A/N: some people said that I was kind of begging for reviews. Truth be told I really didn't know what I was doing when I posted the last chapter – I was so beside myself with worry about my grandpa, I was depressed and hysteric and I felt I'd feel a little bit happier if some of those readers who had stopped reviewing would review again. To those who have resumed giving feedback after a long time of not doing so – thanks. It made me very happy, indeed. Also thanks to everyone who wrote 'I hope your grandpa gets better soon' – it meant a lot to me. Actually he is feeling a little bit better after he got operated.

An Angry Reader: I do not think I'm always right. I'm far from that. I've made a lot of mistakes both in real life and in my fics, and I admit that. You didn't understand what the ghost referred to. So: the stuck-up blonde was Guillaume Lochar (the Beauxbatons champion), Ms Bushy-Eyebrows was Mileta Krum (she has just as bushy eyebrows as Viktor), the weenie one is Dennis Creevey (Rowling always said that he was very small), the dragon guy was Draco (you know that Draco means dragon in Latin), the red-head was Ginny, the black-beard was Aaron and the old codger was Piotr. About Our Father – an American Christian woman sent me the text of The Lord Prayer and it ends with "….and deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, the glory, forever. Amen". Maybe she sent me an improper text, I don't know. And yes, I'm Catholic. I wasn't begging for reviews, I just said the truth – that many people had stopped reviewing, and – believe it or not – many of them admitted that they hadn't stopped reading just were too lazy to review. I don't think that people worship me (never thought so), on the contrary. If you knew me, you'd know what a shy girl I am – someone who had never before been recognised at all by anyone. Ffnet gave me a little bit of what other people had been given all their lives. And it did not go to my head – I'm still aware that I am just a simple, unimportant girl whose only happiness is writing boring stories. I don't know about you, but I don't read fics that I find boring. So, if you don't like the story, just stop reading.

GinnyPotter387: you miss Harry? So do I :)

Arif: don't worry, you'll see David at Hogwarts in the third fic – and you were right about his house: definitely Hufflepuff! I decided to sort him into that house half a year ago :) He won't be fat, just a bit pudgy. I have read Hitchiker's guide to the Galaxy and absolutely love Ford Prefect!

Waldomier: thanks for correcting my English error! I noted that the past tense of ride is rode :)

twinkle-toes: sometimes I also have the problem of not being able to go to the rest of the chapters. In such cases click on the X (stop) in your browser and click 'reload' – you'll get to the other chapters. Azgard (or Asgard, I don't know how exactly to write it), is the Viking heaven where the Viking gods live – I supposed it was a palace for the Viking gods as well, just like the Mount Olympus for the Greek gods, but I might be wrong, of course.

Faunix: I promise to update more often than in every 15 days. See, I last updated on Wednesday and now I'm updating on Monday. Not even a week passed between the two updates.

the coffee fiend and Black Ice: I'm glad you didn't forget about my fic.

Katie Bell: read my answer to Tifanee Weasley (below)

Mazipoto: thanks. Prayers is exactly what my grandpa needs now :))

Blondie in Disguise: I'm sorry about your grandma. My grandpa also had cancer and got operated – I hope he'll heal totally, but it will be a very slow process :( I know that Jesus loves me, he's so nice to love everyone :) I'll pray for your grandma.

zzxm: yes, I would have liked to see Ron's face when he read the last line in Herm's diary :)

Rabble: Draco WILL fall in love with someone else – in the third fic. (this means: he survives this fic :))

Bucky: I know that I have many reviews, but after the ffnet breakdown I got 40% less reviews than before it, and I feared that many of my readers had forgotten about this story. Now many of them admitted that they were just too lazy to drop a review, so I'm happy.

NuttyBuddy: what did Angelina think? Well, she was upset and nervous, I mentioned it once in chapter 25, I guess. But Angie won't have a real role in this fic anymore (though the Fred/George/Angie triangle will be solved, don't worry).

