Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter, now matter how yummy I make them out to be. Don't own Adamo Redamo (go read it though, marvelous fic) I don't own Terry Pratchett stuff and I don't own The Enchanted forest by Patricia C Wrede, which are all fun books.

A/N- This chapter will be a tad more light hearted, and romantic…

THAT LOVIN' FEELING

Harry sat down quickly and sighed as Seamus began to knead his shoulders.

"Ah god, right there." Harry said and then let out along breath as Seamus worked out his knots. "Damn that feels good."

"Yeah, but how do you do this to yourself Harry?" Seamus asked. Harry shrugged, throwing Seamus a little of balance and then scolded Harry for moving. Harry chuckled and let Seamus go back to working on him.

Next to them Ron sat in his chair playing with Charlie, his rat that Charlie had given him. The red rat was dashing to and fro while Ron dangled a piece of string for him. This rat was very different from Scrabbers, or rather Wormtail, it was bigger for one thing, and red for another, but it was much more intelligent and nice over all. Crookshanks even took to it well, especially after Hermione had a "talk" with her cat in cat form. Neville had been quite proud of turning Hermione into a cat, until he realized that he was to tired to turn her back and had to rest for a bit, during which Hermione dashed around the castle and came back looking very smug.

When they asked her what she'd done she'd only smile and say nothing. Needless to say this scared all of them.

"So Harry, you going to the Dueling club today?" Ron asked. Harry started to nod, and then answered yes. Seamus smiled.

"See? Not so hard and I'm almost done." Harry smiled.

"No I think not, you get to keep doing this for forever." Seamus smiled and leaned down whisper in his ear-

"Sorry, only half of forever, we can't forget Draco can we?" Harry sighed.

"Damn him… No I have it! He can do me as well!" Harry said triumphantly, making Parvati Dean and Ron shoot him weird looks. Harry blushed and Seamus smiled.

"You need to learn to control your mouth better Harry, although-

"STOP!" Dean said forcefully. "I just know that what you were going to say was wrong, so no more talking for the day." Seamus pouted, and then concentrated on Harry's shoulders again.

Damn he keeps tensing up, what is bugging him? I wish I could help- Suddenly Seamus' hand began to glow and Harry felt something surge through him, energy, life, it revitalized him and made him feel, good.

"Wow." Ron said softly, and the other three stared.

"Jesus, what next, Dean can transform into a frog at will?" Parvati snapped. She looked at Dean. "You'd tell me if you could right?"

The dungeons were very, well, dungeony. They were dark and dank, but it was the sort of dankness that had been building for slightly over a thousand years. It was a matured dankness, it had been distilled and refined for so long that it achieved a sort of super-dankness. Snape liked it, the shadows felt nice, he liked the shadows, and he hated swimming. He didn't like water in general, and he wasn't that fond of the sun. A childhood of sunburn could do that to a man.

"So why the hell am I out here?" He wondered aloud, making Fleur giggle.

"Come on Severus, catch me if you can?" She called and ran out onto the water, she popped some Gillyweed into her mouth and dove in. Snape sighed and looked at the odd ball in his hand before eating it. He waited and suddenly he couldn't breathe, and it burned and everything looked weird-

But when he collapsed into the water it felt, glorious. He was flying through the warmth that was so very refreshing and he felt so alive! He looked around and then was poked in the back by Fleur, who then swam off quickly. He smiled and followed her; he could play these games just as well as she could!

He followed her, twisting and whirling through the water, he laughed as she plowed into a Grindylow and smacked it as it grabbed her. It howled and swam off. Severus swam up, his pale skin looked like it was glowing and he was smiling, something that changed his entire demeanor. And most of all, his arm was clean, he felt no shame in having his arm bear to the world, the mark was gone. Fleur twisted back like the little nymph she was and swam away from him again. Snape grinned even bigger.

"You can run, but you can't hide!" He shouted, and was rewarded by delicate arms encircling him.

"But why would I want to do either?"

"Remus!" Sirius said joyfully as he enveloped his love in an embrace that threatened to break the ribs of the other man.

