Chapter Twenty Five: We Are the Champions
Lucy wasn't certain of what time the Aurors actually arrived to clean up, but dawn was rising as she and the rest of the international students were crowded into the hospital wing, occupying all the beds and taking up pallets on the floor as they were drowned in hot chocolate and super-dark chocolate bars were forced down their throats.
She was dimly aware of a great deal of activity coming from the far room, formerly for burn victims, which she thought had been storage, but she couldn't focus on much of anything at the moment. She was tired from staying up all night, from being beaten over the head with a bludger, from the prolonged presence of the Dementors, and she had the grandmother of all reaction headaches from stretching herself so far. But it was with a profound sense of pride and admiration for Rasheph, Bet, and Lynx that she drifted in unconsciousness at last.
She woke up late Sunday afternoon as the lowering sun hit her through the window. She turned to her right and looked up at Marguerite, who was sitting up in bed chatting with Audrey on her pallet on the floor to her right. Lucy grinned at Audrey under the bed, and sat up herself. She then lay back down and tried to sit up a little more slowly. Much better.
Saori was softly snoring on her left, across from her she saw that Warren was awake, but Wesley and William were not. It appeared Madam Pomfrey had attempted to segregate the sleeping arrangements in the hospital wing, as all the boys were lined up on one wall, and all the girls on the other. It was just as well, she could hear Dimitri snoring from where she was.
The door to the small room opened, and Lucy's brow knitted as she saw Ginny Weasly emerged. Ginny started to tiptoe towards the door, until she saw that the internationals were finally waking up. Lucy waved, thought about standing up, and thought the better of it.
Ginny trotted over. "How are you feeling Lucy?"
"Fine really, a bit tired, a bit cold, but that's probably from sleeping on the floor. What's going on in there?"
Ginny's face clouded, "That's where they put Harry, Ron and Hermione."
"What-"
"NO, no no no, they're fine, they just didn't want them disturbed, and when they finally found you lot, they thought it best to put them somewhere quiet."
"What happened?"
Ginny shrugged, obviously frustrated. "I wish I knew. But those three, well, its always something. I thought maybe now- but anyway, no one really knows what happened. They ran out in the middle of the night, and were brought in early this morning. Bumps and bruises really, they should be out soon, I don't think there are even any broken bones, but they don't tell me anything. They were sleeping when I went in just now, so I couldn't even ask them. Not that they'll tell. I swear the closer they get the more secretive they are."
"So everything's back to normal, Dumbledore's back?"
Ginny nodded. "He came back sometime in the night, Merlin only knows how he knew. Rumor is there were intruders in the school itself, but, like I said, no one will say anything. I wish I could ask Ron, he has a terrible poker face, can read him like a book. But listen to me ratteling away. You look tired, what WERE you all doing?"
At that moment Madam Pomfrey came bustling in.
"Ginny Weasly! I sent you away ages ago! Come, come with me and let those students have a rest. Not one more word or I will bar you from the hospital wing for a week. I don't want to see you back in here for the next 24 hours without a broken bone or major blood loss. Out you go."
Madam Pomfrey was a remarkably strong woman, and Ginny was out the door before she could really comprehend what was going on.
"Have some more chocolate Miss Montero."
But the school nurse knew Lucy's disposition to candy remedies, and she waitied until she had seen Lucy consume the entire bar before moving on to fuss somewhere else.
It was days later that they realized the chocolate was laced with sedatives, and all the internationals had fallen back to sleep before dinner.
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"Psst! Lucy! Wake up!"
She struggled out of a dream to find Warren's face inches from her own.
"Gah! What are you doing?"
Warren Lane, in blue stripey pajamas, was squatting down next to Lucy's pallet, a newspaper in his hand and a smile on his face.
"It worked, it passed, Fudge signed it."
"You mean the Inquisition is over?"
"They're dismantling the bonfires as we speak."
"Does everyone else know?"
"We're going to wake them all up in a minute, but I wanted to ask you something."
"I'm not going to help Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup Warren, I have had quite enough near death experiences as it is."
Warren grinned. "Well I'm sorry to hear it. But Dumbledore was here, and he met with the seventh years, and he has decided that for the purposes of better communication and organization, he is establishing an International Society at Hogwarts. And we want you to head the Gryffindors next year."
"Really?"
"We decided to have someone from each house, you'll be the oldest next year anyway. It shouldn't be too much work, I mean barring a reversal of the dicision there's not very much for us to do next year. You could invent a logo if you wanted."
"Would I get a nifty title?"
"We're working on that. Something modest and dignified. William suggested Supreme Wafflemeister, but we'll see what the others say. So you'll do it?"
Lucy's smile faded, "Give me the paper."
Warren looked puzzled, but handed her the somewhat rumpled Early Edition of the Daily Prophet. In true Ministry style, their story was buried on the sixth page. Lucy read and then re-read the article.
"I can't."
"What do you mean?"
"The money, Warren, Fudge didn't give back any of the money. That's my scholarship, mine, and Alessandra's, and Merlin knows how many others who are too proud to say it. Without that money we can't afford to come back."
Warren's smile returned. "Oh, don't worry about that, it's being taken care of."
"Taken care of! By who?"
Warren rocked back on his heels, "Actually, by the oddest source- I don't know a lot of the details, but I've been assured that the matter is being solved as we speak."
Lucy gave Warren the strongest hug she could manage. "In that case, we'll miss you like hell, but I'd be honored."
By that time Audrey, Misha, and Maeve were already standing in the center of the room, waiting impatiently for Warren, who got to his feet and trotted over.
"Oy!" Misha boomed, and seconds later everyone who wasn't already awake was sitting up whether they liked it or not.
