The Final Battle
Author: Althea (altheacarnay@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, only the plot. The characters belong to the wonderful JK Rowling whose infuriating numerous fans because Book 5 will not be coming out until June 2003. There are also various quotes taken from the shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Summary: Hogwarts is under attack! With the Dark Lord again reigning supreme in the Wizarding World, Harry and his friends must again find a way to defeat Voldemort once and for all, with the help and support of the other houses. Set on Harry's 7th year in Hogwarts, he must make alliances with his once enemies and take refuge in their help. In this chapter, we see the continuation of Draco and Harry's truce and what Draco is really trying to tell Harry and how he can help him. The group meets at the library and fluff and angst ensues. WARNING: Major character death.
Spoilers: All four books.
Pairings: they're complicated, really. H/hr hr/r hr/d d/g h/g (no slash well, maybe just a little)
The Final Battle
Chapter Three:
"You WHAT?" Ron yelled, sputtering the chicken from his mouth into the table before him, causing the other students to look at them in distraction and disgust.
"Food goes in, Ron," Harry kindly said. "Not out."
They were at the great hall, having their breakfast when Harry told them about that little conversation that he had with Draco the day before, after their slight quarrel over the Quidditch field. It seemed to be a good idea, Harry earlier reckoned, to tell them this fact at breakfast time, but obviously, he had been wrong.
"Ron's right, Harry," Hermione said, gently. Harry knew that she's just trying to contain her bewilderment at the idea of Harry and Draco talking to each other like civilized people. "What were you thinking?"
"Oh, I don't know," Harry answered. "When he called me and I turned around, I just unknowingly saw his unbelievable flexed muscles and shining blond hair, looked at his gorgeous face that suddenly I felt this fast rhythmic beating of my heart and right at that moment, I just fell-"
"THAT IS NOT FUNNY!" Hermione shouted, looking both appalled and sickened by what Harry was saying. "You shouldn't be making jokes about that!"
"Yeah, I know it isn't," Harry said, smiling his mischievous smile that has never failed to make Hermione's heart beat wildly. She alarmingly felt heat rush to her cheeks, making it beat red. She suddenly bowed down low and stared at the porridge she was having for breakfast.
"You ok, Herm?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Hermione answered meekly, hoping against hope that her face's color wouldn't show too much or else she'd have a time explaining why.
"Back to the point," Ron said. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? How much proof do you need to realize that Draco Malfoy, or any Malfoy thereof cannot be trusted? He's just probably playing with your brain."
"Successfully," Hermione added.
"Look, guys," Harry said. "Even if how much you think that Draco would eat me alive because of his hatred, I obviously got back ok. He's not a monster, you know."
"Yeah, but close," Hermione grumbled.
"Very close," Ron agreed.
"Oh, and I forgot to tell you... he asked me to meet him in the library," Harry said. "And he also said that it would be a good idea if you guys go with me too."
"What for?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"Well, we didn't actually get to finish what we were talking about yesterday... So..."
"So, it's a perfect opportunity to blew him off!" Ron suggested, a wide grin forming on his freckled face.
"What? No!" Harry answered; somewhat shocked to find how inconsiderate and mean his best friends could be if push comes to shove.
"Will you look at that? Who knew that there would come a time that our Harry Potter would actually defend that idiot git Malfoy! Whatever happened to our once sane world?" Ron sarcastically said.
"I don't trust him, Harry," Hermione spoke up. "He might be innocent looking on the outside if he really tried, but a few minutes of being a little well-mannered while having a conversation with his dubbed mortal enemy does not diminish all those horrible things that he did this past six years! And it doesn't erase the fact that he's a Slytherin and therefore could not be trusted."
"You say Slytherin like it's a bad thing," Harry mused.
"It is a bad thing," Ron answered.
"What is with you two?" Harry asked incredulously. Truth be told, he really doesn't know why he was defending Malfoy, of all people. It seemed so out of character to him, but somewhere deep in his gut, he really felt that Draco could actually help him and that he wasn't just playing with his mind like what Hermione and Ron was saying. "Why are you two making such a big deal out of this? There is nothing wrong with him!"
"There is everything wrong with him!" Ron exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation. "Come to think of it, there is actually NOTHING right with him!"
"You're not making sense, Ron," Hermione said.
"I don't care," he answered back, stubbornly.
"Why won't you just give him a chance?" Harry persuaded, but then, his eyes went to the Slytherin table, and stopped in mid-sentence.
Hermione and Ron too looked and saw Malfoy himself, arriving in the Great Hall and taking his seat in the Slytherin table, as usual surrounded by his goons Crabbe and Goyle and other slutty female Slyths.
"Speaking of the Devil," Ron mused.
But Harry continued to stare, as if transfixed by a trance that just drew him to the devil himself. It was Hermione who noticed that.
"Harry," Hermione spoke up, her heartbeat doubling inside her ribcage. "Why are you staring at him like that?"
Harry ignored her. Hermione grew more nervous.
"You're straight, right? Please don't tell me you're turning into a homosexual gay guy," She pleaded and asked. "Are you?"
"What?" Ron looked at her with an expression of somebody who had just swallowed a marble. Hermione disregarded him.
"And if you are... I guess that's ok... but... just please... please, please, please, NOT Malfoy! I got it! You can have Ron instead! He's so much better-"
"What?" Ron's expression just turned from swallowing a marble to actually choking to death. "Hermione! Stop it! That's disgusting!"
"Is it?" Hermione answered, it's quite clear that her sanity is nowhere near the Great Hall at the moment. "I mean, if that's what Harry really is, would you find that disgusting? There's really nothing wrong with being homo-"
"Hermione! What's wrong with you?" Ron bellowed, causing other Gryffindors near their table to look at them, curiosity evident in their eyes. "Harry! Help me out here."
"What?" Harry, still looking a little off course said, looking at Ron and Hermione and the current Ron-shaking-Hermione-and-Hermione-babbling- incoherently dance that they were both performing right then and there. Harry would have laughed if not for the expression of bewilderment in Ron's face.
"Hermione, are you alright?" Harry asked gently as Ron stopped shaking her.
She then looked at him and suddenly turned beat red.
"I'm-I'm alright," she answered, her face now resembling the Gryffindor Quidditch Team uniforms. She looked at them both, Ron at her left and Harry at her right and quickly said, "I-I have to go now... bye! See you later!"
