A/N: Hi, thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the first part of this, you're all very cool people :)
Disclaimer: Nothing that you recognize is mine. Now, on with the story.
Chapter 2
"Chocolate Orange," Harry said as he approached the gargoyle. He watched it open, stood on the moving stairs until they reached the door at the top, and knocked; Professor Dumbledore opened it almost immediately.
"Come right in, Harry. I've arranged for breakfast to be served in my office for you and your friends - I assume they are planning on being in attendance?"
"Well, yes, I was just going to ask you."
"Shall we go down and retrieve them, then?"
"Yes, sir," Harry said, and both he and Dumbledore rode the stairs together.
When they reached the bottom, an expectant Ron and Hermione were just rounding the corner.
"Shall we?" offered Dumbledore, and the four were carried up the stairs (yet again for Harry, who was a little queasy by the time they reached the top). They seated themselves around the table in the office, and at Dumbledore's urging helped themselves to breakfast. When they were finished he began to speak.
"First, I would like to congratulate the three of you. I am assuming you know that Voldemort has not been completely killed; however, he has been reduced to a state as weak as the time directly following his first attempt at killing Harry. You three have done more than any wizards your age that I have heard of, and you all have the right to feel very proud and capable right now."
Harry looked at Ron and knew that his friend did not. He kicked him silently under the table and pretended he didn't notice the venomous look that Ron gave him afterwards.
"When Voldemort was at the peak of his original reign of terror, he performed a very ancient, very powerful, and very difficult spell that would enable him to survive even after his body was exterminated. The only way he can truly die is if his death is self-administered, that is, if he kills himself. That, as you know, is not very likely to occur in the near future."
"That doesn't change the fact that we failed," Ron muttered. Hermione put her hand on his, and this seemed to shush him for the time being.
"When Voldemort showed you dead," Harry began, "I mean, how did you…?"
"Ah yes. He wasn't lying. It was our dear Professor Sprout actually; the wards around the immediate vicinity of the castle are too strong for even Voldemort to penetrate on his own."
"But Professor," Hermione interrupted with a confused look on her face, "how did you survive? No one except for Harry, not even the most powerful wizard, has survived the death curse."
"I will tell you, Ms. Granger, that I did not do it on my own. A new, very new charm, still in its experimental stages, is in development to repel and reflect the death curse. I volunteered to test it so that they could monitor the results in the sad case that I should get attacked. They are not actually testing the charm with the curse, as that would be dangerous and probably result in some unnecessary deaths."
"It worked then? That's great!" Hermione said, excited. "This will revolutionize, well, everything!"
"It may in time," said Dumbledore. "It is extremely difficult to perform, and it didn't exactly work as it should. It is true that the curse didn't kill me, but the charm didn't block it completely; I was petrified. Luckily Madame Pomfrey had some antidote for it, so I was revived almost immediately."
"Oh," Hermione said, looking a little disappointed.
"I'm afraid most of the information dealing with the charm is confidential; it could be highly dangerous if it were in the wrong hands, you know," Dumbledore said. "But," he continued, eyes twinkling, "you shouldn't fret just yet, Ms. Granger. I heard you were accepted into Wizard University with a scholarship, and the spell was actually developed by professional researchers who were working along with students. Maybe this is a field that you should consider."
Hermione looked surprised for a moment, then smiled shyly. "Maybe I will," she happily replied.
"Now, if there aren't any other questions to attend to, I am going to go contact the University and explain the situation to them. And I believe that you three have some preparing to do for the very large party that is being held tonight. There has been precious little to celebrate for the past 3 years, and we're taking advantage of it."
None of them spoke, so Dumbledore smiled and stood up. " I believe The Daily Prophet is waiting downstairs in the great hall to interview you, if I may warn you. Incidentally, you three are exempt from all exams excluding the N.E.W.T.s, and Gryffindor has been awarded 5,000 points. Have a good day, and I will see you all somewhere in the school I'm sure." He escorted them down the stairs and into the hallway. They watched the gargoyle close behind them and began to walk back to the common room, unnoticed by their peers (who they presumed to be in class).