TaMaraR: Angelina is about 4 and a half months pregnant. She got pregnant on Guy Fawkes' Night (5th November), and it's March in the fic now.

goldenstar555: yes, I'm writing the third fic of this series, while still making small amendments in this one. I have written 17 chapters of the third fic, and those 17 chapters together are longer than the 34 chapters of TGSoHH. Fic #3 will have less chapters than the first two, but will still be relatively longer.

Elfangor19: award for the best author? *blush* thanks. I don't think I'm the best at all, but it still feels good to know that some people like my fic.

X-Tow-Naga: you are right, Harry could still be valuable, but no, he is not in prison. Perhaps Anor didn't think of luring British wizarding officials to himself by capturing Harry. He is evil, but not necessarily the most intelligent guy. Why wouldn't the Weasleys ask for Albus' help? Because Albus does not know where Durmstrang is. As it was said in chapter… 4, I guess, only Hermione, McGonagall and the Hogwarts-bus-driver knew where it was. I assume that if it had been Albus who had escorted the students to Durmstrang, then he would have been told where exactly it was, but he decided to send Minerva and Hermione instead, thus Viktor Krum let only Minerva and Hermione in on the location of the castle. That might be a lame explanation, but remember how much Karkaroff didn't want to tell Albus anything about Durmstrang during the Yule ball in book 4 – I'd presume that Durmstrang is still keeping its secrets just as much as in the time of the late Karkaroff.

J-Kid: thanks for praying for my grandpa. And happy birthday! It really was only Dennis who was saying The Lord's Prayer – sorry if I didn't make that clear. I also think that Draco, for example, wouldn't know a prayer. He must be an atheist.

Lavendar Brown: read my note to Blondie in Disguise about my grandpa.

Wood's secret lover: my bio is just enough, IMHO. Read what I wrote to 'An Angry Reader' (the second half of it) and you'll understand why I'm not making such a big deal out of my bio. Because it's not important.

Tifanee Weasley: I'm sorry about your grandpa. Yes, the dragon guy is Draco and the stuck-up blonde is Guillaume.

cara: how do you pronounce Piotr? Well, it's a Russian name, of course, but I guess it has to be pronounced as Pyotr (so the 'i' in there has to be like the 'y' in the word 'you'.)

Any last requests: what? You're not allowed to marry a red-headed guy? Oh… I have actually told mum that I LOVED red-headed children and would like to have such kids, and she told me: "well, then, get yourself a red-headed guy!" Mum is very understanding :))

LilGinny: I don't know whether Aaron would be wearing leather, but you are free to imagine him in leather :) No, Aaron won't be killed. Yes, you are going to see Gildy and Sunny in chapter 38 a little bit, and there will be plenty of Lockhart in fic #3. *Lockhart-haters run away, screaming*

xenocide: that's true that JKR never mentioned anything about religion, but Dennis is a Muggle-born wizard, so his whole family might be Christian, thus he can actually pray. In my next fic I'm going to show a bit of my 'Christian interpretation' of the HP world. It took me great courage to write that part, I hope it will make sense. IMHO wizards have different religions in every country. In Great Britain some of them might be Christian, in Egypt many of them might be Muslim, in India they might be Hindi, etc. But of course there has to be a great deal of wizards and witches who are atheists (like say, the Malfoys).

Super saya-Jin Gotan: how nice to see you again! :))

Crazycutee831: someone is going to die in this fic, but hopefully you won't be disappointed by it.

aurora riddle: thanks a lot.

Also thanks to: apple-pie, Notebook girl, Rabble, Cassandra Anthemyst, PepsiAngel, The Face of Evil, Lana Riddle, Jessica, C-chan/Sailor Capricorn, Sirius B, Saphron, Hermione Weasley, princesswitch, Houou, Lady Python, Harrysgirl, VeRyWiLdWiTcH, starheart, Kit Cloudkicker, Nefertiri, rebkos, 2Coolio, Princess Ginny, coolgal4u,Teri, Sara, Indigo Ziona, AmandaPanda, K.C. Hunter, Sky, Ronniekin's Sweetheart, spangle*star, Heathen Fair, Jeanine23Dr, PadmeSkywalker, PepsiAngel

Sorry if I left out anyone.

