Once Upon a Hogwarts – Chapter Twenty Three

By Lily in a Pond

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is the least bit related to Harry Potter, so help me God, Amen, and good night to you all.

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It was a dark and stormy night. Crowing ravens were flying over the Hogwarts, sending an ominous message to anyone who dared turn their eyes on it. The wind was whipping like a dagger into one's skin. And most of all, by the Quidditch Pitch, an ancient prophecy was being fulfilled.

Well, it was only a dark night, and there weren't any birds flying over Hogwarts. Also, the prophecy wasn't that ancient. However, you could say that there was wind, as wind at the end of October in Scotland was to be expected.

"Avada Kedavra!" Draco yelled. Everyone screamed as a rather light-colored jet of green light shot out of his wand and headed straight for Voldemort.

"I can't look!" Mandy screamed hysterically, while managing to give her middle and index fingers a respectful amount of distance away from each other.

As Hermione sucked in a deep breath, the green light suddenly vanished and she blinked many times to clear the little white spots.

"What the - ?"

Voldemort wasn't dead. In fact, his body only shook for a second like he had been shocked with electricity, and then he continued sobbing dramatically into his robes.

"Er, Malfoy?" Ron asked hesitantly. "Are you sure you cast the Killing Curse right?"

Malfoy whirled around, his face pink with embarrassment. "How many ways are there to cast it, Weasley?! And I'm sure I cast it right; I just don't know why it didn't work!"

"Well, it could've failed because you didn't put enough power in it," Hermione said, remembering what Moody had told them in fourth year. "It's either that, or you're weak," she finished, smirking.

Malfoy's normally pale face was bright red now. "Well, excuse me for not wanting to kill people!"

Everyone rolled their eyes simultaneously. "Come off it, Malfoy, you know you're just making up excuses to why you can't cast the Killing Curse," Harry jeered.

"Hey!" Malfoy shouted. "At least I tried the Killing Curse! You didn't even try it!"

"That's a completely unrelated problem," Harry replied smoothly.

"You know, actually, that's a very important problem," Ginny said suddenly. "Why aren't you killing Voldemort? I seriously don't think that 'he's not getting a fair battle' is a good excuse. People like Voldemort deserve to die, regardless of whether they get killed in a fair fight."

Harry looked uncomfortable for a moment. "I can't answer that question, Gin. I can't."

"Why can't you?" Hermione pressed.

"I just can't," Harry said firmly.

Hermione stared at Harry for a long time, and then pulled out her wand. "Okay, Harry, lead us through the events of today through your own eyes."

As Draco, Ginny, and Ron shot her confused looks, she shushed them and turned back to Harry. "Go on, tell me."

"Well, I got up, showered, ate breakfast, did some Potions homework, polished my broom, went to de Vellofides' office, ran into McGonagall and had a very quick chat with her – "

"Wait!" Pansy cried. "You went to Professor de Vellofides' office?" Harry nodded. "Are you crazy?" she yelled. "That man is insane!"

"Er, I don't know. He seems nice to me."

"You think everyone that knew your parents is nice, Scarhead," Malfoy muttered. "You and Lupin were practically having a sordid love affair in third year."

Ginny blanched. "Continue, Harry."

"Anyways, I went to his office, went out of his office, ran into McGonagall, talked about this year's Quidditch plans with her – "

"No Quidditch?" Ginny and Ron yelled in unison.

"No, we're still having it. We're just going to reschedule the season a little; there's been some trouble lately at the Ministry and McGonagall thinks that a public school outing would be the perfect time for Voldemort to attack us."

"For once, that woman is only partially right," Hermione muttered.

"Anyways, so then I went to lunch, did some more homework, hexed Crabbe and Goyle – "

"Hey!" Malfoy interjected.

"Don't wet your prissy green-and-silver undies, Malfoy. I didn't do anything serious to your bodyguards. Yet," Harry added in an undertone. "So then I went back up to Gryffindor Tower, took a nap – "

"Oh! So that's why our room was locked!" Ron exclaimed. "We all thought you were, you know……you know!"

"What?"

"Okay, maybe you don't know…"

Harry looked perplexed. "What did you guys think I was doing in there?"

Ginny put a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Harry, but your mind is just too innocent."

Malfoy raised his eyebrows. "Or, you could interpret that comment the other way; "Hi, I'm Ginny Weasley and all of you should participate in a contest to see who can find his way out of the perverted maze of perverted-ness in my perverted mind!" he said in a high-pitched voice.

Ginny shot Malfoy the Look.