Madam Pomfrey had heard Misha's "Oy" from her preperation room, and shaking her head at the widespread disrespect for a relaxing recovery ward, she removed her gloves and went to tell the young man to settle down.
The cheer that erupted just as she was opening the door stopped her dead in her tracks.
She closed the door on the pandemonium and went to tend to her pile of patient records. It was entirely clear from the scene in the hospital wing that the international students were quite completely recovered.
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Recovered as they were, they were not released. After lunch had come and gone on Monday there were still some 60 odd very antsy students holed up in the hospital wing, pajamas gone, shoes laced and ready to leave.
"The Aurors are still sweeping the school Miss Kuzmin, you will be let back to your common rooms as soon as they have cleared the halls from there to the hospital wing."
They had dinner in the hospital wing.
A rap on the door at half past seven had every ear straining to hear the conversation in the hall.
Madam Pomfrey, who was as eager for her charges departure as any of them, entered the room, left the door open, and nodded.
She also stepped back as the stampede nearly knocked her over. Although, to their credit, each student had already given her their thanks. And she was sound in her medical mind that each student also departed with three days dosage of chocolate in their pockets.
For her part, Lucy dropped that out the first window she passed without another thought.
The halls of Hogwarts were still crawling with Aurors. Their silent, stoic forms were around every corner they passed on the approved route to the common room. It still wasn't known what or who had actually been inside the school, or what had happened to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but it was clear that the Ministry didn't intend to be caught unawares again.
Lucy longed to take a quick trip to the BA room, but they weren't allowed to deviate from their approved course, and it was unlikely that Bet, Rasheph, or Lynx would have been able to escape anyway.
So it was they came to the Fat Lady at last, and stopped.
Lucy looked around, and began to feel a bit foolish, for they certainly did look silly, all of them standing around in the hall.
"What ARE you doing?" The Fat Lady drolled down at them.
They merely looked at each other, they were stalling; that's what they were doing. They had no idea what the rest of their house was planning on doing to them once they walked through that door.
"Oh for pity's sake, after a pack of Dementors how bad can it be?" Warren pushed his way to the frunt, snapped "fewmets" at the raised eyebrow of the Fat Lady, and charged ahead into the common room. William and Wesley followed behind, although Luch got the sense that it was more out of a sense of fraternal obligation than any real desire to face the firing squad.
William grabbed Nichloas by the arm as he went through, Nicholas in turn pulled his sister Svetlana, who grabbed Chandrika, who pulled Alessandra, who snagged Karen, who snatched Shawanda's hand, who tagged Lucy, who pulled a rather pale Maria Moray through the portrait hole by the neck of her sweater.
As a result they were all more or less holding hands when they entered the buzz of the common room, a buzz which withered and died at the sight of them.
Lucy tried to still her heart and reminded herself she could be out the door and safely in the BA room in a matter of minutes.
They stood there, hand in hand, waiting for the storm to break.
But it didn't, instead most of the students broke out in smiles, a few of them even began to applaud.
Lucy saw copies of the Daily Prophet strewn everywhere, apparantly news of the victory had already preceeded them.
Dean led the Quidditch team in shaking Warren's hand- it was mentioned in the paper that he was the principle author of the bill- Warren himself was blushing, something Lucy had never seen before.
She was patted on the back by numerous people she didn't know, and while most of the group was ushered over to the fire to partake in what was certainly a batch of illegally distilled Gryffindor Brew, Lucy was slowly edging her way towards the dormitories and her bed.
She bumped into someone, turned about, and was nearly suffocated.
"It's OK Seamus, I'm alive."
Seamus released her from the hug and set her back on her feet.
"Um, listen-"
"I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry I should have-"
"No, I was an idiot, and then you'd be in trouble and-"
"I'm fine, we're fine. Part of it was actually kind of fun."
"Fun?"
Lucy shrugged, "How often do you get to dunk Draco Malfoy in the lake?"
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"I can't believe it, but I'm actually going to miss the little guy."
"Well I'm NOT going to miss her, do you have any idea how much that thing eats?"
"Mine feeds himself, almost entirely self sufficient."
"None of YOU had to put up with that god awful smell, or the oozing."
Exams were officially over, but their Care of Magical Creatures final merely consisted of a small oral report to the class on their "projects."
Most of the beasties were not "castle friendly" once they were more than a few days old, so Hagrid had set up a pen for them behind the hut. Sparks was, however, an exeption, along with a few of the small lizard type creatures, and Lucy had kept him near her bed for the past few days; he had a habit of humming that put her right to sleep.
As she carried Sparks over toward the pen, she almost felt it was worth the pain of looking after him in his eggfancy, given what everyone else had to put up with in the post-hatching stage. Draco Malfoy, for example, ears still smoking from his required dose of pepper-up potion following the late night dunking in the lake, was struggling with what appeared to be a large, muddly, scaly ant eater. He had fallen twice, to the delight of the Gryffindors, who were also a bit muddy themselves, but having a fine time of it. Lucy merely waited for Hagrid on the fence next to Bet, who's miniature buggaboo sat next to her eating a strawberry and spitting the seeds out at Gryffindors with remarkable accuracy.
"So no reaction headache?"
"We weren't working as long as you, and no, I think we're all getting a little stronger. The boys wanted to go get something to eat afterwards, of course, but by then they had us all locked in our dormitories and common rooms, wouldn't let us out into the castle at all. They even had most of the secret exits blocked."
"Still no idea why?"
Bet shook her head. "They never tell us, just assure us that everything is going to be fine and not to worry. It's really ridiculous, someday something is going to happen when the adults aren't around and then what will we do? All we've ever been trained for is to hide in the dungeons like scared little rabbits."