Chapter 3
Harry smiled as he remembered the previous two weeks; despite his N.E.W.T.'s, they had been two of the happiest, most carefree weeks of his life. Hermione, however, had been another story; she hadn't participated in even the first night of partying because she was studying in the library. Harry had barely seen her except in the exam rooms, and she had always had a sort of ghostly look about her and dark circles under her eyes. Now, she was catching up on some much-needed sleep. Ron was cavorting the halls somewhere with Dean and/or Seamus (and probably one or two 4th year girls). Harry was left to pack and ponder his immediate future: his last hellish summer with the Dursleys.
In a way, he knew it wouldn't be nearly as bad as previous summers; after all, an end would be in sight. Not just an end, as had been the case with previous summers, but the end. He would be 18 on July 31, and the Dursleys would surely be helping him pack his bags (and probably even wait with him by the door on the night of July 30 as he counted down the seconds to midnight, laughing and reminiscing about old times). But first he must endure the months before that day, the months of being tortured by Dudley and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, the months of hunger and conversation depravation.
He tried to ignore this, and instead tried to focus on the tiny problem creeping into his mind: where would he stay once the guarantee of a home, albeit a horrid one, ran out? He knew that the Weasleys wouldn't mind allowing him to stay with them, and he even knew that he would enjoy it; the Weasleys were the family he never had. But he also knew he would feel extremely guilty; he was not a child anymore and could stay on his own.
He would ask Ron about it when he got back from doing whatever he was doing, Harry decided; after all, his first summer alone was more than a year away, and that was more than enough time to figure something out. But first, there was another summer with the Dursleys to contend with.
Harry was packing more and more vigorously, hating the Dursleys with increased animosity as the seconds wore on, wishing that Ron would get back or that Quidditch hadn't ended the month before (Gryffindor had won the cup, as well as every game, and Harry had ended his Hogwarts career with only one official miss, to Cedric Diggory in his 4th year). Kicking his trunk closed in frustration, he grabbed his new Lightningbolt broom (a Christmas gift from Sirius; Harry was afraid to ask where he had gotten the money), opened the window, and took off.
He rocketed over the grounds as fast as he could, going as close to the trees as humanly possible before jerking away at the last second. The cool, early evening air was like a salve to his angry attitude and he felt his soul fly free as he flew low over the lake. The calm body of water mirrored the pink sunset. He slowed down, took his sneakers off, threw them on the shore, and dangled his feet in the water as he flew, throwing all fears of anything lurking beneath to the wind.
Finally, he came to a near stop at the center of the lake and just stared at the sunset.
"Nice, eh?" a voice suddenly sounded from behind him, frightening him so much that he fell off of his broom and into the mirror-like water with a loud splash.
When he emerged from the watery depths, glasses crooked and sopping wet hair hanging in his face, he made out Ginny Weasley laughing so hard that she almost fell off of her broom as well.
"What did you do that for?!" he called as she swooped over to help him.
"I didn't do anything, Harry," she spoke between fits of giggles.
"Sure, sure, you just wanted to get me in my underwear again," he muttered as she handed him his broom, though, despite the fact that he was cold and wet, he was smiling as best as he could.
"Well, I did want to have that chance again. Last time I didn't even take advantage of the situation."
Harry laughed as he vaulted himself back onto his wet broom.
"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny," he said as he began to fly, with her in close pursuit. "A few years ago you wouldn't even look at me, let alone even dream of making a comment like that.
"Harry, times changed and so have I," she replied, grinning impishly as she moved even with him.
"I know. Who would have thought you would have beaten out Percy for grades, Ms. Prefect," she bowed slightly, "AND still beat Fred and George in the stunts you pull?"
"That, my dear Harry," she said as she followed his lead in a low dive around the castle, "has never been proven."
