Chapter 15: The War

Harry and Ron entered the Great Hall. Harry ignored all the muggles still staring. Marcus had told him some of the rumors that had spread about him. His favorite was that he was a shape shifter. He didn't know why it amused him so much, perhaps since his father was an animagus and he wasn't. Marcus had been shocked to hear that wizards could actually shape shift. After dinner one-night Harry brought him to the library where they researched books on becoming an animagus. The two discussed what they would want their forms to be. Harry, of course, wanted to be a stag, like his father. Marcus wanted to be an owl so he could fly above everyone. The two laughed as they passed other students and decided what they would be.

Another rumor that had spread throughout the muggles was that he had defeated a dragon. They were shocked when others informed them that it wasn't a rumor. That he had in fact gone up against a Hungarian Horntail during the Tri-Wizard Tournament and had flown out of Gringotts on the back of another. Harry very quickly noticed that many of the boys who had once bullied him, like Matthew, now avoided him like the plague. Marcus had laughed when Ron told him of Hagrid's dragon and how Hermione and Harry had to bring him to the highest tower.

The trio, Marcus, Allie and Kristen walked quickly to Hagrid's hut. Their breath visible in the freezing cold. As they walked past the Herbology green house, Harry noticed Neville was with Marie. He smiled and elbowed Hermione and nodded his head in Neville's direction. Hermione smiled too.

"He said it's going well." She whispered as Ron knocked loudly on Hagrid's door. The group was shaking as Hagrid let them in. They hung up their cloaks and jackets as Hagrid stocked the fire. He offered them tea and biscuits after. Marcus went to grab a biscuit, but Allie quickly made eye contact and shook her head.

Soon Hagrid was blowing his nose into his handkerchief as he told the story of Norbert. As he wiped his tears, he pulled out a picture of Norbert that Charlie had sent him.

"He's huge!" Marcus stared at the picture. His eyes wide. The way Hagrid spoke about him, you'd think he'd still be a baby.

"But it was gigantic! How can Hagrid claim he was just a baby?" Ron shrugged as Marcus continued to be amazed by the dragon. "So you guys have been with three dragons?" Marcus shook his head in amazement.

"Well Harry really. I just got bitten by Norbert and then we all flew out of Gringotts." Ron pulled open the doors to the front entrance. Almost on cue, a few muggles darted in different directions as Harry entered the hall. As they entered the Great Hall, Harry ignored the stares and went straight for Luna and Vivian.

"Hello."

"Hi." Harry sat directly across from Luna.

"I must say Harry, I'm quite enjoying these rumors. I've added a few myself."

"Luna!" Hermione said surprised.

"It's actually pretty fun. Vivian came up with my favorite." Luna smiled at Vivian, who turned to the group.

"I said that you once took down a flying monkey with nothing, but your hands and water." Hermione, Harry and Marcus cackled in laughter. Ron watched in confusion before Luna leaned over to him.

"Vivian told me of a movie called the Wizard of Oz. Apparently there are flying monkeys and the witch is defeated by throwing water on her." Luna smiled as the others slowly stopped laughing.

"If only we could have killed Voldemort with water. Would have made it a lot easier."

Harry smiled as he, Ron and Hermione entered the Gryffindor Common Room. Lying on the couch with a newspaper in hand was Ginny.

"Goodnight." He said before heading toward the couch.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Ginny." Ginny waved as Hermione and Ron walked up to their dorm rooms. Ginny lowered her newspaper as Harry walked over to her. She lifted her legs for Harry. As Harry sat down he pulled Ginny's leg over his lap and leaned closer to her.

"Anything good?" He asked, before kissing her.

"Not really. There was another attack by the muggles. They threw stones at a couple in London." Harry sighed as he leaned back on the couch, letting his head rest against the back of the couch.

The next day Harry was walking through the courtyard. He stopped and motioned to Ron that he heard something to their left. The two listened, anticipating an attack. Harry held his wand tight as Ron reached for his, both expecting a sudden Death Eater attack.

