Disclaimer: The usual. Look into previous chapters to see what's up.
Author's Notes: This is it, the last chapter of A Different World Book 2. I do hope you all enjoyed this part and will be with me when I publish the third. Everything will be a lot more different from the books from now on. The rating may go up though since I'm not sure where the PG13 rating ends.
Better be safe than sorry, don't you think? Here in Germany there wouldn't be such a fuss about posting me whole plot under this rating but with I'm not so sure. While I still keep using some of the events, others are completely new.
I will have to borrow a few ideas from others but they will be credited once it happens. At this point I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed a chapter or more. Your comments made me very happy and helped me through some serious cases of Writers Block since I started this series.
This is your chapter, enjoy!
2004-07-23
Review Responses:
Cheriniko: Couldn't let him get away like that now, could I? I've always hated that in 'The Prisoner of Azkaban'. Nah, not too deep, at least not yet evilgrin you'll just have to wait and see, eh? You'll find out what'll happen with Draco in this chapter but also at the beginning of my third book.
Cleo-n-Jules: Thanks for the praise and here you go ... sorry for the long wait. I'm on vacation now so I'll hopefully have more time to write.
Jamie Black: I have already started small parts of the next book. The rough outline is there but even then you can't always avoid getting stuck, sadly though. This is the final chapter for Book 2 but I'm nearly finished with the first of book three so it's not that long until I'm going to continue. Website has an update and I'm going to try and do that whenever I post a new chapter as well.
Athenakitty: Reread the first few paragraphs of Chapter 15 and you'll see how it backfired. I only say - vegetables. Yep Siri is going to get cleared fully and finally. Peter getting the Kiss? Wait and see for that I'm not going to tell yet smirk. The Dursley's love Harry and Carya like their own kids, how do you think they would react? They know that the twins belong to the magical world.
Chapter 16 - End of Year and Train Ride or Visiting Weasleys and Talks
Dumbledore's Office
Albus Dumbledore heard a knock at the door to his office. It was already quite late so he wondered who that could be.
"Come in," he said.
"Professor? Can I talk to you?" the blonde Slytherin asked carefully.
"Of course Mister Malfoy. What can I do for you?" Albus said calmly and watched the boy who took a deep breath before he started talking.
"I ... I don't want to go back to my father. He keeps saying that ... that You-Know-Who is coming back soon. If that happens he'll force me to become a Death Eater. I don't want that! But I need help. I cannot get away from him alone. ...
Please Headmaster, please ... would you help me?" Draco told him and for the first time in two years Albus was able to see the scared child under Draco Malfoy's icy exterior.
"Are you sure that you want to go through with this, Draco? Once you've started there's no way back," the Headmaster reminded the blonde gently.
But Draco only nodded. He had taken the whole year to think about this and his decision was final. From Draco's tale the old wizard knew that Severus had to be left outside this time. And they couldn't wait until the new term either.
Draco also told about the beating he had gotten for not being at the top of class at christmas. They would have to act as soon as possible. After two hours everything was settled. Draco would take the train home like everyone else.
He would secretly pack whatever he wanted to take with him once he got home. Dumbledore made sure that Draco would be allowed to do magic for the first week of summer so that he could shrink his belongings and put a charm on them against weighing too much.
When he was ready the boy would take the provided portkey to the 'Leaky Cauldron' in 'Diagon Alley'. From there he would floo to Hogsmeade. Dumbledore would wait for the boy and take him to Hogwarts. Once he got there they would look for a place to stay for Draco.
Dumbledore had something in mind but he would have to talk to some people first. The Headmaster also managed to make sure that no one except Draco would have access to Draco's Gringotts vault. They boy had the key and his father would be denied access.
And Albus also knew of something else, something that probably no one but Lucius Malfoy and himself knew about (A/N: Insert evil laughter , you'll find out later) ... On the 14th of June the students got to know the exam results. Carya was on top of second year.
She was followed by Harry and Draco who tied for second place. In third place was Hermione and Ginny was fourth. Ron was stuck in the middle. Everyone was surprised that some many Slytherin's were high on the list in that grade.
It didn't happen often that the Ravenclaw's had only one student among the top five students of one year. In comparison to the other grades the second year Slytherin's were by far the best. Soon they were sitting at their house tables at the 'End of the Year Feast'.