Lucy nodded. Hagrid had arrived and she and Bet hopped down to get in line to give their little talk. Of course, no one was really interested in Neville's pet, essentially a larger version of a flobberworm, but they tried to look interested.
**Still, it must have been a sight, everyone going after those Dementors like that.**
**Indeed, it was almost like a ballet. The sight of that sheep bearing down on one I'll never forget.**
**A sheep? Whose patronus was a sheep?**
Lucy shrugged. **Unsolved mystery, no one will own up to it. I suspect Misha, it was a damn accurate and effective sheep.**
Bet covered her giggle with a cough, stepped forward, and began her short talk on the proper rearing of the miniature bugaboo. Not much was heard, of course, because the Gryffindors were all trying to dodge the strawberry seeds and the Slytherins were all trying not to lose points by laughing at them.
When the "exam" was ended and everyone bid a fond goodbye to their charges, Lucy carried Sparks over to Hagrid herself.
"What's going to happen to him Hagrid?" She had read several nasty things about the black market uses for pheonix blood and various organs.
"Never fear there Lucy, he'll be all right."
"You'll find him a good home then?"
"Er, actually its already been found."
"Where?"
"Well, here. I was thinkin' about jest keepin him 'ere. Fawkes would like to have somebody else to talk to, an he could show 'im the ropes a bit, theres a lot to learn about being a pheonix your first time out."
Lucy impulsively flung her arms as far around Hagrid's middle as she could reach.
"Thank you Hagrid! That would be perfect! And I could come see him?"
"Come see him! You're his mother Lucy, at least that's what he thinks. The other reason to keep him about is that he'd probably pine away for you, they get uncommon attatched when they're only a few burnings old."
Lucy was oblivious, cooing and petting Sparks on the head before Seamus's call of "Come on already Lucy, do you want to miss the Feast?" pulled her back to reality.
"See you at dinner Hagrid!"
Hagrid watched the two trot off, chuckled to himself and picked up a somewhat droopy looking Sparks. "Oh don't you sulk, she'll be back."
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"I've said it before and I will say it again, these hats make us all look perfectly ridiculous."
"Aww, come on Montero, they're fun."
"They are not fun, they are stupid, and they itch."
"That's just cause you aren't wearing it right, here let me-"
"Touch it and die, Nicholas."
Nicholas Kornakovitch had been enchanting hats all evening to flash insulting comments about their bearers, and Lucy was feeling foolish enough with a large black cone on her head.
She was halfway through a drumstick when she noticed Rasheph trying to get her attention. Deciding that this seperate tables business was terribly impractical, she stood up and walked over, taking a seat at the Ravenclaw table. Marguerite, several meters away, leaned over and waved.
"Yes?"
"Um, I don't know how to say this Luce,"
"Try just saying it then."
"I think we have a new member."
Lucy paused, "Excuse me?"
Rasheph leaned back a bit, and spoke with the boy on his right.
"Go ahead Magnus, discretely, under the table."
Lucy looked under the table, to see several drumsticks and bread rolls circling about. She turned to look at Magnus, who smiled slightly and held up his palms.
"See, no hands."
Lucy was flabbergasted, but nodded. "Nice to meet you Magnus. Do you have any control over it?"
"It sort of comes and goes, like right now I can start it, but I may not be able to stop it, and later if I wanted to try it, it may not work."
It sounded like a half open channel to her. She explained what that was to Rasheph and Magnus.
"Do you want it to go away?"
Magnus thought about this for a moment, before shaking his head. "Nope, seems like it would be damn useful."
Lucy nodded, "All right, I am going to put a temporary seal of sorts inside your head, to keep this from happening over the summer, you're in what year?"
Magnus was chewing on a piece of steak at the moment, and merely held up 4 fingers.
"Right, well, I'm out of the country for the summer, god willing, but I think we ought to introduce you to Mr. Brimstead, he can help you out if the seal pops, which it may or may not do, depending on how that channel is developing and how well I sealed it in the first place."
Lucy gave Lynx's mind a rude mental shove, a rather hard mental shove as he wasn't particularly sensitive to mindspeach. The Hufflepuff looked about for a minute before finding her, and trotted over, drumsitck in hand.
"What's the hubub all about, not more Dem-"he saw Magnus and smiled, "Oh, hello!"
"Lynx Brimstead, meet Magnus...."
"Mercury."
"Right. Magnus Mercury, this is another member of our little association, Lynx Brimstead."
Magnus raised his eyebrows a bit, "You know, I never would have connected you lot."
"We try to fly under the radar. Sometimes people act stupidly around things they don't understand."
Magnus nodded.
"Lynx, Magnus has a newly cracked telekinesis channel, I'm going to seal it but I told him that if there were any problems over the summer that he could look to you for some advice and basic instruction?"
Lynx practically glowed, "Well, yeah, I mean, of course I could teach him."
**What's going on over there? I feel quite left out.**
Lucy looked over to where Bet was pouting at the Slytherin table.
**Rasheph has done some recruiting, so it seems.**
**What?**
**We have a new member in the BA.**
Bet grinned.
**Really? That's interesting. Well its nice to know we didn't keep those notebooks for nothing.**
Bet was referring to the detailed accounts she had made the other three keep of their experiences in handling their new gifts, so they would have a reference for any future trainees.
**Told you so.**
Bet stuck out her tongue.
**Well, if you're done with that, come on over here, I've got a surprise.**
Lucy raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me boys, Bet says she has a surprise for me."
Rasheph was not one to be left out, however, and he left Lynx and Magnus to exchange addresses and contact details while he followed Lucy to the Slytherin table, where she took a space across from Bet, between an agitated Pansy Parkinson and a grinning Katya Kuzmin. Rasheph sat on her left, sheilding her from Pansy.
