Disclaimer- I don't own HP, Terry Pratchett, Adam Redamo, or Patricia C. Wrede.

A/N- I am very sorry to anyone who's feelings I may have hurt with the rant, but I don't think it'll happen again, thank you guys! Well now that Voldemort's gone, what to do? Or is he really…

QUICKSILVER DREAMS

"Tomorrow's Halloween you know." Hermione said. Harry nodded. Ron snickered. The other two looked at him and he flushed.

"What?" Asked Hermione.

"Uh, nothing 'Mione-" Ron began.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with the surprise you have planned for Neville that involves those hand cuffs would it?" Harry bluffed, just shooting it out there for entertainment value, it wasn't like Ron would do anything like that- Harry goggled. Ron was blushing red and asking how he found out.

"I- that is I just guessed." Harry said weakly and Hermione laughed.

"Oh Ron, how risqué!" She cackled and had to hold her sides from laughing so hard.

"Hey guys, just lay off all right?" Ron asked sourly and Harry hit him lightly on the shoulder.

"Ah ease up a little Ron, unless of course you want some company…" Harry trailed off and laughed at the expression on Ron's face.

"Oh calm down Ron, you know Seamus and Draco would skin me alive, Draco in anger and Seamus in indignant jealousy, he always did think you were cute, studly to quote him." Harry said with a merry twinkle in his eyes. His glasses seemed to catch it and magnify it, Ron chuckled.

"Sounds like him." By this time Hermione had gotten her "yuks" under control.

"Oh boy, woo." She trailed off and the three just sat there, content in their friendship, feeling complete. "So how are you three going to dance together?" Harry grinned.

"Who said we would be?" Hermione raised an eyebrow and Harry sighed in exasperation.

"No Hermione, we'll be going shifts, or maybe cornering young confused fourth years in a triangle." Ron snickered, he could just think of the reaction for some young confused fourth year (forgetting that he was only a year ahead of them) being surrounded by the three sexiest guys in Hogwarts. Ron reflected that most of his year was pretty attractive. And that nearly a quarter of them were batting for either the other team or in Harry's case both.

"Harry!" Hermione scolded, and then laughed. "Oh if you do that I'll have Colin on picture duty." Harry laughed in return, the idea of pictures of confused 4th years surrounded by him Draco and Seamus was too funny! God it felt good to be alive!

"Oh it's so very-" Harry was at a loss for words, there was something so very happy in him. He could feel it literally brimming in his core, he just felt-

"I need to go see Seamus and Draco."

"I should have known." Milicent Bustrode said. Draco stared back at her defiantly.

"I would be careful Milicent, we wouldn't want you to get kicked out now would we? What with your father and mother in Azkaban?" Draco drawled. He was tired of these dull games. "Please remove yourself from my room." Milicent smiled then.

"Who said I'd be going anywhere?" Draco looked at her and then slowly stood.

"Milicent, you are no match for me-'

"Imperio." Milicent said, and her voice was soft and cruel. It was silken steel, hellfire in a jar. Draco felt himself slip into oblivion and he distantly heard a voice telling him what he would do to Harry and Seamus-

"No!" He shouted, and was about to attack Milicent when her eyes flashed red and her body shook.

"Delego Mentis!" And Draco screamed as something hit him and then he growled as he slammed Milicent against the wall. Suddenly Snape was there, his expression vengeful.

"You foolish girl, you will be expelled!" He thundered and Draco shrank back and returned to normal.

"What did she say Draco?" Snape asked as he pointed his wand at the girl who was heaving her chest wildly as her pupils dilated in fear.

"Uhm, Delago Mentus?" Draco hazarded and Snape's eyes widened and turned to Milicent.

"You'll be sent to Azkaban for that." He paused and looked at Draco. "Draco, I am going to put you under a sleep spell, please trust me." Draco's eyes narrowed and he nodded. Suddenly, the world went dark.