Chapter 31

En route

As Fred entered Hermione's room, he found Ron standing by the window with a shocked expression on his face. His mouth was agape and he wasn't even blinking. He looked like those petrified people at Hogwarts eight years earlier.

"Hey!" Fred moved his hand in front of Ron's face. "Anybody home?"

Ron shuddered and gripped his brother's hand, breathing: "She's pregnant."

"Who? What?" Fred asked, pulling his arm out of Ron's vice-like grip.

"Hermione."

"Huh? How do you know?"

"Her diary." Ron turned red and bent down to pick up the small book from the floor. "She's going to have a baby, Fred! My baby! Holy stars, she's out there somewhere, kidnapped, maybe even tortured, while she's carrying my child!!! How could I be so stupid? How could I ever presume that she was unfaithful to me? How can I ever make this good? Hell, I should be boiled in frog-spawn! What a damned, despicable, dirty disgusting bastard am I?"

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down, little brother!" Fred yelled at him. "True as your assessment of yourself might be, you should stop gathering more of such appropriate epithets now… we've got to go."

"Go? Where?"

"To a place called Azgard." Fred replied. "Malfoy said that our families were there."

"How does he know?" Ron knitted his eyebrows.

"Well, all I know is that he had been talking to the ghost of Anna Karenina then he left for the dungeons. He returned from there about an hour later, saying that he had found an empty bier with some script saying that it belonged to the ruler of Azgard or what… Malfoy insists that Azgard is where we have to go and that we should trust him."

"Trust him? I would rather trust professor Snape to send Harry a Valentine than to trust this… this…"

"No more epithets!" Fred reminded him.

"I simply don't trust him!" Ron burst out.

"Neither do I. But there's no other possibility if we want to find Ginny, Harry, Hermione and… your kid." Fred winked at his brother

Something warm engulfed Ron's heart, as if it had been wrapped into a nice, fluffy blanket. "My kid, huh?" he smirked at Fred. "'kay, let's try and trust Malfoy."

* * * * *

They had been flying for about an hour when Aaron finally pointed at the darkening horizon. "Azgard!"

Ginny and Mileta gasped, taken aback by the beauty of the castle that seemed to have been made of ice. Its steeples glittered in the moonlight, making the whole building shine in the night like some huge, white pincushion with its many spires reaching towards the skies. The whole castle stood on a huge rock right on the coast of the Barents Sea. One of its towers had been built in a rather peculiar way, so that part of it seemed to be 'hanging' above the water. Ginny supposed that it must have been propped by magic so that it wouldn't fall – just like some parts of the old Burrow.

"Beautiful!" Dennis breathed admiringly.

"Yes, it is." Aaron nodded and turned to Piotr. "Would you please put the sled down there?" he pointed at a snow-hill about one mile from the building.

"Well, I'll try… but I'm old, thus a bit short-sighted." Piotr strained his eyes, trying to make out the snow hill.

"Why, aren't we flying up to ze castle?" Guillaume asked.

"Not exactly." Aaron shook his head. "We cannot just go there and knock on the front door, hoping that my brother will open it and embrace us as a welcoming. We've got to approach the castle in another way."

"How?" Draco asked.

"Underground." Aaron replied. "There is a maze of hidden tunnels under the castle. One of them has an entrance here at the hillside. I hope it hasn't caved in during the centuries."

They all got out the sleigh, eternally grateful to be in one piece after such a rough flight.

"I suggest you stay and take care of the reindeers, old man." Draco said.

"No way, young man." Piotr said. "I'm coming with you. You can't keep me here."

Draco raised his wand, but Ginny grabbed his arm. "No! Let him come if he insists."

