Once Upon a Hogwarts – Chapter Twenty-Six

By Lily in a Pond

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine, and that is it. Period. Done. Over with. Finished. Not mine.

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Mandy's blood was rushing heatedly through her veins as she stared at the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts. She could feel her heart pounding a million beats a second. Her head was empty, and her body felt light and speedy.

Lying strewn across the floor were paintings that had been hacked to pieces and tapestries cut through roughly. There was only one body lying prone on the floor, and it was at least moving, trying to stand up.

Mandy silently performed a Disillusioning Charm on the injured student and looked around carefully for any signs of Death Eaters approaching. A sudden noise on her right startled her.

Wand raised protectively in front of her, Mandy slowly took a full view of the room. And then…

…she saw them.

With her more-than-perfect eyesight, Mandy saw the shadow of two Death Eaters hiding behind a wall. A glance at the fallen portraits and she saw the hem of a black robe underneath them. Three more were hiding from above. She couldn't tell whether they were male or female, but it looked like they were ready to attack. Mandy changed her defensive stance and narrowed her eyes into slits.

"It's pretty obvious you're there, but that's all right. I'm willing to forgive you for those amateur hiding skills. However, my wand might not forget it so easily," she smirked. "So...come and get me."

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"I don't give a damn about her bloody father, but if Mandy gets herself killed while facing a pack of Death Eaters, I swear I am going to turn that bloody chit's grave over a thousand times!" Pansy growled as she raced through the forest. Snape smirked. "God, the situations she gets herself into!" Pansy continued, pushing a branch angrily out of her way. The branch immediatetely snapped in two. "She's always being the hero, the one everyone can depend on to pull the job off easily! But her recklessness is going to get her killed!"

"You've forgotten that in the most dangerous of situations, she has always kept a cool head and figured out a way, logically and quite uncourageously, to save herself. She's good at running away," Snape added. "It's more than likely that she'll do it again."

Pansy grunted as she blasted a tree out of her way with her wand. "She's growing out of the selfishness. For the last two times, Mandy's faced the opposition and ended it with a spell, not by running and hiding. This is what I'm worried about," she said darkly. "That selflessness won't cost her injuries tonight, it will take away her life."

Snape showed no expression on his face. "Well, then, we better hurry."

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Ron ran into the kitchen, followed close by Harry and Ginny. Hermione and Draco brought up the rear as all five collapsed on the marble counters, gasping for breath.

"D'you all have asthma or something?"

Ginny nearly shrieked with surprise as she looked up. She was eye-to-eye to a handsome boy with coal-black hair and deep brown eyes. "…Blimey…" she whispered, staring into his shaded eyes.

He laughed. "Calm down, I was just joking. I'm William Bradley, but you can call me Will. It's nice to finally meet you, Ginny Weasley."

"Hey, hold on a minute here. How do you know my girlfriend's name?" Harry asked suspiciously, a thousand rays of jealously shooting out of his eyes.

"I know everything about you," Will answered. The simplicity of the answer, accompanied with the eerie wording, made shivers run down their spines.

"How can you know everything about everyone?" Draco asked, narrowing his eyes. "Do you know what my favorite animal is?"

"The zebra," a female voice answered from the dishwasher. An ebony-haired girl of medium build turned around and strided towards Draco. "Draco Malfoy. Charmed."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Same to you," he answered smoothly. "Now, how did you know my name?"

"How do you keep on asking annoying questions?" she returned.

"How do you keep on returning my questions with a question?"

"It's all in the package," she mumbled. She ran a hand through her smooth black hair and said, in a normal tone, "Corona Winters. Eighteen. Full-fledged witch, if I can still call myself that," she added in an undertone.

"Alright…" Harry said slowly. "Let me see if I got all that. You're Corona Winters, an eighteen-year-old witch."

"Tell me one thing, Harry Potter. Does it really take you that long to comprehend the smallest of things through your abnormally thick head?"

"Corona! Be nice," Will scolded. "Anyway, you'll have to forgive my sister. She's – "

" – Your sister?" Ginny interrupted. "Your last name is Bradley and hers is Winters."

Corona turned to face her, eyes boring into Ginny's face. "And what makes you think we're telling the truth?"

Ginny shuddered as the strange sensation rippled through her body. There was nothing more chilling than having those onyx eyes drilling a hole into her.

Corona smirked and turned away from Ginny. "I suppose you're all wondering why Will and I are in your kitchen, and acting so casual about it."

"Well…yeah," Ron admitted. "You're not supposed to intrude in peoples' houses, you know."

"Oh, I know," Corona said with a sharp bark of laugher. "You see, Will and I aren't real."

Hermione blinked. "…Well...that was…random."

