Chapter 17: Happily Ever After
Harry hadn't been overjoyed to see Professor Snape emerge from the Weasley's fireplace, and the man's current demeanour was doing nothing to change that. Snape's dislike for Harry obviously hadn't appeased since his absence, as it was apparent that he saw his task of escorting the students back to school as nothing short of a babysitting job.
"Potter, do stop fidgeting in that tent you call a shirt," he said tartly over his shoulder as he walked ahead of them down a house-lined street. "It's irritating in the extreme."
Molly Weasley had lent some of Ron's clothes to Harry, as the clothes that he had been wearing since being in New Zealand (a status only several hours behind them, Harry realised with surprise) were well overdue for a wash, according to her. Ron's clothes weren't as uncomfortable as the clothes of his cousin Dudley, and they were certainly not as big, but the foreign feeling still caused him to uncomfortably finger the cuffs of the sleeves as they walked along. Ron's height meant that the ends of his shirtsleeves reached to Harry's knuckles. Hermione wouldn't have been the right size to borrow any of Ginny's clothes, Molly had realised, so had only been able to offer her another biscuit, in apology. Hermione had assured her that it was alright, and along with the four youngest Weasley children, Harry, and Draco, she was ushered out the door with Professor Snape.
Draco had been unusually silent during their walk with the Professor, Harry noted. He wished the boy would say something – ever since the event of having Harry's wand returned to him, there had been an urgent need in Harry's mind to correctly conclude the whereabouts of Draco's loyalties. Despite past nastiness, Harry didn't want to put him down as 'evil' if it was now no longer justified.
"We're not walking to Hogwarts, surely," Ron said. "I mean, even on the train it takes a while. And this isn't the way to the station anyway. So where are we going?"
"Such an astute deduction Weasley," started Snape, "hardly offers your intellect credit. As to where we are headed, it is merely a place where you may sort yourselves out before we enter the school."
Ron obviously didn't find this answer satisfactory, as his face furrowed in confusion, but he didn't think it was worth it to ask for clarification.
Harry's musings almost resulted in him walking straight into the Professor, who had stopped suddenly in front of a dull-green dusty door that had its paint flaking off at the edges. Snape rapped sharply on the door and waited in tight-lipped silence for a response.
Within a few seconds, Harry could hear footsteps approaching from inside, and the door quickly opened, following a disturbed-dust arc on the floor inside. Harry supposed that if Mrs Weasley saw it, she'd take only seconds to reach for a broom whilst commenting loudly on the lack of effort taken to keep the house at a respectable living standard.
The face of none other than Mr Weasley showed itself on the other side of the door, and he quickly stepped aside and motioned for Professor Snape to follow before retreating back from Harry's sight. Harry's mind spun with questions as he wordlessly followed Snape inside, the rest of the group coming in behind him.
Harry found he had walked into a fairly large room that had a long wooden unpolished table standing in the centre. Eight pale green wooden chairs squatted around it, each with a paint job similar to the door they'd just come through. It appeared to Harry that the room wasn't often used, as upkeep seemed mediocre at best. This idea was further prompted as he noted that there were no items in the cupboards – at least, not that he could see. Some of the cupboards – which lined the top of one wall near the ceiling – had their front hanging idly away from the latch, displaying their yawning emptiness. The bare counters along two walls joined in the deserted scene's silence.
"Sorry about the state of things here," Mr Weasley said as he came in from an adjoining room, holding a tall stool that he put at one corner of the table next to another chair, and sat on it in a silent invitation for the others to sit also. "It's a home that's been vacated a while now and won't sell – the Ministry have plans to make it into an off-site meeting place."
Harry took a seat between Hermione and one of the twins, and looked around expectantly for an explanation as to why they were here. His quizzical expression was mirrored in all faces around him but for Snape's and Mr Weasley's.
"Now, you three," Mr Weasley started, indicating Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Your clothes and belongings have been removed from Hogwarts and are in a room down the hall. I can take you there later."
Harry's eyebrows shot into his hairline as he speculated the implication of this. Was he no longer a student of Hogwarts?
"I would assume it was believed that you were unlikely to return," Mr Weasley said.
"What about Malfoy?" Ron piped up. "Why wasn't he assumed dead? He was taken too!"
"Yes, well, his safety was not so much in question. Now, as you'll remember-" Arthur Weasley cut off suddenly, and looked at Professor Snape. "If I may, Professor Snape…?"
The professor seemed to not mind Mr Weasley dominating the conversation at this point, and he said as much in a consenting nod, so Ron's father continued, "As you'll remember, Dumbledore has been removed from his post, the school is officially run by the Ministry of Magic, and someone had been posted in his stead, to represent the Ministry and its decisions. The representative is Lucius Malfoy."
Harry just about choked on his breath. Hogwarts, under Lucius Malfoy? Even if Draco wasn't an arch antagonist after all, his father certainly was. Draco didn't seemed to be too perturbed by the news – even though a light frown furrowed his brow – so Harry presumed he would have found this out while he was talking with Dumbledore back at The Burrow.
"What?!" Ron reacted disbelievingly. "Lucius Malfoy! How could the Ministry let him do it?"
"Of course, it was not a unanimous decision," Mr Weasley continued, addressing them all. "I, for one, was opposed. But it was the general consensus that Mr Malfoy possessed the qualities of a man meant for a high post, and that his connections with the Ministry were sufficient to allow him the position – he is one of the 12 governors, after all."
"Why did someone not protest it? What's happened to Hogwarts because of it?" Hermione asked, a note of panic in her voice.
"I haven't made a complaint again the decision," Mr Weasley said, "because it was apparent that it was a final call, and protest would be futile, and may have even resulted in my dismissal. I have remained on a relatively neutral ground for the purposes of receiving information about the school and its management, in order for me to report information to Dumbledore, as it seems necessary. Unfortunately of course, he is not in a position to do anything about what is done by Lucius, but some of us feel it is to our great advantage if he remains informed, since surely it is only a matter of time before he regains the post as headmaster. So we hope."
"Well, what's happened?" Harry pushed.
"Besides Slytherin winning every Quidditch game with a variety of cheats," Fred interjected.
"And getting loads of undeserved house points," added George, and Snape scowled at him but said nothing.
"Well, actually," Mr Weasley said, looking a little confused himself, "we haven't received complaints for anything."
"But…" Harry said. "Surely…"
"Regardless," Mr Weasley began again, "it has been decided amongst the minority at the Ministry – the ones that didn't vote for Lucius Malfoy to be representative Headmaster – that it wasn't Dumbledore's fault that you four were taken by You-Know-Who. Some of us are certain that Lucius even helped orchestrate it, although we have no proof to present to the Minister yet."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he did," Harry said, but he had the decency to look a little ashamed at his voicing the accusation so assuredly in front of Draco, considering recent developments.
Draco looked a little surprised to see this display of conscience for his benefit, but didn't voice a reaction. He still remained quiet, just listening to the conversation around him. Harry thought this was unusual for him – even if he had renounced his former loyalties. Surely he'd be putting in his opinion, especially as they were discussing his father. Unless this had all already been covered in his discussion with Dumbledore. Harry again wondered how that conversation had ended.
