I wanted to update yesterday, but ffnet still wasn't working (surely because of all the changes that have been made on the site). Oh, well, I'm updating now – and feeling a bit funny about updating on Friday the 13th… is Friday 13th supposed to be an unfortunate day in your countries as well? In Hungary we have a superstition that this day is unfortunate, but the only time it was unfortunate for me was about 10 years ago when I got a bad mark in maths on Friday 13th… Probably Trelawney would say not to update today because the Grim will come, but to hell with that stupid old fraud! :))
And now, the usual reply-section:Dauphin: I might be sadistic, I don't know :)
Alexander Pheonix: writing 'great chapter' is just enough, don't worry :)
Lupin's Angel: I almost won the 'best-death-of-Harry-Potter-award'? You can still give me the 'best-almost-killing-off-Harry-Potter-but-making-him-return-later'-award :)
Arif: your penis theory WILL be proved wrong :))
princesswitch: what is 'aafo'?
Melinda Malfoy: you are right, Ron and the twins are indeed behaving like 16-year-olds, but IMHO Hermione and Harry aren't. Tell me if I'm wrong. Lucius Malfoy is indeed rather idiotic, but he has his reasons. Not revealing them right now. You said that Ginny was 2D. I agree. The problem is that Rowling never told us much about her character – all we know about her is that she always blushes in front of Harry and that she's gullible. It was rather hard to write a developed Ginny-character after this – sorry if I didn't succeed, I tried. Perhaps in chapter 34 she'll seem less 2D.
MauiGoddess3: you don't want Herm to get together with Ron in the real books? Why? You asked what college I went to – I'm going to the Budapest Economy College, Foreign Trade Faculty and I'm studying international communications and Public Relations.
GinnyPotter387: I'm glad you liked the title for the last chapter!
Elfangor19: okaaaay… 100 points to Gryffindor (I'm a very lenient Hogwarts professor :)
Notebook Girl: 7 chapters together with this one. I'll post the next fic when it's ready, but only 18 chapters are written and at least another 10 will be added before it ends. However this third fic is already longer than TGSoHH (more pages with very long chapters).
Myr Halcyon: I didn't think that the line 'Beauxbatons couldn't hold a candle to it' was a pun. There was no pun intended, but if you regarded it as one, then it IS one.
jennaration: nice to see you again, I thought that you had forgotten about me! :)
2Coolio: I'm glad that I can still trick you.
Black Ice: yes, I'm at home already, school starts on 16th September (*sobs*, in three days!). Updates will come once in a week, I guess.
X-Tow-Naga: however interesting the theory of the Borg is, there won't be any time-travel in this fic, nor in any other fic of mine. I simply find time-travel way too confusing. In Hungary we haven only seen about the half of the Star Trek Voyager episodes. Has the crew of Voyager got back to Earth at last?
jona: aha, so you remembered the sled! Not many people did!
Jeanine23Dr: no, in Hungarian schools children don't use uniforms. When I was in the primary school we had to wear some kind of a cloak to protect our clothes but we 'rebelled' against it, so from the 5th class we were 'exempted' from having to wear them. Nowadays only the smallest pupils wear such cloaks, all others are free to wear whatever they want.
Sapphire Selia: yes, there are still things coming that can be guessed if you read the story in a very detailed sort of way. I keep doing this: giving little hints about things that seem to be unimportant but turn out to be important later. Read my answer to Black Ice. As for the third fic – I'm going to space the chapters out as always. The rest of the chapters for this fic are also written, though I'm still making small changes to them.
Lavendar Brown: you said that the Aaron you liked wasn't the one in my story. Um… do you have a boyfriend called Aaron?
K.C. Hunter: the Lucius Malfoy pic is… creepy. I didn't imagine Lucius having such long hair!
Kit Cloudkicker: I get the impression that you didn't read the last line of the last chapter. Had you read it carefully, you'd KNOW that Harry's not dead.
blaubaerin: the reason why I named a cow Dolly is that in 'Anne of Green Gables' there was a cow named Dolly. So, it had nothing to do with the cloned sheep. I haven't seen Life is beautiful – is that the movie with Roberto Benigni? The only movie in which I've seen him in is Asterix and Obelix versus Caesar in which he played a stupid Roman soldier. The fisherman thingie had nothing to do with Jesus. Yes, hubby is a nickname for husband.
the_girl_who_lived: I hope your mum is feeling better now.