"Hermione, Corona and I really aren't humans, and we're not a breed of magical creatures either. I suppose you could say that we're a special group of magical species, but we're not exactly," Will explained.

"Stop beating around the bush," Corona snapped. Will cringed under her hard glare.

"Er…well, you see, there's no easy way to put this, but Corona and I are the ones who control…the factors that make an event in time."

Harry's jaw dropped, and Ron did a double-take. Ginny blinked. Hermione and Draco both furrowed their brows. Corona rolled her eyes at their expressions.

"In the time system, Father Time, who sits around all day and looks pretty, is at the top. His children just do the dirty work, and that's us. Though we're not related to him, he handpicks humans when they're young and educates them in becoming a Time Keeper. Afterwards, we were assigned to our current jobs," said Corona stoically. "Will is in charge of calculating the percentage of an event's unpredictability, in case things interfere in our way and we don't have any backup. He also works part-time with the Library of Records, which is why he knows so much about all of you. I'm in charge of making sure everyone that matters is in their places when an event happens. It's really the grudge work, being second-in-command and directly under Father Time, but not getting to reap any rewards."

"I smell a time coup," Hermione murmured. Corona turned a sharp gaze on her.

"Will and I are here because none of you are in your supposed positions."

"For what event?" Ron asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Corona sneered. "The battle at Hogwarts."

"...Ohhhhh…"

"With the amount of dense humans on the earth, it's no wonder why our failure odds have been getting higher," Corona muttered, rubbing her temples.

Will grinned. "Anyway, we've temporarily frozen time – "

" – I froze time," Corona corrected sharply. "You latched onto my arm at the last minute and begged me to take you here."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that…"

Corona looked at him scornfully and then turned her attention back at the group. "You've noticed that some strange things have been happening tonight, delaying your return to Hogwarts. There are no such things as coincidences," she snapped, her glare alone freezing Ron in his eyeroll. "Everything happens for a reason, and tonight, that reason was to stop you from returning to Hogwarts and fighting."

"An unidentified source has been interfering with our information, causing the events tonight to become tangled," Will said, sounding like he was reciting from a book. "Others' positions at Hogwarts have also been tampered with; many of them are not yet in their places. Though we haven't received any information about this…er…time sneeze, if you will, we fully suspect it is an extremely dark wizard who wants to change time and the outcome of the battle," Will continued.

"The outcome of the battle? So you know who wins?" Harry asked anxiously.

"We know everything, foolish boy," Corona sneered. "Time sees no limits."

"What's the outcome of the battle?" Harry persisted.

Will looked at Corona. Corona shook her head, glaring dangerously. "Remain silent," she hissed.

"You win!" Will blurted out. Then, emitting a girlish squeal, he disappeared as Corona's tightly veined hands closed around air.

She cursed loudly. "When I get back, I am sending him to the Jurassic Period as dinosaur chow!"

"I win?" Harry breathed.

Corona sighed. "Yeah, you do, Potter. And since Will's dropped the biggest bombshell in your life already, I might as well slip out more. Ha! Now there's a mess you have to clean up, Justin," she snapped towards the ceiling.

"Justin?" Draco inquired. Ginny gasped.

"I get it! Justin Time! Just in time! Oh, that's funny!"

Corona stared at her in disgust. "Only idiotic mortals would find that amusing," she muttered, half to herself. "I hope you're not going to cackle like that when you become Potter's wife."

Ginny choked on air. "Come again?"

"Male Weasley. You die."

Ron fainted.

Corona cracked a tiny smile. "Kidding. You live and marry the herb girl, what's-her-face."

"What about me?" Draco demanded.

"You have a good life, you make money, spend it lavishly, buy a villa in Italy, the works."

"What about my future?" Hermione asked.

Corona started unblinkingly at her and Hermione suddenly realized that Corona could see her perfectly well. "Your future depends on what your heart chooses."

Authoritarian again, Corona squared her jaw and pulled out a piece of parchment. "You will be automatically relocated to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in no less than five minutes. Until that time, you are to stay here in the kitchen. When you arrive at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you will notice a scene frozen in time. Do not panic. Time will continue in a few minutes."

Corona slipped the parchment back into her long black robe. "Don't expect to see me soon, because you won't unless you die or use a Time-Turner incorrectly. On the off chance that you do, don't bother to greet me. It will cost you your life."

"What the heck does that mean?" Ginny cried as Corona smiled warmly, the first true smile they had ever seen from her.

"Have faith in time. All will work out."

Unlike Will's exit, Corona's image simply flickered for a moment, then disappeared.

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"I spy with my little eye…Death Eaters just waiting to be killed," Mandy whispered, and licked her dry lips.

"Imitari," she hissed, and the image of Mandy Brocklehurst doubled. "Now…the fun begins."