And with that, she's off. To the library, Ron's guess is.
The two guys Hermione left just looked at each other and shrugged, and said to themselves that whatever they do, even if the world turned three hundred and sixty degrees, they will just never understand girls.
*()*()*()*()*()*
Oh god! What was I thinking? Hermione thought as she made her way to the library, deciding to spend her remaining minutes before her first class in there. And also to drown in self-pity.
She had absolutely no idea what had came to her earlier that morning in the Great Hall, when she saw her dear Harry looking at that Draco Malfoy at the other side of the massive room. She just felt this cutting pain of jealousy and the dread and fear that her love might be...
She is really losing her sanity, she could tell.
What exactly is with her and Harry Potter? Every time he looks at her with those fantastic round brilliant green eyes, her heart just begins to pound uncontrollably and her cheeks suddenly feels so hot and the next thing she knew-
Ok, enough with the sappy 'Dawson's Creek' love descriptions. She already had enough of muggle television that previous vacation. What she needed to do is get a hold of herself and her sanity and forget all of her feelings to her best friend. But of course, easier said than done.
She got to the entrance of the library and pushed the door open. Unsurprisingly, the wooden chairs and tables of the learning resource center were unoccupied since it was so early in the morning. Most of her schoolmates are probably still asleep at this time. She went to the farthest and most private table that she could find and settled herself into the hard but comfortable chair. She opened her bag pack and pulled a small, fairly thick wizarding pocketbook that she was currently reading, set it on top of the table and prepared herself for a few minutes of peace and quiet together with her healthy dose of fiction literature.
"What's with the long face, Mudblood?" an arrogant syrupy sweet voice spoke up from behind her, just a few minutes later. She did not need to turn around because she already knew whom the voice is from.
Malfoy.
Who else?
And who knew that a few minutes of peace and quiet is just too much to wish for?
"Go away, Malfoy," Hermione said and stared coldly up at that exquisite gray eyes.
"No, I won't," Draco answered, irritating her more by sitting at the chair across from her. "Didn't Potter told you about that little meeting that we're all supposed to have?"
"Yes he did," she answered, her eyes not leaving the book that she's reading.
"And?"
"And I'm not sorry to inform you that we do not believe in that crap you told Harry yesterday afternoon," Hermione said, finally giving up and shutting her book with a loud 'bang' just for emphasis. "Go away and look for somebody else narrow-minded enough to believe your bogus stories." She shoved her book back into her bag pack and prepared to leave.
"So you think it's all just phony stories, Mudblood?" Draco exclaimed, standing up and blocking Hermione's path to the front door of the library. "And here I thought you are much wiser than that."
Just what exactly is with Malfoy and the racist word 'Mudblood'? Doesn't he know that Hermione is already used to that word and it does not affect her anymore like old times?
"What do you mean by that?" Hermione asked.
"What do you think?" Draco answered, a cruel and amused smirk creeping up his face.
"Ok, that's it!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air and walking past Malfoy. "If you want to be all cryptic and unspecific, fine by me. Go talk to yourself."
"Hey!" Draco shouted after her but it was too late. She had already left the library and was rushing to her first class, which is Charms that Gryffindors shared with Slytherins.
And whoever did said that this day is turning into hell?
*()*()*()*()*()*
"Hey, that's a bit rude," Draco said in a way of greeting as he entered little Filtwick's classroom and settled himself at an empty seat beside an irritated and aggravated looking Hermione. "We weren't finished talking."
"Oh, we were," Hermione said. "There's nothing else left for us to talk about."
Draco gazed at the brown and frizzy mane that was attached on Hermione's head and continued to examine her face especially her eyes and cheeks. He knew that she noticed that he was examining her just by looking at her once pale cheeks that are now turning into a soft shade of red. And this knowledge made Draco smile just for the faintest and untraceable time.
He's turning on the Draco Charm and it was working. He could tell.
"What?" Hermione snapped at him, making him smirk more. "What do you want? Why are you staring at me like that? Why are you harassing me?"
"Harassing you?"
"Yes! Why are you sitting there? That is not your seat! You're not even supposed to be speaking with me!" she exclaimed. "What has gotten into you?"
"No, what has gotten into YOU. That is the question," Draco said, enjoying every moment of their heated argument. He likes driving people out of control while he, on the other hand, is as cool as a cucumber. "And for your information, I have every right to be here! This is a free country! I can seat wherever I want and do whatever I want. I could strip and sing the National Anthem on top of Filtwick's table if I wanted to, but I thought that that would be rude since you lot are so serious about getting ready for that scheduled written quiz that we have this morning."
"Quiz?" Hermione gasped, cold and almost comic dread creeping into her face. "What quiz? There's a scheduled quiz?"
"Don't you remember, Mudblood?" Draco airily said. "Filtwick told us about it already a week ago. I'm surprised to see that you haven't studied."
"Oh, dear Lord!" Hermione screeched once again, quickly grabbing her schoolbooks and began flipping the pages randomly in a rapid and exaggerated manner.
"Don't worry," Draco spoke up once again, much to Hermione's annoyance. "I'm sure you'll pass since you've practically read the whole set of 7th year schoolbooks. Just not with flying colors."
"Shut up, Malfoy." she snapped. "Unlike other people presumably like you, I actually take great care of my grades and schoolwork since I want to have a respectable future. God knows I don't want to end up like what you're going to end up like."
"And what might that be?"
"A hermit."
"Hermit the frog?"
"What? No!"
"What are you talking about?" Draco asked in genuine confusion.
"You're going to end up like those solitary persons who don't have anybody in this world because of their mean personality and repulsive character," Hermione said. "A recluse and a loner is what you'll become when time comes." She stopped her panic review and closed her book in mock surrender. "And by the way, it's Kermit the Frog, not Hermit."
"Same difference." Draco answered. He knew that he had her then, no matter how scornful Hermione's attitude to him is.
Just at that moment, tiny Professor Filtwick strode in into their classroom and began to start his lesson on Telekinesis Charms, with no sign whatsoever of that scheduled quiz that Draco was talking about. After a few minutes of discussion, Hermione turned to Draco who's still sitting at the seat beside her, a fiery anger and infuriation present in her eyes.