"So what were you talking about with Dumbledore before we came down into your dining room again?" Harry asked Mr Weasley. "Have you figured out what to do about it? Dumbledore said something like that, and that the plan will need our help."
"Ah, yes, well, about that…" Mr Weasley contemplated how to phrase his answer. "We did discuss that, and Snape here said he had already begun preparation to overthrow Lucius, and that he could aid an infiltration into Hogwarts, avoiding a trap of some sort Lucius may have utilised. Some of us though, doubt the subtlety of such a plan." Mr Weasley looked rather embarrassed as he said this, as he'd effectively implied that they would most likely draw unwanted attention to themselves and destroy hope of erecting the former state of things.
"Well, George!" Fred said indignantly to his brother. "What shall we make of that? Our own father, convinced we'll wreck everything!"
"Yes, well," Mr Weasley said quickly, in an effort to defend himself. "It was just a thought…"
"You two aren't known for being inconspicuous and discreet anyway," Hermione pointed out, with a patronising frown.
"That's only because we make a conscious point of being loud and disruptive!" George defended himself. "We're not rampaging hippogriffs!"
"Some people would beg to differ," Snape's ominous voice cut through the heated debate, and Draco smirked at the comment. Harry probably would have seen this as a negative thing if he hadn't smiled at it too.
"Brian Zambini has been made the practising Potions Professor," Snape continued in his casual drone. "I have reason to believe he has used this as a factor in ensuring student cooperation within the school."
Puzzled looks met him.
"That said, I believe it will be foolish for all seven of you to accompany me into the school while Lucius Malfoy is in the position of Headmaster. I would sooner take in a Dementor."
"What?" Harry said. "Well, who then? Why did we all come here if we can't go into the school? Who's going to help get Lucius out?"
"If you would calm yourself for a moment, Potter," Snape replied, sneering, "you may see some progress." He surveyed the rest of them before continuing. "The ones that don't come with me initially will remain here with Arthur Weasley to aid him, before joining us at the school."
"So we're all going in eventually, then," Ginny surmised.
"As such," the professor continued as if she hadn't spoken, "you will all need to take these." He reaching into an inside pocket of his outer robe and withdrew a small black cloth bundle that had been rolled up. Placing it on the table, he slowly began to unroll it, and at each turn a small vial of light-blue liquid was shown. He soon had a number of the vials standing before him on the table.
"One each will be sufficient to last," he said. "The remaining vials are not intended for you."
"What is it?" Ron said, looking at it uncertainly.
"What it is, is by no means as important as what it will do, Weasley," Snape responded impatiently. "I will require you to all take a vial now so as to give it time to come to effect thoroughly, before entering Hogwarts."
Like those around him, Harry reached forward to grasp one of the tiny vials in his hand and pull it to him. The glass was cool against his palm, and the blue potion inside had faint white cloud tendrils drifting within it. The prospect of having an unidentified potion 'come to effect thoroughly' inside him wasn't very reassuring.
He popped the stopper from the neck of the vial and hesitantly let the first drops of the potion fall onto his tongue. It didn't have any particular taste that Harry could identify to anything; only an initial heat that cooled quickly. Harry swallowed the rest of it, and laid his empty vial in front of him, hoping that the professor hadn't poisoned him out of pure spite and dislike.
Seeing Harry take the potion, the students surrounding him followed suit, and soon Snape was collecting the empty vials from around the table.
"What exactly are we going to be doing?" Harry asked. "You can't keep that information from us – we'll have to know that."
Snape smiled derisively. "In this instance, you, Potter, will have a relatively small role. It is a relief that the hero of a crisis around here isn't you, for a change."
To Harry's relief, Snape made no mention of Cedric Diggory. Harry couldn't have been held responsible for his actions, had that card been played. It was rather a sore point with him, as he still received accusations of trying to steal glory from the Hufflepuff, even after Cedric was killed at Voldemort's hand, which Harry masochistically saw as his own fault.
"So who's saving the world, then?" Harry said, bitterly.
"You'll forgive me when I say I find ample satisfaction in announcing that not only will you stand down as hero in this instance, but that it will be taken up by a Slytherin." Snape smirked snidely at him.
His opening words made Harry bristle more than the ending. Harry could give the man credit for wishful thinking, if anything.
"Now, uh, Professor Snape," Mr Weasley finally brought himself to bring a stop to the dialogue, "surely that is over what is necessary."
The professor obviously was not partial to being censured. "That would depend on perspective, now, wouldn't it, Mr Weasley?"
So Draco Malfoy was going to do something big? Harry mused. That would account for his uncharacteristic silence. They must have discussed the plan thoroughly with Dumbledore for Draco to be this anxiously preoccupied. It still frustrated him that he didn't know what it was. He was sure Snape was thoroughly enjoying being able to lord this impending victory over Harry's head as a Slytherin-win. Rather childish, really. Especially for a professor.
"I see no reason for further delay," Snape said, as if it was the students' fault that things had taken as long as they had. "Go to your things – change out of those ridiculous clothes that obviously don't fit you, Potter – and be ready to come with me. Draco, we leave now."
Neville Longbottom took a seat in that morning's Potions Class, with the same contented apathy that they all did, now. If he had much inclination to reflect on recent happenings, he would have noticed that conflicts within the student body had drastically decreased since the new management, and that despite Slytherin's coincidental recent spiel of victories, inter-house relations had reached a relatively peaceful level of cooperation.
But as things were, the only thing he noticed was that Brian Zambini was late today.
Even as this thought passed through his mind, Brian Zambini strode into the dungeon, his elegant dark attire of his first day still making the girls look at him in appreciation.
"Good morning, class," Zambini said. "I have decided to have us make a potion different from what I told you yesterday. So for those that looked up the properties of the potion I had mentioned, to put themselves at a prudent advantage, I will now see how your skills display themselves when they are not given the benefit of foreknowledge. Despite having lunchtime fast approaching, I expect you to give me your full attention."
It had not occurred to Neville to give anything less, as he and all the students around him were obediently picking up their quills to write down the instructions that Zambini put on the board.
Lucius Malfoy was quite content, truth be told. His responsibilities had been considerably lighter than he had anticipated, so after a fulfilling lunch in the Great Hall, he had been in relatively good spirits when he agreed to meet Brian Zambini.
As he waited, he sat back in what had been Dumbledore's chair, as he surveyed the office yet again, still priding himself on his new position. Three years ago he had been sufficiently pleased when he had had Dumbledore renounced – albeit for a short time – but to be given the position in his stead gave Lucius a sadistic pleasure second only to that indulged in by the Dark Lord whom he served.
As a self-satisfied smile pulled at the corner of his lips, a knock was heard at the door, and Brian Zambini ventured inside at Lucius' invitation.
"Good afternoon, Professor Zambini," he started. "Settled in your new position? I trust the students are cooperative."
"Oh, certainly," Brian Zambini replied, as he stood in front of Lucius' desk. "But of course…we both knew that could be relied upon."
"Well, sit down," Lucius said, "there's no reason for you to stand."
Zambini took a seat, glancing back at the door that was left slightly ajar.
"Yes, I'm very pleased with the student co-operation," Lucius continued. "If that old fool Dumbledore and the bumbling Ministry weren't so puffed up on legalities, they could have utilised the means long ago. That certainly would have eliminated a lot of complications."
