A/N: Fluff time!  Get ready to feel all warm and fuzzy… even Sev's spreading the love.  ^_^

~~ Chapter Twenty-Six: Reunion ~~

            It had been almost three hours since Eko Chang arrived and then left Hogwarts, and the hour was now well past midnight.  Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, Minerva Dumbledore, and Alina Terringer returned to the staff room after thanking Professor Trelawney profusely to wait until the Minister of Magic returned, hopefully with Lucius or at least some news concerning their estranged friend.  However, due to the amount of time elapsed, they were starting to worry.

            "Why is it taking so long?" Alina asked.  By now, her concern had almost turned into paranoia.  "What if the dementors won't let them out?"

            "Eko Chang is a diplomat," Minerva said encouragingly.  "He knows how to handle situations like this.  The dementors may not be the friendliest creatures in the world, but they will respect his authority.  If there's any way to free Lucius, Chang will find it."

            Snape looked at the Musical Enchantment instructor and asked, "Alina, when was the last time you slept?"

            "Two nights before you came to Switzerland, I think."

            "You really should get some sleep," Snape said, and Albus and Minerva voiced their agreement.

            Alina shook her head.  "No.  I won't be able to rest until Lucius is safe."

            Dumbledore looked at the Potions Master.  "Severus?"

            Snape nodded.  "Very well."

            "Where are you going?" Alina asked as Snape stood up and began to walk toward the exit.

            "To make sleeping potion," he answered, "for all of us."

            Snape stepped into the hall, and almost screamed when he saw the two men walking toward the staff room: Eko Chang and Lucius Malfoy.  Instead, he gasped, stumbled backwards and pressed his hand to his racing heart.  "Lucius?" he said in disbelief.

            Lucius looked a little worse for wear, but otherwise unharmed.  "Hello, Severus."

            Snape grabbed Lucius and hugged him tightly.  Lucius was a little surprised.  He was glad to see his friend, too, but he hadn't expected this kind of reaction.  When Snape finally released him, Lucius smiled and said, "I missed you, too."

            All the commotion attracted the attention of the other three teachers inside the staff room, and they came into the hall to see what was going on.  As soon as she laid eyes on Lucius, Alina did exactly the same thing Snape had done: gasped, stumbled backwards, pressed her hand to her heart, and said, "Lucius?"

            He smiled at her.  "Hello, Alina."

            Lucius then received another hug, this time from the Musical Enchantment professor instead of the Potions Master.  "I know this may not be the best time to ask this," Lucius whispered into her ear, "but I have to do it before I lose my nerve."

            "What do you mean?" Alina asked as they pulled apart.

            Lucius took her hands in his and dropped down to one knee.  "Alina, will you…"  He stopped when she knelt down, too, and asked him if he was all right.  "Stand up, please?" he finished.  "I'm trying to propose here, and you're making this very difficult."

            "I'm sorry," Alina said.  Shock had set in, and she was almost unable to believe what she just heard, but did as he asked.

            "That's better.  Alina, will you marry me?"

            "But… but what about… our bloodlines?" she stammered.  "You're a pureblood.  I'm not."

            "To hell with bloodlines," Lucius said.  "I love you, and my only regret about this is I was too ignorant to realize it sooner."

            "I… I don't know what to say."

            "'Yes' would be nice."

            Tears of joy began falling down her face, and she smiled and nodded.  She didn't trust her voice at the moment.

            Overcome with joy, Lucius and Alina hugged again.  Albus and Minerva Dumbledore, who were both standing in the doorway leading into the staff room, looked at each other and smiled.  "I love happy endings," Minerva commented.

            "It's not over yet," Dumbledore responded.  He slipped his left arm around his wife's waist, then took her left hand in his right and kissed it.  "On the contrary, it's just beginning."

            Chang looked at Snape and grinned.  "You have beautiful eyes."

            Snape gave the Minister of Magic a shocked look and took a step backwards.  "Get away from me."