And even before Hermione could speak, Draco purposely beat her to it.
"Hey, no one told you to take my word for it," Draco said, that grating sneer still present on his handsome face.
"You are so ANNOYING!" Hermione exclaimed. A little too loud in that matter since Professor Filtwick and almost half of the students in the classroom was distracted and started to look in their way.
"What can I say, I'm a Slyth," Draco replied, as if that explains everything.
"Ms. Granger, I suggest that you take your little love argument with Mr. Malfoy outside, or endure forty more minutes of listening to me and paying attention to the lesson, THEN continue your heated and passionate disagreement with young Malfoy," Professor Filtwick said, the whole class staring at Hermione and Draco. Hermione felt blood on her veins rush to her cheeks. "Do I make myself clear?"
"I wasn't-" Hermione started to say when it was Draco who spoke up.
"Crystal, Professor," He said which earned a few giggles from the female population of the classroom.
"Perfect," the infinitesimal teacher replied, turning around and picking up the chalk that was rudely left behind the moment that he was distracted by young Ms. Granger. "Let's continue then,"
Professor Filtwick started again his teaching and Hermione was left with a burning cheek and a destroyed reputation. After about thirty-five minutes of staring at the board, still too humiliated with what happened to pay attention properly, the bell finally rang and Hermione was practically the first one to go out of the classroom.
"Hey, wait!" Once again, she heard that infuriating voice behind her. She quickened her steps in a vain attempt to get away from him.
No such luck.
"Stop!" Draco shouted, stuck in a throng of student's walking the other way. When he finally got free from the suffocating bodies, he ran towards her and caught up. Barely. "Stop, for Christ's sake! You're giving me a heart attack here!"
"Will do the world a lot good if you did have a heart attack," Hermione snapped, still walking as fast as she can without making a fool out of herself.
"I'm so-" Draco was supposed to say when he somehow caught himself. "No, wait, I'm not going to apologize. Malfoys do not apologize!"
"Good to hear that," Hermione replied sarcastically.
"Where are you going?" Draco asked, now parallel to Hermione's step. He then noticed the massive loads of books that she was carrying and said. "Here, let me take those."
"No!" she shouted, wrenching the books away from him.
"Hey, I'm just being a gentleman here!" he said.
"Well, just do me a favor and don't!" Hermione retorted. "Being a gentleman does not suit you."
"Really?" Draco replied. "And what does suit me?"
"Standing up to your reputation of being a self-considerate bastard is what suits you," Hermione said, taking a sharp right turn at a corner. Draco reckoned that she's on her way to the library. Again.
A few minutes later, with Draco still tailing at Hermione's back, they finally reached the library and Hermione strode in, pushing the door open with little effort. Draco had sensed, a few minutes ago that Hermione decided that if she can't get Draco off her back, she's also willing to ignore his presence completely. And that too is entirely okay with him.
They entered the library and Draco looked around, noticing the obvious change that the library had undergone. From the barren room and empty seats that the library was just a few hours ago, the seats are now occupied by various students from all houses and levels, and even a few teachers. Hermione started to go left, passing by dozens of rectangle tables filled with various books, and Draco could see why she did so.
Harry, Ron together with Ginny were sitting at the table on the far right side of the library surrounded with books in all sizes and shapes. They seemed to be researching for something and was completely engrossed in what they are doing that they did not noticed that Hermione, with Draco still tailing at her back, was approaching their table. They just became aware of Hermione's presence when she sat at an empty chair beside Ron.
"What are you guys doing?" she asked, laying the load of books that she was carrying on top of the table and shoving away some of the thick volumes that Harry and Ron got from the library in the process.
"Researching about this stupid assignment that Trelawny gave us," Harry answered without looking up, his head still buried under the voluminous book that he was currently reading. "A fifty-inch essay about stars outside the milky way and how it affects the future. Full of crap, I assure you."
"I told you a dozen times already to drop that subject," Hermione replied. "But no, you two just got to torture yourselves."
"Hey, it wasn't our fault if Trelawny's temper today was hotter than her classroom!" Ron said, finally laying the book down on the table with a loud bang.
"Hey! Seems like I'm going to get my meeting after all," Draco drawled after some time of beautiful silence, taking the other empty seat beside Ginny.
Ginny looked at him as if she saw a space alien drop from the sky and landed beside her.
"Hello!" Draco annoyingly greeted, sitting at the table as if he's part of the group. "Gina, is it?"
Ginny remained silent and continued to stare as is she saw a drop-dead gorgeous space alien drop from the sky and landed beside her.
"It's Ginny, Malfoy," Ron said with gritted teeth. "G-I-N-N-Y. Ginny! What are you doing here anyway?"
Virginia Weasley just remained quiet while thinking about what her brother said. Ginny Malfoy, she liked the sound of that.
"I told you," Draco replied. "We're supposed to have that little get together in the library, but you guys clearly blew me off. Lucky me that Granger cared enough to show up, even without her friends."
"I did not-"
"Don't deny it, Granger," Draco said. "Word's already out that you want to make mad passionate love to me and that we having a conversation at the library is the closest thing that you can get. Don't worry, we won't tell to the first years. Lord knows what they'll do if they heard about the rumor. You might wake up without any of that brown mop that you call hair, Granger."
"You really are a negligible conceited prat, Malfoy," Hermione snapped, her eyes portraying her anger and irritation.
"Hey, I'm trying to discuss serious matters here! Don't try to drive me off course!" Draco said. "I thought you're the do-good group. Don't you care about people's lives?"
"Look who's talking." Ron quipped.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Draco asked.
"Back to the point, Malfoy," Hermione said. "If you do have one," she added. "Why are you here? Why were you stalking me since this morning?"
"Stalking you?" Both Draco and Ron exclaimed.
"He was stalking you?" Ron said. "Herm, this is a critical topic! We should report this to Dumbledore!"
"Oh, please, don't be absurd!" Draco reasoned. "I was not stalking or harassing you in any way, Granger. And I never will. God knows what that will do to my reputation," he added as an after thought. "I was only trying to get your attention and to listen to me."
"Oh, yes," Ron said. "Because you have such intelligent things to say."
"So you're asking why? Why? Because people will die, you stupid Gryffindor imbeciles!" Draco exclaimed. "That's why."