Slytherin was awarded the Quidditch Cup again and they'd won the House Championship too. Ravenclaw was still in second place followed by Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. McGonagall grudgingly congratulated Snape.
She looked as if she had bitten into something very sour. Professor Lupin was nowhere to be seen. He had left Hogwarts as soon as he had graded the Defence against the Dark Arts exams ...
Flashback
The four friends were sitting in the library and looked at the parchments in front of them. They had to chose their additional classes for the next year. At first Hermione had wanted to take all but the others had convinced her that it was plain crazy.
In the end they all had the same classes with one exception. Hermione had chosen four instead of three classes. They would have Latin, Ancient Runes and Arithmancy. All students would also get another subject - Theory of Magic - but Hermione had Muggle Studies too.
Neither of the other understood that. Not even the twins and they'd been raised as Muggles just like Hermione. When they visited Remus on Wednesday afternoon he was in his office packing. They had know that he would have to leave after that year but surely he wouldn't leave without telling them, would he?
"You're already leaving Moony?" Carya asked.
"Yes, I can't stay any longer. Some of the parents are pressuring Albus. It has been difficult enough for him to let me stay during the exams. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner but I would have come to you to say goodbye. Don't look so sad. We'll see each other again in a few weeks," he told the children.
"It's not that Professor, eh ... Remus. We are just angry that they are so thick-headed. You're the best Defence teacher we could get. I don't even want to think what an idiot will take your place next year," Ginny said while Hermione and the twins nodded their agreement.
Remus gave them a grateful smile and hugged each child briefly before continuing to pack. Neither of them knew how true that particular statement would become but that is another story.
End Flashback
The feast was wonderful and everyone was excited about the summer holidays. Right now no one was worried about the summer assignments or the fact that they wouldn't be allowed to do magic over summer. Even Draco looked happier that day.
Of course no one knew why but they just assumed that he was looking forward to the holidays. Their last day at Hogwarts was spent packing. Students were running through the castle to look for lost items and the Common Rooms and dormitories were more crowded than during the whole year.
Even Ginny was happy to go home this time. She knew that her mother wouldn't tolerate Fred, George, Ron or Percy's rude behaviour towards her at the Burrow. Bill and Charlie would be visiting too and during the first week the twins and Sirius would come over for a day.
Life was definitely fine right now. At the moment everyone was laughing because Marcus Flint, the quidditch captain had tripped over Leona Moon's trunk and sent the whole contents flying down the stairs. Marcus was cursing loudly and Leona was yelling at him.
Everyone else was laughing. After a few minutes Alex, Leona's sister, went over and help the older girl packing everything back into the trunk. The three animagi decided to look for Hermione and make a last visit to their secret rooms.
They found the young Ravenclaw in her dorm. Today no one really cared if members of another house visited their Common Rooms, except Slytherin that is. But they were always a bit crazy about that.
The twins and Ginny helped her finish packing and wandered off towards the 'Founder's Chambers'. Ginny was reading while Harry and Hermione were playing chess. Carya was talking to the portrait of Salazar Slytherin and found out some things about the books he'd written.
He also told her that there were other secrets in books no one could read (he meant the ones written in Parsel) and mentioned the 'Legacy of Slytherin' but didn't tell what exactly that was.
(A/N: Tom Riddle never found out about the 'Founder's Chambers'. He only knew about the 'Chamber of Secrets' from History books in the Library and stories from Slytherin House as well as the portrait outside of the Slytherin Common Room.)
The twins should've told the portrait that they were both parselmouths. If they had the next year would've been much easier but then again, that would spoil the fun, wouldn't it? Carya watched Hermione and her brother and Ginny caught her staring at them.
"They make quite a pair, don't you think?" the Weasley girl whispered and Carya nodded.
"Yeah, the only ones that don't really know that they love each other despite only being thirteen is them," she told the red-head.
The four friends left the chambers for dinner and said goodbye to the portraits with the promise to be back after the summer. They couldn't quite shake of the feeling of melancholy when they walked towards the Great Hall.
So much had happened that year. And so much would happen during the first few weeks of summer holidays. At nine o'clock the next morning the children boarded the Hogwarts Express which would bring them back to 'King's Cross Station' in London.
