Authors Note: I don not own Harry Potter! And yeah, enjoy the chapter!!!

Chapter Seven

"IDIOT!"

"FOOL!"

"BASTARD!"

"WENCH!"

Ron watched in amusement as Mcgonagall and Moody went at it over the small conference table that had been set up in Mcgonagalls old classroom. Dumbledore had assigned Ron, Remus, Mcgonagall and Moody to strategy, and so far, they hadn't gotten anything done. Moody seemed very intent on driving Mcgonagall up the wall.and their once calm argument had evolved into a full out shouting match. Remus was quietly examining his fingernails, and Ron was watching the two yell. They reminded him of Hermione and himself in their Hogwarts days, just with.stronger language. Dumbledore had once mentioned that Mcgonagall and Moody had attended Hogwarts together.Ron wondered if the two would ever get married.

"PARANOID SENILE GEEZER!"

"MISERABLE OLD HAG!"

Ron sent a glance at Remus who was yawning dramatically

"Hopeless man"

"Insufferable woman"

The room was silent for a moment. Finally Ron spoke

"Now, unless either of you plan on yelling the death eaters to death, I suggest you shut up, and sit down.we won't get anything accomplished with you two having rows like this. As amusing as it is, I would like to ask it to stop"

Remus snorted as the two nodded, acting as if they were being told off by a teacher

"Now"

Ron said sharply, smoothing out the map of London on the table

"Voldemort's castle is nearly impossible to access.if the wards are up and working. The only way to remove the wards is from here."

Ron pointed at a small building a few miles away from the castle Voldemort had erected.

"Like a powerhouse"

Remus grunted. Ron shrugged

"If you must. This building, which used to be a muggle bank, is much easier to access. I don't think we'd have any problem sending four or five people. Dumbledore said it wasn't heavily guarded, maybe 10 death eaters, tops."

Moody ran his fingers through his gray grizzled hair

"And once the wards are down?"

He grunted, ignoring the fact that the youngest of the group obviously was in charge. Ron pointed at Voldemort's castle and mumbled a spell. The map faded and re-appeared as a map up close to the castle

"We'll come from the north, it's the easiest entrance. We can send some of the animagus, the centaurs, the trolls, and so on from the sides. Voldemort has bred a bloody forest around there. There are these demon trees everywhere, and there's a cliff to the south, falling right into the river. If worse comes to worse, we can get into the river and disaparate from there. Only problem is, he's filled the river with more of him horrid beasts. If we could pull of apparating before hitting the water that would be good."

Mcgonagall frowned

"Isn't the anti-apparation ward in that muggle bank?"

Ron shook his head

"Sadly no, it's in the castle. He's brilliant, I must say. He's made it possible for an attack, but made it nearly impossible for an escape.it's like he's sure of victory"

He muttered. Mcgonagall snorted

"Yes well, Tom always was a bit of a cocky ass"

She hissed. Ron blanched. He'd never heard Mcgonagall use language so.foul. Moody let out a bark of laughter

"We were a couple years ahead of him in school, remember Minnie?"

Mcgonagall's eyes narrowed dangerously. Moody didn't seem to notice

"He played innocent around all the teachers, but everyone knew what he was really like. A cheating sneak I say, Dumbledore was the only teacher who seemed to hate Tom."

Moody sighed

"Evil prick deserved what he got in his fifth year though"

"What happened in his fifth year?"

Ron asked, raising an eyebrow. A maniacal grin spread across Moody's face

"We were in our seventh year at the time.he decided he'd pick a fight with my best friend. Cursed him from behind, Tom did. I ended up dueling with him and his cronies in the hall way. You think you and Potter had a rivalry? Well, me and Tom hated each other from the moment he met. Never has Hogwarts had such a fight between two houses. Tom ended up cursed so badly, he was in the hospital wing for three months. Never messed with me again.course, I nearly got expelled. Dumbledore managed to make Dippet see it was purely my Gryffindor bravery."

Moody rolled his normal eye

"One of the finest moments of my life, seeing the great prat rolled off to the hospital wing with orange tentacles growing out of his face and his arms growing out of his knees"