"Down boy down!" Remus squeaked and Sirius laughed cheerfully. Then he smashed his face against Remus' and tried to inhale his tonsils. Remus growled deep in his chest, something that made Sirius shiver with pleasure in a way that transcended sex and struck a chord buried deep in his brain…

He trailed down Remus' neck began to undo his robes. Remus smiled and did the same to him, and then lifted Sirius up and in the air by pinning his arms to his side. Sirius laughed at Remus' superhuman strength, a carry over from his werewolf blood.

After they reached the bed Sirius locked his lips against Remus and didn't let up. Remus groaned as his skin met Sirius' and felt heat rush through every vessel in his body. After that, what they did was really nobody's business…

Draco sat in the Slytherin common room brooding. He had found himself doing that a lot lately, it was easier than taking action or anything. Thinking sharpened the wits, it focused the senses-

An owl hooted and flew in through the window into the room. The Slytherin common room was higher than the rest of the dungeons, and had a wide window that opened into the outside. Salazar had seen no point in making his students walk to the Owlery, or wait for breakfast for that matter for their mail, it made little sense and he'd laughed at how Griffyndor had "hmphed" when he'd shown them. Not that Draco knew any of this, actually, going back to Draco-

"What?" He asked quietly, and took the letter off the leg of the eagle owl. He recognized it as Hadrian, his father's personal bird. He opened the letter and his face paled as his eyes went wide.

Dear Draco,

Draco, before you do anything rash, your mother and I do love you. Now, we know about you and the Potter boy, along with that Finnigan boy. Don't ask how, you should know better and your mother says to stop grimacing (Draco stopped grimacing and wondered how the hell his mom could have predicted that, she never spent time with him…) but we do know. Because of this we are abandoning the Dark Lord's cause, although nothing will change. However I do not want you crawling to that Mudblood lover like some sort of cowardly child.

You can pursue- relations- with those two, but your mother and I have a command, you will provide us with an heir, a pureblooded heir, after that you may live however it makes you happy. Do not try and contact us, we are leaving, the estate has had the Cruen Tutela curse put on it, the house elves are with us and nobody can get in except for either you, your mother and myself. It will take weeks to break if Voldemort wishes to try, and Dumbledore as well.

However we would appreciate it if you would speak on our behalf to that old Mudblood fuc lover (Draco grinned, he imagined his mother's disapproving expression as Lucius wrote this) but don't be, un-Malfoy is the best I can say. We will write you as needed, and if you must contact us, and it must be an emergency, you can ask Potter to take you to the Chamber of Secrets, and have him ask the snake head to "summon the Slayer."

Love,

Your Parents.

Draco stared at the note in thought. This was- unlike his parents to put it lightly. His fat- Lucius had never been so joking in years, as far back as Draco could remember Lucius had been the cruel unreasoning arrogant bastard that he was now. And as for his mother- she was just really- well she wasn't bad but she wasn't good. But this was… this was fucked up…

"What do they want?" He whispered, only to hear a snicker. He turned to see Pansy looking as predatory as always, it was in her eyes. They were void of feelings, they were the kind of eyes that saw people as objects, but were utterly ruthless at the same time. They were quite frightening. But Draco let none of this show.

"What?" He asked, his voice husky and with a very small amount of threat buried in it. There were entire conversations in the Slytherin dungeons that passed between only body language, and whole different ones in the inflection of certain words. It was a difficult atmosphere to grow up in, but it taught all Slytherin certain values and talents, ones that would enable to reach any goal they desired.

"They want out, they know that the Dark Lord will never win, not truly. What we need is a real leader, one that respects the one thing that matters, power. There is no good and evil, no mudblood and pureblood, there is only power, there are no Muggles and wizards, it's all about power." Pansy's eyes lit and there was a zealous fire in them that made Draco step back mentally. And then it was gone as soon as it had come; masked over so swiftly you couldn't tell it was there. Insanity is very dangerous when it can be turned on and off like a switch. And aside from that Draco would have to watch her…

Because Pansy was far more dangerous than anyone ever gave her credit for.

Dumbledore nodded as Ron came up to his office. It had been a little while since he'd last talked with boy, telling him that soon he would be in the possession of immensely powerful magic, had tried to prepare him for the unexpected, anything that might help him. Beside him Neville shifted uncomfortably and Harry raked a hand through his hair.

