Once Upon a Hogwarts – Chapter Twenty

By Lily in Pond

Disclaimer: If I wanted to get rich off fiction, I'll claim I wrote the Bible and start a world-wide debate and get even more money from the news interviews and so forth, but the only way I can't make money off Harry Potter is pretending I'm JK Rowling.

OoOoOoO

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

"What are you doing here?" Ron, Harry, and Mandy yelled in unison again. Hermione's eyes flickered back and forth between them in amusement.

"I'm asking you!" they yelled, once again in unison. Ron's face was slowly turning red.

"Are you just copying me?"

Hermione couldn't hide her laughter anymore. She burst out laughing. Mandy, Ron, and Harry stared in shock at her.

"What are you laughing at?" Ron asked, finally breaking the 'talking at the same time' pattern.

"You – guys – " Hermione choked out, clutching her sides. "So – stupid!"

Harry looked deeply affronted. "Hey, we're here to rid the world of evil, but Mandy's probably here to spread the evil!"

Mandy snorted. "I'm not telling you what I'm doing here, I'm not stupid."

"Well, that's good, because we're not telling you what you're doing here either," Ron said, raising his eyebrows with a challenging look.

Mandy threw up her hands. "Fine by me."

Then the four of walked off, not looking back and pretending that they were perfectly fine with the situation and that their curiosity was not getting the better of them.

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione Disapparated, Mandy rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Dunderheads."

OoOoOoO

Draco burst through the Slytherin Common Room's door. "Has anyone seen Hermione anywhere?" he panted.

Blaise, Pansy, Theo, and Morag looked up from their place at the fireplace. The card castle they were building exploded. As the dust cleared, Morag coughed, rubbed what was left of his eyebrows, and offered, "Well, I think I saw her in the library this morning. But then she left after a while, this prefect gave her a note, and she left immediately."

"Oh, and Professor McGonagall wanted to see her in her office," Pansy added. "I ran into Hermione when she was practically sprinting to McGonagall's office."

"I heard from Weasley – girl Weasley – that Hermione had found – out – something – " Theo choked out, mentally cursing himself for almost revealing the conspiracy. "And that was all…………………" he trailed off, looking at Blaise for help.

Blaise shrugged. "I dunno, but I heard Potter and Weasley asking people if they knew where she was."

Draco threw up his hands. "Great! This is just great! Absolutely peachy, most wonderfully delightful!" he snapped sarcastically.

"Why do you want to find Hermione so badly?" Pansy asked. "Homework can wait, love confessions can wait, and even dates can take a rain check or two."

"Actually, if you reschedule a date more than twice, she'll ninety-nine percent of the time dump you," Morag whispered. "Take it from experience."

"So anyways, why?" Pansy repeated.

Draco looked down. "Well, you know…………………….I've just gotten so used to seeing Hermione every day and talking to her, flirting a little bit, just basically having fun with her so that I feel really weird if I only see her once, like today."

"So, what you're saying is that unless you get to see Hermione every day and talk to her and practically shag her, you'll be miserable," Blaise concluded.

Draco contemplated this. "Basically, yeah."

Pansy gasped. "That is so sweet! You love her, Draco!"

Draco's jaw dropped. "WHAT?"

"You just admitted that you want to be with her for the rest of your life!" Pansy crowed triumphantly. "In other words, you love her!"

"I thought that was marriage," Theo interjected.

"Sod off!" Pansy shot at him, "I'm having one of my moments."

"I don't love Hermione!" Draco said furiously, his normally pale face turning red.

"Alright, some quick questions for you," Morag said, standing up. "Answer them with a yes or no. Do you feel empty without Hermione?"

"Yes," Draco replied quickly.

"If she's sick, are you willing to sacrifice a day's worth of lessons just to tend to her?"

"Yes," Draco answered, albeit a little hesitantly, as education was very high in his books.

"Say Hermione falls off a broomstick. Will you risk your life just to save hers?"

"Yes."

"Would you feel comfortable if you woke up and found Hermione by your side every morning?"

"Definitely," Draco answered, smirking widely. You could practically see little bras and panties floating in front of his eyes.

"If Hermione makes this disgusting culinary confection, would you swallow down every bite she gives you and tell her it was fantastic afterwards?"