Harry gave her a sideways glance. It was true, she had never been caught.
"Tell me… whatever happened to the tiny blushing 1st year who couldn't even look at my dashing masculine form without going into admiring convulsions?"
"Well," said Ginny, "The same thing that happened to the 2nd year who wouldn't even talk to me to find out what a wonderful person I was until I started killing chickens and getting whisked away by ghost boys and evil snakes. But now that you mention it, there was the fact that you had no interest in me whatsoever."
"I wouldn't turn you down now," Harry teased as he began to increase his speed dramatically.
"Keep those hands for the golden snitch, Potter, I've got a boyfriend," she grinned broadly.
"Lucky guy he is too." Harry suddenly performed half loop, spun out of it equally as quickly, and began to dive back toward the lake. When he looked to his left, however, Ginny was still there. He whistled.
"Will you marry me?" he asked jokingly as he suddenly bolted upward.
"No," she replied, still even with him. He began to weave in and out of the trees.
"Why not?" he asked, going into the Wronski Feint. She knew exactly what he was doing, and pulled out of it right along with him.
"Because I'm prettier than you," she answered.
"No, you've got it wrong," he replied, suddenly gunning it for the castle wall. "I'm the pretty one." At the last possible second, his broom's angle changed 90 degrees and he began flying up the side of the castle.
"Really, Potter," Ginny responded, still next to him and not taking her eyes off of what was ahead of her. "Whatever you say."
"No, whatever you say, Ginny."
Harry stopped suddenly at the boys' dorm window, trying not to pant from exhaustion. Ginny looked like she was doing the same.
"Well, Weasley," Harry commented as he hovered, having turned himself right side up again. She followed suit. "Enjoying the new Lightningbolt, are you?"
"Potter, I worked all summer for three years for this thing, and then I had to wait until one of them had a manufacturer's defect so that the permanent lettering had a capital N instead of L, and then I had to wait for them to ship it to me. Yes, I'm enjoying it."
"Well worth it, too," he commented, green eyes sparkling. "Certainly not wasted on a lack of talent." She had to smile at this. "You'll be a great seeker next year, Ginny," he said, tone softening.
"Harry, I've always sucked compared to you."
"No you haven't. Alright, you've convinced me, you have. And even so, you've always been better than Malfoy." She gave him a sideways smile. "And don't forget, the option of marrying me and learning all of my secrets is still open."
"Only if Colin can come on the honeymoon."
"Ouch, rejected for the third time. Why do you toy with my heart so?" Harry mockingly shielded his eyes as if he were crying.
"Well, because it's fun, Harry," Ginny responded, eyes twinkling.
"I had a feeling it was something like that," Harry answered, returning the twinkle. He noticed that she was watching the last rays of sun sink behind the trees. Turning to look, he absorbed the blue and purple gradient that the sky had become. Last Hogwarts sunset, he thought with a pang of remorse.
He sat with Ginny and watched the sky fade into a bluish black ornamented with winking stars.
"Mind if I come in your way?" Ginny suddenly asked, motioning toward the window. "The girls' dorm window is on the other side."
"Not at all, Ginny dear. Ladies first," Harry motioned toward the window. Ginny ignored his mockery, went first anyway, and waited as Harry flew in behind her.
"See you later Harry," Ginny said. Harry nodded, and she left the foreign dorm in search of her familiar one. As he watched her leave, he was glad that they had been able to become such good friends after her infatuation with him passed. The sight of his half-packed luggage brought him back down to earth and replaced that rather nice thought with an image of the piggish Dudley laughing at him. Frustrated, he kicked his trunk and sat down on his bed, ignoring the pain in his foot.
Just then, Ron's voice echoed up the stairwell. Harry heard it call "I'll see you later, Jessica!" and waited for his red hair and freckled face to appear at the door. He was not disappointed; Ron's grin appeared seconds later.