Neville fiddled with the ring on his finger, taking comfort in its presence. It kept his power fro manifesting itself to quickly, something that came in handy quite often. Harry sat up and next Ron walked in the door. He looked anxiously between the two and Dumbledore nodded and then looked at his watch.

"Harry where is Ms. Granger?" Harry cast his mind out quickly, like a mental net and he dragged it through all the minds of the school, he quickly found Hermione running towards them her thoughts in a jumble and-

Harry's eyes widened and he looked briefly at Ron before saying, "She's coming Headmaster, she just had something on her mind…" Harry trailed off and shook his head, was there some sort of virus going around making everyone gay?

Hermione stumbled into the office, her hair slightly disheveled from running there. She straightened and finger combed her hair, before taking a seat next to Fawkes who cooed.

"Excellent, no Mr. Weasley, there are for you." And Dumbledore gave him a worn pair of gauntlets. The covered the upper half of the forearm, but didn't touch the fingers, only covered the palm in a circle. Ron put them on and they changed, they became pure white, and had an incredibly soft look of expensive fur, with gold runes embroidered into them. Ron looked at them and then at Dumbledore.

"And what else?" Dumbledore frowned.

"I, I don't know, we will have to find out." Neville leaned over to peer at them, Hermione looking at them and then in the book. Her eyes widened at what she read.

"Uhm, Headmaster the book is- uhm, well it's telling you to 'stop being such a git and just let the boy find out on his own, Helga says that experience is the best teacher sometimes, and we agree.'" She looked up at him. Dumbledore looked at the book and raised an eyebrow. Hermione looked down at the book and then she flushed.

"And uhm, well it says that you look stupid in purple, don't ever wear that one pair of robes again." At this Dumbledore shot the book a nasty glance, and then smiled.

"Very well, let's follow the book's advice."

"King, I don't know that we should do that-" Lady began, but King waved his hand.

"Nonsense, all of us have our wands embedded now, and that's all that matters." Around him was the Court. Queen sat to his right, his beautiful Chinese fire-goddess that ruled his heart and enjoyed his passions. Countess, her undying and undead beauty was as hard as it was sexual. And Duke, his thick black body was full of muscle, he wasn't the most powerful wizard ever, but he was the best they had for dueling aside from Duchess. Ah Duchess, a woman that was short and had frizzy hair and a nasty expression on her face, and quite possibly the most magically inclined of all of them, with the ability to blast people apart faster than they could blink.

Lady was there as well, she was slightly insane he knew, but as such she would take on incredible risks and always manage to pull it off. And then there was Count, the only Muggle on the council, he was not a pretty man, but he held all the strings as much as King hated to admit it. He was cunning, ruthless, didn't let his opinions bias his actions at all, and he knew everything they needed to know about anyone in minutes. He also happened to bring in all the Muggle cash.

And lastly, there was Lord. A huge man, close to eight feet tall, purely human, he was their potions master.

"Still, there is Voldemort to consider. He just freed their wizard prison- Azkaban- a little bit ago." Count rattled off. "Oh and questions are being asked about certain drugs we have been supplying, those magical in nature. It's fantastic because once injected they clean themselves up right? No unsightly bruises, no messy spasms and vomiting. Just a clean pure unadulterated high. The problem is, is that although the addiction rate is 100%, the time you can go without it becomes less and less the more you use it, we need to fix this, otherwise my clients will die before they can buy more." He looked at Lord.

"I'll see what I can cut it with, but how long do I have." Count thought a little bit.

"Test group A is actually the only one in danger, so it would probably be best just to aim for their symptoms and go on group B. Actual customers have not experience such side-effects."

"Excellent, now onto business. Voldemort is gaining large amounts of power; I think that it would be an opportune time to move in and-" King began before Queen stopped him.

"Excuse me my dear, but I would like to hear the rest of what Lady had to say about the defense of Warthogs." Lady shook her head.

"Hogwarts, anyway, the master of the school alone is cause for worry, Albus Dumbledore." She looked at Count.

"Ah yes, Albus Dumbledore, very powerful wizard, but very old as well. I imagine a heart attack would not look out of place." Lady shook her head.