"Incidere," she whispered, pointing her wand to the tall, bulky one who was trying to hide surreptitiously behind the tapestry. Though she whispered it, he still got the full brunt of the spell. A carefully executed Swelling Hex rendered another Death Eater unable to move his hands for quite a while.

The copy of Mandy crept up silently behind a Death Eater, pointed her wand at his neck, and whispered, "Consectio," making a large gash appear.

Mandy quickly stunned the remaining Death Eaters, then stood back and surveyed the scene. Once again, victory was hers.

"Mandy!" Pansy yelled, tackling Mandy to the ground. The image of Mandy flickered for a moment and then disappeared.

"Well, I don't think she liked the greeting," Snape remarked. Mandy rolled her eyes at him.

"It's the Imitation Spell…surely you, a Dark Arts specialist, have seen this before. It was invented in this century," she added snidely. As Snape opened his mouth to say something, most likely foul and not to be included within this T rating, Pansy cut him off and threw her arms around Mandy.

"I am so glad you're alive!"

Mandy violently shrugged Pansy off. "Stop cheating on Anthony, you lesbian! And why wouldn't I be alive? There were only five Death Eaters."

"Only five?" Pansy repeated in disbelief. "Most seventeen-year-olds would die facing one!"

"Well, two of them were quite bulky and didn't move too swiftly, so I suppose that made the job easier. Cheers to Crabbe and Goyle senior!" Mandy cried, trying to lighten the mood. Seeing the worried expression on Pansy's face twitch, she continued. "I mean, they were just two great lumps of flesh simply waiting to be attacked! All I had to do was keep quiet and sneak behind their backs!"

"Well, I'm glad you're alive and kicking," Pansy said, grudgingly cracking a smile. "C'mon, let's get you to the Hospital Wing for some chocolate. Your face is like the waning moon."

"The Hospital Wing is mostly likely filled with Death Eaters looting the medicine and my face is not like the waning moon. It's oval-shaped, you idiot."

"Avada Kedavra!"

Mandy, Pansy, and Snape casually dodged the Killing Curse.

"You know, that doesn't even faze me out anymore," Mandy said nonchalantly. "If you want to surprise me, you're going to have to work a lot harder than that."

"I really worked hard on that spell," Gregory Goyle whined as he stepped out of the shadows. "And you all dodged it!"

"Chips?" Pansy offered, holding out a bag of freshly conjured potato chips (sour cream and onion). Goyle's face lit up.

"Thanks!" he said, and walked off munching happily on the chips.

Snape stared in wonder. "Slytherins really are all cracked up…"

"Anyway," Mandy cut in. "You have yet to explain to me why you're here in the first place," she said, crossing her arms.

Snape shrugged. "Can't tell."

"Professor Snape, I need your help," came a small voice from his left. Snape looked down. Actually, he looked very down.

"What are you doing in the castle, Jenna Marie?" Mandy gasped. "Aren't you supposed to be outside, with the crowd?"

"I got tired of it. Professor Snape, I need your potion-making expertise. If you'll just follow me to the dungeons, you'll see what I mean."

As the three walked down to the dungeons, Mandy briefly wondered why she was going along with Snape and Jenna Marie; the situation had nothing to do with her.

So why was she still coming along?

As Mandy struggled to comprehend the situation, she felt a tingly feeling at her spine. It was like having a thousand little spiders crawling up and down on your body.

"Wait!" she yelled, causing Snape, Jenna Marie, and Pansy to turn sharply around. "I'm going back to the Entrance Hall. This just…doesn't….feel right," she managed out. "It feels like I'm not supposed to be here," she said weakly. Then, feeling the tingling stop, she added, vehemently, "This isn't where I'm supposed to be! I'm supposed to be in the Entrance Hall! I'm going back!"

As she rounded the corner and felt the familiar bright yellow light of a hundred chandeliers, a hand tapped her on the shoulder.

Mandy slammed her knee into Pansy's stomach.

"Oof!" Pansy collapsed onto the floor, writhing in agony and clutching the abused spot. "Why the hell did you ram your freaking bony knee into my abdomen!"

Mandy raised her eyebrows. "I thought you were an attacker. I just did the only thing I could in this kind of situation, which was defend myself."

Pansy stared at her for a moment. Then she took a deep breath and to Mandy's amusement, started laughing hysterically.

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"Urgh," Hermione groaned as her back collided painfully with the muddy forest floor. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Harry and Ron get up slowly and Ginny reaching for a low branch to pull herself up. Draco was on Hermione's other side, lying facedown in the mud, brown spots splattered on his formerly impeccable hair and robes.

"Are you all alright?"