"He will only be a hindrance to us!" Malfoy reasoned. "He's old and cannot even walk quick enough! He's a burden!"

"A burden who took you here." Piotr pointed out.

"True." Aaron nodded. "Without him we wouldn't be here now. None of us knows how to control these creatures." he pointed at the reindeers. "We owe him that much."

Draco frowned. "I don't approve of this. You could get badly hurt, old man."

"Malfoy!" Ginny gasped. "You have just shown a sign of humanity!"

"Have I?" he blinked. "I didn't intend to…"

"You know what this means!" she said.

"Keep dreaming!" he grunted and followed Aaron into the tunnel.

"Lumos." Aaron said, looking around with the small light at the tip of his wand. "The tunnel seems to be intact."

"Glad to hear." Malfoy replied. "By the way, where did you get your wand from? Was it frozen together with you?"

"Believe it or not, it was." the black-bearded man nodded. "I was surprised myself when I reached into my pocket and found my wand there. I was even more surprised to see that it was still functioning after having been frozen for eleven centuries. Tough wand, that one." he flung it proudly. "I just hope I will not have to use it on my brother…" he added with a sigh.

"You love him, don't you?" Ginny placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked into her understanding green eyes and nodded.

"He turned bad, he killed people… even our father and my wife, but… he is still my brother… I couldn't kill him."

"Don't worry, we'll kill him for you." Draco said. "Start moving, Weasley!"

"Potter! How many times do I have to tell you?" Ginny burst out, tears brimming her eyes. "Harry might be dead, but I'm his widow and I'll go by the name of Potter as long as I live!"

"Okay, okay, don't go hysteric on me, will you?" he waved and headed down the tunnel.

"I was wrong. No humanity in this guy at all!" she spat.

"I'm tired!" Guillaume started to complain after two hours of walk. "I need to sleep or I'll 'ave dark shadows under my eyes!"

"Really, can't you think of anything else but your looks?" Mileta snapped.

"What else should I think o'?"

"Well, your Beauxbatons friends, for example!" she replied.

"I 'ave no friends at Beaxbatons." Lochar replied, yawning.

"I wonder why." Dennis rolled his eyes.

"If you have no friends, then at least think of professor Zvezda!" Mileta reasoned.

"Ah, ze lil' Svetlana… quite good in bed, she is."

"You slept with a teacher?" Mileta hissed.

"Shouldn't I 'ave?" Guillaume shrugged. "She wanted it, after all, not me."

"But this is still… disgusting!" she said.

"If you 'ad managed to sleep wiz 'Arry Potter, you wouldn't say it was disgusting, would you?" the French boy looked at her, his gaze penetrating. Mileta felt herself blushing and also felt tears coming. She diverted her stare and focused on the old man who was walking with difficulty.

With a sudden thought she walked up to him. "May I help?" she asked.

"No, thank you." Piotr gave her a smile. "I can walk on my own, I guess. I'm not that old."

"Really, how old are you?" Mileta got curious.

"It's impolite to ask one's age!" Dennis said.

"Not always impolite." Piotr smiled. "Anyway, age does not count at all. Your real age is what you feel in your heart. If you feel older than you are, than you're older. If you feel younger, than you're younger."

"And how old do you feel?" Guillaume interjected.

"Well, I feel about twenty." the old man winked at him, then suddenly tripped over a rock.

"Piotr!" Mileta and Ginny fell to their knees. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, don't worry." he replied in a faint voice.

"I told you that you shouldn't have come." Draco said. "Too hard for someone at your age."

"As I have told Ms. Mileta and Mr. Guillaume… age does not count." the old man wheezed. Ginny conjured a glass of water and propped his head to help him drink. He gave her a grateful smile as she lifted the glass to his lips.

"We should stay here for a while, Malfoy." Ginny said. "Everyone's exhausted."

"All right. Three hours. No more." he nodded. "I'll keep a look out while you sleep. Go on."

After having put a strengthening charm on the old man, everyone took a nap.