            The other five laughed.  Then, Minerva remembered the time, and said, "Well, now that we're all alive and well, I think it would be wise to get some sleep."

            Dumbledore, Alina, Snape, and Chang all agreed to her proposal.  Lucius, however, did not.  "In a moment," he said.  "There's something I must do first."

            Draco Malfoy was deep in a dreamless, potion-induced slumber when a familiar voice and a hand gently shaking him by the shoulder brought him back to semi-consciousness.  "Draco," the voice was saying.  "Draco, wake up."

            He recognized the voice, but didn't believe it could truly be who he thought it was.  "Father?" he asked.  "Is that you?"

            "Yes," Lucius whispered.  "I'll explain everything in the morning.  For now, just go back to sleep, but before you do, I want you to know that I love you very much.  Now rest, my son, and don't worry.  Everything will be fine."

            Draco closed his eyes, and within seconds, the boy was fast asleep again.  Lucius touched his son's smooth blonde hair for a moment, and then left the Slytherin dormitories as swiftly and silently as he came.

             Morning soon came to Hogwarts, and the students and faculty all met in the Great Hall for breakfast before beginning their first full day back after the unexpected break.  At the Gryffindor table, an excited Hermione Granger sat down next to Oliver Wood and said, "Did you hear?  They got Malfoy out of Azkaban!  He's back!"

            Oliver's eyes lit up.  "Really?  That's wonderful!  I knew whatever his name was would never get away with this."  He paused, then added, "Did they find out who he is yet?"

            "Not that I've heard," Hermione answered.  "Oh, look, there's Harry and Ron."  She waved her hand in the air and called out the names of her two fellow third-years.  The boys came walked over to the table and sat down across from her and Oliver.  "Do either of you know who was trying to set up Draco's father?" she asked.

            Harry shook his head.  "We haven't even seen Malfoy yet.  All we've heard is that they got him out sometime late last night."

            "Have you seen Draco yet this morning?" inquired Oliver.

            Harry shook his head.  "No, not yet."

            "We went looking for him," Ron added, "but we saw Professor Snape first, and he said Draco was talking to his father.  Then he told us that they got Big Malfoy out of Azkaban.  How did you find out, Hermione?"

            "I saw Minister Chang on my way in," Hermione said.  "I asked him what he was doing here, and then he explained it.  He didn't tell me who it was, though, so I was hoping I could find out from you."

            Harry sighed and lifted his eyes to the ceiling for a moment.  "Why do they always insist on not telling us everything?"

            "Who knows?" Oliver asked.  He felt the need for a change of subject coming on, and he looked at Hermione.  She was thinking the same thing, and she nodded.  Oliver looked back at Harry and Ron and said, "So, it's two weeks until the Yule Ball… have you thought about who you're going to ask?"

            "They're still having the Yule Ball?" Ron asked.  "I thought they would have cancelled it, or postponed it, or… something."

            Hermione shook her head.  "Nope.  It's still on."

            Harry looked at his two friends sitting across from him and grinned.  "Am I correct in assuming that you two are going together?"

            Oliver smiled, put his arm around Hermione's shoulders, and said, "Well, I haven't actually asked her yet, but I plan to sometime today."

            Hermione laughed.  "Sure, Oliver, I'll go with you."

            He laughed, too.  "Great.  I'm off the hook."

            "What about you, Ron?" Harry asked.

            Ron shrugged.  "Oh, I don't know."

            "You should ask Lavender, Ron," Hermione said.  "Last night, the third-year girls all said who they were hoping would ask them, and Lavender said you."

            Ron looked surprised, and interested as well.  "Really?"

            She nodded.  "Cross my heart."

            "What about you, Harry?" Oliver asked.  Then he looked up and smiled.  "I know.  Cho Chang."

            Harry could feel his cheeks turning slightly red.  It was no secret that he had a bit of a crush on the Seeker of Ravenclaw's Quidditch team, and although they considered themselves to be friends, Harry had always been a tiny bit afraid of the pretty fourth-year.  The fact that her father was the Minister of Magic didn't do much to ease his intimidation of her.  "I don't think that's a very good idea," Harry said.