"ATTACK!" Ginny, Luna and Vivian pounced out from behind a large snow mound, throwing as many snowballs as possible on the unexpecting boys before disappearing behind their fortress once more. Harry and Ron were covered in snow. Harry heard Dudley laughing a few feet away from them as Ginny peeped out of her fort again. Harry and Ron quickly gathered snow and began throwing the balls as fast as possible. The girls responded with more snowballs, safely behind their fort. Harry could hear Ginny laughing as another snowball hit his shoulder. Soon Marcus and Dudley had joined the boys, who were losing drastically.

After his third snowball to the face, Ron waved his wand and created a wall between the boys and the girls. The boys dove behind the wall as quickly as possible.

"That is cheating Ronald Weasley!" Ginny called from behind her fort. Harry quickly threw a ball that hit her square in the chest. Ron laughed before ducking away from a snowball thrown by Luna. As Ron slowly looked over the snow wall he was unexpectedly hit from behind. The boys turned to see a laughing Hermione and Victoria.

"Attack!" Ron began throwing fistfuls of flurries and snowballs towards Hermione, who fled to the girl's fort.

"Run Hermione!" Luna giggled from behind her fort. The boys were continuing to be pelted by snowballs. Unknown to them, Hermione was magically making a dozen at a time. The battle came to a halt as Neville and Marie entered the courtyard. The two came to a stop as the last few snowballs landed on their targets.

"A boy! Run Marie!" Without missing a beat, Marie flew towards the girl's fort, throwing snowballs at Neville as she ran. Neville stood covered in a thin layer of snow.

"Come on Neville!" Ron called. Neville ran towards the boy's fort, being pelted with snowballs as he ran. After a minute, the snowballs from the girl's side came to a standstill. The boys could hear them laughing. After a few seconds, it was Dudley who decided to take a chance and look over the wall.

"What is that?" Dudley asked before the others could look over the wall. The boys were then assaulted with the force of one hundred snowballs.

"HERMIONE! No magic!" Ron shouted over the thuds of snowballs.

"Says the boy who magically made a snow fort!" As the boys ducked, they saw an overly large snowball launch from behind them. The snowball flew over their fort and landed just shy of the girls. The group turned to see Seamus and Dean running to join the group, followed by Allie and Kristen. Allie and Kristen ran past the boy's fort as snowballs were thrown at them. As they passed the fort, Ginny formed a forcefield between the girls and boys, until Allie and Kristen were safely behind the fort. The war continued for the next few minutes. Each team adding their own magical flare to the fight. Soon Ron had created an eight foot snow tower for the boys and Hermione had created snow canons for the girls.

As the sun set, the group slowly walked back to the castle together. They were all freezing and soaking wet. They separated to their own common rooms before joining back up at the Gryffindor Common Room in front of the roaring fire. Before the rest of the group could join the Gryffindors, Ron and Hermione slipped away, saying they would ask the House Elves for hot chocolate.

Harry and Dudley sat on the two armchairs next to each other. They sat in silence as everyone else laughed and talked. Harry was enjoying the silence as he watched Ginny laugh with their friends.

"May I ask you something?" Dudley said quietly. Harry turned to face him, immediately noticing the seriousness of his face. He sat back in the chair and nodded.

"How did you survive the war? I've heard a lot from other people and we've been learning about it in class. Did you really fight this Voldeport guy?" Harry smirked for a second, but his face fell as he thought.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I was just wondering." Dudley said, turning back to see the rest of the group still laughing.

"No, it's ok. If I didn't have Ron and Hermione, I probably wouldn't have survived. We had to do some things before fighting Voldemort and honestly, I don't think I could have done them without them." Dudley nodded, not wanting to push. He had heard from many wizards the rumors of what Harry had been doing before the Battle of Hogwarts. He wasn't sure what it was, but knew Harry wasn't telling many others and was keeping it that way. The two sat in silence for a minute, still watching the group laugh in front of the fireplace. After a minute Ron and Hermione joined, holding mugs and a pitcher of hot chocolate. They passed the hot chocolate around.

"Can I ask one more thing?" Dudley turned to Harry again. Harry nodded, taking a sip out of his mug.

"Is the rumor of you stealing a Gringotts' dragon and riding it true?" Harry couldn't help but laugh. He nodded through his laugh. The group turned to see a stunned Dudley and a laughing Harry.

Author's Note: PLEASE review! Thank you to everyone who has and thank you to everyone who has kept on reading my story!