Moans and groans came from them. They were alive, but not kicking, Hermione thought amusedly to herself. As she slowly got up, a thought sprang to her. "Hold on a minute. When Corona said 'you will notice a scene frozen in time', do you think she meant it literally?"

"Pretty much," Ron answered, rubbing his head. "After all, what else can you mean when you say that?"

"Good point," she admitted. "Let's use this time she's given us to strategize. After all, we need a plan."

"Every plan begins with a diagram," Ginny supplied cheerfully as she handed Hermione a twig.

Hermione nodded. "Right. Now, Ron, will you do the honors?"

Ron gaped. "What? What – why – w-w-what?"

"You're the strategist in this group, Ron, not me," Hermione said, smiling. "You've always been great at chess and all sorts of strategy games. You're the brilliant one at tactics."

"Tactic," Ron repeated, a smile slowly forming on his face. "Tactics. Alright, men, listen up! When time starts again, I will accompany Harry to the Quidditch Pitch as backup. Ginny, you're in charge of using that charm you and Alicia illegally invented over the summer to scout for casualties." He plowed on, ignoring Ginny's glare and the others' surprised expresions. "If you find any, bring them back to the castle immediately. If the Hospital Wing is safe at that point, I want you to help Madam Pomfrey with healing injuries. Hermione and Malfoy, as two moderately intellectual human beings, you will make your way up to the castle, destroy any enemies in the Entrance Hall and Hospital Wing, and reinstate Madam Pomfrey. We're going to need her potions," Ron said darkly. "You two are also in charge of making and distributing jobs to the others in the castle. If you meet up with Ginny, you three can scout the castle and look for survivors. If you meet enemies, don't hesitate to kill," Ron finished, a grim look settling on his face. "Now, let's go!"

As Ron and Harry hurried to the Quidditch Pitch, the latter following dejectedly, Hermione and Draco watched Ginny's flame red hair disappear into the woods and out of sight.

"This is the night," Draco murmured as he and Hermione carefully walked down the muddy, slippery hill they were previously on.

Hermione nodded. They walked in silence. Then –

"Do you know how disturbing it is to see patches of mud floating around in the air?"

Hermione snorted. "Thanks for reminding me I'm still invisible."

Draco smiled, but moved a little closer to the splotches of mud.

Draco and Hermione reached the castle doors of Hogwarts in a little less than five minutes, and as they approached, the rain started pouring on them.

"Ready?" Hermione asked nervously as she placed her hand on the doorknob.

"Ready," Draco returned confidently.

OoOoOoOoO

"I've got it. This is the reason. And before you go to give it to Potter – "

"I'm going? You can't just simply hand it to me, a sixteen-year-old!"

"You're going. I have to stay here and do what is required of me."

"You can't let me do this. What if I – "

"No what ifs. You're going. If you're not going to, you'll have the bear the weight of causing the Boy-Who-Lived to become the Boy-Who-Died."

"Why can't you go?"

"No questions. Many lives rest on your shoulders tonight. Are you willing to sacrifice them because you were afraid and unsure of your abilities?"

"No, but – "

"Go!"

As soon as Jenna Marie Rose had dashed out of the room with a small, carefully sealed glass vial tucked safely into her robes, Snape turned back to his potions cabinets and reached for a bottle of clear liquid. He poured it into the cauldron and it made a small hissing noise. A few moments later, the potion started foaming and bubbling.

"Finally," he growled as the potion stopped bubbling and fizzing. "Dumbledore, you're finally going to get the happy ending you've always wanted. Just you and Voldemort, one-on-one. Good wizard against bad wizard. The whole Greek tragedy. And then you'll die happily saving your precious Potter, giving your life up for the good of the next generation. And where will I be? Left all alone in the potions classroom, saving the last minutes of my life for solitude and introspection."

"But…this is my duty, and this is how it must end." And with that, Snape took a breath, and said the very words that would seal his fate.

"Nex mos ago."

Or, as many would prefer to call it, Death will Live.

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A/N – Well, I got this chapter out significantly faster than the previous one, and I'll quite proud of myself. I promise that this chapter will the end of the serious, boring chapters you had to read, one after the other, boring pages of my droning. The next chapter will most definitely feature the battle between Harry, Voldemort, and a special someone all of you hold dear to your hearts. After this one, all my plot twists and turns will be used up and the humor can start again!

I also worked in the time thing as an excuse for drawing out the battle so long…hehehehehehe…yeah…

Many thanks to my reviewers, Moni Jane, BeachBabeBrittany16, lea, Sam's Firefly, svanire, Hotkat144, jPoPlUVr789, me, Fnick-Gurlz, Steelo, White-Pink-Fluffy-Strawberriez, DracosLover1313, and Belle Princesse168!

Please review!

- Lily in a Pond