"It's always something isn't it?" Seamus asked bitterly and rhetorically. Harry looked at him.

"Yeah, why the fuck can't we just be normal?" Harry snapped and Seamus had to laugh at that.

"But Harry darling, normal would be so dreadfully boring." Seamus said in his gayest way. Harry frowned.

"No don't you get all gay on me Seamus Johnathan Finnigan." Seamus sighed dramatically and then hugged Harry tightly.

"Oh Harry, I worry about you two, both of you have so many demands, do many dangers." He murmured into Harry's shoulder. Harry just smoothed his hair and waited for Poppy to give them the go ahead for entering. She finally came out and nodded. They went in and both went up to Draco who Seamus kissed fiercely on the mouth while Harry smiled nonchalantly.

"What happene?" Seamus whispered. Draco smiled at him.

"Milicent Bustrode decided that she should try and pass off her mind to me." Seamus's eyes widened and then narrowed in anger.

"Where is she?" Harry asked, his voice soft, deceptively so. That look was in his eyes, the one that promised death or worse for the one who hurt those he loved.

"Dumbledore expelled her, she's going to join her parents at Azkaban." Draco said, a smile on his face.

"Az- Azkaban?" Seamus stuttered.

"Sometimes Seamus, that is all they deserve." Harry said quietly and Draco shared a glance with him. They understood their darker sides, but Seamus needed to protected. Harry leaned in and kissed Draco gently, melding with his mind, but not to deeply, Draco's secrets were his to keep.

"We need to protect Seamus, I think he cannot deal with how ruthless we must be at times." Harry thought, and Draco sent a mental affirmative.

"Ahem." Said a voice from the corridor, and Harry turned to see Hermione looking in with a small smile playing across her lips.

"There's a meeting uhm, well now, that Dumbledore wishes us to attend."

"So we begin this meeting, with our, ahem, junior members." Dumbledore said. Harry looked anxiously at Seamus and Draco, but Draco looked fine. He sighed in relief.

"So what's the problem, Voldemort" Half the room still flinched at the name, "He's dead, what is it now?" Ms. Figg snapped. "I'm missing a damn good show for this meeting." This time the entire room shared an expression, confusion, one half wondering what she was talking about and the rest wondering what show it was, and Hermione wondering how a tv could work in Hogwarts.

"The problem Arabella, is that once again I believe Voldemort to not be entirely dead." The room gasped at Dumbledore's statement, but Harry squeezed Draco's knee, which made the boy feel both comforted and gave him a definite shock in the groin. Seamus grinned and reached to squeeze something that was quite inappropriate. Draco nearly squeaked as Seamus did something extremely naughty under the table, luckily no one else could see, except a peculiar expression crossing Draco's face and Harry's mouth twitching.

"Earlier today Draco was possessed temporarily by Voldemort's mind, thanks to the efforts of Milicent Bustrode utilizing the Delagus Curse. She has been expelled and arrested by the Ministry. She will soon join her parents in captivity at Azkaban." With the loss of the Dementors Fudge had promptly installed the Auror training program to send their slightly experienced applicants as guards, with a few veterans. It worked surprisingly well, the new trainees were exposed to some of the most dangerous criminals the wizarding world had ever seen, and gave them good reliable alert guards.

Nobody saw it coming from Fudge, but there you go…

"I think that we may have to destroy his very soul to prevent him from coming back." He continued and then to everyone's surprise Pansy rose up out of the table.

"I think that if you can take care of his body I can take care of his soul, on one condition." She said. "Make me a body." And then she was gone again. The room was silent for a moment and then everyone was talking at once, Dumbledore did manage to get quiet again but it took a little bit.

"Well, that is one way." Said Dumbledore. "But we cannot make a body, there are too many unknowns-"

"Headmaster?" Hermione asked uncertainly. Dumbledore looked at her and she looked back and then tapped the Book, it was open.

"It says that the art of returning spirits to a body is always very iffy, especially the longer the spirit has been dead, and it requires another life force, one that is very strong." Draco sat upright, having stopped Seamus from interfering with his- concentration.