Draco gulped and straightened his tie. "Yes…..?"

"Let's say you're dying. For your dying wish, would you want Hermione to never forget you and never love someone else?"

"Hell, yeah!"

"Okay, last one. If Hermione's dying, would you want to be with her so badly that you'll kill yourself just to be with her?"

"Yes," Draco answered firmly.

Theo clapped him on the back. "Congratulations, Draco. You just got married."

Draco's eyes were wide open. "I…………….love Hermione?"

"You bet your sorry Malfoy arse that's right!" Blaise said.

"But…………..you know………what about Daphne?" Draco asked feeling a little apprehensive.

Theo looked up. "What about Daphne?"

"Well, isn't she my Cinderella girl? I mean, she's been a little weird lately, but she's the Cinderella girl I love…….right?" Draco asked, becoming more and more persistent as he saw that his friends were looking uncomfortable and not answering. "I mean, I can't just forget about her in a second, now can I?"

"Well," Pansy said, looking around her for assistance. "She wasn't your Cinderella girl, Draco."

Draco looked like all the air had been punched out of him. "What?"

"Pansy's right, Draco," Theo said, coming to Pansy's defense. "Daphne was pretending to be your Cinderella girl, just so she could become your girlfriend."

"I'm sorry, Draco, but Daphne was never the girl you thought she was," Blaise said, looking at the floor. "She was pretending to be someone she never was."

Draco stood up abruptly. "I have to go."

As Draco opened the door, Morag suddenly spoke up.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Draco, but if we didn't tell you before the Ball, history could repeat, and your real Cinderella girl could end up going back to her room alone again."

Draco just stared at him before he closed the door with a slam.

Pansy sighed. "I hope we won't have to tell him about Hermione being his Cinderella, too. I can't stand breaking news to others."

Morag shook his head. "He'll recover from this one," he said confidently. "I just know it."

OoOoOoO

Mandy leapt onto the roof of a broom shed, landing softly. She quickly scanned the area, then pulled out her wand.

"Hey Mandy!" a familiar annoying voice called to her. "You're here again!"

Mandy groaned. "Bri Leonard," she greeted with gritted teeth. "What perfect timing you have."

"So, what are you doing here?" Bri asked with a sickeningly sweet smile. It made Mandy want to rip out all her teeth and throw it at her.

"Well, as you know, this used to be Brocklehurst grounds, so I'm just saying goodbye to it," Mandy lied, putting on her oh-I'm-not-lying-and-I'm-so-innocent-and-sweet face. If Mandy's nose grew with every lie she told, Mandy's nose would now be roughly the circumference of the earth. "So…….goodbye, home. Goodbye, childhood house. Goodbye, sweet memories."

When Mandy looked up again, Bri was still there. "May I please have a moment of silence for the deceased who have died on this place!" she snapped.

"Oh!" Bri gasped. "Yeah, yeah, sure, I'll leave immediately. Once again, I am so sorry."

How thick can you get? Mandy wondered silently as Bri scampered away. No wonder everyone picked up the nickname 'Banana Brianna'. Mandy turned back to the shed.

"Protego Maximus", she hissed. Instantly, a large clear bubble surrounded her, effectively protecting her against spells that may be at work in the shed and on the chest. It wasn't her best work, as you could see the bubble's edges in the sun, but Mandy was strapped for time.

"Showtime," Mandy smirked, and opened the door quietly. "Hey, dad."

OoOoOoO

Pop. Thump.

Pop. Crash.

Pop. Thunk.

"Oww…………."

"Landing in a prickly bush is not my idea of a perfectly good afternoon, Harry."

"Why did we Apparate into this part of the forest, anyways? Why could've we ended up at, say, the coastline?"

"This was definitely not part of the plan."

"Tchah!"

"Did you even have to say it, mate?"

"I admit, it's a little embarrassing to be found in this situation, but come on! It's not even my plan, it's Orla Quirke's!"

Hermione coughed. "Responsibility!"

Harry scowled and brushed twigs and dirt off his back. "Trust me, I thought I would have a nice, safe, predictable landing, but no. I didn't get that!"

Ron chucked a rock at Harry. "This is all your fault! You told us to Apparate here, and by the by, where is 'here'?"