~*~

Ginny walked calmly across the Hogwarts grounds, her hands shoved deeply in her pockets. Dumbledore was holding another meeting and she'd been shoved out by her father. She'd have to have a talk with him later, and point out that she wasn't four, but twenty four! She narrowed her eyes at nothing in particular as she rounded the far corner of the castle. She'd never been to this part of the grounds before, and found that this was the perfect time to explore. The sight the met her eyes was not one that she expected. A small rod iron gate cut off her path. Beyond it was a cemetery, a beautiful, magical cemetery. She frowned slightly, pushing the gate open. How had she not known about this? She walked down the small pebble stone path, approaching the first line of graves with caution. There were four to start out with, two on each side of the path. The marble statues that rose out of the ground were magnificent. Slowly she knelt, reading the name of the first person buried here. Helga Hufflepuff was carved into the stone. Beside her was Salazar Slytherin. Across from Hufflepuff was Rowena Ravenclaw, and finally Godric Gryffindor. Ginny rose from her knees, her hand pressed over her mouth.what was this place? Slowly she continued on, reading names of wizard's century's old. A she neared the back, names she recognized began to appear. Myrtle Hemmings.whom she knew was none other than Moaning Myrtle. Lanus Dippet.her grandfather, Andrew Weasley, Cedric Diggory. Tears welled up in eyes as she reached a more secluded area of the cemetery. Percy Weasley was one of very first graves. Ginny fell to her knees before it.this was wrong, they'd buried Percy in the Weasley cemetery, just behind the Burrow. After a while she stood, moving on through the rows of graves.Argus Filch, Sybil Trewlawny, Terrence Pince, Dennis Creevy, Padma Patil, Justin Flinch- Fletchly.tears poured down her cheeks as she read name after name of people she'd once known. In the far corner of the cemetery there was another fenced off area. Ginny entered the area, moving behind a few trees' that blocked a small row of graves. Her heart constricted when she saw the first two names, buried side by side. Lily and James Potter. She noticed that there was space for another grave just between them.it had been meant for Harry. Ginny placed her back against the tree only feet from the graves.everyone was so sure he was going to die early that they left a space open for his grave?! She sighed loudly, wrapping her arms around her knees. Ginny had loved Harry from the moment she'd laid eyes on him. At first it had just been a silly school girl crush, she liked him because he was famous, just like everyone else did. But slowly she got to know him.really know him.and that crush had gone away almost immediately. He wasn't Harry Potter to her.he was Harry, just Harry.just another brother. Thinking back, she could never really understand how she had thought she'd liked Harry more than a brother, more than a friend. Liking Harry was like liking Ron. She shuddered at the thought

"I wondered when you'd find your way in here"

Came a soft voice from behind her. Ginny spun around and came face to face with someone she never thought she'd see again

"Percy!?"

~*~

Draco stared sadly across the cave at Hermione's motionless form, a half smile on his face. She looked so peaceful while she was sleeping, even with the dirty robes and the scratches on her once soft face. In the short time they'd been traveling together Draco had gotten to look deep inside Hermione Granger.something he never thought he would have done five years ago. The woman before him didn't strike any resemblance to the annoying girl he'd known in school.she was so intelligent and caring.but of course, he knew she was the same at Hogwarts, he'd just never taken the opportunity to know her. Were the circumstances different, he would have already fallen madly in love with her.sadly, every time he thought about loving her, that necklace seemed to shine extra bright. He had no business loving someone who was already loved so much, and loved so much in return. As much as he couldn't stand Harry Potter.the man deserved Hermione.much more than he himself did. But he could only hope he'd be able to get Hermione back to Hogwarts unharmed. They'd been lucky so far, but he knew Voldemort was still on their tail.he would never let Draco go, not after what he'd done. Betraying your family and your name never goes well in the books of Lord Voldemort.and right now, Draco knew he was in the top ten of old Voldies 'I want his head' list. All the way up there with Potter and Dumbledore. He sighed.why the man had gotten so angry over Draco stealing his brilliant plans for the capture of Hogwarts.he did not know. Glancing slowly at Hermione Draco stuck his hand in his pocket, pulling out a simple looking stone. He stared calmly at it

"Tom Marvolo Riddle"

He said in a low voice. A small hole appeared in the center of the rock and light poured out of it, revealing a 3-D map of Hogwarts

"Attack"

He hissed, watching as miniature forms of death eaters and dementors and all his other foul creatures appeared at the edges of the map. He watched them storm the castle, he watched the feeble fight Voldemort assumed the resistance would put up.he watched Voldemort's sick version of Dumbledore's death, and Potters. Strangely, he could see the resistance falling just like this.though he was sure Dumbledore and Potter would put up more of a fight.A groan from Hermione brought him back to reality.

"Draco, are you awake?"

She whispered, turning her head in his general direction

"Yes"

He grunted, pressing his thumb over the hole and muttering 'finish'.

"Sleep well?"

He asked, sliding over to her side. She smiled slightly

"As well as you can in this horrible thing.I swear, if I don't get new robes soon, mine are going to just fall apart, I can feel it"

Draco chuckled

"We're going to pass through a town in southern Spain in the next few days.there are death eaters everywhere, but I'm pretty sure we can sneak into a house and get ourselves a shower and some cloths.sound good to you?"