"Well, what is it?"
"Go on," Rasheph prodded, "Tell her already."
Lucy spun around, "You know about this?"
"And not just him either," from behind her she heard Lynx's cheerful baritone. The Hufflepuff squashed himself down between her and Rasheph, forcing Pansy further down the bench.
Lucy shook her head. "Someone better spill."
Bet sighed, "You are no fun to surprise, you know that? Well, anyways, like I told you that day in the dungeons, I had already collected enough from the Slytherin Gaming Society to pay for my tuition and supplies for next year, the rest of it was strictly profit. And then Rasheph comes out and tells us that you and the other internationals have had your funding cut, and that you weren't giong to be able to come back next year."
"How did you know that?"
Rasheph shrugged, "I heard that little blond French girl whining about it, she was going to write to her parents immediately."
Marguerite, Lucy smiled, for such a tiny, refined girl, she could get awfully worked up.
"So we decided that the Slytherin Gaming Society needed to think bigger, much bigger. So we started contacting recent alumni, recent enough to have made a few galleons playing in it themselves. And they spoke with colleagues, and we got a sort of agreement going. That the final night of the year the pot would not be pocketed, or go to the winner, although a winner would be named and they would recieve certain other benefits, but that the entire pot would go towards the tuition and supplied of the international students that had been disenfranchised by the Ministry Witch Hunt."
"What!"
"I'm not done yet, AND that those alumni would match, sickle for sickle, galleon for galleon, a certain percentage of the pot if the students managed to raise enough. Apparantly word got round to embassies and such, because we had a huge number of pledges come in from ambassadors as well as folk inside the Ministry."
Lucy shook her head, "Bet, I don't know what to say."
Lynx tossed his head, "Well you know it isn't all for YOU don't you Lucy? There are other Gryffindors, Slytherins, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who are going to benefit from the Fund. We have enough to cover what everyone needs for next year and a healthy head towards the tuitions for the year after that."
"Oh Merciful Merlin, she's going to cry. Quick, somebody give her some food or make a joke, or something, because she's going to cry."
She WAS going to cry, but at that moment Dumbledore stood up and began to speak.
"Welcome to the end of another year. A year that has not been without its own trials, and tribulations. We have been witness, within this very castle, to the particular eviils which fear and ignorance can incite in the human character."
Dumbledore smiled, "But as the phoenix, arises from its ashes, so do we also. We grow, and learn the true test of our courage, faith, and humanity only when confronted with that which we would avoid at all costs.
"We know now that we must constantly be vigilant, even within the walls of our own school, or within the workings of our own government," Dumbledore cast a glance over at Warren Lane's attentive face.
"We cannot live in isolation, and despite all fears, we must reach out to form new alliances, and make new friends, or we stand the risk of being truly alone," His gaze fell on Belle and Brady Bedford, who were seated with 5th year Hufflepuff Tabitha Williams, and her Slytherin cousin Lotte Dupree at the far end of the Ravenclaw table.
"For no gifts that we possess can truly be considered gifts, it they are not shared, for how else can we improve and grow?" Lucy felt a bit uncomfortable, for now the headmaster was staring directly at her; her, and Rasheph, and Bet, and Lynx. But he couldn't possibly know about the BA, could he?
"And so it is, that out of this time of great turmoil, and fear, and doubt, that we must acknowledge those who managed to throw aside prejudice and difference, to join in their common humanity. Would the students who were occupying the Quidditch pitch last Saturday evening please stand up?"
Lucy hesitated, but Katya grabbed her by her robes and pulled her up. She felt rather exposed, they did look a rather small number in a vast space of the Great Hall.
"For giving all of us a greater appreciation of our own freedoms, for having the courage to speak out when those far senior to you were in grave error, and for uncomprimising courage against a power far greater than yourselves, 40 points, a piece."
All gazes swiveled towards the tally glasses, three of which were now full to almost bursting, the fourth was not, for the Slytherin Quidditch team had been severely penalized for their late night flight.
"I have one more announcement, if you please. Several of our number would be incapable of returning to us next year if it were not for the incredible generosity and ingeniouty of the members of one house. Through their hard work and selfless actions, they have sought to single handedly overcome the shortsightedness and bigotry of certain officials who have neglected their own responsibilities. Certainly this was never a task intended to be the burden of the students, but they have shown themselves to be of the highest character, especially as many of the beneficiaries of their actions are strangers. For this, 15 points a piece shall be awarded to the deserving members of Slytherin House."
The Great Hall was nearly silent. The very idea that the Slytherins were recieving poits for, well, being nice, was something that it took a moment for most of the other houses to wraps their heads around.
Not so for the international students. Lucy was already standing on her bench, adding to the applause of Warren and his brothers, and indeed every other international in the room. The Slytherins, for the most part, were smiling, never before that they recieved the hearty congratulations of anyone but their own housemates.
Lucy looked to the glasses; they were all overflowing at this point.
"It appears," Professor Dumbledore seemed to make himself heard above the din without raising his voice at all, "That we have a tie."
With a clap of his hands, the banners and colors of every house were flying from the ceilling. Lucy caught Misha's eye over the table, he nodded, and as one the internationals pointed their wands towards the ceiling.
The banners of Slythering, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw were still flying, but they were interspersed among the Australian, Russian, Italian, Croatian, Japanese, South Korean, South African, Kenyan, Swedish, Chinese, French, and American flags that now hung from the rafters.
Dumbledore smiled and took his seat. The meal resumed, but Lucy couldn't help sneaking a glance upwards every now and again, to watch the stars and stripes waving at her from between the Russian and French flags.