"I marvel, though, at your confidence that your…means, won't eventually be discovered and penalised."
Lucius gave a short indignant laugh. "There is no cause for that – who would report it? The regularly dispensed Modica Sedo Potion, naturally, is an Imperius of such a mild form that it is not witnessed by outsiders as a breach of regular etiquette, but effective enough to sedate the students into a state of acceptance of our terms."
Zambini shifted in his chair. "You see this as an indefinite practice then?"
"Well, as long as it works…" Lucius let his reply trail off through a smirk, in answer to what he obviously saw as a rhetorical question. "The students certainly have no aversion to having it served as a beverage each dinnertime, instead of pumpkin juice. I always did think that was rather nasty, myself."
"It does provide a variety," Zambini agreed.
"And your role in creating it is of great service to the school," Lucius said, still leading the conversation. "The Dark Lord will no doubt see you are given a justified reward."
Zambini seemed to fidget at this thought, and he took a step into directing the conversation elsewhere. "You do not anticipate Dumbledore finding a way to return?"
"There is no way he would be accepted here as headmaster anymore," Lucius said, pleased. "As far as the Ministry and the general public is concerned, his defences are slack, and leave all the students open to be the Dark Lord's pickings. It is only our Lord's inner circle that know of our influence in bringing about the rather artistic capture."
"And what of the Potter boy, and the others taken? Do you see their return interfering with your plan?"
"I would be very surprised if they return at all," Lucius admitted with a smile. "Naturally, I would expect the arrival of my son, once he has aided the Dark Lord as he can, but the Gryffindors would not stand long under the Dark Lord's eye."
Zambini looked pensive. "You are certain your son will live up to this?"
For the first time that day, Lucius mood darkened and he ominously leaned forward. "Are you suggesting he would fall short of what is obviously his path? Of course he will work for our Lord! I have brought him up with the priorities of one of us, and I'm proud of how it has worked."
"I'm sorry, Headmaster," Zambini said, guiltily dipping his eyes to the floor. "I didn't mean to imply…that he wasn't." He nervously started picking at the end of his sleeve.
"Hmm," Lucius grunted, semi-satisfied with the response, though still incredulous at the suggestion. He leaned back against his chair, and the room was settled in silence following the exchange.
Sound of student activity in the lunch hour filtered quietly from the grounds through the chink in the door, and the two men listened involuntarily to the sounds wafting up to them. The quiet buzz of chatter and occasional bout of casual laughter permeated the air, before they were overridden with the unusual sound of argument. As moments passed, more voices joined in the student sparring, until the definite sounds of fierce and independent rebuttal were heard.
Lucius' brow furrowed as he contemplated what this meant. "What-?" He stood.
"That brings me to my purpose in coming to see you," Brian Zambini quickly said, also standing, still nervously picking at the end of his sleeve.
"What's going on?" Lucius demanded. "They're supposed to be docile! Did you not make the potion strong enough last time? That could be disastrous!"
"You have remade the curriculum-"
"We, Zambini," Lucius corrected.
"Yes, certainly, we re-made the curriculum to ensure the students receive minimal arms with which they can use against us – hence the decision to use the Modica Sedo Potion."
"What of it?"
"Today I deterred."
"What!" Lucius' voice darkened again, and Zambini's hands started to shake with nervousness.
"I abandoned the curriculum in favour of teaching and administering th-…the Contego Potion…"
Lucius was momentarily speechless. "How dare…why you would do…!" Speechless anger prevented him from being able to move or even articulate a sentence.
Zambini glanced desperately at the door. "I saw to it that it was also distributed with the students' lunch just recently – although those not in my class may not yet be displaying its effects."
"…deliberately undo the effects put in place…" Lucius was still spitting his rage. As if finally realising he would be unable to sufficiently put together a sentence, he resorted to fitfully pulling his wand from it's sheath in his serpent-headed cane, and pointing it at Zambini's chest.
Brian Zambini looked desperate now, gripped with panicked fear, but although he stood his ground he turned his face away to the floor and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the punishing strike. Where were they?
Suddenly he heard a shuffling, and he opened his eyes to see a number of finely-clad feet rush past him to apprehend Lucius. He looked up to see members of the Ministry surrounding them, one having called a charm to disarm the new headmaster of his wand. There they are, and almost too late.
Lucius recognised his captors followed by Hermione and a small gathering of Weasleys, and looked incredulously at the new Potions master as Ministry members fired routine comments toward him. "I never would have thought that you, Brian Zambini, didn't have the heart that has been noble in your family for generations!"
"He does," Zambini replied, still fearful, but a little less shaky since the arrival of the Ministry. "He performed your evil services, after all."
Lucius narrowed his eyes at Zambini quizzically, in an effort to understand.
As he watched, the traitorous professor began to shrink, as if melting into the floor, and the sharp contours of his face smoothed out. The robes were now hanging off him rather hugely, and Lucius continued to see the final transformations of someone leaving the effects of the Polyjuice Potion – 'Zambini' stood mute as his dark hair settled limply around his face and paled, his eyes lightened a little, and his skin grew fairer, before finally Draco Malfoy was standing in front of the convicted headmaster, and Lucius realised he had been betrayed by his son.
"They have Zambini already," Draco said, inclining his head toward the Ministry members, and his voice was back to his own now that he'd resigned Zambini's face. "Minus a bit of hair. I borrowed that, of course."
If Lucius had been speechless before, it was nothing to what he was now. Somehow, beyond his confusion, he managed to utter, "Draco…?" before he was roughly herded out the door by his captors.
Even after Lucius had left, Draco remained standing in front of the large desk, looking rather pitiful in Zambini's oversized robes that puddled around his feet.
"Mr Draco Malfoy?" a voice came from the door as a Ministry member addressed him. Draco did not turn around, but just slowly sat back down in a disbelieving shock, still blindly staring at the vacated desk. "You'll not be charged, you know. We now have witnesses who can affirm you are not working in association with Lucius."
Upon seeing he wasn't going to receive a response, the Ministry worker left, leaving Draco alone in his silence.
Even when a shimmering in the corner revealed a dumbfounded Harry Potter from under his Invisibility Cloak, Draco did not say a word.
He just wept.
"What happened after we left, Harry?" Ron asked his friend when they were sitting at a sunny outdoor table of an outer-London café. "Hermione and I had to go with the Ministry after they got Lucius. We had to give an official statement, or something."
"Nothing really happened," Harry said, stirring his chocolate shake idly with a straw. "It was quiet for a long time afterward, before Dumbledore came back."
The four youngest Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione, had decided to meet at this café to talk about the recent conclusion of matters, and hopefully to meet Trina and Tony. Although Dumbledore hadn't given them an address of where the girls were staying, Harry was hoping to see them before they departed to enjoy the rest of their Overseas Experience. He was sure they would find him – he didn't think they would be very impressed at leaving without knowing how everything turned out.
"Do the muggles even know that we're here?" Fred asked. "There's not much point waiting for them otherwise."
"Well, I don't know," Harry admitted. "I mean, I told Dumbledore we were coming, back at Hogwarts, and I presume he told them. He wouldn't leave us hanging."
George looked doubtful. "He'd do anything if he was convinced he had a deep insightful reason to."
