* * * *
End of the Year
"La la la la…" sung Icicle as she danced down the hall.
"Why are you so happy?" asked Ron.
"Because school is basically over, I love summer break and most of all I won't be grounded anymore!"
"Potter, Wesley, Granger, Vera!"
All four cautiously turned around to face Snape, "The Headmaster wants to have a word with you. Follow me."
Ron, Hermione and Icicle looked at Harry giving him the what did you do look. He just shrugged and started to follow Snape. The four eventually found themselves standing in the center of the Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore walked in and smiled at them followed by Mad eye Moody, Remus, and Sirius, "Take a seat please."
Harry caught sight of a familiar picture of a phoenix. Where have I seen that before... Harry suddenly had a flashback to the day that Ron fell asleep in Transfiguration It's the symbol on the Order of the Phoenix spell.
"I see you have picked up on the crest on the wall Harry," commented Dumbledore.
"Why do you have the crest?"
"You see after I was banished from Hogwarts Flakes brought me this interesting letter. Apparently the Order of the Phoenix was a group that fought rising dark lords back during the time of Merlin. Usually the people who call on the help of the group are the ones who lead the order but it seems that this time that the wizard and witch were too young so the responsibility fell to me."
Harry, Hermione, Icicle and Ron all looked at each other blankly, confused on why Dumbledore was telling them this. Hermione prodded Icicle so she spoke up, "Umm.. good for you."
Moody chuckled, "You missed the point Albus. What he was trying to tell you is that because Potter and Vera cast the spell and Granger and Weasley received part of the protection it is required that you all are involved with the group even though you are still in school."
Ron looked excited at the prospect of getting to fight, "What do we have to do?"
Remus gave a broad grin, "Mostly research since we are not about to send you out into battle."
Ron, Harry and Icicle groaned while Hermione glowed with excitement, "When do we start!"
"Shut up!" hissed Ron, "We just finished studying for OWLS let us have a little down time before we have to go back to that bloody library."
Ignoring the fight that was about to start Harry turned to the adults, "Who is in the order?"
"All of us, some of the Wesley's, Moody's daughter Vicky, Krystal…."
Hermione gasped, Icicle raised an eye brow and both Ron and Harry paled.
Dumbledore looked confused, "What?"
"Oh nothing, we all just remembered that we promised to visit Hagrid today and we are late. I'll talk to you later."
All four scuttled out as fast as they could. Hermione started to ring her hands, "What are we going to do? Has Sirius come to his senses yet?"
"Come to what senses?" asked Sirius who had followed them out along with Remus.
"What are you doing?" hissed Harry, "You'll be caught!"
"All the students are outside so I'll be fine. What is it that I have no come to my sense on?"
"That Krystal is a death eater."
Harry had never seen Sirius get so mad so fast, "She is not a death eater. She is my fiancée. I was going to invite all of you to our wedding this summer but you rushed out before I could."
Icicle began coughing, "Fiancée! What kind of drugs are you on Sirius!"
"How can you not listen to anything we say?" asked Ron in frustration, "Have we ever led you wrong?"
"Fiancée…."
"Please think this through," pleaded Hermione, "How can a man on the run meet the love of his life. She was probably sent out to infiltrate Dumbledore's circle by Voldemort."
"We love each other! She would have told me if she was a death eater!"
Ron snorted, "No she wouldn't."
Sirius was shaking with anger and about to lash out but then Krystal walked in, and he immediately calmed down and went to her side like an obedient dog. "Why hello everyone, how was your school year?"
"It was hell," drawled Ron dryly.
Hermione poked Harry in the side, "It's a spell! He has to be under a spell!"
Harry saw Krystal watching him so he whispered back, "We don't have time for research Hermione we need to stop her now."
Icicle bit her lip, "I know how to find out if she is a death eater but Snape is going to kill me for this."
Harry watched as she pulled up her left sleeve and tapped on her arm with her wand and mumbled something Harry could quite here. Krystal grabbed her own arm and tired to hide the pain.
"Bingo."
Sirius started fretting over her, "Are you ok love?"
Krystal forced a smile and kissed him, "Perfectly fine dear."
Dumbledore approached the group with Snape following. "Dumbledore just in time!" exclaimed Icicle, "Look what I have to show you."
Harry watched as she walked over to Krystal and reach for her left hand showed Dumbledore the engagement ring. "Congratulation on your engagement Miss Moorhead and you too Sirius."
"Oh but that isn't the best part," smirked Icicle as she pulled up Krystal's sleeve reveling the dark mark."
Krystal tried to hide the mark but the damage has already been done. Dumbledore's eyes grew dark and pulled out his wand but Sirius jumped in between Dumbledore and Krystal. "You will not harm her…" said Sirius between his gritted teeth.
What spell does she have on him…"What have you done to Sirius?" demanded Harry.
Krystal's eyes sparked, "Oh I didn't do anything to him. I would not hurt him… he is too good at shagging. Aren't you love?"
Icicle began gagging dramatically, "Unclean! I feel unclean! My ears… oh my eyes… Sirius doesn't have sex with death eaters!"
Why in Merlin's name is she making such a big scene? wondered Harry.
It was right after that thought that Dumbledore quickly stunned Sirius, who had been distracted by Icicle's mini drama, and tied up Krystal. After quickly taking Krystal's wand and making sure that the ropes were secure Dumbledore summoned Remus, "Will you take Sirius to the hospital wing before any students see him. Make sure Madam Pomfrey scans him for potions and spells that he may be under. I am going to go summon the aurtors to take Ms. Moorhead to Azkaban."
As the adults left to do what they needed to do Snape approached Icicle, "Why the hell did you summon me?" Snape hissed.
She gave a meek smile, "I need to prove she was a death eater so I summoned everyone."
"Your lucky that all the death eaters know when it is you summoning or there may have been a bunch or death eaters arriving at Hogwarts."
With that he turned on his heel and marched away. Icicle shook her head, "I never use to be this bad. I can't seem to stay out of trouble anymore."
"Don't feel too bad. Harry can't stay out of trouble either," mumbled Ron
"Hey!"
Hermione butted in, "Let's go see how Sirius is doing."
Harry looked at Icicle and Ron who just shrugged, "Okay let's go."
As they approached the Hospital wing there was a lot of yelling. Harry entered first to see that Sirius was up. "Where is she!"
"I have already told you. Dumbledore took her away," replied Remus calmly.
Out of the corner of his eye Sirius finally spotted them, "This is your fault."
"It is none of their faults. They stopped you from making a royal mistake."
"You all had to go and make up lies so that the only woman I have loved would be taken away from me!"
Hermione slid to hide behind Ron and Icicle grabbed Harry's arm to reassure him that they did the right thing. Sirius started to get out of bed moving towards Harry when Remus stepped in front of them, "Leave them out of this."
"They took her away from me!"
"She was a death eater."
Sirius lunged but Remus held him back "Get out of here. It's going to get ugly."
"Yeah go! I don't ever want to see any of you ever again," Harry saw a vaguely familiar mad glint in his eyes, "Especially you Potter. I never expected the son of James not to betray me and my loved ones. Especially when a traitor is what killed his parents"
Harry stood there as shock overcame him. He felt Icicle let go of him and he saw her moved forward, "Leave him out of this! I was the one that revealed Krystal as a death eater."
"I expect treacherous things to come from the evil spawn of a real death eater."
Remus glared at Sirius and turned back to them, "Get out of here now and go to the feast."
Hermione grabbed Icicle and Ron took a hold of Harry. When they got out of the room Harry looked over and saw pain written across Icicle's face as she was dragged out of the hospital wing. He could feel the same expression painted on his face. Hermione let go of Icicle, "You both know that Sirius is under a spell. He didn't mean what he said."
Icicle closed her eyes as if she was composing herself, "Yeah, but it still hurt."
They continued to head towards the feast for a while in silence. Harry ran his hand through his hair, "What if he wasn't under a spell? What if he really does hate me?"
"He doesn't," reassured Hermione, "I can see that he loves you more then life it's self."
Ron slapped Harry on the back, "Don't worry mate. Sirius will come around and he'll be sorry."
Harry, Ron and Hermione entered the hall when they realized that Icicle had disappeared. Hermione looked around in frustration, "Where did she go?"
Dumbledore had stood up to start his end of the year speech so Harry, Hermione and Ron we forced to take a seat. "Another year filled with adventures, a little learning, and once again loss. We will miss those who have lost their life to Voldemort. The war is just beginning and you will soon have to choose sides. We all come from different backgrounds. Some of us come from wizarding families, some come from muggle families. Some of us like reading and others like sports. The whole point of Professor Figg's defense project was for you to see that. It does not matter what type of family you come from; whether light or dark. You and you alone will have to decide what you want to fight for. All I ask is that every student will try to do what is right, not what is easy. Have a great summer, be careful and no matter how lonely you get know that you are not alone in the fight."
There was an explosion and confetti fell from the sky. Up at the head table all the teachers were now dressed in disco outfits dancing on the table. Snape was wearing tight white pants and platform shoes; McGonagall's hair was loose and flowing down her back while Dumbledore was wearing an enormous black afro. Above the table hung a banner
One last prank in honor of Fred Weasley but to entertain Hogwarts' students
Give them hell our young apprentices
In the corner, Harry spotted Icicle and George admiring their work from the shadows. George had a tear running down his check. Icicle gave George a soft smile, ruffled his hair and gave him a hug. Harry couldn't hear what they were saying but he read Icicle's lips telling him that he was going to be okay. Harry couldn't help agreeing, they were all going to be okay. What ever they faced it would be together.
Up in the boy's dorm Harry and Ron started packing. Harry grabbed a shirt that was wadded in the corner, a sock that was under his bed and tossed them into his trunk. The older Harry got he found that packing became harder and harder because each year he has become more of a slob. Looking around one last time for anything he might have forgotten he spotted Papa. Harry picked up the bear and placed him tenderly in his trunk before he gently closed it.
* * * *
Morning was busy as everyone finished their last minute packing and soon Harry found himself once again on the train heading back to the Dursleys. Ron and Harry were working on a large pile of sweets, Icicle was trying to calm Buddy down and Hermione was reading a book when she snapped her book shut to get everyone's attention, "What is everyone doing this summer?"
"Trying to survive with Dudley," replied Harry.
Ron popped a chocolate frog in his mouth, "Absolutely nothing. Especially since we don' t have homework. What are you doing?"
"I'm going to Spain for the first 3 weeks but after that I am going to probably read through the public library. How about you Icicle?"
"No idea. I was going to go visit some people in America but Dumbledore talked to me this morning and he said that Fudge wants to have a chat with me as soon as I arrive in London. Of course I told Dumbledore that Fudge could kiss my rear end but he wouldn't hear of it. So I may be in jail this summer until I can figure out how to break out. My amungi form isn't as subtle for escape as Sirius'."
Harry grabbed a chocolate frog from Ron, "Tell Fudge that I said hi."
"Will do."
The train began to slow down and the arrived at Kings Cross. Everyone started to grab their stuff and drag it off the train. Off in the distance as far as humanly possible were The Dursleys. Hermione gave him another hug and kiss on the cheek, "Hopefully I'll see you soon and don't worry about Sirius. He'll come around."
Ron gave him a wide grin, "We'll get you out of that house before you know it."
Icicle had just said bye to Malfoy and turned to give Harry and Ron both and hug and kiss on the cheek, "Take care and I'll see you sometime this summer no matter what I have to do."
All Harry's friends left with their families except Icicle who went with two men who looked like ministry workers, Aggy and her sister Nicole. "Boy, hurry up," barked Uncle Vernon.
"I'll be back in a few months," murmured Harry to no on in particular before he grabbed Hedwig and his trunk to follow his relatives for another long summer.
COMPLETE! Thirty chapters and 61,505 words later I have finished this story. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, your reviews are what made me keep going. What I need to know is… do you want me to continue? Review and let me know but I warn you I'll probably not get anything up until school is over in 5-6 weeks.