"Wouldn't work, he's got something he called a Clypeus that I bet would protect him should that happen. Speaking of which his students are also giving me some worries. There have been a total of two prophecies about them, and a book made a thousand years ago by Ravenclaw herself was written for one of them." She paused.

"Neville Longbottom, a hopeless magical student, nearly a Squib, has become a Sorcerer. Our power is very close to his, but his is actually a little greater, any of us has the experience to defeat him though, and I imagine that he isn't fast enough to stop a bullet either." Count smiled.

"Hermione Granger, the Creator. I don't know quite what her power is, but she seems to be able to create spells." Their eyes widened. It took a powerful wizard or witch to create a spell however once a spell was created, all that had to happen was for other wizards and witches to use it, and it became easier the more it was used, although some were still very difficult.

"Next is Draco Malfoy, a nonhuman, he's half Veela." The group had a variety of reactions, most of them snorting and amusement. "Aside from looking like a prime piece of meat, he can hurl energy faster than you can blink and possesses super-human strength when enraged."

"And the last, and quite possible the worst, is Harry Potter. He needs to be removed first." Lady said. "His power is that of the mind, much like Dumbledore's, but even greater, the second he senses hostility he will be able to blast your mind clean and turn you into a child incapable of anything. As such, he needs to be dealt with." Suddenly silence and frost crept into the room, it was death, silky and smooth and suddenly appeared a man in a clown's outfit, but it was deepest black and the color of dark blood.

"I think that we should dispense with this foolishness. We need to capture the Malfoy's and awaken the Slayer, and then we can assemble the Sword of Hogwarts to control this place. And then we can move forward, and take control of all four realms." Jester smiled then, and his smiled was twisted and powerful.

"And then will come a beginning…"

"Hey Harry!" A voice yelled. Harry didn't even have to look to know that Madam Pince was glaring sharply at the voice, he could sense it. Beside him Seamus snickered while Hermione looked up and smiled slightly.

"Oh god, that woman must have a gland problem." Said Joel as he slumped down into a seat. He didn't look like he'd been sleeping so well and Harry wondered why, until he remembered that the Triwizard Tournament was still going on.

"What's up?" Harry asked and Joel rolled his eyes.

"What isn't, I swear I am so fuc- really nervous about this, how did you cope?" He asked. Harry looked around him and then proceeded to tell Joel about what really happened during the first task. Seamus choked by his side.

"You actually knew before hand?" He asked in disbelief, "and you didn't even show it really." Harry looked at him weirdly.

"I was pissing my pants I was so scared, it was even worse because certain people wouldn't even talk to me." Harry said teasingly and Ron grumbled.

"I said I was sorry-" Harry smiled and patted Ron's arm.

"It's all right, but it's like I was told, play to your strengths, what are you best at?" Joel nodded.

"Well music I guess." Harry frowned and Hermione widened her eyes and leaned in.

"Really? Because there's great ways to use songs as spells." She said anxiously and dashed over to a bookshelf. She put her hands on her hips and looked at the titles that dotted the shelves, pulling a few out and then rushing back.

"These should give you some ideas." She said as the books fell forth from her arms. "You know music and melodies are actually one of the most well documented releases for magical energy that doesn't involve the stereotypical wand or potion making. It's one of the greatest fields in Magical Theory, which is in of itself of a fascinating field." She said breathlessly.

"Right, and the meaning of life the universe and everything really is 42." Seamus deadpanned and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Great Seamus, it figures that the only Muggle books you read would be by the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy." Harry broke in here to stop any more sidetracking.

"Joel, do you know what the task is?" Joel shook his head.

"No, but-" He paused. "No, but Jacob did tell me to keep my wits about me, and not to anything rash." Harry frowned.

"Well that's specific-"

"What have we here Potter?" Draco drawled as he walked over to the group. Harry contorted his face into something that was probably supposed to be anger but just made him look slightly nauseous. Hermione sniffed and turned her head while Ron just twitched. Seamus tried not to smile and finally buried his face in his hands.

"There's no need for that Draco, nobody's around." Said Harry softly after looking Draco shrugged.