Lucy wasn't certain of what time the Aurors actually arrived to clean up, but dawn was rising as she and the rest of the international students were crowded into the hospital wing, occupying all the beds and taking up pallets on the floor as they were drowned in hot chocolate and super-dark chocolate bars were forced down their throats.
She was dimly aware of a great deal of activity coming from the far room, formerly for burn victims, which she thought had been storage, but she couldn't focus on much of anything at the moment. She was tired from staying up all night, from being beaten over the head with a bludger, from the prolonged presence of the Dementors, and she had the grandmother of all reaction headaches from stretching herself so far. But it was with a profound sense of pride and admiration for Rasheph, Bet, and Lynx that she drifted in unconsciousness at last.
She woke up late Sunday afternoon as the lowering sun hit her through the window. She turned to her right and looked up at Marguerite, who was sitting up in bed chatting with Audrey on her pallet on the floor to her right. Lucy grinned at Audrey under the bed, and sat up herself. She then lay back down and tried to sit up a little more slowly. Much better.
Saori was softly snoring on her left, across from her she saw that Warren was awake, but Wesley and William were not. It appeared Madam Pomfrey had attempted to segregate the sleeping arrangements in the hospital wing, as all the boys were lined up on one wall, and all the girls on the other. It was just as well, she could hear Dimitri snoring from where she was.
The door to the small room opened, and Lucy's brow knitted as she saw Ginny Weasly emerged. Ginny started to tiptoe towards the door, until she saw that the internationals were finally waking up. Lucy waved, thought about standing up, and thought the better of it.
Ginny trotted over. "How are you feeling Lucy?"
"Fine really, a bit tired, a bit cold, but that's probably from sleeping on the floor. What's going on in there?"
Ginny's face clouded, "That's where they put Harry, Ron and Hermione."
"What-"
"NO, no no no, they're fine, they just didn't want them disturbed, and when they finally found you lot, they thought it best to put them somewhere quiet."
"What happened?"
Ginny shrugged, obviously frustrated. "I wish I knew. But those three, well, its always something. I thought maybe now- but anyway, no one really knows what happened. They ran out in the middle of the night, and were brought in early this morning. Bumps and bruises really, they should be out soon, I don't think there are even any broken bones, but they don't tell me anything. They were sleeping when I went in just now, so I couldn't even ask them. Not that they'll tell. I swear the closer they get the more secretive they are."
"So everything's back to normal, Dumbledore's back?"
Ginny nodded. "He came back sometime in the night, Merlin only knows how he knew. Rumor is there were intruders in the school itself, but, like I said, no one will say anything. I wish I could ask Ron, he has a terrible poker face, can read him like a book. But listen to me ratteling away. You look tired, what WERE you all doing?"
At that moment Madam Pomfrey came bustling in.
"Ginny Weasly! I sent you away ages ago! Come, come with me and let those students have a rest. Not one more word or I will bar you from the hospital wing for a week. I don't want to see you back in here for the next 24 hours without a broken bone or major blood loss. Out you go."
Madam Pomfrey was a remarkably strong woman, and Ginny was out the door before she could really comprehend what was going on.
"Have some more chocolate Miss Montero."
But the school nurse knew Lucy's disposition to candy remedies, and she waitied until she had seen Lucy consume the entire bar before moving on to fuss somewhere else.
It was days later that they realized the chocolate was laced with sedatives, and all the internationals had fallen back to sleep before dinner.
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"Psst! Lucy! Wake up!"
She struggled out of a dream to find Warren's face inches from her own.
"Gah! What are you doing?"
Warren Lane, in blue stripey pajamas, was squatting down next to Lucy's pallet, a newspaper in his hand and a smile on his face.
"It worked, it passed, Fudge signed it."
"You mean the Inquisition is over?"
"They're dismantling the bonfires as we speak."
"Does everyone else know?"
"We're going to wake them all up in a minute, but I wanted to ask you something."
"I'm not going to help Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup Warren, I have had quite enough near death experiences as it is."
Warren grinned. "Well I'm sorry to hear it. But Dumbledore was here, and he met with the seventh years, and he has decided that for the purposes of better communication and organization, he is establishing an International Society at Hogwarts. And we want you to head the Gryffindors next year."
"Really?"
"We decided to have someone from each house, you'll be the oldest next year anyway. It shouldn't be too much work, I mean barring a reversal of the dicision there's not very much for us to do next year. You could invent a logo if you wanted."
"Would I get a nifty title?"
"We're working on that. Something modest and dignified. William suggested Supreme Wafflemeister, but we'll see what the others say. So you'll do it?"
Lucy's smile faded, "Give me the paper."
Warren looked puzzled, but handed her the somewhat rumpled Early Edition of the Daily Prophet. In true Ministry style, their story was buried on the sixth page. Lucy read and then re-read the article.
"I can't."
"What do you mean?"
"The money, Warren, Fudge didn't give back any of the money. That's my scholarship, mine, and Alessandra's, and Merlin knows how many others who are too proud to say it. Without that money we can't afford to come back."
Warren's smile returned. "Oh, don't worry about that, it's being taken care of."
"Taken care of! By who?"
Warren rocked back on his heels, "Actually, by the oddest source- I don't know a lot of the details, but I've been assured that the matter is being solved as we speak."
Lucy gave Warren the strongest hug she could manage. "In that case, we'll miss you like hell, but I'd be honored."
By that time Audrey, Misha, and Maeve were already standing in the center of the room, waiting impatiently for Warren, who got to his feet and trotted over.
"Oy!" Misha boomed, and seconds later everyone who wasn't already awake was sitting up whether they liked it or not.
