OH BRAVE NEW WORLD
By: Hibob
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns all of the characters with the exception of James Black.
Warning: The chapter contains descriptions of violence.
Chapter 8: Cry Havoc
"Harry," Draco called softly, "are you awake?" "What time is it," Harry asked? "Half Past. Time to go." The two boys quickly dressed for the cold night, and walked out to the Slytherin House common room. Pansy was waiting for them. "What are you doing?" Harry asked in surprise. "I'm going with you," Pansy said, "You need a judge, and I thought I would be the best person to keep you honest." At this, Draco snorted, trying to hold back a laugh. Harry took her hand, returning her smile "Let's go," he said.
Slipping out of Hogwarts was easy, thought Harry. "Don't you have to worry about Mrs. Norris," he asked? "She had an accident last year," Draco answered, "Filch hasn't gotten a new cat yet." Draco's tone told him not to ask about the accident.
They were standing in the middle of the Quidditch pitch when Ron appeared just after midnight. With him were Dean Thomas and James Black. Ron introduced Sean as his second, and asked Harry if Draco was his second. When Harry nodded, Ron pointed to Pansy and asked, "What is she doing here?" Pansy stepped up to him and said, "I'm the judge." Then James Black stepped forward as though he were in charge. "No, you are not," said the first form. "I have Truce with Harry. I am to be judge." Pansy nodded and stepped back.
James ordered the two duelists to shake hands. As Ron asked Harry if he was afraid, Harry suddenly raised a hand to his scar and grunted. As he raised his hand to rub his forehead, the entire atmosphere changed. As though on cue, Pansy pulled out her wand and, pointing it straight up, shouted, "Illuminatus." A fireball shot into the sky lighting up an area of more than two hundred yards. It was almost immediately followed by fireballs from Dean and Draco. "Dementors," Ron called, pointing to a group of a half dozen of the creatures already at the edge of the pitch. "And there," called out James pointing to another part of the grounds. They watched the creatures advance quickly across the field. "We'll never make it," cursed Draco as he looked back at the school, where windows were already beginning to show light. "Get behind me," Harry said, as he raised his wand. "Expecto Patronum," he shouted. A brilliant white stag instantly appeared, and began to attack the dementors. At this point the students turned and ran for the school. Harry staggered under the strain of holding the spell, combined with the effect of so many dementors around him, as well as the increasing pain from his scare. When he fell, Draco yelled to Ron to grab him. They each grabbed an arm, and ran with him as fast as they could. Harry could feel the Patronus getting weaker as he grew weaker, and as their distance increased.
The race back to the school was a blur with Harry catching only glimpses of what was happening. He remembered seeing fireballs shooting up everywhere, making the entire school grounds as bright as noon. At one point he saw a group of wizards and witches flying brooms in formation. Just as they reached the doors, Harry was laid on a stretcher, barely conscious. Suddenly he saw a British Army officer standing over him saying he was a medic. Someone said something about Patronus, and the officer laughed, pulling out a bar of chocolate, saying something about all of his cases being this easy. The last thing Harry remembered before he passed out, was eating the chocolate.
When Harry awoke there was daylight coming in the window. The pain in his head was now a dull throb, and that was slowly fading. He looked around and saw Draco sitting in a chair by his bed, his left hand bandaged. "What happened," Harry asked? " You missed it," Draco said, grinning like a Cheshire cat, "We won!" "Won what, What Happened," asked Harry again. Draco laughed, "the battle, of course. It was great." Harry looked startled. "There was a battle?" "I'll start at the beginning," Draco said, laughing again. "You know about your scar, of course. It always hurts when Voldemort is near or is planning something. When it began to hurt, we shot of the signals. They thought they had us, but we caught them with their pants down." When Harry cleared his throat, Draco went back to his story. "The dementors were the first wave, Harry, and when you performed the Patronus Charm, they stopped, all along the line. They didn't expect that at all. That gave us the time to secure the school. You're a hero, Harry."
"I thought I saw a soldier..." Harry said. "You mean the Queens Highlanders, They had half a regiment through by the time we got back to the school." At the confused look he got, Draco explained, "they've had practice runs, bringing troops in with floo powder and a dozen fireplaces." "They were muggle soldiers," Harry asked. "Of course," Draco told him, "Letting the muggles know about us was the first thing Black did as minister. It solved a lot of problems, too. By not hiding ourselves, it was easier to flush out Voldemort's supporters. Once, magic became common knowledge the various governments were able to set safeguards to protect themselves from Voldemort's interference. On top of this, muggles are developing things that wizards are finding magical. We are already doing research into making magic and electricity work together. And then there is the infantry. Once you see what a burst from an SA-80 will do to a dementor, you'll want a platoon of your own." Draco laughed again as he said this.