"Appearances must be kept up Harry, but here, you should read this, I just got it from mother and Lucius." With that and another glance around himself Draco glanced at them and winked before trotting off. Joel looked at them.

"I thought that he was-" Hermione cleared her throat.

"He lost the confusion, much better for it, anyway I want to talk with you about this-" And she dragged Joel into reading about how to sing charms and enchantments. Ron looked pointedly at the letter Harry was holding who tore it open and unrolled. Seamus leaned over onto his shoulder and the two read it, cheek to cheek. Ron sighed, damn it Seamus was lucky, and so was Harry for that matter, just seeing the two of them so close and affectionate made Ron feel something inside close to sadness and tears, yet tinged with such intense satisfaction and happiness for his friends…

"Well what does it say?" He asked, Harry just handed it to him. Ron looked through it and by the end was looking wide-eyed at Harry and Seamus.

"Wow, that makes little to no sense, but I guess you guys should be happy." Harry frowned.

"Should be, but I don't like the idea of them being sneaky. They're just like Draco, except older, better at magic, crueler and have something up their sleeve unlike anything we've ever seen." He said. Seamus looked at him.

"You think to much, they obviously love him, all he has to do is get some girl pregnant and then life will be back to normal, and I know there is some Muggle way to do this, so all we have to do is find a pureblooded witch that Draco will agree to have our baby with." Seamus said this and then looked put out.

"I still don't like the idea of Draco's sperm going in anybody else's body." Seamus said. Which made Harry sputter, Ron choke, Hermione give him a weird look and Joel just confused. And mildly disgusted because that was not a mental picture he particularly wanted.

Neville had finally decided that he needed some advice about Ron; Hermione was occupied so that left only one viable option.

"Ginny?" He asked. Ginny Weasley looked up from a book with a smile on her face. She'd been smiling a lot lately, he wondered why.

"Hello Neville, come on, grab a seat." She said and he sat down. He didn't notice some of the dark looks he was getting from some third year boys that were quite smitten with the young and very attractive Virginia Weasley, although there was a ban long in place by Ron, Fred and George of thinking of their sister as even remotely a sexual creature.

"Thanks, uh listen Ginny, I uhm that is-" She held up a hand.

"Ron's favorite color is blue, he enjoys just about anything edible, so chocolate is great although he is very partial to caramel. He likes to be needed very much so, but don't lean on him too much. He's clingy and so fiercely loyal it may be annoying at times. He can be very jealous and has a quick strategy oriented mind buried under his carefree attitude. He hates classical music, likes the warmth but really likes it when it's cold out and he's all snuggled up and warm, probably with you." She paused and then pulled out a piece of paper.

"Ah, he also is very introspective, and may become mood at random. Aside from that he's a great person that will not take the first step, but he will take every step necessary from there on." She finished and then gave the list to Neville.

"Hermione thought you might come talk to me." Was all that was said, but Ginny might as well have been talking to air as Neville jumped up and ran out of there.

"Well Lucius, this appears quite lovely." Narcissa said. Lucius smiled.

"Yes I like to think it is, we are quite safe here my dear, however you must wear the necklace at all times. If I have to, I may activate a spell that will kill every living thing on the property, that necklace is all that protects you." He said, she nodded and neither of them even noticed the panicked expressions on the house elves.

They hadn't gotten such necklaces…

Harry watched anxiously as Joel came out. He was the last one, much like Harry had been. The objective of this quest was to find the red crest feather on one of the Hippogriffs and to get it from them somehow. The Hippogriffs were prevented from flying out of the Quidditch arena, and were none to happy about it.

Cho had gone first, and was actually fairly ingenious in how simple and effective her plan was. She turned herself into a baby Hippogriff and soon enough all the others had come down look at her, and she had wrestled the one with the red crest feather, mauling it fairly badly and getting just as good as she got. After snatching she had transformed back and made a run for it. Dumbledore gave her a 9, Madam Maxine gave her a 9, Victor gave her an 8 and Jacob gave her an 8.
The next one, Ramius Kamarov, had selected the one with the red crest feather and just knocked it out with a sleep spell. He barely managed to catch it with a slow-falling charm and it had hit the ground slightly harder than would be acceptable to the judges. He'd gotten the feather though. Sure enough however, Jacob had given him a 7, Madam Maxine a 7, Victor a 9, and Dumbledore an 8.