"Well do you see any strange blue-haired people about?" Fred asked, rhetorically, as he looked around them at the people milling past – all without an unusually coloured hairstyle.
Ginny strained her eyes. "There's one."
They all followed her line of sight before she corrected herself, "Oh, it's not Tony – that hair is purple."
"And looking rather gross," Ron said.
"Well, I guess people will do anything," Hermione said, as she looked at a young man passing them whose many peircings made him faintly resemble a heavily ornamented Christmas tree.
"Look!" Ron said, pointing. "Over by the corner of that building."
Two new figures – one with intentionally unruly blue hair – could be seen making their way towards the seated Hogwarts students. Harry waited until they had approached the café before venturing to speak to them.
"So Dumbledore told you where we were, then?"
"Not very well, though!" Tony remarked, looking distinctly unimpressed. "As good as he may be at dispensing morals, he could benefit from a tangible map."
"How have you been?" Hermione asked the two.
"It must have driven you mad, not knowing what was happening!" Ron guessed.
"Like you wouldn't believe!" Trina answered. "Let's go inside, to those couches. There's not enough room for all of us out here."
She turned to enter the café interior, and the other seven people followed her. An older couple had just left one of the couches, leaving them both available, so the youths hurried to sit on them before the comfortable places were occupied again. A café worker ambled over to clear the dishes of the couple who had left, and Tony looked at the people sitting around her with interest.
"Well are you going to tell me what happened?" she asked. "Or are you waiting for me to squeeze it out of you?"
"When did Dumbledore take you away?" Harry asked.
"It was just after you went upstairs, at Ron's place," Trina replied. "And Mrs Weasley sent Fred, George and Ginny into the garden for a while, so she and Mr Weasley could talk to Dumbledore."
"I was interested to know what they would talk about," Tony said, "but in that irritating way that only Dumbledore knows how, he told us we didn't need to hear it, then took us to some place ages away from anything familiar."
"Apparently it has great cinnamon rolls," Trina added. "We haven't tried them, but he seemed to think it would be some consolation."
"Well, Malfoy must have arrived – by floo powder presumably – just afterward," Hermione said. "Because when we came back downstairs he had been there for a while, talking with Dumbledore and Ron's parents. Ron's Dad had left by the time we got down there, but he would have talked with them for a while."
"Draco came? Or Lucius?"
"Oh, Draco. Lucius was headmaster at the school."
"Lucius was headmaster?!" Tony screeched. "Wow, it seems like Trina and I have been away for ages – so much to catch up on! You must have been really confused when Draco turned up! How is he? I mean, is he on any particular side, for sure, or is he still his sarcastic neutrally-placed self?"
"Oh, I think it's safe to say he's on a particular side," Harry said assuredly. "Even Ron would have to say so."
Ron nodded in confession, although he obviously still found the idea unusual.
"Well?" Trina said, her eyes almost bugging out. "You're drawing this out on purpose! Tell us already!"
Harry laughed a little, before continuing, "Draco went straight to Hogwarts with Snape, and I followed in my dad's Invisibility Cloak."
"He still refuses to lend us that," Fred said a little bitterly.
"What about the rest of you?" Trina asked.
"Well, obviously the Ministry wasn't prepared to believe that the man they'd placed as Headmaster was bad for the school," Hermione said. "Mr Weasley had already tried to convince them to perform a random check on proceedings – hoping they would discover malevolence when they did that – but the Minister told him there was nothing to worry about."
"For a while it looked like they were going to be hugely uncooperative," George said. "Dad needed as many of us as he could get to testify to them that something strange was happening – that's why only Draco and Harry went to Hogwarts. The rest of us needed to go with Dad to the Ministry to tell them."
"And they listened?"
"Not at first," Fred said. "Even with Dad's insistence, backed by five testimonies. In the end, Dad had to gamble his job to get them to come."
"He told them that if he was wrong," Ginny said, "they could fire him on the spot and he would leave quietly without making a fuss."
"Wow," Tony said. "He must have been sure they would find something, then."
"Well we knew something weird was happening," Ron said, "we just didn't know what. But Dad thought it was worth the risk. It all turned out alright anyway, and he's probably getting a raise!"
"So they came to talk to Lucius?" Trina asked.
"Oh, no," said Hermione. "Lucius is a very cunning man – he'd have said something to get himself off the hook and the Ministry off his trail, and Mr Weasley would lose his job."
"It was only when Dad volunteered to risk his job that they agreed to do it subtly," said Ginny. "We arranged for them to stand outside of the Headmaster's Office door, where they could hear everything."
Tony was on the edge of her seat, looking just about near throttling someone to get information. "What's 'everything'?"
"Well," Harry said, "that's where the stroke of sheer brilliance came in. Professor Snape had already begun preparing for Lucius' overthrow, we were told – I found out this was by his beginning to make Polyjuice Potion in time to be used yesterday."
"That's great stuff where it makes you-" Fred began.
"Yeah, yeah, we know what it does," Tony said. "We read about Harry using it in his second year. Go on, Harry."
The twins looked at Harry vaguely impressed with this new information, and the raven-haired boy continued, "Draco used it to impersonate Brian Zambini, who had been posted as the practising Potions Professor. Zambini, an ex-Slytherin and Blaise's older brother – had been making a potion regularly and giving it to the students, so they wouldn't complain about whatever Lucius did."
"The potion was a mild form of Imperius," Hermione enlightened them. "None of the students had freedom of thought to form their own opinions of Lucius' rules. They just were blinding accepting them."
"Whoa, that sounds really Disturbing Behaviour," Trina said, in reference to a muggle movie. "I guess that was keeping the parents happy, if Hogwarts wasn't invaded again and the kids weren't complaining."
"Right, that was the point," Harry said. "Anyway, Snape somehow kidnapped Zambini-"
"He won't tell us how, of course," Ron interjected.
"-and finished the Polyjuice Potion by adding some of his hairs to it. Draco took the potion, and now looking like Zambini, took his Potions class in his place."
"He could pull that off?" Trina said, in impressed wonder.
"Potion always was his strong point," Hermione said. "He was really good at it. Snape favouring him over everyone else wasn't just because he was in Slytherin – he was genuine good at the subject, and well ahead of his year."
"He probably looks into it outside of regular school hours," Harry added. "So he was the best person to take the class – especially considering what he had to do next."
"And that was?" Tony pushed.
"Well, hang on, before we get to that," Harry said, and Tony sat back, frustrated. "Draco – looking like Zambini – didn't follow the schedule and instead made the class make a different potion."
"It was the one Snape made me, Fred and George make in one of our lessons at home," Ginny said. "He thought we would need it. It's the 'Contego' potion – it's a protection against deceptive influence. We took it just in case we somehow ingested whatever it was Lucius was using to bend everyone else to his will. In case it wasn't just a potion."
"I see," Trina said. "So you all took some of this before you went in?"
"Yeah," Harry affirmed. "And Draco made his class drink it, undoing whatever effects the mild Imperius potion still had after their last dose."
"It takes a short while to actually work," Ron said, "but by the time he'd made sure it was served at lunch to the rest of the students, his class had already been immunised."
"Cool," Tony said. "So Draco was like an undercover infiltration to undo his father's work?"