Crazycutee831: why did Harry lie to everyone? He'll tell in the next chapter.
Moony Lover: thanks for wishing May the Force be with You all the time! :))
Kristen Michelle: I'm glad you're back, I was missing you.
Tifanee Weasley: Harry wasn't aged by an Aging Potion but by an evil curse.
kwok: truth be told I know nothing about Yin and Yang. So the 'Harry losing his powers thing' has nothing to do with it. He didn't grow old because he lost his powers, but because he had been cursed by Anor. Read this chapter, Anor will tell you about it.
Also thanks to: Cressida, Ksiezniczka, TaMaraR, Saphron, VeRyWiLdWiTcH, Padfoot, Kamatazi Yumi, twinkle-toes, Katie Bell, Lady Python, spangle*star, goldenstar555, starheart, Whit2005, Princess Ginny, MidniteSunrise, Jessica, star queen, aurora riddle, caroline, Aimee, rebkos, AmandaPanda, zzxm, Hermione Weasley, Nefertiri, Lana Riddle, Cassandra Anthemyst, C-chan, LilGinny, NightmareSweety
I bet you haven't read a chapter with the following title (and this time is does not refer to its ending)…
Chapter 33 Cliff-hanger"Harry…" Hermione breathed, turning chalk-white. She cast a side-glance at Ginny, who was eyeing Harry with an unreadable expression.
"Potter!" Draco gasped.
"Potter?" McGonagall clutched at her heart.
"Yes." the 'old man' replied, standing up. "It's me."
"But how… why are you…?" Mileta began.
"…so old?" Harry finished the question. "Ask him!" he pointed at Anor.
"What did you do to Harry?" Aberforth demanded.
"Aged him a bit, don't you see?" Anor raised an eyebrow.
"But why, for heaven's sake?" McGonagall said.
"Because I wanted to punish him." Anor replied. "He slept with my mistress, after all."
"Just because your mistress deceived him!" Hermione burst out. "Harry didn't know what he was doing at all! That woman bewitched him!" she pointed at the Potions teacher.
"I had to." Tatyana said coolly. "Otherwise he wouldn't have slept with me."
"Do you hear that?" Ginny shouted after having recovered her voice. "He did not want that whore of yours! Still, you punished him! Put him right again!"
"Put - him - right?" Anor cackled. "My sweet, that's impossible! This is an irreversible charm! He is going to stay that way forever! Oh, did I say forever?" his mouth tucked into a devilish smirk. "Forever…? Hah… he is so old that he will live for another two or three months, at most."
"All right." Ginny straightened herself. "Name a price. Whatever. Tell me what I have to do to keep him alive and I'll do it!"
The evil wizard stepped to her, cupping her face. "That's charming. Absolutely charming. There's nothing as charming as a woman in love… a woman who would do anything for the man she loves…" he cast a side-glance at Tatyana. "However, there's no guarantee at all that the woman gets what she wants… No guarantee at all, not ever for my Natasha."
Tatyana descended the stairs of the throne with a pale complexion. "What do you mean, Anor?"
"I meant, dear, that no matter how big your sacrifice for me was, I don't need you anymore. Not as a wife, not as a lover, not even as a servant. You did for me what you could, and that's the end of your career. I would have kept you as a lover, had I not met a new candidate for your post, sweetheart." with that he reached out and pulled Ginny to himself.
"No!" shouted Harry and Tatyana in unison.
"Yes." replied Anor. "The read-head is mine."
"No way!" Ginny pushed him back with such a force that he almost fell. "Harry." she closed her husband into her arms.
"What a lovely scene." Anor clapped. "Wonderful. You know what, my sweet? I'll be merciful. I will help your husband live for years and years… but he will stay here and witness as you sit on my right… as my lover."
"I'd rather die!" Harry shouted.
"Really?" Anor raised an eyebrow. "So be it…" he raised his wand at 'the old man' and ejected a white stream of light that – surprisingly – never hit Harry. It met with another jet of light in mid-air and deviated from its original track… zooming right in McGonagall's direction. Before it could hit Minerva, Aberforth jumped before her, receiving the curse instead of her.