"Well we have one." They all looked at him. "What? You can honestly say you didn't think of using the dark lo- Voldemort's soul?" Draco asked.

"But this, this is something that tampers with the natural order of life, who knows what sort of affects this could have?" Remus protested.

"And should we risk it? Is this girl a liability at all?" Moody asked, his one eye vivid in its electric blue circling wildly trying to see everything at once.

"You're paranoid." Snape sneered. "Pansy is nothing more than ambitious and cunning, a true Slytherin."

"You mean just you like you Snape?" Sirius asked dangerously, Snape glared at him, his hand twitching next to his wand.

"Will you two shut up!" Dumbledore snapped, and everyone froze, since when did Dumbledore ever become truly angry?

"We have no time for this, we must move quickly before he finally realizes that hiding is in his best interest and-"

"Who says that he'll do that at all?" Asked Trelawney. McGonagall looked down her nose at the Divinations professor.

"What?" Trelawney glared at her.

"He is obviously insane, I don't know about the rest of you but I'd bet my best crystal ball that the second he can he'll come for those that have humiliated him the most, I remember what he was like in school, he never forgot a single slight against him." Harry stared at her, his mouth slack and open, this was so unlike the- well dumb and disconnected Divinations teacher he knew… She looked at him and smiled cheekily.

"Something the matter my dear?" Harry glowered as he sensed the waves of amusement coming off of Dumbledore. The rest of the group stared in bewilderment at Trelawney.

"What Sybil says makes sense, which still is a good reason for attacking as swiftly as possible. There are other ghosts…" Dumbledore began.

"Which ones?" Draco asked with only a hint of nastiness in his voice. "The Bloody Baron? As I recall he has no fondness for you whatsoever, or maybe that nearly headless oaf? Or that fat friar, no wait, I have it! Peeves!" Draco said in very sarcastic tones, laced with slight contempt.

"Point taken Mr. Malfoy." Dumbledore returned evenly, his eyes twinkling. Ms. Figg reached over and gave Draco a high five.

"That's my Slytherin!" Seamus chuckled and Harry rolled his eyes.

"All this is wonderful and whatnot, but if we follow through with this, what consequences will it have?" Remus asked again. "It will be upsetting the natural order-"

"Damn the natural order, the natural order didn't plan for Voldemort!" Draco snarled. "At least Pansy will keep her end of the bargain."

"I think that we should try this, however it will mean that Ms. Parkinson may stay dead for quite some time." Dumbledore said. "And the second order of business, Alastor?" Moody stood up, his wiry old frame slightly stooped.

"We have been informed from sources within the Ministry that Fudge has been acting oddly of late, you know what I talk about, he hasn't asked Albus for help in the last few months, and he came up with the new Auror training program. This doesn't click with what he used to be like." He stopped. "I have reason to believe that-"

"It's ready!" Snape shouted and dashed out of the room. Everyone stopped and looked with trepidation at the door, with some confusion dashed in there for good measure, all except for Dumbledore.

"Ah, very good, Arabella, would you please fetch Gilderoy?" Ms. Figg's eyes dawned with understanding and she rose to go get one of the more- "interesting" teachers that Hogwarts had seen pass through her gates.

"Well, that was interesting to say the least." Roger said as he finished with grading another paper. "I didn't know that werewolves were a known species of plant." Claire laughed while Adriana snorted.

"Great, this is so fucking stupid!" From his corner of the room Gilderoy Lockheart looked up.

"Young lady, such language is unbecoming of your beauty." Roger fixed his glasses as he goggled at the man. Claire smiled so wide it looked like her head was going to fall off and Adriana- Well it would take someone with a colder heart than hers to ignore the charming smile Lockheart sent her way.

"Oh." Was all she said, furiously berating herself for not putting the oaf down. She shook her head and tossed her hair and began to sulk.

