Happy cursing:

During Harry Potter's fifth year, he stumbles across a curse in the restricted section during one of his nighttime wanderings. He had been sneaking into the library every night to try to find spells that would help against Voldemort and his death eaters. He had a few that he practiced so if he ever did face Voldemort, or a death eater, he knew he could take those out completely. He would be using a legal spell yet they would die. It would be classed as self defence especially since Voldemort and his death eaters always used illegal spells like the unforgivables.

This new spell he found was something else and something that actually got him excited. The spell was actually on a page that had been stuck to another page. The moment he read what the spell would do, his heart beat up really fast. Once the curse is spoken, it will affect only the people who had committed crimes against innocence. It didn't just affect those who killed or tortured, being used or manipulated by people that hurt them in some way will make the curse affect people as well. Lying about someone that cause pain and suffering would also cause the curse to affect the person who lied. Even bullies were affected by the curse. Apart from knowing he could use it on people like death eaters and Voldemort, the spell would also work on muggles, which means he could finally pay the Dursley's back for everything they did to him.

The curse will change in severity, depending on the crime. Mild crimes will make the person sick, again it will depend on the severity of the crime will depend on how sick someone ends up. If they tortured, they will die but they will suffer first. If they murdered, they will suffer for days, sometimes weeks before they died.

Harry had only ever lied to save himself the beatings of the Dursley's, or to protect Hogwarts and some of the students. Even if he ended up cursed, he would take that if it meant people like death eaters, their children, the minister and his staff and even the staff of Hogwarts would suffer. The curse would be worse for people who did horrendous crimes, like death eaters. The curse also comes with being permanently scarred on their foreheads, cheeks and chin. The worst offenders would have these scarred all over their bodied and nothing would cover it up or stop the pain until they died. The ones that did little things like tell lies that hurt others would end up sick and also have smaller scares, but they will still be seen. If they were murderers, or tortured others, then would be marked all over their body and suffer pain before they would die.

It took a few weeks but Harry was able to find the names of all the death eaters. He wanted to make sure to name them, whether they were in Azkaban or not. He wanted them to pay for their crimes. He would deal with those before he dealt with the Dursley's.

Harry started with the name Tom Marvolo Riddle, but he did also say lord Voldemort. He wanted to make sure Voldemort died for his crimes. The second name was Peter Pettigrew, then he began to name the other death eaters. After those were the bad kids who had death eater parents, like Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Marcus Flint, Adrian Pucey and Theodore Nott. He did Severus Snape after that, then he decided to just name all the staff and planned to name every student at Hogwarts, but he wanted the staff, then the people at the ministry named first. If any were bad, really bad, then their world will get better without them. It would be the same with Hogwarts.

He would do the rest of the students soon. He had been told about the Ravenclaw's and how they bullied Luna. They stole her things and even destroyed her homework. But they stole things like her shoes then locked her out of the tower. Sometimes it had been cold and she had to walk around without shoes. He decided to name everyone but Luna from Ravenclaw. After that, he decided to just say everyone at Hogwarts and the ministry. Dobby had helped him find out every person who worked at the ministry and also the names of all magical people in Great Britain.

Harry hid using his invisibility cloak in the room of requirement. Dobby had explained about the room. Even though Harry thought it would be perfect to learn how to defend himself in that room and how Hermione thought it would be good for others to learn, Harry used the room alone and often. Now he would be using it to deal with all the bad and evil people.

'Well, I wrote their names along with the curse, now I just have to hope I hear something. I did add Fudge and Umbridge. If it worked then I'm sure I'll find out about her since she was here at Hogwarts.' Harry balled his fist as he stared at the scars on his hand, all because of Umbridge. She liked to use torture, so he hoped she would die painfully. Harry had found out that he wasn't the only one forced to use her quill. Lee Jordan had used it as well, but so had some first year muggleborns. Harry knew she was evil, she had to die. It took a long time but he got all the names of every magical person in Great Britain, except his or Luna's. Once that was done, he did the four Dursley's and Ripper the dog. He might not know if it would work on an animal. Either way, it would get rid of Vernon, Petunia, Marge and Dudley. It was when he said their names he remembered all the times Dudley's gang beat him up. He decided to say their names as well.

Harry tried to act normally as he made his way to the great hall for dinner. He had been in the room of requirement for hours. He wanted to make sure he wrote all the names.

Harry saw Neville and sat beside him, 'It's quiet in here. Do you know if something's going on in another part of the castle?'