"Anyways, let's just drop it," Hermione said loudly. The others noticed that her cheeks were rather red. "What else, Harry?"

"Well, I think that's all," he replied. "And then I woke up and went down to the lake with Luna – "

" – You did what?" Ginny snarled, showing off her proficiency to handle the Look.

"I went down to the lake with Luna," Harry repeated. Mandy leaned towards him.

"I think she means, 'Explain yourself, Harry James Potter, or I will personally decapitate you'."

"That pretty much sums it up," Ginny growled. "Now EXPLAIN!"

"Umm…can we do this another time, because I think someone wants to talk to us," Draco said, pointing to the shadowy figure striding down the hill.

"SNAPE?"

"Holy crap!" Pansy yelled.

"What the dickens?" Ron exclaimed.

"It's him…" Hermione muttered as she raised her eyebrows at Ron's remark.

"His hair's been washed!" Mandy cried. When everyone looked at her, she shrugged, "I notice random things."

"And completely useless things," Snape sneered, coming over to them. As Mandy rolled her eyes, Pansy shrugged.

"He's got a point, you know. Nobody really cares if someone's just washed their hair if the possibility of attack/death is rather high."

"Speaking of which, have any of you seen Blaise?" Mandy asked.

Hermione's eyebrow knitted together. "Why would be related to the possibility of attack/death?"

"Because he might've died," Mandy sighed, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alright…"

"Anyways, before I was so rudely cut in," Snape snapped, "I was going to tell you that I have an important mission to make."

"What are you going to do? Cut off that hair and throw it at us?" Harry jeered.

Pansy smirked. "Yeah, are you going to call for mummy to help you destroy us?"

"Are you going to throw all your Potions ingredients at us and hope that it makes a bomb?" Malfoy sniggered. Everyone looked at him.

"That's not funny," Ron frowned.

Draco rolled his eyes and gave him all ten fingers. "Aren't you supposed to be holed up in a shack somewhere, counting the five Sickles you have, Weasley?"

Pansy stared at him. "Calm down, you crazy bloke. Go to Woodstock," she muttered.

"You know, Pans, there's one thing I would really like to do before I die in my warm bed at Malfoy Manor," Draco started. "I would like to kill you!"

"Like that wasn't obvious," Ron whispered to Harry.

Draco looked thoughtful. "Also, I do want to know what Woodstock is."

Snape flicked a strand of hair out of his eyes in a rather feminine way. "As I was saying, I have come to inform you that – "

"Cut the crap and cut to the chase," Ginny snapped. Snape shook his head in disbelief.

"In my generation, children were never so disrespectful of their elders," he muttered.

"You know what people also did in your generation?" Harry asked brightly.

"I'm not sure I want to know…" Snape trailed off.

Harry ignored him. "In your generation, people didn't have extra perky shampoos and nose cleansers!"

Snape blinked. "What has gone into you today, Potter? You're acting…very…rude! Even considering your usual standards."

Ginny was looking at Mandy. "Er…Mandy's been rather quite for a long time now…d'you think we should check on her?"

"I can hear you, Weasley," Mandy muttered.

Pansy grimaced. "This isn't good; she only calls people by their surnames when she's really deep in thought. And whenever she's really deep in thought, bad things are revealed or bad things happen."

"Wait!" Draco suddenly cried out. "Mandy, at the Yule Ball, did you at any time during the evening go near the punch bowl and sit there for a long time, just thinking?"

Mandy looked up. "Yeah…but I don't think anything bad came out of that one – THE YULE BALL!" she gasped. "The Yule Ball! I had almost forgotten about it. The whole Cinderella thing was what came out of the Yule Ball!"

As she rambled on, Hermione slowly took small steps back and her eyes grew larger and larger until –

"Hermione! You were the one – " Mandy's voice trailed off as she realized that Draco was staring at her blankly. "Wait, does he know?"

"No," Hermione whispered. "I haven't told him yet…"

"Well, there is no better time than now!" Mandy exclaimed. "Do it!"

"Do what?" Draco said nervously.

"Ahem," Harry broke in. "Considering that our current companions are Voldemort, Snape, and a pack of ever-so emerging Dementors from above the forest, I would conclude that this is the worst possible time to say to someone that the girl he choose three years ago as his beloved wasn't the one and that she really is. Oh, oops!" Harry covered his mouth and blinked innocently. "Slip of the tongue…"

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked. "How could you – !"