"What? How?"
"Didn't The Boy Who Felt His Scar Hurting Every Damn Day Since The Term Started tell you?" Draco asked, looking at Harry.
Harry looked down at the book in front of him guiltily.
"Harry, is it true?" Hermione asked.
Draco could tell that she was getting worried again over nothing. That is if you consider Harry's scar hurting as a nothing.
"Yes," Harry responded, his eyes not leaving the book. "But it's really not that serious, believe me."
"How could we when you've been lying to us about that all year long?" Ron coldly replied.
Ooh, and are we finally going to get a taste of Gryffindor Wrath? Draco wondered as he watched the anxiety of the scene in silence. He had never seen a Gryffindor fight with a Gryffindor before, mainly because he reckoned that they're such a sweet lot who will never do anything bad to their housemates. This is going to be a very interesting day, Draco could tell.
"I have not been lying to you, I've just been keeping it a secret in order to not worry anybody," Harry reasoned. "It's nothing really."
"Harry, what has gotten into you?" Hermione asked, as she looked at him with those great round eyes. "Didn't we make a pact that there's no secrets that shall ever come between us? Harry, what were you thinking?"
"I just don't want you guys to worry," Harry replied. "Like what you are doing right now."
"We have every right to be worried!" Hermione exclaimed. "You know what those Scar-Attacks mean! How can you be so unperturbed about this? Think of what will happen to innocent lives if Voldemort suddenly attacks?"
"That's exactly what I mean!" Draco said, still a little disappointed about the calm and peaceful disagreement that these Gryffindor bunch had been having. No Gryffindor Wrath for Draco after all.
"Ok, fine, I'm sorry," said Harry. "Draco talk. What's the meaning of all these?"
"What do those things mean? Let me think-"
"Cut the crap, Draco," Hermione snapped. "We haven't got much time."
"Oh, yes, that's where you're right, Granger. You have a working brain after all!" sneered Draco then turning oddly serious. "We don't have much time, that's true."
"Don't have much time for what?" Ron asked. "Before what?"
"Voldemort." Ginny suddenly spoke up, causing the whole group to stop and stare at the young red-head who suddenly turned pasty white, her eyes unfocused and nervousness evident in it.
"How." Draco stared, somehow speechless.
"He will come." Ginny continued in a slow and frightening voice. "here."
"Ginny, are you all right?" Ron worriedly said. Then he turned and glared ferociously at Draco. "What have you done to Ginny, Draco?"
"What?" Draco exclaimed, surprised. "I did not do anything to her! I'm as much confused, though not as worried, as you all are right now."
"Ron, I'm ok," Ginny said, finally snapping out of her mystical trance. "I. I just felt it. That's all."
"Felt what?" Draco asked.
"Dark Magic," Hermione answered for her. "She always does that since her first year here in Hogwarts."
"Ok, so now what? What do we do now?" Harry spoke up. "If what Ginny's saying is true, how do we defeat the Dark Lord or stop him from coming here?"
"That's the problem," Draco answered. "We can't."
"What do you mean we can't?"
"He's too powerful, he's got too many allies," Draco replied, looking at each of them one by one. "What we can do is just formulate a plan of what we can and will do when he finally attacks. I mean, nobody even knows where he is right now, and still half of the wizarding population is still in denial that the Dark Lord already came back."
"This is too hopeless," Hermione grumbled. "We have to tell Dumbledore about this. We need his help."
"There's a concrete plan," Draco said. "The only problem is, will he believe you? We're only brainless students in his opinion, and I think that dim-witted children barging in his office and telling him that Voldemort will attack Hogwarts anytime soon will look pretty stupid and implausible."
"Dumbledore is not like that," Harry defended. "He's-"
"Please Harry, save me your Dumbledore-is-great lecture," Draco cut him off. "I don't really need that right now."
"Can we talk about this some other time?" Ron suddenly spoke up. "I think Ginny's not feeling well."
"Ah, figures," Draco scorned. "You Weasley kids are such sissies about a harmless little headache."
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry warned, then he turned towards Ron who is now cradling Ginny's head on his shoulders. "Ron, you can take Ginny to the hospital wing if you like and let Madam Pomfrey look at it. Hermione and I will go and visit Hagrid. It's been a while since we paid him a visit."
"What?" Draco exclaimed. "You're going to tell that stupid giant everything?"
"None of your business, Malfoy," Hermione answered. "You go and do whatever it is that you Slytherins do and leave us alone for the rest of the day. It'll save us the time and energy of listening to your stupid insults."
"Fine," he replied. "Got to go back to the Slytherin Common Room anyway. I'm too overdosed right now with Gryffindor Goodness that I think I'm going to puke."
Draco then left just a few seconds after Ron and Ginny did and proceeded to the Slytherin dormitories. That left Hermione and Harry to put back the library books to their proper shelves and go to Hagrid's hut to hopefully confide in him about the situation.
*()*()*()*()*()*
"Hagrid! Open up, it's us!" Harry shouted, as he knock on Hagrid's front door. He and Hermione had been banging on the wooden door for the past few minutes and still no answer, still no Hagrid. But they knew that he was there because Fang had been barking at them from the inside, and Hagrid never leaves his dog in the house unattended.
"Maybe he's not in," Hermione suggested, rubbing her hands together in a vain attempt to fight off the cold night's air.
"No, he's in, I'm sure," Harry answered. "Fang's inside."
"Maybe he just forgot about him," Hermione again reasoned. She was ready to knock on the door with Harry when an awful and revolting smell reached her nose.
And before she could even say, "Harry, what's that smell?" Harry blasted off the cabin's door and what they saw horrified both of them.
Hagrid, the lovable and gentle teacher of Care of Magical Creatures was lying on the floor, drenched and covered with his own blood, flies flying around his decaying body. Hermione stumbled backward in disgust and repugnance. At least she now knows where the smell is coming from. But as you would have thought, she wished with all her being that she hadn't.
*()*()*()*()*()*
A/N: I am now building myself a flame-proof igloo for all Hagrid fans. This is my fic, my story, lay off. I'll kill whom I want to kill. (",) Yeah, I know, I should be locked in Azkaban for killing the lovable giant off. But hey! I bet that's he's the one who's going to be killed on OotP.
REVIEW!!!