"Gilderoy?" Asked Ms. Figg who was poking her head into the room. "It's time, and you may come as well if you want." She said to the three Aurors in training. Roger began to massage his temples and stood up.

"Thank god, I don't know if I could stand another minute of grading those things…" he stood up and went out, squinting as the light hit his eyes which had been reading everything from perfect female handwriting to typical male handwriting that was cramped and illegible. Claire bowed with a flourish and laughed as Adriana flicked her off and slunk out the door. Claire left, closing the door to the small room and the crackling fire.

"Severus, I was wondering where you were." Fleur scolded slightly in French. Snape nodded briskly.

"Are you ready my dear? Is it ready?" Fleur nodded.

"Of course I am ready, this is nothing more than a memory restoration potion, with additions." Fleur said a little testily, putting her hands on her hips. "Are you ready?" Snape smiled.

"I'm always ready." He said, and laughed briefly before stealing the potion out of Fleur's hands and dashing out the door, Fleur hot on his heels.

"The humans are strong, you can feel it, both the magic and non-magic kind." Said one of the Faery Dragons. It was tall, maybe 10 feet, and had blue markings all over it.

"It would be foolish to challenge them, but we must not let them do to us what those others have." Said another Dragon, this one small, maybe 5 feet tall and with a rainbow coloring splattered across its body.

"Let us capture a human, and assume their shapes when we have discovered how to move in their world." Said the last, a very small Dragon, one that was obviously quite old and decrepit. "And then after that, we will remove ourselves from this wretched place."

"What do you think Snape was so, excited about?" Seamus asked as they meandered outside to visit Hagrid.

"Who knows, who cares?" Draco said flippantly, a dismissive expression on his face. Beside him Neville snorted in contempt and Draco turned a cool gaze upon him.

"You have something to say Longbottom?" Draco inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh stop it the two of you." Hermione snapped irritably. "I mean Jesus Christ you two need to kiss and make up for all our sakes."

"Not mine." Ron muttered and Harry looked at him imploringly and he sighed.

"Draco, I-"

"No." Draco said. Ron flushed with anger along with Neville and Harry and Seamus looked at him with narrowed eyes and Hermione's lip twitched. "I go first." Ron choked while Neville's eyes widened in surprise. "Ron, I am sorry for every time that I insulted your family and you, and Neville I am sorry for every time that I made your life a living hell."

"Uh- apology accepted, and I apologize for every time that I've done anything negative to you." Ron returned. Neville didn't say anything.

"I'll think about it." He said darkly. Draco sent him an angry look. Neville began to walk onward, leaving the group behind him. Ron moved to go forward but Hermione stopped him.

"He probably needs some time alone-" she began with a contemplative look in her eyes before being interrupted by Harry.

"No, Ron, go after him." Harry said and Hermione gave him a little glare that he should challenge her authority. Ron smiled gratefully at Harry and took off.

"Well there they go, how lovely." Draco drawled.

"Drink up." Dumbledore said quietly, and Lockheart downed the potion, grimacing lightly as it went down. For a second there was no reaction, and then he began to moan slightly and dropped the glass which shattered on the floor. Dumbledore swiftly whispered "Reparo" and then grabbed the glass out of the way as Lockheart clutched his head and fell to his knees. His face was creased with pain as he crowd in agony and then-

"Oh, my." He whispered slightly, looking at his hands in almost amazement. "What is this?"

"What do you remember?" Dumbledore asked, hoping, hoping that this was indeed the result that they had wished for. Lockheart turned an almost horrified look to them, and then it creased into a brilliant smile.

"Was I some sort of hero?" Suddenly half the room was struggling to not guffaw out loud while the rest smiled, all except Dumbldore who had an odd look in his eyes.

"You could almost say that, what do you remember?" Lockheart grinned.

"All these, memories… How to defeat a werewolf, or imprison a ghost in a tea-strainer… It's all there." Dumbledore smiled, the gamble had worked. Lockheart only remembered the how to, nothing else.