            "And why not?" asked a voice from behind him.

            Harry recognized the voice immediately.  "Cho?" he said, turning so he was facing her.

            Cho smiled.  "Hi."

            Might as well, Harry thought to himself.  "Um… will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"

            Her smile grew wider, if that was possible.  "I'd love to."

            "You would?" Harry said, surprised at her acceptance.

            She nodded.  "Yeah, absolutely."  She glanced toward the Ravenclaw table, then said, "I'd better get going, but thanks.  See you later."

            "Bye," Harry said as she left, still in a daze.

            Ron looked at his friend and laughed.  "Harry Potter, you are one smooth operator."

            Harry caught up to Draco on their way to their first class, Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Lupin.  "Draco!" he called when he spotted the light-haired Slytherin walking through the hall on his way to class.  His friend stopped walking and waited for him to catch up.  "What's the story?"

            "Are you sure?" Draco asked.  "It's kind of long."

            The boys resumed walking, and Harry said, "Just paraphrase it.  Tell me the important things."

            "From what they've gathered so far," Draco began, "someone tricked the Ministry of Magic into thinking it was my father that was behind all the attacks with the Nundu, and Minister Chang was going to bring him in for questioning.  That was why he was arrested at the train station.  Here's what went wrong: someone, probably the same someone that tipped off the Ministry, killed one of the Aurors that was supposed to capture my father and used Polyjuice Potion to impersonate him.  Then he tricked the others into thinking the order was to send him to Azkaban.  Our side figured out what went wrong, and Minister Chang used the new evidence to get him out."

            That made sense.  "Who was the 'someone'?" Harry asked.

            Draco frowned.  "I don't know, and they're not telling.  I'll ask Professor Terringer in Musical Enchantment.  Maybe she'll tell us, or at least why they won't."  Then, his face lit up with excitement as he remembered something.  "Oh, and there's one more thing, but I can't tell you."

            "Why not?"

            "It's a surprise."

            Harry glared at Draco.  "You're evil."

            Draco smiled.  "I know."

            Not far behind Harry and Draco, also on their way to DADA, were two more third-years, Parvati and Padma Patil.  The twin girls were talking about some random thing when Lavender Brown, who was walking in the opposite direction, spotted them and told Parvati she needed to ask her a question.  They stepped off to the side, and Padma watched.

            Just around the corner from the girls was another set of twins, Fred and George Weasley.  George elbowed Fred in the rib cage and said, "Okay, now's your chance.  Go!"

            Fred took a deep breath and stepped out from behind his hiding place.  "Hi, Padma," he said, walking toward the pretty third-year Ravenclaw.

            Padma saw him and smiled.  "Hi… Fred?"

            He smiled and nodded.  "Yeah, I'm Fred.  Good job."

            "Thanks."

            Come on, Fred, he told himself.  You can do it.  "Well, as you probably know, the Yule Ball is coming up soon, and I was wondering, if you weren't already going with anyone, if you would…"

            "Go with you?" Padma finished.

            Fred nodded.

            "I'd like that.  Sure, I'll go with you."

            "Wow!  I mean, uh…"  He paused, then said, "No, I guess I do mean 'wow'."

            Padma laughed.  Parvati and Lavender finished talking.  Lavender continued on her way, and Parvati joined her sister and Fred.  "What's so funny?"

            "Fred just asked me to the Yule Ball," Padma explained.

            "And there's someone who wants to ask you, Parvati," Fred said, "if he would come out and do it already."

            At that moment, George stepped into view and walked over to the girl from Gryffindor.  "Hi, Parvati," he said.  "Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?"

            "Oh, I see how it is," Parvati realized.  "Twins going with twins, right?"  She smiled.  "I like that idea.  Yes, George, I will go to the Yule Ball with you."

            Fred and George looked at each other.  Their smiles were so wide that the Patil twins thought their faces might rip apart.  "We'd better get to class," Padma said, giving her sister a gentle tug on the arm.