Draco had been pacing the corridor for a while, watching as the others slept and listening to every little noise. There wasn't much to be heard – mainly the snores of Aaron and Mileta. As Draco walked past Ginny, the beam of his wand fell upon her face, and he was taken aback by the sight: she was crying in her sleep. He reached out to wipe away her tears, but his hand stopped in mid-air. He shook his head and walked away from her, dropping himself down on a rock, burying his face into his hands with a sigh.

"You love her." a voice spoke up.

Draco looked up to see the old man stand up, walk to him and seat himself down next to him.

"What?" Malfoy raised an eyebrow.

"I said you loved her. The red-head."

"What gives you that idea?" Draco tried to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"I saw you back at the castle, after she got to know about her husband's death… I heard you talk to her in a voice only a man in love would be talking in… and I've seen you now. You love her. You are trying to deny it, but no use, young man. You do love her."

"What if I do?" Malfoy scowled at him. "That's non of your business."

"Maybe not. Maybe yes." Piotr shrugged. "I just want to know about your intentions."

"What intentions?" Draco frowned.

"Do you want to marry her?"

"Marry?" Draco laughed grimly. "Why would I want to marry her if I can get her without that?"

"Get her?" the old man's eyes flashed - whether with surprise or anger, Draco couldn't tell. Anyway, what did this foolish old fellow think of himself? What right did he have to question him about his relationship to Ginny? Well, maybe he was just the old, conservative type who didn't approve of the idea of 'unholy' relations without the blessing of a priest… "What do you mean by that?" the old man pressed.

"I meant that I could get her whenever I wanted… I have almost got her already."

"Explain." Piotr demanded.

"Well, she was quite willing to sleep with me when…" Draco's voice trailed off.

"When?"

"When that Mileta told her that her husband had slept with another. So, Ginny thought that her husband did it deliberately… cheated on her. She felt vindictive and wanted to avenge it… wanted to get laid by me. Of course she was in my debt as well… but she might have wanted me even without being in my debt…" Draco shrugged.

"And… did you sleep with her… did you…?"

"No."

The old man's eyes shone under the hood of his robes… those penetrating eyes made Draco feel as though he had been X-rayed. "Why not?"

"Non of your business, Piotr."

The old man nodded, diverting his eyes, looking into the darkness of the tunnel. "I think you should get some sleep. I'll keep a look out for a while."

Draco nodded, happy that the discussion was over. Somehow he felt awkward in the old guy's presence. Something about this man just wasn't all right… his behaviour simply didn't make sense. But then again, Draco knew other crazy old people as well. There was for example Albus Dumbledore…

Soon they set off again – Guillaume complaining how short their rest had been. Mileta finally decided to kick him in the ankle, that – at least for a while – managed to silence him.

Aaron was animatedly talking to Dennis about the events of the past eleven centuries. He was more than eager to know everything.

"…Great Britain was a republic for mere eleven years, but apart from that it has always been a monarchy. The Queen's Elizabeth II."

"Queen? You mean a woman's the monarch?" Aaron looked surprised.

"Yeah, but she is not really sovereign, 'cause she receives her authority from the Parliament. That is to say, she reigns but does not rule."

Aaron was quite confused by all the new concepts, so Dennis tried to explain everything from the Tories to the House of Lords, from eisteddfods to The Kirk, from GCSEs to Cambridge, from The Times to BBC.

"And the planes, do they really fly without magic?"

"Yes, of course." Dennis nodded. "Muggles can be quite inventive and you would be surprised to see how well they do without magic. There are several wonderful inventions, for example, the Internet."

"The what?"

"Well, that's kind of a web that enables you to talk to anyone at any point of the world."

"A web? Like a cobweb, or what?" Aaron asked.

"No, it's all modern technique… you have no idea how many things there are that you don't know. After we have freed our friends, you should come to Great Britain and I'll show you everything… the cars, the telephone, the computers, the TV, the micro-wave oven… and my dad's cow, Dolly."