"Pretty much that," George said.
"Whoa."
"That was his big mission?" Trina asked.
"That was actually only part of it," Fred said.
"After lunch – at some point Draco would have taken another dose of Polyjuice to keep up the façade – he went to see Lucius in his office, still under the pretence he was Zambini."
"Yikes," Tony said. "Where was the real Zambini?"
"Snape wouldn't tell us," George said. "He probably thinks it wouldn't sound very professional for him to say he clocked Zambini over the head with a heavy object and dragged him into a dungeon!"
"So, anyway, Draco as Zambini went in to see his father, and he knew Ministry members were outside the door to listen to conversation, so he made sure to leave it slightly ajar for them to hear."
"Me, Hermione, Dad, Ginny, Fred and George were with them too," Ron said.
"At that point I was in the office too, under my dad's cloak. I'd snuck in behind Draco. He didn't really volunteer much information," Harry continued. "He let Lucius lead the conversation as best as he could, trying to direct it so the Ministry could hear him confess as much as possible."
Trina and Tony continued to look riveted as they listened to the story.
"The students that were now free of the curse were starting to make an uproar down on the grounds," Hermione narrated. "Lucius heard it, and knowing it was unusual, began to question Zamb- well, Draco."
"Draco then told Lucius what he'd done, and I'm sure Lucius would have cursed him right there," Harry said. "It looked like he was about to, and I was half-inclined to do something, as the Ministry weren't coming. I had to force myself to stay under the cloak."
"Yeah, the bloody Ministry were taking their time," Ron said bitterly. "Even after hearing Lucius say all those things, they were still trying to convince themselves it wasn't true. They finally got in on time to arrest him."
"Did Lucius know who it was eventually?" Tony asked.
"Oh yeah, that was the really strange part," Harry said. "While the Ministry were surrounding him and taking his wand, the effect of the Polyjuice Potion wore off, and soon Draco was standing in front of his father in Professor Zambini's robes. I think Lucius was too shocked to put up much of a fight after that."
"Whoa," Tony said, awestruck. "That was a big mission…"
"We were just talking about it before you came," said Ron. "We all, except Harry at the time, had to go back with the Ministry to make official statements on record – just give our testimonies again now that they would take them seriously – so we didn't see what happened afterward. It was just Draco in there, and Harry under his cloak."
"Nothing really happened though," Harry informed them. "A Ministry worker came in to tell Draco he wouldn't be charged with working on Lucius' side – they'd be stupid to, really – then he left, and Draco still didn't do anything. I thought it wasn't fair of me to stay invisible now that I no longer really needed to, so I took off the cloak. Considering what he had just done, Draco was taking it really well."
"Even if his father is a gigantic git of evil," Ron said, "he was still his father. By now we've realised that Draco didn't genuinely want to be on his side, but it still would have taken a lot to dob his own father in. I know I couldn't have done it to Dad."
"Your father wouldn't have ever put you in that position, Ron," Hermione said.
"What's happened now?" Tony asked. "Is Dumbledore back? Where's Draco now?"
"Dumbledore's back as Headmaster of Hogwarts, thankfully," George said, "and we're students again. Mum had taken us out before, but after all was explained, we were re-enrolled and plan to kick some serious Slytherin Arse in Quidditch."
"Draco didn't want to come with us today," Harry said. "Although, I can't say I blame him, really. He has loads of stuff to talk with the Ministry about too, and I'd say this has all taken a far greater emotional toll on him than it has on any of us."
"Will he have to deal with a lot of Malfoy Manor stuff, now that his dad's gone?" Tony said.
"Well, he is still underage, just," Hermione said. "So he won't be given all responsibility. Now that Lucius will go to Azkaban, Narcissa Malfoy will probably have to do a lot more. Having said that, I'm sure things will change for Draco anyway."
"Not just in the legal sense, either," Fred said. "How do you think his house at school will take him now? Slytherin prides itself on being evil gits – even if not all of them are – and surely it will get out that Draco was the one to overthrow Lucius and thwart You-Know-Who's plans."
"I don't know what's going to happen there," Harry said, looking particularly sorry for the young Malfoy now.
"So…would you say he's your friend now?" Trina queried.
Harry mused on the question. "That's still a little weird, considering the Malfoy history. I know things are obviously different, but I still don't see friendship, chess and hot chocolate following. He did stand up with us against Voldemort, but that was as much for himself and his own morals as it was for us. I don't know how it's going to change, but I don't think it'll have a happily-ever-after ending like that."
"Life kinda bites," Tony said, looking rather disappointed that the story wasn't the heroic fairytale of childhood stories.
"When are you going?" Hermione said to the muggle girls. "Will we be likely to see you again before you leave on the rest of your…what was it…OE?"
"I hope so," Tony said. "Even though we've just heard the story, it would still feel unfinished if this was the last we saw of you. I'd be interested to see Draco again before we left, and Dumbledore – he always gives the moral at the end of the story."
"Will we be able to go inside Hogwarts?" Trina asked. "Can muggles get in?"
"Well," Hermione started intelligently, "in 'Hogwarts, A History', it tells about how Hogwarts is disguised to be hidden from muggle view, but doesn't mention about them coming in. I'm not sure, but perhaps you could if Dumbledore came with you. After all, he knows all sorts of magic that would probably help."
"Did you hear that, Tony?" Trina said excitedly, bouncing up and down. "We could go inside Hogwarts!"
Tony looked reserved. "That sounds cool…but wouldn't it be too odd, do you think? I mean, muggles don't usually just walk into that school. We'd be stared at like we're golden screwts with wings."
"But- but-" Trina couldn't believe Tony was being difficult about it. "It's Hogwarts! We have to go in!"
"Well anyway," Harry interrupted the debate, "we'll likely be seeing you in the next few days. Dumbledore said something about meeting us all in Diagon Alley this weekend. Muggles can go in there – after all, Hermione's parents have. I expect he'll contact you about it."
"Well, at least we'll visit someplace magical," Trina muttered sourly, loudly enough for Tony to hear, and she slumped further down in the sofa.
The warm friendly hubbub of Diagon Alley that Saturday morning was almost enough to convince Harry that the past few weeks had never happened. Witches and wizards scurried about their business, and the occasional senior student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry passing by chattered freely amongst themselves. Of course, when they spied Harry, they were engrossed in whispers and speculations, which brought Harry harshly back down the reality he now lived in. Not that he should have been surprised. After all, even he was losing count of how many times he had faced Voldemort and survived. Except now he was not the only one subjected to scrutiny – Ron and Hermione also received a share of wonder, much to Ron's delight. Being in the spotlight was a foreign feeling to him, and he milked it for all it was worth, enjoying the attention.
Harry was relieved to note that so far he had not heard speculation of Draco's involvement. He presumed this meant word hadn't got out at all, because surely if it had, the betrayal would have been front-page news. As it was, all the Daily Prophet was crying out was the norm of yet another victory for the seemingly invincible Harry Potter.
Harry had arranged to meet Ron and Hermione outside of small café at one end of Diagon Alley, so upon exiting Gringotts Wizard Bank and pocketing his withdrawal of galleons, he glanced upward and prepared to start heading to the appointed meeting place.