'Not that I know of. Maybe everyone is just late, or we're early.'

'Well, the food's here so even if we're early it seems the house elves know to send the food up.'

'Ron and Hermione were looking for you a few hours ago. Did they find you?'

'Nope, I made sure. I wanted some time to myself.'

'Everyone deserves it, but it won't last long,' Neville gestured towards the door where they heard a lot of footsteps.

'Where have you been?' Hermione asked the moment she sat down.

'I wanted some time alone,' Harry said but he didn't say where he was.

'We looked everywhere, so where were you?' Hermione asked again.

'It's my business Hermione and I'm not saying where I was or what I was doing so you might as well stop asking,' Harry turned slightly so he had his back to her then went back to his dinner.

'What's up mate?' Ron asked.

'Nothing, I would just like some time alone occasionally and what I do is really no one's business. But do you know where everyone is?' Harry gestured around the great hall. 'Not one Slytherin has turned up and only half the Ravenclaw's. Most of the Hufflepuff's have finally arrived but there's only Hagrid, Hooch and Sinistra at the staff table.'

Ron and Hermione instantly looked up towards the staff table, 'That's strange. I don't think I've ever seen the staff table so empty,' Ron said.

'Maybe they had a staff meeting and it's running overtime,' Hermione said.

'What about the Slytherin's?' Neville asked.

'Maybe they're all sick. It's easy for something like the flu to infect everyone in a house since they are close together every day after curfew,' Ron said as he began eating.

'It might be why most of the teachers aren't here, a lot of students are sick and that's why Pomfrey isn't here. So far most of the Gryffindor's are here and I would say almost all the Hufflepuff's are,' Hermione said.

It wasn't until near the end of dinner that the astronomy teacher stood up and said since something was definitely going on, all the students are to return to their house rooms for the night.

Everyone looked at everyone else. The students had never known for another teacher to make any type of announcement, only Dumbledore and McGonagall. The headmaster and deputy headmistress.

'What in the name of merlin is going on?' Ron asked the moment they stepped into Gryffindor tower.

'I'm sure we'll find out eventually,' Hermione groaned a little, 'I think something I ate was off.'

'It could be nerves because we know something is going on, again,' Neville said, 'But why don't you go see Pomfrey, just in case.'

'Yes, I might, I really don't feel well.'

Harry watched Hermione leave and he knew straight away that she had done something that caused her to be effected by the curse. He looked around the common room to see if any other Gryffindor's were missing. He knew some could be in their dorm room so he wasn't sure if any other Gryffindor had been affected by the curse. He would have to wait and see. He was more curious about what Hermione had done. He knew she could be annoying but the curse shouldn't affect her for that.

Hermione constantly asked Harry where he was, what he was doing, even what he was thinking. Harry had finally told her that what he was doing or thinking was his business and had nothing to do with her. But it made him suspicious. Was she asking just because she was a friend who liked to know everything, or was she asking because she had a reason, like she was finding the information for someone else. Was Hermione Granger spying on him and maybe others. He would wait and see how the curse affected her.

It was late when the twins told Ron that Ginny was in the hospital, she was sick but so far the healer didn't know what was wrong. Madam Pomfrey was also sick which is why there was another healer in the hospital. Cormack McGlaggen was another Gryffindor who was in the hospital. Three Gryffindor's, two Harry would never expect, Hermione and Ginny.

By the following morning, there were only three quarters of the students in the great hall and the same three teachers, Hagrid, Professor Sinistra and Madam Hooch. They knew Poppy Pomfrey was in one of her beds in the hospital and another healer was treating the students who were sick. They still had no idea where the rest of the staff or students where. Only Harry knew the truth.

Harry had known that people like some of the Slytherin's and Snape would have ended up cursed but he had been surprised with how many had been affected by the curse and some he would never believed would do anything bad. Now he realised that many people could hide who they truly were and hide what they did. They were paying for it now.

There was one thing that made Harry curious, now he had seen how the curse worked. He wanted to make sure it did work on muggles. The book said it would but he would like to be sure. He figured he would sneak away later and see if the curse would work on the four Dursley's along with Dudley's little gang. For now, he was hoping to hear more about who had been affected and how badly they were affected.

That night, once everyone was asleep, Harry thought about when could be a good time to sneak away to see if the Dursley's had he been affected or not. Either way, if Dumbledore was sick, he would make sure to sneak away and get to Grimmauld place. He never wrote Sirius name when he did the curse, he felt that Sirius had paid enough after spending twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit.