            "Yeah," Parvati agreed.  "See you guys later."  They resumed walking toward the DADA classroom, waving at the Weasley twins as they went.

            "What do we have right now?" Fred asked as he and George waved at Parvati and Padma.

            "Transfiguration," George answered.

            "Are we late yet?"

            "Almost."

            They walked back around the corner, and saw Lavender Brown waiting for them.  "Thanks, Lavender," Fred said.  "We owe you one."

            Lavender grinned and shook her head.  "You owe me six, but who's counting?"

            As the last few students trickled out of Musical Enchantment at the end of the day, Alina Terringer began grading a stack of papers.  She didn't get too far, though; as soon as the last student left, someone came in – Lucius Malfoy.  "Are you busy?" he asked.

            She set her writing quill down and smiled.  "And just where have you been all day?"  He'd left immediately after breakfast, and although he made it known that he would be back that afternoon, he didn't tell anyone what his destination or objective was.

            "London."  He began walking toward her desk.  "I had some business to take care of at the Ministry of Magic."

            She suspected she knew what it was about, but she couldn't be certain.  "Arthur Weasley?"

            He nodded.

            "How did that go?"

            Lucius arrived at his destination and leaned up against her desk.  "Well," he said, "I don't think we're going to become best friends anytime soon, but we aren't out for blood anymore."

            "Oh, good," Alina said with a nod of her head.  "That's progress."

            "I also picked something up."  He reached into his pocket and pulled something out.  "I hope it fits," he said, holding the object out to her.

            Alina almost couldn't believe her eyes.  It was an engagement ring.  "You mean… you really meant that?"

            "You didn't think I did?" he asked, somewhat stunned.

            "I hadn't slept for five days," she replied.  "I thought I was imagining it."

            "Well, in that case, let me try again now that you're not suffering from sleep deprivation," Lucius said.  He took her hands and knelt down on the floor.  "Alina, will you marry me?"

            She smiled.  "Yes."

            He stood up, kissed her, and slid the ring onto her finger.  "I never thought I would fall in love with you, Alina," he admitted.

            "I never thought I would fall in love with you, either," she replied.  "I don't think anyone did."

            He shook his head.  "Probably not.  We showed them, though."

            Alina laughed.  "Yes, we certainly did that."

            An enraged Icarus Knight stormed through his fortress at Ras Dashen until he reached the room in which the cage that held the Nundu was located.  The giant leopard was in the cage, gnawing on the bone of an elephant.  When it heard Knight enter the room, it dropped the bone and walked over to the bars.

            Knight opened the door, and the Nundu stepped out into the room.  "I don't understand," he said to the animal.  "Everything was in place.  It was foolproof.  How could it have gone wrong?"

            A voice that sounded like a combination of thunder and growling slowly spoke a reply.  It was so deep, low, and thick that it was barely discernable, but Knight was used to it. "They are more powerful than we thought."

            Knight held his thumb and forefinger a quarter of an inch apart.  "We were this close to victory, Artawney.  Then that quack Trelawney had to go and get a prediction right for a change and ruin everything."

            "There is still time," replied the Nundu, Artawney by name.  "We can kill them.  And when they are out of the way, the next to go will be Voldemort."

            Despite his anger over their failure, Artawney's statement made Knight smile.  "Yes," he said.  "Poor Voldemort.  First Lucius, and now me.  It's getting so you can't trust anyone these days."

A/N: Wasn't that fun?  Don't ask when, how, or why I became a Harry/Cho shipper… like so many other things in this story, it just sort of happened.  While we're on the topic of things that just sort of happened, the decision to make Artawney, the Nundu, be able to speak was another one of those.  Hey, Acromantulas are capable of human speech, so why not Nundus, too?  Keep your eyes open for Chapter 27, which will include more fluff, some music, some dancing, and some mistaken identity.  (Weasley twins and Patil twins – NUFF SAID!!!)