His plan of action was interrupted by someone walking into him from behind, followed by a loud, "oof".
Harry, surprised, turned around to see Draco Malfoy recovering himself from his near-sprawl, and rearranging his robes, having just left Gringotts himself. To Harry's surprise, Draco seemed to have opted for the gel-free-hair appearance long-term, as he was performing the now-familiar action of shaking it out of his eyes.
"Sorry," the Slytherin muttered. "Wasn't looking…"
"I see that," Harry replied with a smile. "How are you doing?"
Draco obviously still found it strange to be having such a casual conversation with Harry Potter, that could even be defined as friendly, as he floundered for a moment.
"Oh…fine," he said, even though they both must have known he wasn't.
There were a few moments of awkward fidgeting silence before Draco continued, "Father's going to Azkaban, as I'm sure you would have guessed."
"Yeah. Will you still be staying at Malfoy Manor?"
"Most likely, but I won't have to worry about that until the holidays. It's just coping with student life until then."
"Are you going to be okay in Slytherin? Now that, y'know…"
"I haven't heard anything to suggest they know what I did, as the Ministry have been tactfully silent, so I should be fine. So far they've mistaken my quiet sullen mood for anger that my father was discovered and put away."
Harry was silently relieved on Draco Malfoy's behalf. He fidgeted while thinking of how to phrase his next question. "Malfoy…will you… I mean…"
Draco arched one dusky blonde eyebrow.
"Do you think you'll be…re-sorted…or something? I mean," Harry quickly elaborated, "if you only went in Slytherin because Lucius wanted it…and you don't really fit there…well…"
Draco allowed a wry smile to spread across his face as he looked at Harry. "Don't fit there? As much as my placement would have appeased my father, I doubt I would have been put into a house opposing my own character."
"But-"
"Consider what the Sorting Hat sings about it, Potter. 'Cunning folk' – even you would have to admit a sizable element of cunning factored into the plan of taking back Hogwarts. 'Shrewd', 'ambitious'…surely only someone of great ambition and focus on themselves to achieve that ambition, could betray their own family.
"I'm where I belong, Potter," Draco Malfoy concluded. "Although perhaps I'm just in the minority that don't have ambition contrary to what the Gryffindors regard as permissible."
"Oh," Harry said quietly, for he could think of no other response. "Well, you could…come see us at school…I mean, me and Ron, and Hermione…if you wanted…"
Draco looked like he didn't know whether to be touched, or repulsed. "The gesture is noted, Potter, but I doubt the weasel desires my company."
"Oh, he won't mind," Harry said hurriedly. "He knows that-"
"We're not friends, Potter," Draco interrupted him. "We both know that – there's no use trying to deny the fact, merely for sake of sponsoring a Malfoy Charity at school."
Although Harry almost protested at Draco's implication that the offer was only given out of pity, he knew what the blonde meant – they had stood together, but remained apart. Friendship between such different people was unrealistic.
"We fought for the same purpose," Draco said, "but we are not on the same side. I do the things I do, for the pure reason that it is what I want. A Gryffindor heart is not so centred on self. It is possible that that in future we'll be in a conflict again – maybe side by side, maybe opposed. Whichever it will be has nothing to do with a loyalty to you, or Dumbledore."
In the back of his mind, Harry thought it ironic that although Draco was the one with the most troubles right now, and least support, that it was Harry being gently reminded of the facts like he was a flustered child.
Passing students who had seen Draco and Harry conversing in the street were stopping to witness the unusual sight, and what would become of it. Harry supposed they were expecting to see threats, which only weeks ago would have been the norm.
Draco had obviously seen them too as he looked over Harry's shoulder, before returning his gaze to him and saying quietly, "When you first turned me away, in our first year at Hogwarts, it just created a separation that would have inevitably been made anyway."
This roundabout way of reassuring Harry their antagonism wasn't his fault echoed in Harry's head as Draco stepped around him and began to walk away.
"Potter!" Malfoy's voice came from a short distance down the street, as if the boy had just thought of an insult to throw as an afterthought, for the benefit of the onlookers.
Harry turned.
"See you in school," Malfoy finished, in an air that sounded ominously threatening enough to appease their audience, but Harry noted a decreased malevolence, and Draco gave one last scripted smirk that was lacking integrity, before disappearing among the other wizards of Diagon Alley.
And Harry smiled back.
"Did you explore much?" Ron asked Trina and Tony as the two muggles walked into the café to join him and Hermione.
"Yeah, we were around and about," Tony said, non-specifically.
"Honeydukes is the best!" Ron said enthusiastically. "And Zonko's Joke Shop."
"If you go for that sort of thing," Trina said, pulling up a stool at the counter. "I preferred Eeyelops Owl Emporium, and there were some books with gorgeous pictures of animals at the bookstore."
"Oh, great," Ron said, looking like he didn't think it was great at all.
Before Hermione could say anything in agreement to Trina's preferences and her enthusiasm over something in a book, she was distracted by a figure that had just entered the café. Spying her sudden shift of attention, Ron and the two muggle girls followed her gaze to see the new arrival Hermione was looking at. The person was keeping an unusually low profile, considering he was usually flanked by oversized bullies and adoring girls. Draco Malfoy quietly made his way to the man behind the counter to get a drink in a paper cup to take out of the shop.
His hair was falling freely across his face, and his lack of effort in upkeeping his hair in its typical impeccable style was mirrored in his evidently tired face. He had been keeping to himself, not loudly speaking, and had been keeping his eyes down as he walked into the café. He slowly lifted his gaze when his drink was being made, and looked slowly around the room. His eyes nonchalantly wandered over the small gathering of witches and wizards by the window, and the two boys excitedly chattering about their classes, until his gaze finally landed on the four people looking at him concernedly.
Draco almost jumped at the surprise of seeing them, and fidgeted a little, unsure of what to do or say. He settled for looking down near his feet, until he had a steaming cup passed to him over the counter, and Draco paid the man and slowly began to move toward the door. After a moment's hesitation, he changed direction and approached the inquisitive people staring at him, but he made no move to sit down.
"Uh, hi," he started, licking his lips nervously and clearing his throat. "Is there a reason you're staring at me? Weasel? Did I forget to hide the Dark Mark on my nose?"
No one smiled at his attempt at a joke, and even Ron remained quiet.
"We were just wondering," Hermione started, "are you alright?"
" 'Alright', is a relative term, Granger," Draco replied.
"Well, you can always come and talk to us, if you need to."
"I must have done something right in the Gryffindor Eye to have that invitation extended to me twice within five minutes," Draco said, and the beginnings of a smile pulled at the edge of his mouth. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Potter: the gesture is noted, but remains unlikely."
"I understand," Hermione said, and the small group was quiet.
"Thanks anyway, Malfoy, for what you did," came a voice, and they all looked at Ron, surprised. "What? I'm not allowed to say it? Okay, so it felt really weird and I wouldn't mind if I never repeated it…"
"It was good of you, Ron," Hermione said, looking at him perhaps a little longer than she needed to, before returning her gaze to Draco. "We all thank you."
"Me too," Tony said, cheerily. "I don't quite see how you did anything in particular for me to be thanking you for, but I thank you heartily just the same, since it seems to be the popular emotion."