The following morning Neville overheard the Weasley twins talking to their friend Lee. He went straight over to Harry.

'Mrs Weasley was taken to St Mungo's and its serious. But it seems the hospital is over crowded that they had to squeeze in a lot of beds to each room.'

'Blimey, I wonder what is causing all this. Since we haven't seen the rest of the staff, do you think they might be in St Mungo's, or here in the hospital wing?'

'I would say St Mungo's. The healer standing in for Madam Pomfrey wouldn't be able to cope with them along with all the students.'

'Yeah, you're right, it would be way too many for any healer to look after,' Harry was curious about Mrs Weasley. She seemed nice enough if not a bit overbearing. The only thing he had heard that she did that he didn't like was when she used a love potion on her husband. Mr Weasley had said he was shy and she never used it again. Harry understood even if he still thought it was wrong for anyone to use those types of potions on people. He wonder if that's the reason Mrs Weasley was sick, the love potion caused the curse to make her sick.

Harry was very surprised every time he heard about another person who had been effected by the curse. He never believed most of them would have done anything wrong.

Harry looked up when Professor Sinistra entered the Gryffindor common room. Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore were the only teachers to ever enter Gryffindor tower. Harry and Neville saw the look on their astronomy teachers face as she approached the Weasley twins. From the look on their faces, they knew something serious was going on. Lee had raced up the boy's dorm room and came down a few minutes later with Ron following. All three Weasley boys followed their teacher out of the common room.

'Lee, what's going on?' Harry called across the room.

Lee hurried over to where Harry was sitting, 'Their mother died but Ginny has been taken to St Mungo's. It's serious and they aren't sure she's going to make it.'

'Do they knew what this is?' Neville asked.

'No, they still haven't found out what this is. They know it's not poison and it couldn't be a curse because it's affect so many that most of us don't interact with. They are beginning to look at muggle things that could infect a lot of people.'

'I doubt it was a muggle disease otherwise all of us would be infected. I've seen the odd television show on this type of thing. If it was airborne then all of us would be in hospital. If it's something that we have to touch, it would be the same. Hermione and Ginny got sick and I'm usually with Hermione and Ron. Ginny began to spend a lot of time with Hermione. If either of them had some disease then Ron and I would be sick.'

'Which means I would be as well since we've been sitting together a lot,' Neville said.

'I would be the same since I'm always with the twins and they do get close to Ginny and Ron at times when we're all in here,' Lee said.

'If you hear anything, can you let us know?' Harry asked.

'Sure, the moment I do,' Lee said then we to join his other friends.

'It has to be something that affects a lot of people but it's not contagious,' Harry said.

'Yeah, or we'd be sick. Ron and the twins especially since it's their sister and mother. If Mrs Weasley died, do you think others have?'

Harry made it seem like he was sad, 'Yeah, I do, we just don't know who or how many. There are only three members of staff here and about half the students. I figured the ministry might send people here to help the moment so many of the staff ended up sick. If there is any trouble, there isn't enough staff to help.'

'Which is probably why they want us to stay in the common room or library, apart from meals. Maybe people at the ministry are sick as well which is why they haven't sent anyone here. It's best to just remain in here.'

'Yeah, we should. I know I would like to fly but even if they allowed me to, I'm not sure I want to risk getting whatever this is. So you think it's affecting people in the ministry since they haven't send anyone here?'

'I think so, it makes sense.'

'Anyway, we should get down to breakfast.'

Harry had snuck out of Hogwarts late that night. Since Sirius taught him how to apparate, that's how he got to Little Whinging. Sirius believed Harry needed to learn in case he was kidnapped again. Harry needed to find out if this curse affected the Dursley's. Harry couldn't use magic out of Hogwarts but the twins did teach him how to pick locks. So after letting himself into the house, he kept his invisibility cloak over himself and made his way up the stairs. He checked Dudley's room first, it was empty. He checked on his aunt and uncle, their room was also empty. That confirmed it for Harry but he wanted to check on Dudley's gang. If they weren't in their beds, it meant they were in hospital. Harry always planned to deal with the Dursley's and Dudley's gang, he just never expected to be able to now and not when he was an adult.

It was the following morning, right after breakfast, Madam Amelia Bones made an announcement. Professor Dumbledore, Snape and Umbridge had died, along with Filch and many of the students. The rest are in hospital still suffering from this unexplained disease. There were three aurors and a few other people here as well, that she had been able to speak with who will be coming to Hogwarts. Since there were so many missing students, many of the classes will be combined but all the same aged students will now share classes until they could get some more permanent staff members. She did also announce the death of the minister, his staff along with three quarters of the Wizengamot. There were some other people who worked at the ministry that also died.