Hermione's face immediately lit up

"A shower! I haven't had a shower in ages.oh that'll be wonderful!"

Draco clenched his teeth as he stared at the girl in front of him.falling in love with Hermione Granger might be a little harder to avoid than he originally anticipated.

~*~

Harry sighed rather loudly, rubbing his temples, trying to rid himself of his permanent headache. He'd been in a bad mood ever since they fled the town in Portugal. The girl they'd saved had turned out to be none other that Cho Chang. As good of a friend she had been in his Hogwarts days, having her with them just made their task even harder. Harry had considered opening a portal and sending her back to Hogwarts, but drawing that much magical energy for only one person was a bad idea, considering Voldemort could trace him if he used large quantities of magic at one time. What made it worse was the fact that she didn't have her wand.so she was completely unarmed. Sirius was currently trying to figure out a way to get rid of her by questioning her about her family

"I have no where to go you idiot so just give up!"

Came Cho's voice from behind Harry, who groaned and placed his head in his hands. Seconds later someone sat beside him

"Don't worry, Black will get rid of her before the sun goes down."

Harry chuckled

"I don't see how"

Snape rolled his eyes

"Potter, your stupidity surprises me; we're going to open a portal with my wand, which the Dark Lord doesn't track considering he thinks I'm dead. We'll send her back to Hogwarts and she'll be out of our hair forever, thank god, I never did like that girl"

Harry raised his head and looked towards his old potions teacher

"Voldemort thinks your dead?"

He asked in shock. Snape smirked

"Oh yes, Dumbledore made it public only weeks after we left that I was killed in a death eater raid at Hogsmede, but I wasn't really there obviously. Most people think I'm dead.not anymore though, after I made my open appearance in the Hogwarts Great Hall."

Snape shrugged.

"It's easier to hide when no one is looking for you"

He glanced at Harry was surprised to see the boy looking accusingly at him

"You know why Dumbledore sent us away don't you"

He said, raising an eyebrow. Snape frowned

"I know nothing of the sort.I have theories, yes, but each is more absurd than the next.I didn't want to leave Potter, which is the exact reason why Albus didn't tell me why I had to. I assume it was to look after you and your idiot godfather.but really, I don't think that is the reason, I see now both of you are very capable of taking care of yourselves"

Harry nodded in defeat

"Why did you want to stay Professor? Don't say it's because you like to teach, because I know you don't.plus Hogwarts stopped teaching barely a year after we left"

Snape sighed, lying back on the grass and staring up at the sky, a thoughtful look on his face. Harry dropped down beside him, letting a silence settle over them. After a few minutes of nothing, Snape finally spoke

"When we left I was engaged"

Harry blanched

"Engaged? Like.to a woman?"

"No Potter, to a man! Of course to a woman"

Harry smiled slightly, not looking at Snape

"Well, what was she like?"

Snape chuckled

"I don't need to explain that to you, you know her quite well"

Harry frowned, thinking hard about people Snape's age who he could possibly have wanted to marry.

"Please tell me you weren't engaged to Trewlawny"

Snape laughed

"Heaven's no.that crazy old bat would have driven me insane. 'I see dark days ahead for you Severus' 'The stars tell me that you will die a horrible death at the hands of the Dark Lord'. Please, I would rather be beaten to death by a troll"

Harry chuckled

"Point taken."

"Tell me Potter, did you enjoy your Astronomy classes?"

Harry's eyes widened and for the first time he rolled over to look at Snape

"Sininstra? You were engaged to Alana Sininstra? But, all you two ever did was fight!"

Snape grinned slightly, still not looking at Harry

"We argued, yes.but our relationship would have been dull if we didn't fight like we did. Plus, if we'd been overly nice to each other every student would have known about us and we both would have lost our jobs I'm sure"

Harry rolled his eyes

"I can't imagine you married."

He said softly, turning back to look at the cloudless sky above them

"Just as I can't imagine you married"

Snape replied. Harry grinned

"Well, I'm not engaged am I? I don't think you have to worry about that"

"Ah, but I do."

Harry glanced at Snape, eyebrows raised

"And why is that?"

"Because no one would do what you did if you didn't plan to marry the person"

He grunted, motioning to the silver necklace hanging from Harry's neck. Harry wrapped his hand around the small silver piece, welcoming the warmth of it in his palm

"She doesn't know"

He said quietly, sitting up and pulling the necklace over his head. He stared down at it

"It surprised me when she asked me what it was.Hermione usually knows everything.and I couldn't tell her what it was.I guess she'll never know"

Snape frowned

"Which bonding charm did you use?"