" – It's called 'thank you'. Besides, sooner or later, Malfoy will have to find out. And I think sooner is better because, let's face it, we formed our little LTEA group for a reason. It was to get you two together. We knew that you already loved each other secretly; we just wanted to push you two along. And most of all, we knew that you were the ones who'd probably survive through anything, hand in hand," Harry finished.

Pansy wiped a tear from her eyes. "That – that – was beautiful!" she choked out, sobbing into a little pink handkerchief.

Ginny looked between Hermione and Draco, who were now staring into each other's eyes. "Er…sorry to interrupt the little love session here, but Dementors are heading towards us, I think Voldemort's waking up, and Snape is….I think…throwing a hissy fit."

Ron winced. "Those three scenarios should really not be presented to us in one night."

"Agreed," Pansy, Harry, and Ginny said at the same time.

"So," Harry said, facing the group. "How 'bout the ones who can cast corporeal Patronuses head off the Dementors, I'll go knock out Voldemort again and join you guys later, and…just…just leave Snape there."

They nodded. As Hermione took a brave stance in front of the group, Harry pulled her back. "Oh, no, you're coming with me."

"Nepotism!" Pansy yelled as she replaced the place Hermione was previously at.

"What does that mean?" Ron asked.

"It means, 'Ronald, get a dictionary'," she replied, shooting white sparks at the direction of the forest. "Ha! You slimy bastards! Come and get me!"

"That's a great thing to say to them. After all, it's not like it gives them more reasons to attack us," Ginny muttered under her breath. Pansy shot her a look and Ginny returned it, blinking innocently.

"By the way, Harry, this isn't nepotism, is it?" Ginny asked, turning to look at him. But Harry wasn't there.

In fact, he and Hermione had disappeared completely.

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"Harry, where the hell are you taking me?" Hermione screamed as she desperately tried to wrench her fingers off his strange silvery ring, which she had never seen before.

As she landed with a thump onto a cold stone floor, she realized that the ring must've been a Portkey.

"Who are you? And where's Harry?" she cried, looking up at Harry.

"No, 'Mione, I'm Harry," he explained. "Nobody brainwashed me or anything of the sort. It's still me."

"Then tell where the hell I am," Hermione snarled, standing up. As the rush from jumping up too fast slowly faded, she noticed many versions of the letter 'M' carved into the walls.

"Wait," Hermione said slowly. "Is this Malfoy Manor?"

Harry shrugged and slumped down on one of the elaborately decorated chairs. "No idea."

"You're supposed to know where this is! You brought me here!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I didn't bring you here," Harry replied, looking puzzled. "All I wanted was to talk with you about that thing earlier, where I accidentally on purpose told Malfoy…you know what…" he finished, glancing nervously at the room. "The Burrow is practically crackling with magic on everything, and this house probably is the same. Who knows if the walls can really hear everything?"

"Oh," Hermione replied, contemplating this. "Yes, it might pick up some things that we don't want."

"So," Harry started casually. "How are your studies going?"

"Fine, fine, fine, fine!" Hermione replied in a sickly-sweet voice. "They're going extremely fine."

"Good! Mine are also," Harry said.

"Yes, that's good."

"Good."

"Yeah..."

"Okay…"

"Yeah."

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Chaos was ensuing as everyone promptly lost their heads and began searching frantically for Harry and Hermione.

"SILENCE!" Ron roared, showering Mandy with spittle. "Now, all of us will turn our attention back to the major problem at hand, the Dementors," he said calmly. "After we have gotten rid of them, we can send out a search party to find Harry and Hermione. But for now, we'll just focus on one thing: the Dementors. And since I'm feeling rather dark and gloomy right now," he grimaced, "let's go kick some Dementor ass!"

And instead of the cheering and shouting this proclamation would've usually provoked, the others sluggishly raised their wands and shouted, "Expecto Patronus!"

Even though their Patronuses didn't stay for long, they kept on casting the spell over and over again. Finally, when the Dementors retreated, Ginny sighed.

"Yay."

"Well," Mandy started, poking at the grass. "That was a very…shall we put it, low-key battle."

"Extremely calm," Draco intoned.

Ron snapped a twig in half; nobody even twitched an eyebrow. "Parkinson and Malfoy, you guys stay here and keep on watching and looking for signs of…weirdness. Ginny, Mandy, and I will go look for Harry and Hermione."

"Oh, you're not going without me," Draco snapped. "I'm coming."

Ron looked peeved. "Alright, then Mandy, you stay here with Pansy, while the Ferret tags along with us."

"Hmm…a Malfoy tagging along with the he-and-she Weasels…" Draco said mockingly. "For shame!"