Author: Althea (altheacarnay@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, only the plot. The characters belong to the wonderful JK Rowling whose infuriating numerous fans because Book 5 will not be coming out until June 2003. There are also various quotes taken from the shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Summary: Hogwarts is under attack! With the Dark Lord again reigning supreme in the Wizarding World, Harry and his friends must again find a way to defeat Voldemort once and for all, with the help and support of the other houses. Set on Harry's 7th year in Hogwarts, he must make alliances with his once enemies and take refuge in their help. In this chapter, we see the continuation of Draco and Harry's truce and what Draco is really trying to tell Harry and how he can help him. The group meets at the library and fluff and angst ensues. WARNING: Major character death.
Spoilers: All four books.
Pairings: they're complicated, really. H/hr hr/r hr/d d/g h/g (no slash well, maybe just a little)
The Final Battle
Chapter Three:
"You WHAT?" Ron yelled, sputtering the chicken from his mouth into the table before him, causing the other students to look at them in distraction and disgust.
"Food goes in, Ron," Harry kindly said. "Not out."
They were at the great hall, having their breakfast when Harry told them about that little conversation that he had with Draco the day before, after their slight quarrel over the Quidditch field. It seemed to be a good idea, Harry earlier reckoned, to tell them this fact at breakfast time, but obviously, he had been wrong.
"Ron's right, Harry," Hermione said, gently. Harry knew that she's just trying to contain her bewilderment at the idea of Harry and Draco talking to each other like civilized people. "What were you thinking?"
"Oh, I don't know," Harry answered. "When he called me and I turned around, I just unknowingly saw his unbelievable flexed muscles and shining blond hair, looked at his gorgeous face that suddenly I felt this fast rhythmic beating of my heart and right at that moment, I just fell-"
"THAT IS NOT FUNNY!" Hermione shouted, looking both appalled and sickened by what Harry was saying. "You shouldn't be making jokes about that!"
"Yeah, I know it isn't," Harry said, smiling his mischievous smile that has never failed to make Hermione's heart beat wildly. She alarmingly felt heat rush to her cheeks, making it beat red. She suddenly bowed down low and stared at the porridge she was having for breakfast.
"You ok, Herm?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Hermione answered meekly, hoping against hope that her face's color wouldn't show too much or else she'd have a time explaining why.
"Back to the point," Ron said. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? How much proof do you need to realize that Draco Malfoy, or any Malfoy thereof cannot be trusted? He's just probably playing with your brain."
"Successfully," Hermione added.
"Look, guys," Harry said. "Even if how much you think that Draco would eat me alive because of his hatred, I obviously got back ok. He's not a monster, you know."
"Yeah, but close," Hermione grumbled.
"Very close," Ron agreed.
"Oh, and I forgot to tell you... he asked me to meet him in the library," Harry said. "And he also said that it would be a good idea if you guys go with me too."
"What for?" Ron asked suspiciously.
"Well, we didn't actually get to finish what we were talking about yesterday... So..."
"So, it's a perfect opportunity to blew him off!" Ron suggested, a wide grin forming on his freckled face.
"What? No!" Harry answered; somewhat shocked to find how inconsiderate and mean his best friends could be if push comes to shove.
"Will you look at that? Who knew that there would come a time that our Harry Potter would actually defend that idiot git Malfoy! Whatever happened to our once sane world?" Ron sarcastically said.
"I don't trust him, Harry," Hermione spoke up. "He might be innocent looking on the outside if he really tried, but a few minutes of being a little well-mannered while having a conversation with his dubbed mortal enemy does not diminish all those horrible things that he did this past six years! And it doesn't erase the fact that he's a Slytherin and therefore could not be trusted."
"You say Slytherin like it's a bad thing," Harry mused.
"It is a bad thing," Ron answered.
"What is with you two?" Harry asked incredulously. Truth be told, he really doesn't know why he was defending Malfoy, of all people. It seemed so out of character to him, but somewhere deep in his gut, he really felt that Draco could actually help him and that he wasn't just playing with his mind like what Hermione and Ron was saying. "Why are you two making such a big deal out of this? There is nothing wrong with him!"
"There is everything wrong with him!" Ron exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation. "Come to think of it, there is actually NOTHING right with him!"
"You're not making sense, Ron," Hermione said.
"I don't care," he answered back, stubbornly.
"Why won't you just give him a chance?" Harry persuaded, but then, his eyes went to the Slytherin table, and stopped in mid-sentence.
Hermione and Ron too looked and saw Malfoy himself, arriving in the Great Hall and taking his seat in the Slytherin table, as usual surrounded by his goons Crabbe and Goyle and other slutty female Slyths.
"Speaking of the Devil," Ron mused.
But Harry continued to stare, as if transfixed by a trance that just drew him to the devil himself. It was Hermione who noticed that.
"Harry," Hermione spoke up, her heartbeat doubling inside her ribcage. "Why are you staring at him like that?"
Harry ignored her. Hermione grew more nervous.
"You're straight, right? Please don't tell me you're turning into a homosexual gay guy," She pleaded and asked. "Are you?"
"What?" Ron looked at her with an expression of somebody who had just swallowed a marble. Hermione disregarded him.
"And if you are... I guess that's ok... but... just please... please, please, please, NOT Malfoy! I got it! You can have Ron instead! He's so much better-"
"What?" Ron's expression just turned from swallowing a marble to actually choking to death. "Hermione! Stop it! That's disgusting!"
"Is it?" Hermione answered, it's quite clear that her sanity is nowhere near the Great Hall at the moment. "I mean, if that's what Harry really is, would you find that disgusting? There's really nothing wrong with being homo-"
"Hermione! What's wrong with you?" Ron bellowed, causing other Gryffindors near their table to look at them, curiosity evident in their eyes. "Harry! Help me out here."
"What?" Harry, still looking a little off course said, looking at Ron and Hermione and the current Ron-shaking-Hermione-and-Hermione-babbling- incoherently dance that they were both performing right then and there. Harry would have laughed if not for the expression of bewilderment in Ron's face.
"Hermione, are you alright?" Harry asked gently as Ron stopped shaking her.
She then looked at him and suddenly turned beat red.