Harry smiled slightly

"The Power bonding charm.I figured that's the most useful if you know what I mean"

Snape's jaw dropped

"But-but no one has ever-"

"Done it, I know, Professor Dumbledore made that quite clear when I told him about it"

Harry tightened his fist around the necklace

"But truthfully I hope she never has to use the necklace.."

"Snape! Harry come here!"

Harry rolled his eyes and stood up, walking around a few tree's to find Cho stunned on the ground, a portal open in front of Sirius

"Someone has to carry her through; we can't just.drop her"

Sirius said, but his face showed that he wouldn't have minded just dropping her. Harry started forward but Snape stopped him

"I'll do it.where's the portal to?"

"Hogwarts, Dumbledore's office"

Snape nodded stiffly and lifted Cho up. He disappeared through the portal, leaving Harry and Sirius to stare at nothing

~*~

Snape stepped into Dumbledore's office and was relieved to see no one was there. He walked over to a plush couch in the corner and set Cho down. He pulled out Sirius' wand, which he'd kept while Sirius used his for the portal. He pointed the wand at her

"Stupefy"

He said again, making sure that she wouldn't wake up until discovered. He stood up quickly, pocketing his wand and rushing over to the large desk in the center of the room. He grabbed a quill and some parchment and began to scribble a note

"We're moving towards London, we'll be there by the time you attack. We saved Miss Chang from a house in Portugal, Cheers. Severus"

Snape grabbed the parchment and walked over to Cho, placing the parchment beside her. As he was making his way back to the portal a voice caught his ears, a very familiar voice

"Really Albus.'Alana please go retrieve Fawkes for me'.we all know Fawkes can appear at will if you want him Albus, I wish you would just give it to me straight.something like 'Alana there is something in my office I want you to discover, but I won't tell you what it is until you figure it out yourself!"

The door banged open and Alana Sininstra marched in. Snape pressed himself up against the wall, watching her walk towards Fawkes. She was scanning the room in front of her, her eyes narrowed. As she stopped beside Fawkes Severus made a dash for the portal. He stopped just in front of it, to get one last glance at her, but she had turned around. She shrieked

"Severus!?"

Snape stayed silent, staring calmly at her, though inside his heart was pounding. He thought, fighting a frown off his face

"Alana"

He said, his mouth twitching into a small smile. Before he could stop himself he glided forward, pulled her close to him and kissed her, for the first time in nearly five years. She seemed slightly shocked by his actions, but didn't have a chance to question him. When he backed away she was gaping at him

"Severus-"

"Good-bye Alana"

He said, backing towards the portal

"Severus please-"

She started forward but Snape held up a hand

"Alana, I can't, you-"

"Severus!?"

The voice of Harry Potter floated into the room and Alana's eyes widened

"They told me about the portal in the great hall, I wasn't there to see it"

She said

"Yes well, we were just leaving someone behind"

Snape said, motioning towards Cho

"Don't leave again Severus"

Snape shook his head, he had to leave now, or he wouldn't leave at all

"I can't stay"

He mumbled, turning around. Alana grabbed his hand

"Severus"

At that moment Harry stepped through the portal. He caught site of Alana and he raised an eyebrow

"Um, Hello Professor Sininstra"

He said sheepishly. His eyes locked with Snape's, which were currently pleading with him to get them out of there. Harry strolled towards Dumbledore's desk, stopping by a glass box behind it. He opened it and pulled out Gryffindor's sword. The two Professors' just watched as he knelt down and pulled out a sheath for it and hooked it around his waist. He stopped beside Fawkes, stroked his beautiful feathers before approaching the other two occupants of the room

"It was nice seeing you Professor; I promise we'll see you again soon"

He smiled slightly, took hold of Snape's arm and dragged him through the portal

"SEVERUS!"

~*~

((Hello everyone! I probably won't be posting for a few days because I'm driving to my grandparent's house and it'll take a while for me to get settled down and writing again! Before I go though, I'm gunna answer a few questions.Some have come up some haven't, but they all eventually will. Okay, if you didn't get it in this chapter, Ginny loves Harry like a brother, not a love interest. Draco is falling in love with Hermione, but Hermione doesn't love him, she loves Harry, and he knows that. Okay, about the portals. The reason Draco and Hermione don't just conjure one and walk into Hogwarts is because, again, the spell is for level nine and 10 wizards. Hermione would be able to cast it easily, and so could Draco, it's just their power level won't let them. The reason Voldemort doesn't just open a portal into Hogwarts is because it's warded. Dumbledore only allows a few wands to conjure portals into the school, his won included. The Snape/Sininstra thing was kind of spur of the moment, I just thought it would be good to have Severus someone to live for, you know? Anyway, please review and I'll have the next chapter up asap! Thanks!))