Hermione pulled out a map. "According to this, we're supposedly in the Ragrotten Forest in Little Hallowtree, Albania." She looked around. "In my opinion, this looks like the Forest of Living Death, in Dead, Spirit."

Harry rolled his eyes. "We're definitely in the Ragrotten Forest. The characteristic sepia brown of the trees proves it. Only I'm not sure which part of the forest this is."

"Where is that MacDougal fellow when you need him?" Ron whined. "He can spot and hear anything within miles!"

Hermione whacked him. "Shut up, Ronald, stop complaining! We're all tired and hungry and miserable and pissed off right now! You're not the only one who's – " Hermione was cu off suddenly when they heard a loud snap behind them.

Harry's face was ashen. "W-who's there?"

Another snap.

"Whoever you are, you better come out right now or we'll hex you to smithereens!" Ron shouted bravely, though his wand was shaking horribly.

A rustle of leaves.

"We know spells you only dream about learning!" Hermione added in a shaky voice. "And we're not afraid to use them!"

As the thundering of horse's hooves could be heard, Harry, Ron, and Hermione clutched at each tightly and screamed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

OoOoOoO

As Draco approached the Fat Lady's portrait, it opened and a tall, brown-haired boy walked out and stumbled immediately into Draco.

"Urgh! Get off me!"

"I can't get off you, you get off me!"

"I can't do that, you need to get off first!"

"Well, I can't get off if you're not getting off!"

"Will you two just shut up!" the Fat Lady bellowed. "Nobody cares who's getting off the other first, so why don't you two just stop looking gay and untangle yourselves!"

Draco slowly got up and looked at the boy who had bumped into him. "Who are you?"

The boy brushed off his robes and said haughtily, "Dominic Cortez. Why do you want to know?"

Draco sniggered. "Isn't Dominic a girl's name?"

Dominic's nose twitched. "It can be used for both genders, and my parents chose to use the male version."

"Still," Draco laughed, "It's a girl's name!"

"Do any of you mock Blaise Zabini for his name? His is the most blatant girl name used by a boy in Hogwarts."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Blaise Zabini has created his own name here, but you obviously haven't, as I've never heard of a Dominic Cortez."

"I'm a Gryffindor sixth year."

"Ah, that explains it. First, you're a Gryffindor, so that means you're basically invisible. Second, you're a sixth year, which makes you even more invisible to my power-wielding, Prefect eye." Dominic's nose twitched again. It seemed as if his nose would twitch whenever he was upset, which was probably often, Draco supposed.

Draco smirked and turned to the Fat Lady and said confidently, "Password."

The Fat Lady shook her head. "Sorry, password's changed since the last time you were here."

Dominic smirked. "Let's see how your powerfulness and Prefect-ness can help you out in this little problem."

Draco scowled at him. "And you're just going to stand there and watch me suffer?"

"That's how Gryffindors operate." Even though Dominic's face was set like stone, you could hear his uncontained humor in his voice.

"Fine," Draco said, resigned. "I'll just spend a good twenty minutes here and guess the password. Harry Potter?"

"No."

"Hermione Granger? By the way, I'm here to see her, if that will get you to open up."

"No chance."

"Ron Weasley?"

"But I can tell you it's not any of the passwords you tried last time," the Fat Lady said helpfully.

"Well, that helps a bit," Draco mused, scratching his chin. "Slytherins Stink?"

"No."

"Malfoy is a jerk?"

"No."

"Scar?"

"No."

"Scarface?"

"No."

"Scarhead?"

"It's not in the scar family."

"Firebolt?"

"Ooh, close. That was the password before Lavender Brown changed it last night."

"So the password is something Lavender Brown has in interest?" Draco asked craftily. Dominic groaned. Draco noticed that Dominic's nose was now working overtime to keep up with his twitching.

"You're supposed to protect Gryffindor Tower, Melinda, not give out little hints and basically give people the password!"

"Your name is Melinda?" Draco asked The Fat Lady didn't look very much like a 'Melinda.'

The Fat Lady drew herself up. "Yes, my name is Melinda, but no one except for Dominic here has bothered to ask me! Even that stuffy boy, Percy Weasley, didn't ask!"

Draoc looked at Dominic in amazement. "Do you have any friends?"