"I'm-I'm alright," she answered, her face now resembling the Gryffindor Quidditch Team uniforms. She looked at them both, Ron at her left and Harry at her right and quickly said, "I-I have to go now... bye! See you later!"
And with that, she's off. To the library, Ron's guess is.
The two guys Hermione left just looked at each other and shrugged, and said to themselves that whatever they do, even if the world turned three hundred and sixty degrees, they will just never understand girls.
*()*()*()*()*()*
Oh god! What was I thinking? Hermione thought as she made her way to the library, deciding to spend her remaining minutes before her first class in there. And also to drown in self-pity.
She had absolutely no idea what had came to her earlier that morning in the Great Hall, when she saw her dear Harry looking at that Draco Malfoy at the other side of the massive room. She just felt this cutting pain of jealousy and the dread and fear that her love might be...
She is really losing her sanity, she could tell.
What exactly is with her and Harry Potter? Every time he looks at her with those fantastic round brilliant green eyes, her heart just begins to pound uncontrollably and her cheeks suddenly feels so hot and the next thing she knew-
Ok, enough with the sappy 'Dawson's Creek' love descriptions. She already had enough of muggle television that previous vacation. What she needed to do is get a hold of herself and her sanity and forget all of her feelings to her best friend. But of course, easier said than done.
She got to the entrance of the library and pushed the door open. Unsurprisingly, the wooden chairs and tables of the learning resource center were unoccupied since it was so early in the morning. Most of her schoolmates are probably still asleep at this time. She went to the farthest and most private table that she could find and settled herself into the hard but comfortable chair. She opened her bag pack and pulled a small, fairly thick wizarding pocketbook that she was currently reading, set it on top of the table and prepared herself for a few minutes of peace and quiet together with her healthy dose of fiction literature.
"What's with the long face, Mudblood?" an arrogant syrupy sweet voice spoke up from behind her, just a few minutes later. She did not need to turn around because she already knew whom the voice is from.
Malfoy.
Who else?
And who knew that a few minutes of peace and quiet is just too much to wish for?
"Go away, Malfoy," Hermione said and stared coldly up at that exquisite gray eyes.
"No, I won't," Draco answered, irritating her more by sitting at the chair across from her. "Didn't Potter told you about that little meeting that we're all supposed to have?"
"Yes he did," she answered, her eyes not leaving the book that she's reading.
"And?"
"And I'm not sorry to inform you that we do not believe in that crap you told Harry yesterday afternoon," Hermione said, finally giving up and shutting her book with a loud 'bang' just for emphasis. "Go away and look for somebody else narrow-minded enough to believe your bogus stories." She shoved her book back into her bag pack and prepared to leave.
"So you think it's all just phony stories, Mudblood?" Draco exclaimed, standing up and blocking Hermione's path to the front door of the library. "And here I thought you are much wiser than that."
Just what exactly is with Malfoy and the racist word 'Mudblood'? Doesn't he know that Hermione is already used to that word and it does not affect her anymore like old times?
"What do you mean by that?" Hermione asked.
"What do you think?" Draco answered, a cruel and amused smirk creeping up his face.
"Ok, that's it!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air and walking past Malfoy. "If you want to be all cryptic and unspecific, fine by me. Go talk to yourself."
"Hey!" Draco shouted after her but it was too late. She had already left the library and was rushing to her first class, which is Charms that Gryffindors shared with Slytherins.
And whoever did said that this day is turning into hell?
*()*()*()*()*()*
"Hey, that's a bit rude," Draco said in a way of greeting as he entered little Filtwick's classroom and settled himself at an empty seat beside an irritated and aggravated looking Hermione. "We weren't finished talking."
"Oh, we were," Hermione said. "There's nothing else left for us to talk about."
Draco gazed at the brown and frizzy mane that was attached on Hermione's head and continued to examine her face especially her eyes and cheeks. He knew that she noticed that he was examining her just by looking at her once pale cheeks that are now turning into a soft shade of red. And this knowledge made Draco smile just for the faintest and untraceable time.
He's turning on the Draco Charm and it was working. He could tell.
"What?" Hermione snapped at him, making him smirk more. "What do you want? Why are you staring at me like that? Why are you harassing me?"
"Harassing you?"
"Yes! Why are you sitting there? That is not your seat! You're not even supposed to be speaking with me!" she exclaimed. "What has gotten into you?"
"No, what has gotten into YOU. That is the question," Draco said, enjoying every moment of their heated argument. He likes driving people out of control while he, on the other hand, is as cool as a cucumber. "And for your information, I have every right to be here! This is a free country! I can seat wherever I want and do whatever I want. I could strip and sing the National Anthem on top of Filtwick's table if I wanted to, but I thought that that would be rude since you lot are so serious about getting ready for that scheduled written quiz that we have this morning."
"Quiz?" Hermione gasped, cold and almost comic dread creeping into her face. "What quiz? There's a scheduled quiz?"
"Don't you remember, Mudblood?" Draco airily said. "Filtwick told us about it already a week ago. I'm surprised to see that you haven't studied."
"Oh, dear Lord!" Hermione screeched once again, quickly grabbing her schoolbooks and began flipping the pages randomly in a rapid and exaggerated manner.
"Don't worry," Draco spoke up once again, much to Hermione's annoyance. "I'm sure you'll pass since you've practically read the whole set of 7th year schoolbooks. Just not with flying colors."
"Shut up, Malfoy." she snapped. "Unlike other people presumably like you, I actually take great care of my grades and schoolwork since I want to have a respectable future. God knows I don't want to end up like what you're going to end up like."
"And what might that be?"
"A hermit."
"Hermit the frog?"
"What? No!"
"What are you talking about?" Draco asked in genuine confusion.
"You're going to end up like those solitary persons who don't have anybody in this world because of their mean personality and repulsive character," Hermione said. "A recluse and a loner is what you'll become when time comes." She stopped her panic review and closed her book in mock surrender. "And by the way, it's Kermit the Frog, not Hermit."
"Same difference." Draco answered. He knew that he had her then, no matter how scornful Hermione's attitude to him is.
Just at that moment, tiny Professor Filtwick strode in into their classroom and began to start his lesson on Telekinesis Charms, with no sign whatsoever of that scheduled quiz that Draco was talking about. After a few minutes of discussion, Hermione turned to Draco who's still sitting at the seat beside her, a fiery anger and infuriation present in her eyes.