Just as Harry and Neville were leaving the great hall with the other Gryffindor's, Harry heard his name being called. He turned and saw Madam Bones.

'Um, yes ma'am.'

'I need to speak with you in private. We will use Professor McGonagall's office.'

'Okay,' Harry turned to Neville, 'I'll see you up there soon.'

'Yeah,' Neville stared after his friend and wondered what was going on. Harry didn't have any magical relatives so he didn't believe Madam Bones was informing him of someone's death. He would just have to wait until Harry arrived back in the common room.

'Don't look so worried Neville. I'm sure it's all fine,' Lee said as they sat in the Gryffindor common room.

'It's just Madam Bones. She wouldn't need to speak with him unless it was serious.'

'True but I still don't think it's anything to be worried about. Just wait until Harry returns.'

Neville nodded but he couldn't help feeling worried about Harry. Madam Bones is the head of the department of magical law enforcement. She was basically the boss of the aurors and hit wizards. She was boss of a lot of people so she had people who could deliver messages about lost loves ones or crimes.

It was nearly an hour when Harry arrived back in the common room, 'What happened?' Neville asked urgently.

'Oh, um, it's all good. After people began to get sick, healers got calls from a lot of people. Well, it seems when healers arrived at Malfoy manor, they found Voldemort, dead, along with a lot of death eaters, Narcissa Malfoy was taken to St Mungo's. The healers contacted Madam Bones. Anyway, they found Peter Pettigrew and saw his dark mark. I ended up explaining about Sirius and how he was really innocent. We used the floo in McGonagall's office to call Sirius. One of his cousins is an auror, she escorting Sirius to the ministry to officially declare him innocent and free. Oh, she also found out that it was Umbridge who sent dementors after me in the summer, Fudge knew as well. Oh, another thing, Percy Weasley worked for Fudge, he's in St Mungo's and their not sure he will make it either.'

'Blimey, so because you were the one who saw...him return and you're the-boy-who-lived, she wanted to tell you.'

'Yeah and about Peter. I stayed with Sirius before returning to Hogwarts. She figured I knew where he was. If I didn't, she was going to contact Remus Lupin, since they are good friends. Okay, so even though all the bad people are dead, some good ones died as well. I can't help feeling happy about Voldemort and his death eaters being dead yet I feel guilty for feeling happy.'

'I don't blame you. So even though we don't really need the DA, I wouldn't mind still learning from you.'

'We can still do that, it will help out with our owls. Oh, I wonder if we're still going to be having those tests since so many died?'

'I suppose we'll find out, sooner or later.'

It was known by the next day that Voldemort and his death eaters had all died. Many had gone up to Harry and apologised for believing what was written in the Daily Prophet. Harry shrugged it off, he might not have liked that everyone thought he was lying but he understood. Most people didn't know him so they didn't know if he was the type that would lie about Voldemort.

It was also know that Sirius was innocent, many asked Harry why he tried to break into Gryffindor tower. Harry had to explain about peter being an animagus, a rat that belonged to the Weasley's and Sirius was going after him since he was the one that betrayed his family.

By that evening at dinner, there were many people sitting at the staff table, two Harry knew.

Remus and Sirius were sitting beside Hagrid.

Right after Harry finished dinner, he hurried up to his godfather, 'What are you doing here Sirius?'

'Madam Bones asked me and Remus to take over defence against the dark arts. I'll be taking the fifth, sixth and seventh years, while Remus takes the rest. But on the wolf nights, I'll be handling all years for a few days. My cousin, Andromeda,' Sirius gestured to the dark haired woman, 'She's taking potions and her husband Ted is taking over history. The three aurors are taking charms, transfiguration and ancient runes.'

'Do you think we'll be taking our owls?'

'We have to assess everyone first cub. After what we heard of Umbridge, we know it's going to take a while to get everyone up to scratch,' Remus said, 'But having the two of us might mean you'll all be ready. Classes are starting next week but it doesn't mean you can't study your books. Also, new books are being delivered, free of charge for all years in defence.'

'I still have the books you assigned when you worked here, I can give them to the third years.'

'They will all help pup.'

'So, who is going to be headmaster, or mistress?'

'Madam Bones is working on that right now since all the governors are either sick or dead. Professor Sinistra is still in charge at the moment,' Remus said.