While Dennis and Aaron got immersed in a discussion about the Hubble space telescope, Piotr walked up to Ginny, who was extremely silent.

"A sickle for your thoughts."

"Huh?" she looked up. "Oh, sorry. I didn't notice you there. I was thinking about…"

"The mission? The fight?"

"Not exactly." she shook her head. "I was thinking of Harry… I was wondering whether he could see me from… wherever he is… whether he was helping me from there to be able to hold out…"

"I'm sure he is." Piotr said gently. "He must have loved you very much."

"Oh, yes, he did." she sighed. "He loved me and I still doubted his faith… I fear that I'll never come to terms with it… that for the last time when I spoke to him, I was yelling at him, I was sending him away, I was… horrible to him. I wrote him letters to apologise and he wrote back that he forgave me, still… I could never ask for his forgiveness in person, and I'll never have the chance to do so… If I didn't have children, I…"

"No." he squeezed her arm. "Don't even think of that. No sensible man would ever wish that you follow him to the netherworld."

"I know he wouldn't…" a single tear coursed down her cheek. "Still I wish I could be with him there, or wherever he is…"

"If you love him, he'll be with you, forever. There, in your heart." the old man said quietly. "Those whom we love, never really leave us."

* * * * *

Every passing day in the dark cell was hell for its four occupants. Viktor Krum was more morose than ever, always scowling and furrowing his bushy eyebrows; Minerva spent all of her time trying to be as far away from Aberforth as possible, and Hermione felt utter lethargy. Her heart ached at the thought that she might never see Ron again, that she might never see anything else but these grey walls around herself… that Ginny would have to bring up her children without Harry… She had no idea what to expect in this cell where they were practically buried alive. Uncertainty was slowly killing her. She felt exhausted, nauseous and hopeless. She found herself crying at least ten times a day – then McGonagall would walk up to her and take her into her arms, whispering "It's okay, it's okay…" However, it didn't help.

Aberforth was the only one who hadn't lost his spirits – he kept telling them jokes, but all his jokes fell upon deaf ears.

"Really, Minerva, that was the best joke ever! Couldn't you just force a smile or something?"

McGonagall gave him a despising stare. "You are impossible, Mr. Dumbledore! Absolutely impossible. Don't you see where we are? Aren't you a bit sad about Harry Potter's death? Aren't you concerned where the others are?"

"One question at a time, Minerva!" Aberforth said. "First: where are we? Er… in a cell? Second: aren't I said about Harry?" he heaved a deep sigh. "You have no idea. My heart aches for him, because he was not only a wonderful wizard, but a great friend as well... and a good fisherman. Still, he's dead. He wouldn't want us to mourn forever. And thirdly: yes, I do feel concerned about the others, but what can we do now? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! All we can do is to try and stay alive, hoping that one day the way to freedom will opened for us. And if we forget that life can be beautiful… if we succumb to lethargy, then we'll definitely die. So dear Minerva," he stepped closer to her, "we mustn't forget how to laugh… because that's what gives us spirit… a will to live, to hold out."

"Aberforth…" she whispered, forgetting that she was supposed to call him Mr. Dumbledore. "I can't believe what I just heard you say…" she gulped. "I mean… you can be… normal. I never thought you could be this… wise."

Aberforth rewarded her with a smile. "I can, dear Minerva."

McGonagall sighed. "All right, then. Try and make us laugh. If you manage to make me laugh, I promise to forgive for your former behaviour, and I might also promise not to break any of your limbs in the future."

"Deal!" he clasped his hands. "Then let me tell you about my story with the goat."

"I have already heard about that." Minerva shrugged. "The papers wrote about it."

"The papers!" Aberforth waved indignantly, leaning to the wall. "They didn't write down the half of it! They know nothing at all! I'm giving you the whole story now… be prepared for the greatest laugh of your…" he couldn't finish the sentence, because the wall he was leaning to, suddenly gave way and he fell – right before the legs of Draco Malfoy.