, no, not you, my dear Auror. You're going to suffer for so long, you're going to wish that you were dead. But I'll never spare you by releasing you into death," he hissed.

Voldemort took a shimmering object out of his robes and threw it around the struggling man's neck.

As a flash of silver light exploded within the room, the girl in the corner screamed, a scream filled with the pain of a child's suffering.

When, the light faded from the room, Voldemort beckoned his followers with a thin finger, and they Disapparated.

No one noticed that the blonde girl in the corner was now gone.

Mandy quickly jumped up and changed her clothes with a flick of her wand. "I'll explain later, but I have to go somewhere!"

As Mandy dashed out of the Hospital Wing, Blaise called, "Wait! Where are you going?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't have time! This is a matter of life or death!" Mandy's slightly distant voice bounced off the walls.

Blaise turned back to Pansy and Anthony. "Where in the world could she be going?" he wondered.

OoOoOoO

Harry, Ron, and Hermione rounded the corner of the countryside of London. They had agreed that there were too many people in London to Disapparate without anyone seeing, so they walked the short bit to the suburbs.

Hermione took in a deep breath. "Wow, the country air is so great!" she exclaimed.

A pop! from under a rosebush startled them.

Harry looked around suspiciously. "That sounded awfully like someone Apparating."

Ron bravely took a step forward, clutching his wand tightly. "Get ready for anything," he hissed.

As the rosebush rustled a bit and a dark figure emerged from it, Harry, Ron, and Hermione narrowed their eyes and yelled out, "Stupefy!" in unison.

The figure ducked, her hood slipping off the process, revealing a flash of dark blonde hair.

"Imitari," the mysterious figure said. A replica of the figure instantly appeared in front of her, blocking the Stunning Spells.

The figure lifted her hood. It was Mandy Brocklehurst.

Hermione sighed in relief. "Mandy! I should have known it was you, the Mirror charm is practically your signature spell!"

"Mandy Brocklehurst?" Harry and Ron said in unison, disbelievingly.

Mandy stared at them in shock.

"What are you doing here?" the three yelled at the same time.

OoOoOoO

A/N - I think that was my longest chapter yet! Hope you all liked!

Next chapter: The Horcruxes are destroyed and the final Final Battle begins.

The answers to my reviews...

mike tike tofu - I loved writing the battle scene - humor gives me inspiration...by the way, you have an interesting username...

xospottedtailox - He does it in fanfiction! I like the All-American Rejects too, especially 'Move Along.'

classic.knight - Hey, I hope you got your message. Give me a reply as soon as possible, I'm already thinking of a part for your character to have in the next chapter!

Love Hope Joy - When are you updating your story?

Sam's Firefly - I like chocolate cake myself...with little shavings of chocolate on top of a creamy chocolate frosting. You can tell that I'm a major fan of chocolate. Oh, Draco and Hermione will make out in due time...

TriXter21 - I'm really glad to hear someone say that my story is like the silver lining in a huge, looming, dark storm cloud.

xo evolremmus xo - No, actually, at the beginning of the story, nobody was with Lavender, but Ron and Seamus both had a crush on her. Theo, at the beginning, had no one...and he still has no one. The shagging in a closet thing was just an excuse Theo made up to get out of a sticky situation. But who knows...maybe someday Theo will end up with Parvati...who knows?

School-Of-Rock101 - Wow, thank you! I like putting in some small details, because I think that detail does matter in fanfiction and it makes the fic more well-rounded.

luvHaru7 - Oh, my god, that was hilarious!

Bri Leonard - Thanks! I'm glad Bri Leonard was to your liking, sorry I couldn't fit in all the details you gave me, though. Also, Bri will be making her final appearance next chapter.

Additional thanks to me, iMnOtReAlLYcRaZy, melanie, GoDeSs-Of-LiOnEsSeS, Miss Autumn 61, serpentine17ice, devil'lil', IsThisMyFate (love your name!), White-Pink-Fluffy-Strawberriez, dragoneyes5000, and cemicool!

Also, triple chocolate cake to everyone who figured out that 'RR' was Rowena Ravenclaw - serpentine17ice, devil'lil', and Miss Autumn 61!

Also, I've started writing a new story, called "Pals". It's loosely based on the show "Friends", but "Pals" only follows the basic storyline of Friends and that ends everything they have in common. Check it out if you have time.

See ya!

-Lily in a Pond