Madam Pomfrey had heard Misha's "Oy" from her preperation room, and shaking her head at the widespread disrespect for a relaxing recovery ward, she removed her gloves and went to tell the young man to settle down.
The cheer that erupted just as she was opening the door stopped her dead in her tracks.
She closed the door on the pandemonium and went to tend to her pile of patient records. It was entirely clear from the scene in the hospital wing that the international students were quite completely recovered.
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Recovered as they were, they were not released. After lunch had come and gone on Monday there were still some 60 odd very antsy students holed up in the hospital wing, pajamas gone, shoes laced and ready to leave.
"The Aurors are still sweeping the school Miss Kuzmin, you will be let back to your common rooms as soon as they have cleared the halls from there to the hospital wing."
They had dinner in the hospital wing.
A rap on the door at half past seven had every ear straining to hear the conversation in the hall.
Madam Pomfrey, who was as eager for her charges departure as any of them, entered the room, left the door open, and nodded.
She also stepped back as the stampede nearly knocked her over. Although, to their credit, each student had already given her their thanks. And she was sound in her medical mind that each student also departed with three days dosage of chocolate in their pockets.
For her part, Lucy dropped that out the first window she passed without another thought.
The halls of Hogwarts were still crawling with Aurors. Their silent, stoic forms were around every corner they passed on the approved route to the common room. It still wasn't known what or who had actually been inside the school, or what had happened to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but it was clear that the Ministry didn't intend to be caught unawares again.
Lucy longed to take a quick trip to the BA room, but they weren't allowed to deviate from their approved course, and it was unlikely that Bet, Rasheph, or Lynx would have been able to escape anyway.
So it was they came to the Fat Lady at last, and stopped.
Lucy looked around, and began to feel a bit foolish, for they certainly did look silly, all of them standing around in the hall.
"What ARE you doing?" The Fat Lady drolled down at them.
They merely looked at each other, they were stalling; that's what they were doing. They had no idea what the rest of their house was planning on doing to them once they walked through that door.
"Oh for pity's sake, after a pack of Dementors how bad can it be?" Warren pushed his way to the frunt, snapped "fewmets" at the raised eyebrow of the Fat Lady, and charged ahead into the common room. William and Wesley followed behind, although Luch got the sense that it was more out of a sense of fraternal obligation than any real desire to face the firing squad.
William grabbed Nichloas by the arm as he went through, Nicholas in turn pulled his sister Svetlana, who grabbed Chandrika, who pulled Alessandra, who snagged Karen, who snatched Shawanda's hand, who tagged Lucy, who pulled a rather pale Maria Moray through the portrait hole by the neck of her sweater.
As a result they were all more or less holding hands when they entered the buzz of the common room, a buzz which withered and died at the sight of them.
Lucy tried to still her heart and reminded herself she could be out the door and safely in the BA room in a matter of minutes.
They stood there, hand in hand, waiting for the storm to break.
But it didn't, instead most of the students broke out in smiles, a few of them even began to applaud.
Lucy saw copies of the Daily Prophet strewn everywhere, apparantly news of the victory had already preceeded them.
Dean led the Quidditch team in shaking Warren's hand- it was mentioned in the paper that he was the principle author of the bill- Warren himself was blushing, something Lucy had never seen before.
She was patted on the back by numerous people she didn't know, and while most of the group was ushered over to the fire to partake in what was certainly a batch of illegally distilled Gryffindor Brew, Lucy was slowly edging her way towards the dormitories and her bed.
She bumped into someone, turned about, and was nearly suffocated.
"It's OK Seamus, I'm alive."
Seamus released her from the hug and set her back on her feet.
"Um, listen-"
"I'm sorry."
"No, I'm sorry I should have-"
"No, I was an idiot, and then you'd be in trouble and-"
"I'm fine, we're fine. Part of it was actually kind of fun."
"Fun?"
Lucy shrugged, "How often do you get to dunk Draco Malfoy in the lake?"
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"I can't believe it, but I'm actually going to miss the little guy."
"Well I'm NOT going to miss her, do you have any idea how much that thing eats?"
"Mine feeds himself, almost entirely self sufficient."
"None of YOU had to put up with that god awful smell, or the oozing."
Exams were officially over, but their Care of Magical Creatures final merely consisted of a small oral report to the class on their "projects."
Most of the beasties were not "castle friendly" once they were more than a few days old, so Hagrid had set up a pen for them behind the hut. Sparks was, however, an exeption, along with a few of the small lizard type creatures, and Lucy had kept him near her bed for the past few days; he had a habit of humming that put her right to sleep.
As she carried Sparks over toward the pen, she almost felt it was worth the pain of looking after him in his eggfancy, given what everyone else had to put up with in the post-hatching stage. Draco Malfoy, for example, ears still smoking from his required dose of pepper-up potion following the late night dunking in the lake, was struggling with what appeared to be a large, muddly, scaly ant eater. He had fallen twice, to the delight of the Gryffindors, who were also a bit muddy themselves, but having a fine time of it. Lucy merely waited for Hagrid on the fence next to Bet, who's miniature buggaboo sat next to her eating a strawberry and spitting the seeds out at Gryffindors with remarkable accuracy.
"So no reaction headache?"
"We weren't working as long as you, and no, I think we're all getting a little stronger. The boys wanted to go get something to eat afterwards, of course, but by then they had us all locked in our dormitories and common rooms, wouldn't let us out into the castle at all. They even had most of the secret exits blocked."
"Still no idea why?"
Bet shook her head. "They never tell us, just assure us that everything is going to be fine and not to worry. It's really ridiculous, someday something is going to happen when the adults aren't around and then what will we do? All we've ever been trained for is to hide in the dungeons like scared little rabbits."