"Draco, you are supposed to be in bed, yourself," said Dumbledore. Taking the hint, Draco waved goodbye to Harry, saying he would be back. As he left, Dumbledore sat down in the chair. "Why aren't there more people here," Harry asked, "Draco said there was a big battle?" Dumbledore smiled politely, "The actual infirmary is now in the Great Hall." Harry nodded. "I came to apologize to you, Harry," the Headmaster said, "for using you, and almost getting you killed." "I'm sorry, Sir," Harry said, "I don't follow." "It was easy, Harry, I could have kept you quiet, not told anyone, and hid you until you left. Instead, I let it become general knowledge, hoping to convince Voldemort that we were at a weak point. I was counting on you having the same affinity to him that Del has, and I was right. Voldemort attached, and by, bad timing or good luck, you were able to give us an early warning. That you performed the Patronus Charm was a complete surprise and a welcome one." "And were we lucky," Harry asked. "Very," Dumbledore said. "I believe we would have won anyway, but at a much greater cost. Because of you, the dementors never had a chance to get close enough to the school. When the troops arrived, they cut right through those vile creatures. We have the Minister to thank for that. But our biggest luck was that the giants never showed up for battle. We can't be sure why." Dumbledore paused. "Do you forgive me?" Knowing it was expected, Harry said, "there is nothing to forgive, Sir. You did what you had to do." "Thank you, Harry, I do appreciate your saying that." At that, Dumbledore handed a packet to Harry. "Please keep this on you at all times. It is for my counterpart. I hope he finds this information useful." Harry nodded and put the packet away, noticing for the first time that he was still wearing his robes. As he looked back, Dumbledore was already standing. As he left, he told Harry to get some more rest.
As he closed his eyes, he heard Seamus Finnigan ask, "Malfoy, who's Harry." Harry looked over at the screen separating him from the next bed. "It's me, Seamus, I'm Harry. I thought everybody knew." Suddenly, Madam Pomfrey was there. "Both of you need to rest, and I do mean now. Seamus, I'll tell you all about it as soon as you are stronger." Seamus spoke up again in his weak voice, "I thought I heard the Malfoys talking about a battle." Madam Pomfrey cursed Draco under her breath. "We'll talk later, Seamus, you need to rest." "Please," Seamus asked, "did we win." Harry laughed, and remembered a phrase Dudley (the fat one) once used for a month straight. "We kicked butt," he called out. He heard weak laughter, followed by a coughing fit. After Seamus was calmed down, and obviously asleep, Madam Pomfrey stepped around the screen. Harry began to whisper an apology but he was stopped. "Seamus was hurt badly last week and hasn't had much reason to be happy. You made him smile, Harry. A small bout of coughing is worth his change of attitude." Madam Pomfrey walked back to her office softly muttering, "We kicked butt," and laughing to herself.
An hour later, Harry woke up to find Draco was back, this time with his father. "Are you feeling hungry," Lucius asked? Harry admitted that he was. "Where do we eat?" Harry asked, remembering about the Great Hall. Lucius replied, "The students are eating in their common rooms, but I thought you and Draco would rather stay at our rooms for a couple of days, Until things get sorted out. Wars can be terribly messy." Lucius said the last part in such a nonchalant way, both boys had to laugh.
Harry got out of the bed and stood up. The room spun for a couple of seconds but then politely stopped, saving him the embarrassment of having to lie down again. Looking over at Draco, he saw the bandaged hand, and gave him a questioning look. "I flew too close to a curse," Draco said, ending his sentence in a laugh, again. Lucius let his anger and pride show, saying, "You're lucky you were only injured, or I would have killed you." "Father, I had to," Draco protested, "those troops had no one to fly scout after..." Turning to Harry, Draco said, "Father was right. It was a stupid thing I did." Harry nodded again. He was doing that a lot lately. He knew Draco was about to say a name, someone he knew, but stopped to save him the pain. "Seamus Finnigan is feeling better," Harry said, to change the subject, "he even laughed when I told him we won the battle." The smile returned to Lucius face, "Madam Pomfrey told us how we, what was that phrase?" Draco laughed again.
Then Pansy Parkinson walked in. They exchanged smiles. "I talked to the Headmaster, " she said softly, "and I just wanted to thank you for being a friend." Harry couldn't help but ask, "Are you leaving?" Pansy grinned and shook her head, "no silly, you are, remember." Then she turned serious. She told the three of them that the next two days were the most likely time that Harry would return to his world. Since the students were to stay in their Houses for the most part, and Harry would be staying with the Malfoys, this would be the only chance she might have to see him. "Professor," Pansy asked, "Would you mind if I ask Harry a personal question?" At his nod, she turned to Harry. "Harry, have you ever kissed a girl before?" He started to laugh and say of course he had, but he knew what Pansy meant, and what she was going to ask. "No, Why," he said. "Well, " she said starting to blush. Blushing also, Harry told her, "I'd love to."
"Oh gods, do I have to watch this," Draco interrupted. "No," said Pansy, "you can wait on the other side of the window if you'd rather." "Go ahead," Lucius said in encouragement.
Harry Potter was kissing a girl for the first time in his life, and it was a sad moment for him. He was kissing her goodbye.