"Aberforth!" McGonagall shrieked, dropping to her knees next to Dumbledore.
The rest of the crowd, however, did not pay attention to them – everyone's eyes were fixed on one of the doors and the five figures who just had entered.
"Ron!" Hermione shouted to her husband, who had shot the curse that hit Anor's.
"Father!" Draco and Ginny yelled.
In the next minute all hell broke loose. Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy shot stunners at the nearest people, while Ron, George and Fred covered them. The newcomers caused such an upheaval that gave an opportunity for Aaron, Hermione, Krum, Ginny, Draco, Dennis, Mileta and Guillaume to act. They raised their wands that they had still been clutching and started stunning everyone around themselves.
Anor's servants, however, were still acting like a huge, combined mind – when any of them noticed a spell coming from any direction, all the others knew about it at once, so the one closest to the originator of the spell could prevent it from hitting anyone.
Soon the newcomers also realised that something was thoroughly amiss with their enemy.
"Father!" Draco yelled as a Beauxbatons student ejected a curse at Lucius.
Lucius stepped aside. "Draco! What happened to these people?" he shouted over the crowd.
"They are bewitched so they can move and think as one entity!" his son yelled back.
"Aha! I know that one!" Lucius shouted, sending a stunner at Natalie McDonald who was about to do away with Arthur Weasley.
"Hey, thanks, Malfoy!"
"You're welcome, Weasley!"
Fred got cornered by professor Ivanovich, the Durmstrang Charms professor. George cursed Ivanovich from behind, causing five Durmstrang students to jump upon him and professor Ivanovich at once. "Wingaridum Leviosa!" Fred shouted at the five students, lifting them up into the air, making them fall right down on four others who were just about to neutralise Ginny.
"Thanks, Fred!" she waved at him, kicking Stahanov, the Durmstrang caretaker in the stomach.
"Wow, Gin! Just like the karate-kid!" Dennis shouted a second before two Beauxbatons students stunned him from behind. Guillaume tripped over Dennis' prone form, falling right on him, his wand sliding out of his hand. Mileta snatched up the fallen wand and, with one wand at each hand, she sent jelly-leg jinxes at two of her classmates.
"If you know this charm, Father, why don't you do something?" Draco shouted at Lucius.
"I'm trying to remember the incantation!" Malfoy Sr. growled.
"Hermione, watch out!" Ron yelped as Graham Pritchard pointed his wand at her. Hermione ducked behind a pillar just in time and saw a vicious Durmstrang student run in Ginny's direction, wand upheld. Hermione was just about to stun him when a leg appeared from behind another pillar, tripping the student.
"Well done, Harry!" she shouted at him.
"Well done?" Anor shrieked, pointing his wand at Harry, who again ducked behind the column, making the curse ricochet off it, hitting and exploding a nearby ice-sculpture.
"Oh! Got it!" Lucius yelled suddenly, pointing his wand at the crowd. "Finita unio cerebrum!"
It was like as if a bomb had gone off in the hall. A bomb… of silence.
Suddenly all the noise died away, and hundred wands fell onto the icy floor.
The mind-connection had been broken and the bewitched students and teachers 'woke up'. They blinked, rubbed their eyes and looked around in awe.
"What 'appened 'ere?" a girl from Beaxbatons was the first to ask.
"You were bewitched… to obey him!" Krum shouted, pointing at Anor, who – in that instant – seemed to have shrunk, somehow. His complexion was deadly pale and his black eyes looked glassy.
In the next instant he vanished.
"Where's he gone?" Draco yelled.
"Escaped!" Ginny screamed.
"And Tat…" Hermione looked around, but she didn't see the Potions professor anywhere. "Where's that woman?"
"They both escaped!" Harry shouted.
"I think I know where my brother is." Aaron said. "Leave him to me." and with that, he also disappeared.
A murmur ran down the hall, rising in volume. No one knew what was to come now – were they in safety from the evil or were their lives still in danger?
"Father, what kind of spell was that?" Draco stepped to Lucius.
"Ah, a very tricky little piece of Dark Art." Malfoy shrugged.
"And how did you know about it?" Arthur demanded.
"Oh, come off it, Weasley, don't start this 'I've caught you, bad death-eater' stuff again!" Lucius grunted. "Just to remind you, I have saved your sorry ass!"