"But, excuse me for this is wonderous, I do not remember anything else." He looked at them, almost crestfallen. "Was there more?"

"Yes, but if that is all that returns it shall have to wait." Dumbledore interrupted smoothly. "For now, please work with Alastor, then you can share your knowledge." For Dumbledore had finally interpreted the line in the second prophecy. And as he turned to leave the room a gigantic triumphant grin broadened his face and his eyes sparkled magically.

"The forgetting guide from whence shall come a spring of knowledge…"

Shout Outs (Which are almost longer than the chapter…)-

APOLOGY BEGINS HERE-

Hi guys, for everyone that caught my rant in chapter 12 (I've taken it down) sorry if anyone got their feelings hurt, it was a moment of weakness, brought on by sugar and only a single review for a whole chapter, it won't happen again.

APOLOGY ENDS HERE-

The Perfect Drain- No way this is going to end soon, when this thing ends you will know it, trust me, I have it planned out… And seriously, don't hesitate to ask questions, I want this to be fun for people to read.

Natural- I'm sorry, I blew up at everyone (please see above apology) and thanks for appreciating the R/N. I enjoy it quite a bit, I'm glad you do too.

Myr- I've read your latest chapter, see my review for further commentary ^_^. Anywho, I wrote the Balrog thing right after seeing Lord of the Rings (so bomb) and it just struck me that that was such a good image for it, glad you liked it, more Seamus/Harry/Draco! Well I'll do my best… Thanks for the conversation the other day, 'twas fun.

Rannchan- So who's your brother? I hope he enjoys it, and like I said before, when this ends, you'll know it, but I was proud of those ending lines. Glad to know you like it.

Zara- When you think about it, so far only 11 people are gay, Harry's bi so only 10 really. Of those 10 two are in the fourth year (Colin and Ginny) and Sirius and Remus are grown up, so that's only 6 in the fifth year. Now 1 in 10 people are gay I believe, and if there are 10 students per dorm (5 guys 5 girls in a year) then there are 40 people. So 6 out of 40, which isn't 1 out of 10, but isn't that bad either. I only just write about the gay people… heh heh heh…

Antiprep Superstar- I don't know, at 1:30 AM anything seems funny… But thank you! I too love crispy M&M's, quite possibly too much at times… Hmmm… Chocolate… Anyway, thank you for the kick asses, with suitable bleeping of course, you kick ass as well my dear friend! I hope you enjoy this update.

Ayame- You flatter me, awe eh? I can live with that…

MistWalker- I did enjoy that actually. You'll find out what everything does, and I'm glad to know that the first chapter snagged you, and I'm glad you enjoyed this. You like my new bad guys? I like them too…

Mizzy- AYEEEE! A list? Oh no! Time for a *duh duh duh* RESPONSE LIST!

Restricted internet time? Whatever shall we do? But yes, I know you would have reviewd, the rant was directed at others, and please see above apology for further apology. Hmm… Slash pairings for everyone! I think we can take them further, shall we? Never saw Idle Hands, but sounds interesting, and Wormtail has his own plans. Ask Xing about it, there should be something if you want to. I haven't written her, but she must get thousands of letters a day, I read that somewhere. Like I said above, weak moment, oops? You made someone cry? And you're happy about this? (Laughs) just read it, reviewed it, enjoyed it. Yeah McGonagall dragon, a cat wouldn't do much good to my thinking, and a dragon is so cool. And I liked the image of Snape slinking in the shadows, and bustin' out curses when he appeared.

Alright, I can't do the list thing anymore, so here goes. I doubt you could look like a Balrog in the morning, but if you do remind me not to get on your bad side… thank you for the flash back comment, I was going to put it in Italics, but I always find that when I read Italics in fics I go all cross eyed reading it, so I use them sparingly. Fleur and Snape I do like, but Fleur Snape is a horrible name is it not? I need to fix that somehow… Draco as fish, but fish aren't that, well, hot are they? I'll try and remember Cedric, any suggestions?