And even before Hermione could speak, Draco purposely beat her to it.
"Hey, no one told you to take my word for it," Draco said, that grating sneer still present on his handsome face.
"You are so ANNOYING!" Hermione exclaimed. A little too loud in that matter since Professor Filtwick and almost half of the students in the classroom was distracted and started to look in their way.
"What can I say, I'm a Slyth," Draco replied, as if that explains everything.
"Ms. Granger, I suggest that you take your little love argument with Mr. Malfoy outside, or endure forty more minutes of listening to me and paying attention to the lesson, THEN continue your heated and passionate disagreement with young Malfoy," Professor Filtwick said, the whole class staring at Hermione and Draco. Hermione felt blood on her veins rush to her cheeks. "Do I make myself clear?"
"I wasn't-" Hermione started to say when it was Draco who spoke up.
"Crystal, Professor," He said which earned a few giggles from the female population of the classroom.
"Perfect," the infinitesimal teacher replied, turning around and picking up the chalk that was rudely left behind the moment that he was distracted by young Ms. Granger. "Let's continue then,"
Professor Filtwick started again his teaching and Hermione was left with a burning cheek and a destroyed reputation. After about thirty-five minutes of staring at the board, still too humiliated with what happened to pay attention properly, the bell finally rang and Hermione was practically the first one to go out of the classroom.
"Hey, wait!" Once again, she heard that infuriating voice behind her. She quickened her steps in a vain attempt to get away from him.
No such luck.
"Stop!" Draco shouted, stuck in a throng of student's walking the other way. When he finally got free from the suffocating bodies, he ran towards her and caught up. Barely. "Stop, for Christ's sake! You're giving me a heart attack here!"
"Will do the world a lot good if you did have a heart attack," Hermione snapped, still walking as fast as she can without making a fool out of herself.
"I'm so-" Draco was supposed to say when he somehow caught himself. "No, wait, I'm not going to apologize. Malfoys do not apologize!"
"Good to hear that," Hermione replied sarcastically.
"Where are you going?" Draco asked, now parallel to Hermione's step. He then noticed the massive loads of books that she was carrying and said. "Here, let me take those."
"No!" she shouted, wrenching the books away from him.
"Hey, I'm just being a gentleman here!" he said.
"Well, just do me a favor and don't!" Hermione retorted. "Being a gentleman does not suit you."
"Really?" Draco replied. "And what does suit me?"
"Standing up to your reputation of being a self-considerate bastard is what suits you," Hermione said, taking a sharp right turn at a corner. Draco reckoned that she's on her way to the library. Again.
A few minutes later, with Draco still tailing at Hermione's back, they finally reached the library and Hermione strode in, pushing the door open with little effort. Draco had sensed, a few minutes ago that Hermione decided that if she can't get Draco off her back, she's also willing to ignore his presence completely. And that too is entirely okay with him.
They entered the library and Draco looked around, noticing the obvious change that the library had undergone. From the barren room and empty seats that the library was just a few hours ago, the seats are now occupied by various students from all houses and levels, and even a few teachers. Hermione started to go left, passing by dozens of rectangle tables filled with various books, and Draco could see why she did so.
Harry, Ron together with Ginny were sitting at the table on the far right side of the library surrounded with books in all sizes and shapes. They seemed to be researching for something and was completely engrossed in what they are doing that they did not noticed that Hermione, with Draco still tailing at her back, was approaching their table. They just became aware of Hermione's presence when she sat at an empty chair beside Ron.
"What are you guys doing?" she asked, laying the load of books that she was carrying on top of the table and shoving away some of the thick volumes that Harry and Ron got from the library in the process.
"Researching about this stupid assignment that Trelawny gave us," Harry answered without looking up, his head still buried under the voluminous book that he was currently reading. "A fifty-inch essay about stars outside the milky way and how it affects the future. Full of crap, I assure you."
"I told you a dozen times already to drop that subject," Hermione replied. "But no, you two just got to torture yourselves."
"Hey, it wasn't our fault if Trelawny's temper today was hotter than her classroom!" Ron said, finally laying the book down on the table with a loud bang.
"Hey! Seems like I'm going to get my meeting after all," Draco drawled after some time of beautiful silence, taking the other empty seat beside Ginny.
Ginny looked at him as if she saw a space alien drop from the sky and landed beside her.
"Hello!" Draco annoyingly greeted, sitting at the table as if he's part of the group. "Gina, is it?"
Ginny remained silent and continued to stare as is she saw a drop-dead gorgeous space alien drop from the sky and landed beside her.
"It's Ginny, Malfoy," Ron said with gritted teeth. "G-I-N-N-Y. Ginny! What are you doing here anyway?"
Virginia Weasley just remained quiet while thinking about what her brother said. Ginny Malfoy, she liked the sound of that.
"I told you," Draco replied. "We're supposed to have that little get together in the library, but you guys clearly blew me off. Lucky me that Granger cared enough to show up, even without her friends."
"I did not-"
"Don't deny it, Granger," Draco said. "Word's already out that you want to make mad passionate love to me and that we having a conversation at the library is the closest thing that you can get. Don't worry, we won't tell to the first years. Lord knows what they'll do if they heard about the rumor. You might wake up without any of that brown mop that you call hair, Granger."
"You really are a negligible conceited prat, Malfoy," Hermione snapped, her eyes portraying her anger and irritation.
"Hey, I'm trying to discuss serious matters here! Don't try to drive me off course!" Draco said. "I thought you're the do-good group. Don't you care about people's lives?"
"Look who's talking." Ron quipped.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Draco asked.
"Back to the point, Malfoy," Hermione said. "If you do have one," she added. "Why are you here? Why were you stalking me since this morning?"
"Stalking you?" Both Draco and Ron exclaimed.
"He was stalking you?" Ron said. "Herm, this is a critical topic! We should report this to Dumbledore!"
"Oh, please, don't be absurd!" Draco reasoned. "I was not stalking or harassing you in any way, Granger. And I never will. God knows what that will do to my reputation," he added as an after thought. "I was only trying to get your attention and to listen to me."
"Oh, yes," Ron said. "Because you have such intelligent things to say."
"So you're asking why? Why? Because people will die, you stupid Gryffindor imbeciles!" Draco exclaimed. "That's why."