Draco shifted uncomfortably on his feet, nervously gripping his paper cup that had steam curling from a hole in the plastic lid. "Well, anyway, I should be going now."
"So, we're probably not going to see you again," Trina said, motioning to Tony and herself. "Right?"
"That might be right," agreed the young Malfoy, and he looked at his feet for a moment again. "Y'know, if I wasn't so wary of you quoting this, I'd say you weren't so bad, for muggles."
"That's near enough to a compliment," Trina said happily.
An awkward silence hung in the air, before Draco turned to head to the door.
"Hey," Tony called after him, and Draco stilled, before slowly turning his head to look over his shoulder at her. "Merry Christmas Puddin'…" she finished, smiling.
Draco grimaced a little. "That was about as enjoyable as Fear Fall," he said as the memory of his hangover came back to him, "which, I might add, wasn't that scary, you know."
Then he was gone.
When Harry finally got down to the café to meet Ron and Hermione, he found Tony and Trina with them already, and the four were engrossed in serious conversation.
"Hey," he said, by way of greeting, before sitting down to join them.
"Hey, Harry," Ron said. "You're not sounding too bright."
"Oh, it's nothing," said Harry, his voice low as he drifted back to the memory of the conversation he'd just had. "I just ran into Malfoy at Gringotts – well, that is to say, he ran into me – and we talked for a bit."
"That explains a lot," Ron said. "He passed in here just before you arrived, and looked a bit out of sorts, like he'd just gotten back onto the ground after riding a drunk hippogriff backwards."
"Did he say anything?"
"We talked a little," Hermione said. "He didn't look up to socialising."
"He was sharp-witted enough to call me Weasel when he said hello," Ron said, not bitterly, "so some things can be relied upon, regardless of who fights with who. I'd say he'll be fine."
"Right." Harry examined the whorls of the wood-markings in the countertop, his mind drifting.
"I see you've discovered the pleasures of a good Rainbow drink," Harry heard a voice say, and he looked up to see Dumbledore looking at Tony in approval. "Apparently they occasionally have a piece of gold from the pot of it at the end of the rainbow from whence it came, but I've never been so lucky as to find one."
"Tastes rather funny, actually," Tony said, frankly. "I prefer the mono-flavours."
"Ah," said Dumbledore good-naturedly, as he sat down at a seat behind them, and the others swivelled on their stools to face him.
"I trust it will not take you long to settle back into the natural scheme of things," Dumbledore said to Harry, Ron and Hermione, his eyes twinkling. "I am happy to be back at Hogwarts, as I rather missed the marvellous feasts held there."
"It's a bit odd to be back after everything that's happened," Harry said. "Neville, Seamus and Dean said they don't remember much of anything from when Lucius was in charge – the potion he was using must have dampened their memories, I guess."
"Indeed. Well, I dare say you and others at Hogwarts will have ample things to talk about in the next few days. I hear talk of how you battled Voldemort twice, went up against a hundred Death Eaters, and saved the Wizarding World from ruin on several occasions. No doubt they will be interested in a more accurate account first hand."
Harry smiled abashedly, and Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in amusement.
"What's going to happen to Malfoy?" Ron asked. "Is he staying at Hogwarts, or will he be transferred to escape complications and stuff?"
"Yes, he will stay," said Dumbledore. "I see no cause for him to leave. Indeed, we owe him a great many thanks for his services, in both coming to your aid when against Voldemort, and recovering the school."
"How did he do that, sir?" Harry said. "I mean, he had to get another Death Eater to leave before coming to us himself to give us back our wands. Were they both in on it?"
"Draco looked for me immediately upon being released from your dark prison, to show me where you were being kept. It was thanks to Fawkes seeing his lost wanderings that he was able to find me, and I, in turn, could come to you. It was his own idea to pose as a Death Eater, using what little knowledge of Death Eaters he had, to acquire a cloak and return your wands to you – which I had been carrying ever since my dismissal. I do not know what he said to your initial guard to distract him from his post – although I imagine it would have been yet another display of his unfortunately often misguided genius."
Tony swivelled back around on her stool to loudly slurp the dregs of her multi-coloured multi-flavoured drink up the straw, and pull something from an inside pocket to write on.
"And what of you two?" Dumbledore said to Trina and Tony, although only Trina was looking at him. "Now that we are thankfully put back to the rightful state of things, and for your role I thank you, what do you intend to do now?
"Go on the rest of the OE, I guess," Trina replied, factually. "We'll base ourselves somewhere – maybe England or Italy…or anyplace else, really – and travel around when we get a spare moment from working."
"Which will be plenty," Tony added, still facing whatever she was writing on. "I don't anticipate working dawn-to-dusk."
"Will you have enough money for all your plans?" Harry asked. "Because I'm sure that all the expenses we brought you when in New Zealand put a dent in your available funds."
"Hmm, that it did," mused Tony. "But we'll manage. And if we don't, we'll run out of money, appeal to an embassy and get a free cargo-class flight home."
"How much did our tickets cost?" Harry asked. "The flight tickets we never used? They alone would be a lot."
"Well that was actually where we were shown to be a big lot of idiot," Trina said. "We couldn't have booked your tickets without a passport number for each of you, which of course, we didn't have. So we never got the tickets."
"So in essence," Tony's voice came past a large smile, although a little muffled as she still had her head down, "Trina and I got a free flight here, which adds on a bit of funds we would have lost."
"All the same," Dumbledore said brightly, "it seems we are indebted. Unfortunately I know little of the muggle lifestyle, although I would assumed galleons would be of little use to you."
"That would be right," Trina said with a smile.
"In that case, the best I can offer you is reassurance that we will be available to you if you should ever need our service."
Trina contemplated these words, before excitedly saying, "So we get to stay in contact? Coz that would be great! I figured it would pretty much be thankyou-and-goodbye, but it would be so cool if we stayed in contact, and- oh, but how could we do that? Regular post, I mean, muggle post, wouldn't reach you."
"The least I can offer you is a small token of gratitude," Dumbledore said, reaching into his robes to withdraw a small drawstring pouch, "so in here you will find enough to purchase an owl of your choice from Eeyelops Owl Emporium."
"Oh, that's schnazzy!" Tony exclaimed excitedly, spinning around, to accept the pouch with wonder. "Our own owl!"
"Can we visit Hogwarts?" Trina asked. "Or can't muggles get in a magical place like that?"
"I'm sure Miss Granger has told you of the disguise preventing muggles from viewing it," answered Dumbledore, "but I see nothing to stop muggles entering if the need should arise – after all, Diagon Alley is magical, and I have met a number of remarkable muggles here."
"What do you mean by 'if the need should arise'?" Trina picked up on the minor hitch. "We can't go in now?"
"As there is no purpose or need," Dumbledore said regretfully, "I do not think it would be prudent at this time."
Trina looked extremely disappointed.
"But I expect," the old man continued, "especially as you have means of remaining in contact now, there may come a time when you do."
Trina found this idea a little comforting, but was still despondent at not seeing it in the foreseeable future.
"We've been to your home," Ron said to her, "so you'll probably get to ours sometime. Well, I mean, where we are most often, obviously."
"Okay," Trina said resignedly. "If you get a big adventure, call me."