Shinimegami- Silly person, Snape belongs to me, along with all the other characters! (Runs away from the computer as the Lawyers arrive and quickly surround the house.). I TAKE IT BACK! Anyway, thank you for loving the story so much!

THANK YOU EVERYONE THAT REVIEWED, I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!!!

Jivanna- You didn't think I'd forget you did you? Silly person…

Chapter review responses.

Thank you, Snape arriving at Harry's house was something that just, well it popped into my mind and I tweaked it till it worked, I'm very glad that it worked. I nearly forgot Roger Adrian and Claire, and I too miss them now that I think about it, they shall be coming back, I really need to take notes on the story at times… Ah yes, the imp like quality did vanish didn't it? I shall try and bring it back a little more, and that "salt-of-the-earth" feeling was exactly the one I was searching for with Ms. Figg. Ridiculous Durlseys, so much fun, how did the shift begin in Harry, from emotional to heroic? Should I bring more emotion back? But just how much? I'll work on it. It's actually a big worry of mine that I might overload a chapter with info, I'm glad to know that this isn't the case. I thought that Ron and Hermione flirting would be fun, especially since it's the kind of flirting I do with friends, just joking but comforting almost. Ah yes, Dobby as an Auror, that was something that I just, it hit me when I first wrote the prophecy, it was cryptic and unusual enough to work. And I don't think you're wrong about the descriptiveness in the character interaction, I re-read a few of the earlier chapters, and I think it's because I spent so much more time on them. I tried to bring back that feeling in this chapter, if it's still missing tell me. And I think you're the only one to catch the whole rat thing, nobody else seems to get it, so shhh… The Clypeus will play a larger role later on, for now they are more backdrop than anything. So this and 7 were your favorites? I think that aside from the first they may be mine as well. The whole confrontation was actually pretty difficult to write, but I went to a small part at a friends house and we all wound up pillow fighting, and it just felt, so relieving that I had to include it. I dunno, what would a Death Eater do if turned into a canary? That could be quite entertaining though… Idea alert! Hermione's change will become apparent when they return to class. They left Voldemort because they saw he could never win, and they would want Harry to turn to the Dark Side (ouch, that sounded so clichéd…) They don't really care about Seamus. Ah yes, the Maze Charm, I actually got that from a book I read somewhere, and changed it so I wouldn't have to mention it, because I forgot the book. I involved the Triwizard tournament mostly because if I left it out I felt like I would be leaving out something important, the new characters are not vital in any way, except Joel as a love interest for Cho, Catherine for George and Fred to fight over, and Jacob to show them how to fight with Muggle weapons, and all of them as a doorway to the Court. Ah yes, the Harry/Draco love problems, this will crop up again as their relationship is strained, but both of them do adore Seamus, and Draco did brood over not being allowed to show it. The Balrog is the Slayer, and that was all from Lucius and Narcissa, but more on that later. A Happy New Year to you as well, and your so called "babbling" revitalized me and made me look again at how I was writing, thank you for your honest commentary and criticism (which I am sorely lacking, this can mean two things, I rock or people are to lazy to criticize me, I hope it is the former). Not much here, moving onà Thank you for appreciating that, I too have loved the idea of Seamus/Harry/Draco ever since reading "Fascination" by little hecate and "The Immortals" by Just Silver. I must thank you for your kind words, and tell you that your instincts are right on with the rodent thing and Draco/Harry. Trash will have two sequels actually, and if you ever do make that book I'll write a special prologue for it… (Right, wow my ego just skyrocketed through the roof, now look what you've done!) I love you, thank you so much for all that you've written, and if you would please send me your email address if you can, I would love to talk to you, if not, it's all right. Once again thank you so much, this means a lot to me.

ALL RIGHT EVERYONE, HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEARS, AND DON'T DRINK TOO MUCH OR MAKE DUMB PROMISES!