"Two words, Malferret," Ginny whispered in what could only be interpreted as a be-afraid-be-very-afraid tone. "Bat bogey."

Draco gulped. "I see you're still in command of that hex…" he trailed off, nervously undoing his tie.

"Yes," Ginny snarled. "I am."

"That's good to know," Draco said nervously, looking around frantically for any means of protection.

As Ginny raised her wand, Ron whacked her arm out of the way. "Ginny! Will you please focus on the problem at hand?" he yelled.

"Malfoy is the problem!" Ginny shouted. "He's insulted our family for the last time!"

"Will you give it a rest, Weaslette, and stop being so bloody sensitive!" Pansy screeched. "Draco was only joking!"

"He's joking, my ass!" Ginny screamed. "Did you hear the tone of his voice?!"

"I heard it, and it's the tone he uses to tease people!" Mandy yelled, joining in. "Maybe if you knew him better, you would know that! But then again, Draco doesn't want to be friends with people like you!"

Ron took in a deep breath. "Now, that was over the line, Brocklehurst. You want a bitch-fight, you got one!"

As everyone started yelling and screaming at each other, nobody noticed a small figure creep out of the shadows, and silently enclose them in a circle of a shimmering band of black.

Then as quietly as she had come, she faded away into the shadows as the band of black light faded as well.

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"Harry! Concentrate!" Hermione snapped. Harry jumped.

"What? Oh – yes – "

"If you don't want to help, then just say so. I've been trying to get out of this room for ages, but if you don't want to get out, it's fine with me," Hermione said peevishly.

"I'm tying to bust this door open; it's locked, but it can be opened," Harry mumbled, sluggishly bumping the door with his shoulder. "Okay, no go on the door."

"You didn't even try!" Hermione yelled. "Step back, and let a professional do this."

Harry laughed. "I really doubt that you, 'Mione, could – " his jaw dropped to the floor as the door banged open, and Hermione fell back with a pained but happy expression on her face.

"That hurt like all the kids at preschool jumping on you and tugging your hair, but it was worth it," she sighed happily. When Harry gave her a strange look, she laughed, "It never happened."

As he turned his back on her, she muttered, "Like I'm going to tell you my secrets here."

"Say something, Hermione?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing."

As Hermione tiptoed down the dark halls, she resisted an urge to shudder. The paintings on the walls did not have very prepossessing couples as their subjects. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy in particular looked gruesome; they looked like they were brother and sister.

"Hermione, this isn't a time to dilly-dally," Harry snapped, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the oil painting of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy in matching green robes.

"But look at this picture of the Malfoys!" Hermione exclaimed, dragging Harry back in front of the painting.

Harry made a face. "Now, that's just disgusting. They look like fraternal twins! God," he winced, "they could have at least worn different colored robes."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I bet when Draco and I go up on that wall, we'd look millions of billions better than them."

Harry's head whipped around. "What?"

"I said, when Draco and I go up – " Hermione suddenly balked, and her face immediately turned a frightening shade of wax. "Oh, no, oh, no," she repeated over and over again, covering her dace with her hands. "Oh no!"

"What's so bad about marrying Malfoy? Harry asked. "I mean, I wouldn't like it because he's a guy and I'm a guy and…all that…stuff…but you're a girl who's very much in love with him. Marry him for we care, because in this century, people actually marry for love."

Hermione lifted her face and scowled at him. "No, it's not that, you great git," she snapped. "I know that I love him, but does he love me? No," she finished, placing emphasis on the last word.

"Of course he loves you, 'Mione!" Harry exclaimed loudly and the picture of Abraxas Malfoy rose from his slumber, gave him the finger, and went back to sleep.

Harry lowered his voice. "Of course he loves you," he repeated. "Can't you see it in his eyes?"

Hermione thought about this. "No."

Harry internally sighed. "Well, he does. He cares about you, Hermione. He cares a lot."

"But is caring the same thing as love?" Hermione demanded. "I mean, sure, he cares about me, but he's not going to going to cause the English Channel to overflow when I die, will he?"

"I would prefer to stay off the topic of death," said Harry, "tonight isn't the best night to discuss this, considering that Voldemort is already there for our scheduled battle, but I'm not. Of course, he's crying, but when he stops, he'll wonder where I am, and when he finds me, he'll kill me."

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Yeah…okay…I'm going to go see if I can find a crystal ball or anything in one of the rooms. I know that Divination is stupid, but I have no choices right now and I need answers. And for once, the library cannot help me with this problem!"

"Well, I suppose the girly magazine section of the library might…" Harry trailed off.