"True. But I still can be curious." Arthur folded his arms.
"Well… let's say that this charm was a self-thought one. I found it in a very old Chinese parchment."
"Chinese?" Ron gaped. "You can read that stuff?"
"Yeah, I can, since I'm quite well-educated… not like other people..." Malfoy cast a glance at the Weasley twins who were embracing and congratulating each other on having saved one another's lives. "I have always felt attracted to the Chinese wizarding culture… why do you think I named my son Draco?"
"I never knew you were named after a Chinese Fireball, Malfoy." George grinned as he released his twin. "He doesn't even look like a dragon, does he, Fred?"
"Not really…" Fred smirked. "I think he rather resembles a ferret."
"And a bouncing one." George nodded and they both started to laugh.
Ginny heaved a relieved sigh, seeing that Fred and George had reconciled. Dangerous situations really bring out the best or the worst in you, and in the twins' case it seemed to be the best. Maybe they would give each other a second chance, after all…
"Ohhh… look!" she gasped suddenly, pointing at a hunch figure leaning over a prone one: Aberforth and McGonagall. Minerva was holding the old man in her arms, her face soaked with tears.
"Is he… dead?" Harry asked, his voice faltering.
"No… not yet, kid." Aberforth gave him a faint smile. He didn't lose his sense of humour, not even so near to death. Harry – serious the situation might be – felt his lips tuck into a smile. Good old Aberforth… calling him 'kid', when he looked older than him…
"You'll recover." Harry said, kneeling down next to Dumbledore.
"Thanks… for… your… faith… kid… but I'm going to die… Anor used a… slow-killing curse…" Dumbledore breathed, reaching out with his wrinkled hands to touch Harry's equally wrinkled ones. "You were… a great… friend… and a very good… fisherman."
"Oh, Aberforth!" Harry laughed and cried at once. "You are going to be all right again. You'll recover."
Suddenly another five hundred people flooded into the hall – the rest of the kidnapped Dursmtrang students. They all looked a bit dazed, but their minds were clear again – after Lucius had performed his charm, the mind-link vanished, and not only among the present students. All the others got free from the bind as well.
Harry rose to his feet as fast as he – in his current state - could, seeing the Durmstrang nurse enter and dragged her to Aberforth. "Help him, please!"
The nurse knelt down and examined the old wizard's wounds. "Not much of a chance." she whispered to Harry.
"I know!" Aberforth grinned. "No use… whispering."
"If we could transport him back to Durmstrang, I might be able to heal him with an essence of the Black Edelweiss." the nurse said.
"Transport him back?" McGonagall blanched. "He cannot even move, let alone apparate!"
"The… sled… Open a window…" Aberforth said, reaching out with a shaking hand, fumbling with his collar. Harry and Minerva watched him, having no idea what he was doing. Finally Dumbledore pulled a chain out of his clothes – a chain with a whistle on it. With the last amount of strength, he tore the chain off his neck and handed it to Harry. "Blow it… Rudolph and the others will come… take me… back… to Durmstrang."
* * * * *
Anor apparated at the highest tower of Azgard. This tower had been his favourite place in the whole castle – and here was his room… a room full of dark magic artefacts, and even Muggle weapons such as axes, swords and lances arranged neatly on the walls.
Anor ran to a trunk and started throwing things into it, grabbing vials of potions and crystal balls from the shelves, stuffing them all into the trunk.
"Going somewhere, my dear?" a female voice spoke up behind him.
"Oh… Natasha…" he breathed. "My love…"
"Your… what, exactly?" she raised an eyebrow, pointing her wand at him.
"Now, now, Natie… don't play with me, I don't have time for that."
"You – will – have – time for me!" she shouted. "I had time for you, Anor! I spent the last eleven centuries reincarnating again, again and again… waiting for the time to come… the time when I could awake my one and only love!" she spat the word 'love' with such disgust that Anor cringed. "And what did my love give me in exchange? He told me he didn't need me anymore!"
"Natasha… let's… let's talk about this…"
"We are talking about it!" she bellowed, the wand shaking in her hand. "Tell me, Anor, did you love me? Did you ever love me?"
"I… of course I did!" he snapped.
"You did?" her eyes gleamed with fury. "Did you love me when you were dying to get your brother's wife? Did you love me when you were groping that little redhead? Did you love me when you said I was of no use to you anymore? DID YOU???"