Hermione laughed lightly at this, before addressing Tony, "What were you writing?"
"Oh," said Tony, as if she'd forgotten she'd been doing anything and had only just been told, "writing the postcard to my parents back home. Of course, they think Trina and I are still in Auckland. They wouldn't suspect anything yet, as even if we'd stayed in Auckland, we'd only have been there for a few days. Oh-!"
"What?" Trina asked, beginning to look panicked.
"The stuff!" Tony said to her, before turning to Dumbledore to continue, "When we were brought over here, we of course didn't have all our things. The flat back in Auckland still has bags of clothes in it! And Harry's glasses, come to think of it. How are we going to get them back? And this key-" she drew a key from an outside pocket of her jacket, "-we'll need to get the key back for Trina's sister when she comes back!"
Trina was now looking quite alarmed too, and Dumbledore raised his hand in a gesture similar to that of calming the Great Hall full of panicked students.
"It will all be fine, I am certain," Dumbledore said with assurance. "I'm sure, with the aid of magic, all will be settled. With direction to this residence, I can organise for your things to be returned to you, and delegate someone to finish matters – perhaps even organise for a spectacular complimentary cleaning of the place."
"Oh, that's okay then," Tony said, relieved, passing Dumbledore the small metal flat key as Trina asked for a quill and parchment from a nearby café worker, to record directions.
"And so we come to the end of this matter," Dumbledore said in conclusion. "Nil Desperandum, as they say."
"Who's 'they'?" Tony asked. "Whoever it is probably doesn't get out much."
"It is a quaint little Latin turn I am quite partial to that translates to 'nothing to be despaired of'," Dumbledore explained. "All is well."
All was silent within the group at this conclusion.
"Cool…" Tony said, filling airspace. "…well, gonna get my owl now!" She bounded off her stool and headed for the door.
"Our owl!" Trina corrected, quickly following her.
Harry watched the two girls disappear out the door, before returning his gaze to Dumbledore. "Sir," he said quietly, "what will Voldemort do now, do you think?"
"I do not know, Harry," the old wizard grew serious as he looked at the remaining three. "I expect much is merely returned to how it was, and he will only be planning another attempt of attack. Be assured, though, that a repeat performance of the infiltration of Hogwarts allowing you to be taken will not be repeated. I will see to it that no such weakness remains."
Knowing that Hogwarts was entirely safe came as much reassurance to Harry.
"I trust you will enjoy your day," Dumbledore said, standing. "As for myself, I have things to attend to since being reinstated at Hogwarts. It seems to me that Lucius is not as effective at being Headmaster as he thinks himself to be. Some work has rather fallen quite behind."
Harry, Ron and Hermione laughed among themselves as Dumbledore departed from their company and headed out the door.
"Nil Desperandum," Hermione said. "I'll have to remember that one."
After a milkshake each, further talk of overseas experiences of their own, and appreciation of having a Chocolate Frog again – that subject broached by Ron, naturally – the trio exited the café, and ran to meet their two muggle friends just leaving the Owl Emporium, Tony carrying a large cage holding a magnificent black owl, with flecks of silver on its wings and around the eyes.
"I figured a black owl would be less likely to be seen flying about at night holding letters," Tony said to them with a proud smile.
"Oh, whatever, Tony!" retorted Trina. "You just liked it better! And there's nothing weird about seeing an owl fly at night – that's when they're supposed to fly!"
"I'll call him 'Quartz'," Tony said, ignoring Trina.
"Quartz is light – unless it's the impure form of flint," Hermione said. "That name doesn't fit at all."
"I know, isn't it great?" Tony smiled.
"Who says you get to name him?" Trina said. "The owl belongs to both of us. And how do you know it's a 'him' anyway?"
"He just looks manly," Tony answered.
"This subject is not over, just so you know – I want a say in what we call it."
"Sure, we'll talk about it later," Tony said, before holding up the cage and saying to the owl, "but you like that name, don't you, Quartz? And it's not nice to call an animal a name it doesn't like."
"Where are you guys going now?" Harry asked the two girls, putting a stop to the squabbling for now.
"Before we met you guys at the café, Dumbledore saw us and told us how to get back to the place we're staying," Trina said. "And I'm sure he'll bring our stuff there – and return the Hallensteins clothes to you three and Draco. After that we'll be moving on, but we'll let you know by owl what happens."
"Be sure to tell Draco about Quartz, so that he can expect letters too," Tony said. "Whenever we go somewhere we'll send the owl back with a forwarding address so you know where to reply to. The change leftover from the galleons Dumbledore gave us to buy him will pay for deliveries."
"What happens when it runs out?" Ron queried.
"We hit you up for more, of course." Tony laughed. "We'll figure something out."
Conversation lulled, before Trina said, "Well, I guess we'll be going then."
They all shuffled awkwardly, and Tony mumbled, "This is the sentimental part I hate…"
Trina and Tony hugged the other three in turn – Tony rather hurriedly and awkwardly – and they prepared to leave.
"Don't forget us and magic too quickly," Hermione said, "although you have the owl to remind you."
"We won't, and there's not just that," Tony replied in glee.
Her four companions looked at her quizzically, as she fumbled in her pocket and withdrew a sticky, though still evidently shiny, lump of gold.
"I guess I got Dumbledore's lucky glass of Rainbow drink," she said.
"So that's two things to remind you," said Harry. "Now you have no excuse."
Minutes later, he was smiling at them sadly as they turned and began to walk away to experience the adventure they had planned for years, which would certainly be different to the one they'd got.
Trina turned back and waved as the sunlight of Diagon Alley illuminated the vivid blue of Tony's hair, bringing the girl strange looks as she walked away from them with the owl that Harry was sure would end up being called Quartz.
A/N: This final chapter was the longest one of the entire story, totalling over 10,000 words. (Now would you believe me when I tell you I did it all in a day? Morning to night!) This story has been in the cauldron for almost a year, and now I can't believe it's finished! I feel kinda sucky that these characters I've worked with for so long are characters I can't even have rights to! I guess that's a consequence of borrowing someone else's property – you bond with it!
This story gave me heaps of stresses and difficulties, on account of the fact I didn't have a plot until at least halfway through, so I had to try and effectively tie everything up. As a result of the initial lack of planning, I'm sure a sleuth would pick up on blatant errors. (I'm not talking about grammatical errors – although I'm sure there are those too!)
I've tried to adequately end the story, so the reader should be satisfied (did I succeed?) while at the same time leaving it open for a possible sequel. (The idea had been a trilogy – 1st story this one; 2nd story set in Hogwarts 7th year; 3rd story post-graduation). For a while I've been saying to Trina that after this story I'll just be doing one-post ficlets, as I can't afford the time and commitment for another story. But now that this is done (and I really feel like something has died) I know that I'll soon feel the hankering to continue it – except if/when I do, I'll have a detailed plot planned before I start!
Even though I'm not getting an Oscar, I'll give my speech anyway: I want to thank Trina, for pushing me to write this in the first place and allowing me to write her a different life in my story (complete with situations where I'm right and she's wrong), I want to thank my muse for allowing me to come up with this, and most of all, I want to thank all the people who have read this, and especially the ones who have contacted me to offer opinions and encouragement.
Farewell. Nil Desperandum.