"And how do you know this?" Hermione asked him suspiciously, barging into a room labeled "Draco Malfoy".

"I…er…read some editions of Teen Witch and Witch Weekly," Harry admitted quietly, following her in. When Hermione started laughing her head off, he protested, "Ginny has a stack sitting on her bedside table! I just started thumbing through them!"

As Hermione sat down to control her laughter, she squealed suddenly. "A Magic 8 Ball!"

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Why would Malfoy have a Magic 8 Ball in his house?"

Hermione shrugged. "His parents look related. The Magic 8 Ball is nothing compared to that."

Harry nodded. "Good point."

"So," Hermione shook the ball. She took a deep breath. "Does Draco Malfoy love me?"

"I still can't believe that you're letting a Magic 8 Ball do this," Harry muttered. Hermione shushed him as she turned it over and closed her eyes tightly. Then she opened her eyes and peered into it.

But at the last second, she pulled away and practically threw it at Harry. "You look! I can't do this!"

"Looks like Trelawney was right again. You really aren't suited for Divination," Harry muttered. "God knows how much you would flip out when making actual predictions with magical instruments."

Hermione pushed him off the bed. "Oh, just give it to me, already!" she snapped. Her face contorted in fury and confusion as she threw the ball across the room. "ASK AGAIN LATER?" she screeched. "What the hell are you playing at?" she screamed, catching the ball on the rebound and throwing it again."

Harry slowly backed away. "I'm beginning to have a very different opinion about women and it's not a very nice one."

As Hermione turned burning eyes on him, Harry gulped. "You know what? Now would be a good time to 'ask again later'."

Hermione snatched up the Magic 8 Ball and started shaking it furiously. "You better give me a direct answer this time," she snarled. She tossed it to Harry. "Catch!"

Harry turned it over nervously. As he took a deep breath, Hermione stepped closer to him and snapped, "Well? And if it says something vague again, I'm going to kill you!"

Harry gulped and looked. Then his eyes shot open.

"Ask again later."

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A/N – I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long to get out! I've been really busy with school and extracurriculars and I got a great case of writer's block in the beginning of this chapter, which I just realized is a sucky excuse for procrastination and laziness.

But since I'm on winter break now, the next chapter probably won't have such an elongated wait.

My wonderful reviews that have keep me going through the night! (Well, just the afternoons; at nights I'm busy eating.)

Sam's Firefly – Thanks for replying to my email. And if you look really closely, your character is actually in this chapter, albeit "dark" and "shadowy". However, she'll have a big part in the next chapter. Two words: "Armageddon", and "students".

StormMasters – Thank you! And you're right, it's "HIM."

Bethy Ann – Thanks! And sadly, I have no gross and heart-wrenching writing skills, so humor is the only thing I have. Add that to my personality, and you've got a female version of Chandler Bing.

superelle – I LOVED writing Shakesperean Ernie…hmm…maybe I should make him sputter more poetic lyrics about love. Also, Blaise is another character that I love! I love all the characters that JK hasn't elaborated on for personality. And yes, I procrastinate a lot. This chapter was a very obvious example of it, and also, laziness AKA get-off-your-butt-itis. I wonder if they have pills for this…

Tamaska of the Fallen – Wow…this is…surreal…

White-Pink-Fluffy-Strawberriez – OMG, I remember you from the very first chapters!!! Thank you so much for this review and thank you even more for staying with this story all these years! (well, technically, it's only been one year, but whatever) Thank you thank you thank you! (goes off crying in a corner)

dragoneyes5000 – I remember you too!!! (see above) OMG, this is such a weird reunion…

luvHaru7 – And you! (see above above) God, what is the weather doing to me….

goosyjuicylucy – Probably something to do with the questioning of his sexuality. But since I'm not that evil…HEHEHE…I probably would've done something like, "Harry's been replacing Snape's greasing ointment with frog spawn!"

me – Excellent! I like that thinking!

GoDeSs-Of-LiOnEsSeS – I'm not even going to tell you how much sadness and reflection this is causing me…see above above, above above.

Additional thanks to Andie, dramione4ever, madscott, BGforever, Hotkat144, baby kisses (even the melting snowflake was better than this…), Natural-181, Your Mom Is My Heart, potc-and-hpfan, Lina, School-Of-Rock101, lyssa-kissa, avidreader07, and jPoPlUVr789!

By the way, any takers on the "I'm-not-going-to-attack-Voldemort-because-it's-wrong" thing?

See you (hopefully!) in a week!

- Lily in a Pond