"Natasha…" he began. "I didn't mean what I told that redhead… I never meant it…"
"Don't lie to me!" she yelled, advancing on him with outstretched wand, tears coursing down her cheeks.
"I'm not lying." he whispered when they were at arm's length. "I'm not lying." he repeated, his eyes boring into hers.
"No?" she asked in a raspy voice.
"No." he said, reaching out and gently pulling her wand out of her hand. "I love you." he breathed, so quietly that she barely heard it, letting him gather her into his arms. "I love you." with one hand he stroked the back of her head while he pointed his wand at her back with the other. "Avada Ke…"
"Stop!" the door of the room banged open to reveal Aaron.
"Aaron!" Tatyana shrieked and jumped back from Anor's embrace.
"Stupefy!" Anor shouted, pointing his own wand at his brother, Tatyana's wand at its owner.
The woman fell onto the floor, unconscious, but Aaron shouted Expelliarmus at the same time, snatching the wand out of his brother's right hand.
"That's not fair, little brother." Anor said. "You've got two wands now."
"Then we'll make it fair." Aaron said, dropping his brother's wand. "Now we are even."
"And? Are you going to kill me, or what?" Anor raised an eyebrow. "You are too weak for that, little brother. You could never kill."
* * * * *
Lucius Malfoy stiffened.
"Are you feeling all right, father?" Draco asked, seeing that his father was somewhere else in mind.
"I know where they are." Lucius breathed. "I've… I've got to go there…"
"What?" Draco blinked, but his father didn't pay attention, and in the next instant, disapparated.
* * * * *
Aaron straightened himself. "We'll see, brother."
"Will we?" Anor cackled. "Crucio!"
Aaron felt as though his body had been torn apart from inside out, but he wasn't screaming. He wouldn't give his brother the pleasure of seeing him that way. Never.
With great difficulty he raised his wand. "Locomotor Mortis!"
Anor equally fell.
"We're even again." his twin breathed.
"Not for long!" Anor growled, flipping his wand. A sword, that had been hanging on the wall, came zooming down at Aaron. Aaron made a swish with his wand, making the sword stop in mid-air and change direction, zooming right into Tatyana's body.
Aaron blanched, seeing what happened. He only wanted the sword to deviate from its original track, but not to run her through…
"Great… You killed her." Anor sneered. "But don't feel pangs of remorse… she deserved it."
He pointed his wand at his legs, shouting Finita Incantatem, so that he could stand up again.
Aaron also rose to his feet, his wand pointing at his brother, but his hand trembling. "God sees my soul, I did not want to kill her… I only want to kill you!"
"You will not kill me. You aren't capable of that. Admit it." Anor smirked, setting three axes into motion.
Aaron easily deflected two of them, making them bang into the walls. The third, however, was still under the control of his brother, and came down at him, hitting the wand out of his hand, even injuring his fingers. When he cried out in pain and pressed his left hand on his injured and badly bleeding right one, Anor didn't hesitate. With a flick of his wand he made Aaron's body rise into the air and bang into the ceiling, then let it fall again.
"This hurts, doesn't it? You like flying, don't you?" he cackled, hearing his brother wince. "What about a bit more flying?" he directed his brother's body to soar out onto the balcony and hover right above the banister. Anor kept flipping with his wand, making Aaron 'dance' above the depth. "And now… no matter how much my heart aches… we need to say goodbye to each other, dear brother."
Anor made a downwards move with his wand, releasing the magical grip on Aaron's body. Aaron fell over the banister, but caught one of its bars with his hands.
"A little hard to get rid of you, isn't it?" Anor smirked, looking down at his brother. "Hmmm… I always loved cliff-hanger situations. Don't you?…" a dreamy expression fell over his face as he looked up to gaze at the horizon. The first rays of the rising sun painted the inky darkness of the sky with streaks of aquamarine and magenta. "Our father… always favoured you. You were the apple of his eye… his little Aaron… the clever, generous boy… He never loved me… criticised everything on me… even the boots that I wore… What do you think, Aaron, what are my boots like?" he placed his right foot on his brother's left hand. Seeing Aaron's face contort in pain, he lifted his foot and continued: "So, you don't like my boots either? Do they hurt?" he stomped with his left foot on his brother's right - already injured - hand. "You know that when I lift my foot you are going to fall? You know it, don't you?"