"What? How?"
"Didn't The Boy Who Felt His Scar Hurting Every Damn Day Since The Term Started tell you?" Draco asked, looking at Harry.
Harry looked down at the book in front of him guiltily.
"Harry, is it true?" Hermione asked.
Draco could tell that she was getting worried again over nothing. That is if you consider Harry's scar hurting as a nothing.
"Yes," Harry responded, his eyes not leaving the book. "But it's really not that serious, believe me."
"How could we when you've been lying to us about that all year long?" Ron coldly replied.
Ooh, and are we finally going to get a taste of Gryffindor Wrath? Draco wondered as he watched the anxiety of the scene in silence. He had never seen a Gryffindor fight with a Gryffindor before, mainly because he reckoned that they're such a sweet lot who will never do anything bad to their housemates. This is going to be a very interesting day, Draco could tell.
"I have not been lying to you, I've just been keeping it a secret in order to not worry anybody," Harry reasoned. "It's nothing really."
"Harry, what has gotten into you?" Hermione asked, as she looked at him with those great round eyes. "Didn't we make a pact that there's no secrets that shall ever come between us? Harry, what were you thinking?"
"I just don't want you guys to worry," Harry replied. "Like what you are doing right now."
"We have every right to be worried!" Hermione exclaimed. "You know what those Scar-Attacks mean! How can you be so unperturbed about this? Think of what will happen to innocent lives if Voldemort suddenly attacks?"
"That's exactly what I mean!" Draco said, still a little disappointed about the calm and peaceful disagreement that these Gryffindor bunch had been having. No Gryffindor Wrath for Draco after all.
"Ok, fine, I'm sorry," said Harry. "Draco talk. What's the meaning of all these?"
"What do those things mean? Let me think-"
"Cut the crap, Draco," Hermione snapped. "We haven't got much time."
"Oh, yes, that's where you're right, Granger. You have a working brain after all!" sneered Draco then turning oddly serious. "We don't have much time, that's true."
"Don't have much time for what?" Ron asked. "Before what?"
"Voldemort." Ginny suddenly spoke up, causing the whole group to stop and stare at the young red-head who suddenly turned pasty white, her eyes unfocused and nervousness evident in it.
"How." Draco stared, somehow speechless.
"He will come." Ginny continued in a slow and frightening voice. "here."
"Ginny, are you all right?" Ron worriedly said. Then he turned and glared ferociously at Draco. "What have you done to Ginny, Draco?"
"What?" Draco exclaimed, surprised. "I did not do anything to her! I'm as much confused, though not as worried, as you all are right now."
"Ron, I'm ok," Ginny said, finally snapping out of her mystical trance. "I. I just felt it. That's all."
"Felt what?" Draco asked.
"Dark Magic," Hermione answered for her. "She always does that since her first year here in Hogwarts."
"Ok, so now what? What do we do now?" Harry spoke up. "If what Ginny's saying is true, how do we defeat the Dark Lord or stop him from coming here?"
"That's the problem," Draco answered. "We can't."
"What do you mean we can't?"
"He's too powerful, he's got too many allies," Draco replied, looking at each of them one by one. "What we can do is just formulate a plan of what we can and will do when he finally attacks. I mean, nobody even knows where he is right now, and still half of the wizarding population is still in denial that the Dark Lord already came back."
"This is too hopeless," Hermione grumbled. "We have to tell Dumbledore about this. We need his help."
"There's a concrete plan," Draco said. "The only problem is, will he believe you? We're only brainless students in his opinion, and I think that dim-witted children barging in his office and telling him that Voldemort will attack Hogwarts anytime soon will look pretty stupid and implausible."
"Dumbledore is not like that," Harry defended. "He's-"
"Please Harry, save me your Dumbledore-is-great lecture," Draco cut him off. "I don't really need that right now."
"Can we talk about this some other time?" Ron suddenly spoke up. "I think Ginny's not feeling well."
"Ah, figures," Draco scorned. "You Weasley kids are such sissies about a harmless little headache."
"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry warned, then he turned towards Ron who is now cradling Ginny's head on his shoulders. "Ron, you can take Ginny to the hospital wing if you like and let Madam Pomfrey look at it. Hermione and I will go and visit Hagrid. It's been a while since we paid him a visit."
"What?" Draco exclaimed. "You're going to tell that stupid giant everything?"
"None of your business, Malfoy," Hermione answered. "You go and do whatever it is that you Slytherins do and leave us alone for the rest of the day. It'll save us the time and energy of listening to your stupid insults."
"Fine," he replied. "Got to go back to the Slytherin Common Room anyway. I'm too overdosed right now with Gryffindor Goodness that I think I'm going to puke."
Draco then left just a few seconds after Ron and Ginny did and proceeded to the Slytherin dormitories. That left Hermione and Harry to put back the library books to their proper shelves and go to Hagrid's hut to hopefully confide in him about the situation.
*()*()*()*()*()*
"Hagrid! Open up, it's us!" Harry shouted, as he knock on Hagrid's front door. He and Hermione had been banging on the wooden door for the past few minutes and still no answer, still no Hagrid. But they knew that he was there because Fang had been barking at them from the inside, and Hagrid never leaves his dog in the house unattended.
"Maybe he's not in," Hermione suggested, rubbing her hands together in a vain attempt to fight off the cold night's air.
"No, he's in, I'm sure," Harry answered. "Fang's inside."
"Maybe he just forgot about him," Hermione again reasoned. She was ready to knock on the door with Harry when an awful and revolting smell reached her nose.
And before she could even say, "Harry, what's that smell?" Harry blasted off the cabin's door and what they saw horrified both of them.
Hagrid, the lovable and gentle teacher of Care of Magical Creatures was lying on the floor, drenched and covered with his own blood, flies flying around his decaying body. Hermione stumbled backward in disgust and repugnance. At least she now knows where the smell is coming from. But as you would have thought, she wished with all her being that she hadn't.
*()*()*()*()*()*
A/N: I am now building myself a flame-proof igloo for all Hagrid fans. This is my fic, my story, lay off. I'll kill whom I want to kill. (",) Yeah, I know, I should be locked in Azkaban for killing the lovable giant off. But hey! I bet that's he's the one who's going to be killed on OotP.
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