Lucy nodded. Hagrid had arrived and she and Bet hopped down to get in line to give their little talk. Of course, no one was really interested in Neville's pet, essentially a larger version of a flobberworm, but they tried to look interested.
**Still, it must have been a sight, everyone going after those Dementors like that.**
**Indeed, it was almost like a ballet. The sight of that sheep bearing down on one I'll never forget.**
**A sheep? Whose patronus was a sheep?**
Lucy shrugged. **Unsolved mystery, no one will own up to it. I suspect Misha, it was a damn accurate and effective sheep.**
Bet covered her giggle with a cough, stepped forward, and began her short talk on the proper rearing of the miniature bugaboo. Not much was heard, of course, because the Gryffindors were all trying to dodge the strawberry seeds and the Slytherins were all trying not to lose points by laughing at them.
When the "exam" was ended and everyone bid a fond goodbye to their charges, Lucy carried Sparks over to Hagrid herself.
"What's going to happen to him Hagrid?" She had read several nasty things about the black market uses for pheonix blood and various organs.
"Never fear there Lucy, he'll be all right."
"You'll find him a good home then?"
"Er, actually its already been found."
"Where?"
"Well, here. I was thinkin' about jest keepin him 'ere. Fawkes would like to have somebody else to talk to, an he could show 'im the ropes a bit, theres a lot to learn about being a pheonix your first time out."
Lucy impulsively flung her arms as far around Hagrid's middle as she could reach.
"Thank you Hagrid! That would be perfect! And I could come see him?"
"Come see him! You're his mother Lucy, at least that's what he thinks. The other reason to keep him about is that he'd probably pine away for you, they get uncommon attatched when they're only a few burnings old."
Lucy was oblivious, cooing and petting Sparks on the head before Seamus's call of "Come on already Lucy, do you want to miss the Feast?" pulled her back to reality.
"See you at dinner Hagrid!"
Hagrid watched the two trot off, chuckled to himself and picked up a somewhat droopy looking Sparks. "Oh don't you sulk, she'll be back."
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"I've said it before and I will say it again, these hats make us all look perfectly ridiculous."
"Aww, come on Montero, they're fun."
"They are not fun, they are stupid, and they itch."
"That's just cause you aren't wearing it right, here let me-"
"Touch it and die, Nicholas."
Nicholas Kornakovitch had been enchanting hats all evening to flash insulting comments about their bearers, and Lucy was feeling foolish enough with a large black cone on her head.
She was halfway through a drumstick when she noticed Rasheph trying to get her attention. Deciding that this seperate tables business was terribly impractical, she stood up and walked over, taking a seat at the Ravenclaw table. Marguerite, several meters away, leaned over and waved.
"Yes?"
"Um, I don't know how to say this Luce,"
"Try just saying it then."
"I think we have a new member."
Lucy paused, "Excuse me?"
Rasheph leaned back a bit, and spoke with the boy on his right.
"Go ahead Magnus, discretely, under the table."
Lucy looked under the table, to see several drumsticks and bread rolls circling about. She turned to look at Magnus, who smiled slightly and held up his palms.
"See, no hands."
Lucy was flabbergasted, but nodded. "Nice to meet you Magnus. Do you have any control over it?"
"It sort of comes and goes, like right now I can start it, but I may not be able to stop it, and later if I wanted to try it, it may not work."
It sounded like a half open channel to her. She explained what that was to Rasheph and Magnus.
"Do you want it to go away?"
Magnus thought about this for a moment, before shaking his head. "Nope, seems like it would be damn useful."
Lucy nodded, "All right, I am going to put a temporary seal of sorts inside your head, to keep this from happening over the summer, you're in what year?"
Magnus was chewing on a piece of steak at the moment, and merely held up 4 fingers.
"Right, well, I'm out of the country for the summer, god willing, but I think we ought to introduce you to Mr. Brimstead, he can help you out if the seal pops, which it may or may not do, depending on how that channel is developing and how well I sealed it in the first place."
Lucy gave Lynx's mind a rude mental shove, a rather hard mental shove as he wasn't particularly sensitive to mindspeach. The Hufflepuff looked about for a minute before finding her, and trotted over, drumsitck in hand.
"What's the hubub all about, not more Dem-"he saw Magnus and smiled, "Oh, hello!"
"Lynx Brimstead, meet Magnus...."
"Mercury."
"Right. Magnus Mercury, this is another member of our little association, Lynx Brimstead."
Magnus raised his eyebrows a bit, "You know, I never would have connected you lot."
"We try to fly under the radar. Sometimes people act stupidly around things they don't understand."
Magnus nodded.
"Lynx, Magnus has a newly cracked telekinesis channel, I'm going to seal it but I told him that if there were any problems over the summer that he could look to you for some advice and basic instruction?"
Lynx practically glowed, "Well, yeah, I mean, of course I could teach him."
**What's going on over there? I feel quite left out.**
Lucy looked over to where Bet was pouting at the Slytherin table.
**Rasheph has done some recruiting, so it seems.**
**What?**
**We have a new member in the BA.**
Bet grinned.
**Really? That's interesting. Well its nice to know we didn't keep those notebooks for nothing.**
Bet was referring to the detailed accounts she had made the other three keep of their experiences in handling their new gifts, so they would have a reference for any future trainees.
**Told you so.**
Bet stuck out her tongue.
**Well, if you're done with that, come on over here, I've got a surprise.**
Lucy raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me boys, Bet says she has a surprise for me."
Rasheph was not one to be left out, however, and he left Lynx and Magnus to exchange addresses and contact details while he followed Lucy to the Slytherin table, where she took a space across from Bet, between an agitated Pansy Parkinson and a grinning Katya Kuzmin. Rasheph sat on her left, sheilding her from Pansy.