"You wish…" a faint voice said from behind and Anor felt his wand snatched out of his hand, his body soaring up into the air, and all he could do was scream as he fell into the depth of the Barents Sea below.
Lucius Malfoy burst into the tower-room to see a deadly pale Tatyana sitting on the floor, holding a wand in her outstretched hand.
"Revenge." she breathed and collapsed again.
"Help!" Aaron shouted, now gripping the bar only with his left hand – but he only had seconds, for his fingers got slippery with sweat and started to slid off the bar.
Lucius flicked his wand, lifting Aaron back onto the balcony. "All right?"
"Yeah." the black-bearded man nodded, leaning onto the banister, gazing down into the depth with tears brimming his eyes. "You were right… I couldn't kill you." he whispered into the abyss. "Goodbye, brother."
"You seem to need medical care." Mr Malfoy said. "Can you walk down? I think that the Durmstrang nurse could help. She's down there, already attending the wounded. I'll see what I can do for this woman… though there might be nothing I can do anymore."
"All right." Aaron nodded. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Lucius said, watching the man leave. *Malfoy, Malfoy, you're getting weak… saving everyone… yuck!*
'This is necessary weakness, Lucius.'
He bent down to examine the woman who was lying in a puddle of blood, still holding the wand in her hand.
* * * * *
When Aaron reached down into the hall, he saw dozens of people lying on the floor, other people stuffing robes under their heads or helping them drink.
"Aaron!" Mileta ran up to him. "Where's your brother?"
"Dead." he replied.
"And professor Fiodrovna?" came Madame Maxime's voice. She looked quite exhausted.
"Dying or dead already." Aaron replied with a pang or remorse. He had never liked Natasha, but never wanted to see her dead. "She has been lethally injured by a sword."
"We are going back to Durmstrang." Draco cut in. "Aberforth Dumbledore is dying… according to the nurse he could stand a very small chance to survive if he could be attended at the Durmstrang infirmary… but I don't think he'll survive. Potter has already called the reindeers, you know he speaks their language or what… they packed Aberforth on the sleigh with Ginny and McGonagall. They departed minutes ago."
"We are apparating to St. Petersburg, right?" Arthur Weasley asked. The Weasleys and the Malfoys had left the school through the floo network to The Dancing Bear and apparated from St. Petersburg to Azgard. A shame that apparating was so difficult around Durmstrang…
"No." Draco shook his head. "We are going to ride the dragon. It's much less exhausting than apparating to St. Petersburg and going by floo back to the school… and much less time-consuming."
"What dragon?"
"Vladi." Mileta replied. "My brother and professor Ivanovich are just making small amendments on him."
"Amendments?" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"You'll see." she replied with a smile.
"And where are Ron and Hermione?" Draco asked.
"Freeing the house-elves, I suppose." Mileta replied. "You know, the elves had also been kidnapped."
"Hermione…" Ron said as they walked downstairs, searching for the kitchen where they supposedly would find the abducted elves. "I… I'm sorry about my behaviour when we parted. I was so stupid."
"Yes, you were." she nodded, not even looking at him.
"I know that you never cheated on me with Krum."
"Glad to hear." she said coldly.
"Herm…" he stopped her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Forgive me, please. I know I don't deserve it…"
"That's right, you don't deserve it." she replied.
"But everyone deserves a second chance… if even Snape did, then I also do, don't you think?"
She gave him a small smile. "You deserve a probation. After that I'll decide about us."
"How long a probation?" he smirked.
"Let's see… one year…?"
"What?" his eyes widened. "That's unfair! Way too long!"
"Half a year, then." she said.
"By the end of it our child will be born." he pointed out.
She gasped. "How do you know?"
"Er…" he turned ruby-red. "All right, one year."
"Why? What did you do that you think you deserve to suffer for a whole year, Ronald Weasley???"
"I… read your diary."
A/N2: Latin explanation: finita unio cerebrum = to finish the mind-union (it might not be proper, you know that I don't speak Latin, it might be 'unio cerebrum finita', I'm not sure.)
Note to X-Tow-Naga: sorry 'bout the lame action scene, you know that I'm no action writer, but such a scene was necessary.