Dominic huffed. "Well, Melinda here is my friend!"

"Any others?"

Dominic scowled. "Well…….not really……."

Draco laughed. "I knew it!"

Dominic pulled out his wand and pointed it shakily at Draco.

"Look at that, you're so scared of the thought of attacking me!" Draco laughed. "Why don't you put your wand down and walk away like a good little boy!"

"S – stupefy!" Dominic shouted. Unfortunately, the spell was so weak it barely touched Draco's robes before the jet of light fizzled and went out immediately.

"You really need to work on your dueling skills," Draoc said, looking disgusted now. "Your Stunning Spell probably can't knock even a fly out!"

Dominic's brown hair was getting more and more tousled as he shook with rage. "Shut up, Malfoy! You don't know what you're talking about! Just shut up!" And with that, Dominic Cortez's first powerful spell shot out of his wand and swallowed Draco's body in a bubble of brilliant white light.

As the white light faded, Dominic rubbed his eyes and noticed one heart-stopping detail. The bubble was now gone. And so was Draco Malfoy.

OoOoOoO

Mandy rolled the little silver hourglass in her hand over and over.

"If you're feeding on Dad's life, then destroying you will give him his life back…………..right?" she wondered. She had been contemplating this question over and over again for the past fifteen minutes. "Unless………..you've already sucked off all of Dad's life?"

Mandy took a deep breath and pointed her wand at the hourglass. "Er………Reducto?" she tested. A jet of blue light hit the surface of the hourglass and bounced off immediately.

Mandy stood up and scowled. "I knew Voldemort put every freaky little protection spell he ever knew on it!" she snapped. "I guess I'll just have to do it the Muggle way!"

She placed the little hourglass on the ground, climbed up on a shelf, and jumped down, landing squarely on the hourglass.

There was shattering crunch of broken glass and Mandy smirked.

As the wisp of a body slowly floated over the now broken hourglass, Mandy whipped out her wand and shouted, "Corpus aturna!"

The wisp continued to float there and Mandy gasped as she realized that this matter would call for Dark Magic. It takes Dark magic to counter Dark Magic, she remembered wryly. Grasping every single memory she had of her father, she shouted, "Everto Maximus!"

The spell hit the wisp, but it continued to drift upwards.

Mandy swore loudly and aimed her wand at the ceiling. "Heresco!"

This spell worked. The wisp was stuck to the ceiling, buying Mandy some time to think of more spells she could use to destroy it.

An hour later, Mandy was up to her wit's end. "Argh!" she screamed in frustration and threw her shoe at the wisp.

Instead of going through, her shoe bounced off the wisp and hit Mandy on the forehead. But the large bump on Mandy's forehead was nothing to the idea that was growing inside her head.

If the shoe could bounce off, Mandy thought, Would that mean a sharp object could pass through and penetrate?

"Only one way to find out," she whispered aloud. Mandy took off her earring and crouched on the shelf. She carefully poked the wisp. The earring went through and Mandy let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

Over the next two hours, Mandy stabbed the wisp that still stuck to the ceiling until there was only one last stab to make. She had transfigured her earring into a large needle as to make matters easier.

Mandy paused for a moment and rubbed her hand. "Please come back," she whispered to the lifeless figure of her father lying below. "Please come back." And with that, Mandy stabbed the last remaining part of the Ravenclaw Horcrux.

Immediately, a deep wind whirled around in the shed, scattering dirt and dust everywhere. Mandy screamed as the wind pushed her over the edge of the shelf and she fell down, fell down into a world of blackness.

OoOoOoO

"Well, Albania was a bust," Ron muttered as they trooped dejectedly out of the Forbidden Forest and saw the glittering lights of Hogwarts.

"We didn't even get any information from that stupid unicorn that scared us all to death," Hermione added grouchily.

"Ditto the snakes," Harry put in, scowling deeply.

"At least we managed to destroy the locket today," Ron said. This comment was deprived of its usual optimistic mood and replaced with a sulky one.

"Yeah, but we've still got Nagini and Ravenclaw's hourglass," Hermione snapped waspishly as she pushed open the doors of the Great Hall. A few students stared at their dirty robes and faces, but one dark look in their direction quickly had them eating dinner again.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but there's just absolutely no way you can defeat Voldemort, he still has two bodies left!" Ron said, picking up a whole platter of chicken drumsticks and pulling it towards him.