"What's wrong, Harry?" he asked immediately as he began squishing his belongings into his trunk. As much as Harry loved having heart-to-heart conversations with Ron about his inner feelings, he decided to artfully avoid the topic.
"So, Ron," he began.
"Yeah?" Ron replied in a muffled voice (he was holding a shirt in his mouth).
"Last night at Hogwarts," he continued.
Ron spit the shirt out and replied, "So?"
"What do you say we commemorate the occasion?"
"And how do you suppose we do that?"
Harry felt a semi-evil smile cross his face, and watched Ron's eyebrow rise in a conniving expression.
***
Admittedly, they didn't do anything monumental, simply because they didn't really feel like doing anything to anyone except for Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle (and because they didn't have any really good ideas). They considered some chocolate frogs, a la Fred and George, that would make them burst into song and dance whenever the trigger spell was recited, but they scratched the idea when they realized that the only one who would know how to do that was Hermione. As they moaned about this in the common room, they were suddenly startled by the landing of a bag of chocolate frogs in Ron's lap.
"Been planning it for weeks," they heard Hermione's smug voice say from behind them. Harry's green eyes sparkled at her as they never had before. She looked up and smiled, almost modestly. "I couldn't leave Hogwarts without intentionally doing something wrong, could I?"
"Says the head girl," Ron remarked.
"I worked hard to be head girl, Ron," Hermione answered. "I've studied, been good—"
"You mean, good at not getting caught?"
"Ron!" Hermione hissed.
Ron shrugged. "So, is the head girl going to go with us to administer the frogs, or are we to do it without the honor of her company?"
"Shove it, Ron. Go by yourselves," Hermione said, sitting down and readying paper and a quill. "I have to write to Viktor."
At this, Ron grimaced. "Tell Krummy I said hello then, won't you?" he replied in a girly falsetto. She gave him a look. He told Harry to come on, and left the room, Harry hurrying after him with the invisibility cloak.
***
Two hours later they returned, wet, panting, and laughing. Hermione decided that she didn't want to know, but that she would ask anyway.
"So, how did it go?"
"How did what go?" Ginny, who had been conversing with Hermione, butted in.
"Well, we got in okay, and put it right by where Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were sitting," Harry replied. "We saw them pick it up, and then we left."
"What happened then? You look like you had to make a daring escape into a toilet."
"What did you do?" Ginny asked again.
"Well, not a toilet," Ron answered to Hermione. "Just a bath. And never chide me for making friends with 4th year girls again, Hermione, because it came in very useful today."
"Making friends my arse," Hermione muttered, her arms crossed. "So how did you almost get caught?"
"What did you guys do that you almost got caught at?" Ginny interrupted again.
"Your intelligent friend Ron threw off the invisibility cloak and began to skip down the hall," Harry addressed to Hermione. "Filch was right behind us, it turned out. When we were running away, we found some of Ron's 'friends' and they hid us in the girls' bathroom until the coast was clear. Then, we ran back here."
"Hid you in their tub. How clever."
"No, not hid us, kind of pushed us in… and they weren't actually in the tub, if that's what you're worried about, Hermione," Ron responded.
"I wasn't 'worried' about anything," Hermione snapped.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Ginny yelled. Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at her with blank looks on their faces.
"You'll find out tomorrow, like everyone else," Harry answered smugly. She glared.
The three friends stayed up late that night. They reminisced about happy things, like the time in 4th year when Draco Malfoy was caught trying to fight with them and was turned into a ferret by Mad Eye Moody, or the time in 6th year when Draco Malfoy was caught threatening to beat up Colin Creevy at The Three Broomsticks and turned into a ferret by Madame Rosmarta, or the time earlier that year when he was caught trying to cheat in a Quidditch match against Gryffindor and turned into a ferret by most of the 7th year Gryffindor boys (and more than a few girls). Yes, Hogwarts held fine memories for them all, and they would miss it. They talked long after the fire had burned itself into ashes and the house elves came to restock it for the morning.
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