"Well, what is it?"
"Go on," Rasheph prodded, "Tell her already."
Lucy spun around, "You know about this?"
"And not just him either," from behind her she heard Lynx's cheerful baritone. The Hufflepuff squashed himself down between her and Rasheph, forcing Pansy further down the bench.
Lucy shook her head. "Someone better spill."
Bet sighed, "You are no fun to surprise, you know that? Well, anyways, like I told you that day in the dungeons, I had already collected enough from the Slytherin Gaming Society to pay for my tuition and supplies for next year, the rest of it was strictly profit. And then Rasheph comes out and tells us that you and the other internationals have had your funding cut, and that you weren't giong to be able to come back next year."
"How did you know that?"
Rasheph shrugged, "I heard that little blond French girl whining about it, she was going to write to her parents immediately."
Marguerite, Lucy smiled, for such a tiny, refined girl, she could get awfully worked up.
"So we decided that the Slytherin Gaming Society needed to think bigger, much bigger. So we started contacting recent alumni, recent enough to have made a few galleons playing in it themselves. And they spoke with colleagues, and we got a sort of agreement going. That the final night of the year the pot would not be pocketed, or go to the winner, although a winner would be named and they would recieve certain other benefits, but that the entire pot would go towards the tuition and supplied of the international students that had been disenfranchised by the Ministry Witch Hunt."
"What!"
"I'm not done yet, AND that those alumni would match, sickle for sickle, galleon for galleon, a certain percentage of the pot if the students managed to raise enough. Apparantly word got round to embassies and such, because we had a huge number of pledges come in from ambassadors as well as folk inside the Ministry."
Lucy shook her head, "Bet, I don't know what to say."
Lynx tossed his head, "Well you know it isn't all for YOU don't you Lucy? There are other Gryffindors, Slytherins, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs who are going to benefit from the Fund. We have enough to cover what everyone needs for next year and a healthy head towards the tuitions for the year after that."
"Oh Merciful Merlin, she's going to cry. Quick, somebody give her some food or make a joke, or something, because she's going to cry."
She WAS going to cry, but at that moment Dumbledore stood up and began to speak.
"Welcome to the end of another year. A year that has not been without its own trials, and tribulations. We have been witness, within this very castle, to the particular eviils which fear and ignorance can incite in the human character."
Dumbledore smiled, "But as the phoenix, arises from its ashes, so do we also. We grow, and learn the true test of our courage, faith, and humanity only when confronted with that which we would avoid at all costs.
"We know now that we must constantly be vigilant, even within the walls of our own school, or within the workings of our own government," Dumbledore cast a glance over at Warren Lane's attentive face.
"We cannot live in isolation, and despite all fears, we must reach out to form new alliances, and make new friends, or we stand the risk of being truly alone," His gaze fell on Belle and Brady Bedford, who were seated with 5th year Hufflepuff Tabitha Williams, and her Slytherin cousin Lotte Dupree at the far end of the Ravenclaw table.
"For no gifts that we possess can truly be considered gifts, it they are not shared, for how else can we improve and grow?" Lucy felt a bit uncomfortable, for now the headmaster was staring directly at her; her, and Rasheph, and Bet, and Lynx. But he couldn't possibly know about the BA, could he?
"And so it is, that out of this time of great turmoil, and fear, and doubt, that we must acknowledge those who managed to throw aside prejudice and difference, to join in their common humanity. Would the students who were occupying the Quidditch pitch last Saturday evening please stand up?"
Lucy hesitated, but Katya grabbed her by her robes and pulled her up. She felt rather exposed, they did look a rather small number in a vast space of the Great Hall.
"For giving all of us a greater appreciation of our own freedoms, for having the courage to speak out when those far senior to you were in grave error, and for uncomprimising courage against a power far greater than yourselves, 40 points, a piece."
All gazes swiveled towards the tally glasses, three of which were now full to almost bursting, the fourth was not, for the Slytherin Quidditch team had been severely penalized for their late night flight.
"I have one more announcement, if you please. Several of our number would be incapable of returning to us next year if it were not for the incredible generosity and ingeniouty of the members of one house. Through their hard work and selfless actions, they have sought to single handedly overcome the shortsightedness and bigotry of certain officials who have neglected their own responsibilities. Certainly this was never a task intended to be the burden of the students, but they have shown themselves to be of the highest character, especially as many of the beneficiaries of their actions are strangers. For this, 15 points a piece shall be awarded to the deserving members of Slytherin House."
The Great Hall was nearly silent. The very idea that the Slytherins were recieving poits for, well, being nice, was something that it took a moment for most of the other houses to wraps their heads around.
Not so for the international students. Lucy was already standing on her bench, adding to the applause of Warren and his brothers, and indeed every other international in the room. The Slytherins, for the most part, were smiling, never before that they recieved the hearty congratulations of anyone but their own housemates.
Lucy looked to the glasses; they were all overflowing at this point.
"It appears," Professor Dumbledore seemed to make himself heard above the din without raising his voice at all, "That we have a tie."
With a clap of his hands, the banners and colors of every house were flying from the ceilling. Lucy caught Misha's eye over the table, he nodded, and as one the internationals pointed their wands towards the ceiling.
The banners of Slythering, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw were still flying, but they were interspersed among the Australian, Russian, Italian, Croatian, Japanese, South Korean, South African, Kenyan, Swedish, Chinese, French, and American flags that now hung from the rafters.
Dumbledore smiled and took his seat. The meal resumed, but Lucy couldn't help sneaking a glance upwards every now and again, to watch the stars and stripes waving at her from between the Russian and French flags.