Next had come Renee Dumas. Harry idly reflected that she was not a pretty girl, and yet her method had been the best so far. She had first tried to use the summoning charm, Accio, but it didn't work as the crests were apparently charmed. She had thought about it for a while, and then had transfigured a rock into a large deer, which had then been set upon by all the Hippogriffs. Quite a few people had needed to turn away then, lest they lose their lunch. She had then just waltzed up and plucked the crest feather from the animal, and then he screamed shrilly as it slashed her stomach. It had been a superficial wound and she had then blasted it into unconsciousness. Dumbledore gave her an 8, Madam Maxine a 10, Victor a 7 and Jacob a 9.

Now it was Joel's turn. He started out by turning a small doll he had with him into a guitar. Harry looked inquisitively at Hermione who had shrugged.

"The doll worked best for that spell, it took him quite a while to get it in any case." Harry nodded and returned to the action. Joel had done some last minute tuning, and Harry noticed his hands were shaking slightly. Then he began to strum a melody, all the while muttering an incantation under his breath. Harry felt himself grow drowsy and rested, content to an extent that he didn't even notice Joel pluck the feather from the animal. He did see the Hippogriff rouse itself from the spell and attack Joel. There was sickening crunch as it broke Joel's leg in its mouth and Joel screamed. But before a single wizard or witch could do anything Joel had grabbed the stings on his guitar and wrenched them together in a terrible discord that caused the Hippogriff to scream wretchedly and fall back.

Joel had gotten a 10 from Jacob, a 7 from Victor, an 8 from Dumbledore and another 8 from Madam Maxine. That left Joel at 33, Renee at 34, Ramius at 31 and Cho at 34.

"Well I'm glad I'm not doing this again." Harry muttered as they left. Cho was standing with a huge crowd of admirers around her and Harry felt a sudden aura of sadness around her. He detached himself from Seamus and went to see Cho. Seamus felt bitter jealousy well up within him, and stopped it. Harry may have like Cho at one point but now they were fucking bonded, Harry wouldn't betray that.

Cho looked over to see Harry come towards her and felt the intense need to get away; she couldn't face him now, not with Cedr-

Harry was suddenly there, just holding her and led her away, telling her fans to just back off. Cho clung to Harry and he just lent her strength. And then Joel was there as well. He looked at Harry who just looked at him, and Joel remembered about Cedric Diggory.

What he did next surprised Harry. He took out the doll and soon his guitar was in his hands again. He then sat down and began to play something, it was sweet and sad, and Harry felt his won eyes burn. And Joel began to softly sing. Cho sobbed some more and then began to let go of Harry as the music washed over her, and Harry felt at ease somewhere deep inside him. Joel continued to play and just to sing, and Harry eased out of Cho grasp and she settled next to Joel, and just watched his fingers…

Harry smiled as he left, knowing that there was one less hurt soul in this place, in the world. Some days, it was just so very good to be alive…

And in love. For love is life, love, laughter and life, when you have that-

Well what more could you possibly need?

Shout Outs-

Rannchan- Well he was told his own name, and has been living on his own for a bit now, he did amass quite a tidy sum, as in he's loaded. And he doesn't remember anything but he will soon…

The Water Warrior- Yeah we just read it and I dunno, it just fit for some odd reason.

Mizzy- No real H/D/S here, but next chapter I think I may push the R boundary. Anyway, you signed in! I hope I did review whatever you put out, if I didn't… Well I'll make up for it then!

Slytherin Godess- Well I do have another story, Trash, that is all about the Harry/Draco which you may enjoy, although it is only part 1 of a three part thing.

Demeter- Thanks, I enjoy writing plot twists but it's hard not to just over load the story with things that happen, glad you enjoy them.

Myr- I guess you didn't eve take that break because I just reviewed a chapter in PoD.

Who,me?- Chocolate covered? I think I can work with that… Hee hee hee…

I HOPE EVERYONE IS HAVING A VERY HAPPY AND RESTFUL BREAK. UNTIL NEXT TIME! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!