Harry nodded dejectedly and did the same with the roast beef.

Hermione opted for a more refined heaping three spoonfuls of Shepard's Pie and two large scoops of mashed potatoes. "But don't lose hope, if by some stroke of sheer dumb luck we find that the Horcruxes are all destroyed, you'll have a good chance of winning."

"The battle's in two days," Harry said cynically, staring at Hermione. "Two. Days."

"Oh, I know that. That's why I said sheer dumb luck."

They lapsed into silent eating until Ginny burst into the Great Hall and plunked herself down next to Hermione.

"Did you guys hear?" she squealed excitedly. "Mandy Brocklehurst and Draco Malfoy's been missing ever since this afternoon and they're still not back!" Loud choking and swearing from the Slytherin table accompanied this comment.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged worried looks. "Uh-oh," Hermione muttered. "This can't be good."

OoOoOoO

Mandy slowly opened her eyes and blinked. She was in the shed. The shed. The shed, she thought over and over. As the memories hit her, a massive headache accompanied it.

Mandy slowly stood up and grabbed onto a shelf quickly to support herself. Then she remembered her father and turned towards him. As she checked over his body, her foot accidentally crushed a little piece of glass into the ground. Mandy turned around and sank to her knees and picked the shards of the now destroyed hourglass.

Mandy looked back at her father, who was now most definitely gone, and back to the hourglass Letting out a deep breath, she smiled faintly and said clearly, "Reparo."

The broken shards immediately flew up and repaired themselves. A few seconds later, the hourglass, in one piece, was lying in her hand. Mandy smiled again and put the chain around her father's neck.

As Mandy stood up and opened the door, she looked back again. A single solitary tear dripped down her cheek and she brushed it away impatiently.

"Goodbye, Dad."

Mandy closed the door and let out a sigh. One door has closed, she thought sadly, but somewhere, another one for me has opened.

As she Disapparated with a quiet pop, the shed emitted a soft silver glow and the dull thunk of a chest being closed and the click of a lock could be heard in the quiet night air.

OoOoOoO

A/N – Sorry for the long update, but school's started and I had to get my supplies. You'll all find out where Draco was sent by Dominic next chapter, so don't worry about him! Also, next chapter is the Final Battle, so stay tuned!

The answer to my reviews………

luvHaru7 – Thanks! I felt like this chapter was a bit more serious, but I promise that after the Final Battle, the humor will be caking on! And I think you're a great writer, even though I have no clue what Rurouni Kenshin is! And besides, you will never be the only one that finds something funny because there will be at least one person in the entire world that'll find it funny, too.

cemicool – Actually, neither of them knew where the other was, Mandy was popping in (literally, by Apparation) to destroy the Ravenclaw Horcrux that was around her father's neck, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were there in the countryside to find a place to Apparate without drawing attention from the Muggles. And I knew that sometime in the story, one character had to give it all away, and al the major characters in my story either seemed too unlikely (Theo doing it was impossible, Blaise and Pansy blabbing would be too weird since they don't hang around Hermione anyways, Harry and Ron were planning their Horcrux adventure, Draco didn't know, and Mandy was……disposed.) And as much I would like to say that Theo is gay, as a freaky little plot twist, sadly, he is not.

Love Hope Joy – So…….if I told you that Sam and Nick were our age and went to Miller, would you consider it? Just kidding!

Sam's Firefly – Ooh, I've had that kind of pie! It was delicious! The Oreo one I haven't tried yet, but I know that I'll be scouring the stores for it now!

TriXter21 – Actually, it was half of her family when she was a baby, but the rest were all killed one way or another over the years, so probably the only family Mandy has now is her mom, cousin, and uncle.

Classic.knight – I hope Dominic Cortez was to your liking! I'm sorry I made him as a sixth year, but I like to keep this story in canon as much possible, so Harry would at least have some memory of Dominic if he was a seventh year. And by the way, he'll return for a bit next chapter.

Additional thanks to me, AnimeAlexis, makinmagic7, dragoneyes5000, iona cow, amythestpony, and iMnOtReAlLYcRaZy!

Don't forget to review!

-Lily in a Pond