'Okay but I do get to live with you now, right Sirius?'

'Yes, that's all worked out as well. We're going to live in a house my uncle left me. He was one of the good ones. It will need a good clean but it's not dark like my parents place.'

'Great. Um, have you heard anything about Hermione and Ginny?'

'Both are classed as critical, that's all we know for now.'

'Okay, so I doubt Ron and the twins will be back any time soon.'

'No, not for a while. Molly and Percy died and they could lose Ginny. I'm sure Ron will write when he knows anything. We have to get to a staff meeting so you better head up to Gryffindor tower.'

'Okay, I'll see you both tomorrow,' Harry gave them a smile then hurried over to Neville who was waiting for him at the doors to the great hall.

'Are they going to be our teachers?' Neville asked the moment Harry joined him.

'Yeah, Sirius is taking the fifth, sixth and seventh years, Remus is taking the younger years. On the wolf nights, Sirius is taking all the students in defence.'

'Who was the dark haired woman and the man next to her?'

Harry stared at his friend, 'Sirius' good cousin, Andromeda Tonks. Yes, she is the sister of Bellatrix Lestrange but she was disowned by the family when she married a muggleborn. Ted Tonks is taking history while Andromeda takes potions. Sirius said she's nice Neville and hated most of her family, especially Bellatrix.'

'She looks like her.'

'Yeah, Sirius explained. There are three sisters but Narcissa Malfoy is the one that doesn't resemble the other two. Sirius did say they are still trying to figure out who will be headmaster, or mistress.'

'I supposed we'll have to used to a lot of changes around here. But what is causing this and why are some affected while others aren't?'

'I wish I knew Neville. Hopefully the healers will figure it out which will save lives.'

Harry really hoped the healers never figured it out. The people who died must have done terrible things but he was still surprised at some of the ones this curse affect. He knew Dumbledore was manipulative and didn't seem to worry about putting students in danger. But that wouldn't have cause the curse to kill him so it made Harry curious about what else Dumbledore had done. He hoped sooner or later Sirius might find out more then tell him. He knew there was a chance that no one will find out what any of them had done which meant, he would just have to wait and see if he got any answers.

When classes began, all the remaining students enjoyed their classes along with their new teachers. Sirius and Remus would also keep Harry updated on what was going on and if anyone else died. They knew Harry would tell his friends.

It was only a week later that Sirius told his godson that Ginny and Hermione had died and the healers still had no idea what was causing all the deaths. Even though Harry was sad that they died, he was also wondering just what they did that was so bad that the curse killed them.

It was another week before they had a new headmaster. He was an auror who was planning on retiring but his dream had always been to work at Hogwarts after he finished his auror career. Tim Proudfoot had introduced himself then explained some new rules, especially about bullying. He said all the students could prank and joke around as long as it didn't humiliate or hurt anyone.

Harry, Neville and the rest of the fifth years, which was half of what it used to be, finally sat their owls. Between Sirius and Remus, all the students were up to date in defence. The same with potions from Professor Andromeda Tonks and history with Professor Ted Tonks.

It was right as the owls finished that Harry spoke with Sirius about McGonagall and Pomfrey.

'They are slowly recovering but Minerva will never have her full healthy, so she basically retired. We're not sure if Poppy will be able to return. She doesn't do as much, mostly handing out potions and casting the odd charms, apart from bandaging. If she does return, it won't be for a while, so she may end up retiring, we won't know until she's been released.'

'Did they find out what is causing this?'

'No, they said if it was a curse, which there are a lot of curses that could do something like this. But it's all the people that makes them cautious and don't believe it's a curse. If it was someone dark, then why did they die along with light wizards? If it was light, then you have a lot of good people who also died. Curses target specific types of people.'

'Right, so it doesn't sound like a curse when it's affected people like Voldemort and Dumbledore.'

'Exactly. We may never know what this is but there hasn't been a new case in months, so I would say it's over. The ones still sick are healing.'

Harry acted relieved before hugging his godfather then hurrying to the great hall ready for dinner.

As Harry rode the carriage down the long drive to Hogsmeade, he thought about how this school year had started, to how it ended. Even though he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, he still felt he did the right thing. If he didn't, he knew that he and many other good people would not be alive right now.

Harry made the world a better place, but no one would ever know he had anything to do with it. He decided to just enjoy the rest of his time at Hogwarts especially now he knew that it was a much better school that the one it had been. As far as Harry was concerned, his life was finally looking up.

The end: