I Cannot Tell A Lie

~* Here it is! The final chapter! This will be my first complete fiction!

Before I get into the chapter, I would like to make special thanks to the people who have been there from the beginning - Fallen Angel of Hell, radarPLO, Ellie Granger, Her-mo-ninny1, Sailor Kirby, Kokoro Kawari, purfect child, katie janeway and PhoenixPadfoot89. So many people have reviewed, but I thought I'd just mention the people who have reviewed most (and since the near beginning), or I'd be here all day! Thank you to everyone!

It has been a long time and it's hard to believe that it's finally coming to an end! I really appreciate everyone who has reviewed and supported this story.

To those of you who haven't checked out some of my other stories, they're all on my profile if you would like to read them.

Well, once again, thank you for everyone support, and I'll get into the final chapter! *~

Chapter 13 ~ The Final Run

Draco, Harry and Ron cringed back, their arms shielding their face, and the flash of green light. They stood there, waiting for the inevitable. A few moments passed, and Harry slowly moved his arm away from his face. Draco and Ron followed suit. The cloaked figure was gone.

Ron walked over to where the figure had been standing, and grasped at the air, thinking that it may have disappeared under an invisibility cloak. Harry began to pace backwards and forwards in the middle of the hallway.

'I don't understand,' He said stroking his chin.

'We should have died, I heard him speak the killing curse!' Ron said, confused.

'What the hell is going on?' Draco bellowed, clearly pissed off.

'If we knew, don't you think we would have told you by now?' Harry spat, just as irritated as Malfoy.

'Alright, settle down, something odd is definitely going on here,' Ron said.

'Gee you're quick today, Weasel,' Draco hissed. Without warning, the corridor went completely black. An eerie feel fell over the three boys, and they all shivered in unison.

'Now what?' Harry asked, more annoyed than frightened, meanwhile, Ron's teeth chattered like there was no tomorrow. A flash of lightning lit up the room for a small while, and they got an abrupt glimpse of shadowed figures moving towards them.

'This is worse than that other guy,' Draco pointed out. 'These guys might actually manage to kill us without screwing up!'

'You just had to go and say that, didn't you?' Harry said sarcastically. Although he was making sarcastic remarks, Harry was just as terrified as Draco and Ron. The three boys backed up against eachother, and waited for the dark figures to determine their fate.

Lightning struck again, shimmering a small streak of light through the corridor. The dark figures were now inches away from Harry, Ron and Draco. Ron whimpered silently, while Draco and Harry brought out their wands, posed, ready for battle. A battle which never came. Minutes passed, and there was no signs of attack.

'Oh boy…' Harry moaned.

'They sure seem to know how to keep up suspense,' Draco muttered. Ron was silent. A creak could be heard from a distance. A raging storm pelted down heavy rain, and occasional lightning. A blood curtling scream came from what seemed like the next room.

'That sounded like Hermione!' Harry yelled. He and Draco bolted into the room where the scream had come from. They were followed closely by Ron, who wasn't so eager to face whatever had made her scream.

The room was fully lit, and everyone seemed packed in their. Infact, decorations hung from the walls and ceiling. Enchanted balloons zipped around the room, and a huge banner hung at the far end, baring the word: Surprise!

'Now I'm freaked,' Draco said, raising an eyebrow.

'Hologram?' Harry suggested.

'No!' Hermione had pushed her way through the crowd of people who were smiling and laughing heartily.

'Surprise!' Everyone yelled at once, mimicking the word on the banner.

'Huh?' Ron said, finally speaking.

'This whole thing was a set up!' Hermione cried gleefully.

'Wait a minute…' Harry said slowly.

'You put us through this drama… all for a practical joke?' Draco demanded.

'Everyone was in on it from the beginning!' Hermione exclaimed. Professor Dumbledore emerged from the crowd and put a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

'This one has quite an imagination,' He beamed at his student.

'You set this up?' Draco demanded.

'That's right,' Hermione said. 'Right from the moment I suggested to Ron and Harry that we get a truth serum into your goblet,' Ron's mouth moved up and down, as if he was trying to say something, but couldn't find the words. He successfully managed to look like a fish.

'You're kidding?' Harry stuttered.

'Nope, wasn't it fun?' Hermione giggled.

'Far from it!' Draco bellowed. 'I've never been so ridiculed in my life!'

'Oh come on, Malfoy, take a joke!' Hermione playfully smacked him on the arm.

'I … don't … believe … this,' Ron said, mouth still gaping. He sat down abruptly. On the floor. Hermione instantaneously knelt down and put her hand on his shoulder to balance him.

'Ron, are you okay?' She asked tenderly.

'No!' Came the reply.

'Hermione,' Harry said coldly. 'I think you should just leave him.' Hermione looked confused.

'Why? What did I do? It was just a bit of playful fun, harmless, right?' She said, standing up.

'No, you can't just play with people like that!' Draco yelled. 'Especially after what information you got out of me when I was under that stupid truth potion!' In his rage, he kicked the leg of a table bearing various munchies and a large punch bowl. The leg collapsed, tilting the table. All the food fell to the broken leg and crashed down onto the floor in a mess.

'Oh dear,' Hermione said. Ron hugged his knees and began rocking back and forth in his position on the floor. Hermione bit her lip.

'You've got a lot of explaining to do!' Harry hissed through his teeth, trying not to yell.

'I'll clean that up later,' Draco muttered under his breath, referring to the mess he had made with the food.

People began to sense that the party was over, and began to pile out of the room.

'Yeah, that's right, you leave!' Harry yelled after them. Some people looked over their shoulder and began to walk faster. When all the people were gone, save Dumbledore, Hermione, Harry, Ron and Draco, Harry turned back to Hermione.

'I thought it would be fun,' Hermione said lamely.

'Fun? Fun?' Harry roared.

'You had us fearing for our lives!' Draco bellowed.

'I'm sorry,' Hermione said, hanging her head. 'I just thought you guys could take a joke, and I thought it would give me something to do,'

'We thought you were a Death Eater!' Ron cried from the floor.

'We thought you were abducted by Death Eaters and tortured, or even killed!' Harry screamed.

'How could you let us believe something like that?' Ron asked.

'I … I don't know,' Hermione said, on the verge of tears. 'Don't be mad,'

'Mad? Mad?' Harry exclaimed.

'We're worse than mad!' Draco yelled.

'We're beyond just being mad!' Harry added.

'More like furious!' Draco said.

'I'm sorry…' Hermione repeated. 'I just thought you would be happy that none of it was real.' Ron stood up and faced Hermione.

'You… you had real guts to do that to your closest friends… and Malfoy -'

'I resent that,' Draco said.

'- I just don't know how you could have done this,' Ron finished, and he walked out of the room, closely followed by Draco, and then Harry, who gave Hermione one last look of betrayal before leaving the room.

~***~

Harry, Ron and Draco sat alone in the "off limits" Astronomy Tower, each had their head in their hands. Harry rested his chin on the palms of his hands, elbows rested on his knees.

'Do you still love her?' Ron asked, looking at Draco.

'Hell no,' Draco replied.

'Fair enough,' Ron replied. Harry seemed to be taking it the worst, his eyes glazed over, not speaking. Every now and then, Ron and Draco would attempt to start a conversation, small talk, but it never went anywhere.

'I just can't believe she would do something like that -' Ron said, but was cut off by Harry.

'Drop it, Ron, we've already heard that before!' He snarled. Silence.

'Well, we can't stay mad at her forever, can we?' Ron asked timidly after a few minutes. Harry simply growled in response.

'Well, I'm allowed to stay mad at her forever, because I'm supposed to hate Gryffindors,' Draco said smugly. 'So instead of sulking like a Gryffindor with you two, I'm going back to my house.' With those words said, Draco stood up and left the Astronomy Tower. Ron stood up.

'He's right you know, life goes on, we can't sulk forever.' Ron said. 'Are you coming?' No response. 'Well, I'll be in the Gryffindor common room if you need anything,' Ron left the Astronomy Tower, and Harry, in peace.

~***~

Ron stepped into the Gryffindor common room gingerly. He looked around, and saw that it was empty, save Hermione, who was curled up on a lounge chair. Ron walked towards her, and as soon as she heard his footsteps, her head snapped up. It was obvious that Hermione had been crying.

'Hi,' Ron said in a small voice.

'Hi,' Hermione responded. Her voice sounded cracked, and her throat must have been extremely sore. Ron sat down next to her, and wrapped his friend in a hug. Hermione began to cry again.

'It's okay, I forgive you!' Ron said, and pulled away from the hug.

'Harry doesn't.' Hermione mumbled.

'He will come around eventually,' Ron re-assured her.

'I don't think he will,' Hermione said softly. 'I just wanted to have a bit of a joke, that's all,' She whimpered.

'Well, if you'd wanted a bit of a joke, you should have just stuck rubber snakes in our beds while we were sleeping or something like that,' Ron said with a goofy grin. Hermione laughed, but it was mixed with her sobs, and sounded more like a caterwaul than a laugh.

'He hates me,' She said.

'No, he doesn't.' Ron reassured her. 'But on the bright side, Malfoy does!' He added happily. Hermione smiled.

'That's nice,' She said.

'Don't be sad.' Ron told her.

'Not possible, but thanks anyway,' Hermione said, and she stood up. 'I think what I need is to get some rest, goodnight,' She headed up the girls staircase before Ron could say anything to stop her. He checked his watch, and saw that it was ten o'clock that night. Yawning, Ron decided to call it a night. It had been a very eventful day.

~***~

Harry trumped into the Gryffindor common room at three o'clock the next morning, tired and grumpy. He headed up the boys staircase, and flopped into bed.

The boys woke up four hours later to Hermione opening the door with a click. Harry opened his eyes long enough to see who it was, and seeing it was Hermione, he shut his eyes tight and pretended to be asleep. Ron, however, got up and walked over to Harry's bed.

'Oi, Harry, wake up,' He shoved Harry, who rolled over and pulled the covers up over his head. Ron shrugged at Hermione. 'I guess he came in late,' He suggested. Either way, Harry was not getting up, for anyone.

'Harry,' Hermione stepped cautiously over to his bed, and poked her head through the gap in the curtains. 'I know you're awake,' She added.

'I haven't forgiven you yet,' Harry grumbled into his pillow.

'Are you kidding?' Ron asked. Harry sat up and faced his two friends. 'You're still not over it? Come on mate, give her a break.' The edges of Harry's mouth showed small signs of a smile, but his facial expression remained cold.

'No, I'm not over it, what Hermione did was wrong,' Harry said firmly, talking about Hermione like she wasn't even there. Hermione began to cry. Harry's heart just melted then and there. He looked at her with sympathy.

'She didn't mean it,' Ron said. Harry smiled and crawled over to Ron and Hermione. He then preceeded to envelope Hermione in a hug.

'Life's too short to hold grudges against friends,' Harry said. Hermione wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, her sleeves falling to reveal her slender shoulders. Ron frowned as he noticed the Dark Mark burning brightly in her delicate skin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

~* Its over! *~

~Gryffindor Gal~