Harry, Carya, Ginny and Hermione were once again lucky. They found a compartment for themselves and stayed alone most of the time. Occasionally someone would stick his or her head in and talk to them but that soon stopped.
At lunchtime the cart came by and the twins bought a huge amount of chocolate frogs, some liquorice wands, Cauldron cakes, pumpkin pasties, about a dozen sugar quills each, a big box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, some of Droobles Best Blowing Gum and some jelly slugs.
Everyone got some iced pumpkin juice as well and Hermione bought some Toothflossing Stringmints for her parents. The two Potters shared some of their candy with their friends but wanted to save some until they moved to Sirius house and some were a present for Dudley.
After lunch Carya read one of Slytherin's books that she had taken with her. Ginny skimmed through her newest issue of Witch Weekly (she had gotten a one year subscription for christmas from her brother Bill). Hermione and Harry had fallen asleep and the girl was now leaning against Harry.
Carya quickly made a few photos to show them how cute they looked together once they'd woken up. No one bothered the 'Impossible Four' as Professor Sprout had called them after the incident with Sirius until a few minutes before they would reach London.
The nickname wouldn't haunt them for long though. It was Ron who interrupted their peace then. He had gotten into a fight with Crabbe and Goyle and was currently on the run. Ginny started snickering and he gave her a death glare.
Luckily Harry and Hermione had woken up a few minutes earlier. They were still embarrassed by the photos Carya had taken. The two bullies from Slytherin had apparently stopped their search for the Gryffindor and went back to their compartment.
Ron looked around in the compartment he was in. He was jealous. It was so unfair. He was in Gryffindor like his family had expected him to be and he had friends too but Ginny had it so much better.
She had great friends who shared everything with her. Lavender would just tell him to buy his own candy. Life was so cruel to him. Not once did he think about the fact that he could have been friends with them too if he hadn't been such a prat in the beginning.
He left but not without insulting Ginny. The female red-head was really angry now. Her idiotic brother had spoiled her perfect day. That just screamed for revenge. Especially right now when she could still do magic.
Only once they were through the barrier on Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters the restrictions started to be effective. The twins and Hermione watched her as she looked into space with a deep scowl on her face that slowly dissolved into a cruel smirk.
Yes, she knew exactly what she would do. The perfect punishment for her brother. The same he had already gotten once after christmas. The friends waited until they saw Ron leave the train. Ginny quietly murmured the spell and watched in amazement as Ron's hair turned bright green.
She'd left out the word Slytherin this time because she wanted to make sure that everyone Ron had angered over the last days would be a suspect. All of them knew that Ron had hated his green hair. When they were finished the friends left the train too and headed towards the barrier.
They didn't have to wait long and were greeted by their families on the other side. Molly had just spotted Ginny and waved at her. Ginny smiled, she finally had a family again. Her mother ran over and pulled her into a hug. She then heard someone call the twins.
"Harry, Carya, there you are! Mum and Dad are waiting in the café over there, I'll fetch them!" a blonde boy around their age shouted and shortly after that returned with two adults.
The woman hugged both of the Potters and the man smiled at them. Molly Weasley assumed that these must be the Muggle relatives the twins were living with. But they all behaved different from what she'd imagined. They were a real family.
Nothing like her sons had written her in their letters, always complaining about the horrible Potter twins who were the 'nastiest Slytherin's ever'. Mrs. Weasley decided to thank the twins in person for making them see what they'd loose with continuing their behaviour towards Ginny.
"You must be Harry and Carya, right?" she asked and Ginny was right behind her.
"Yeah, and you're Ginny's Mum, she has told us about you," Carya said smiling.
"Thank you for the present by the way, Mrs. Weasley. I really like the jumper you sent," Harry added sincerely.
"Mum, are Harry and Carya still allowed to visit in a few days?" Ginny asked and her mother nodded before they went back to their own family.
That was when she spotted Ron - and saw his hair.
"Ronald, where in Merlin's name did you get that colour?" she exclaimed.
"Huh? What colour, mum?" he wanted to know.
Molly just pointed at his head and pulled a mirror out of her handbag.
"What the hell? Fred, George, did you do that?" he yelled but the twins quickly shook their heads.
They hadn't even figured out who had cursed them the last time or what spell or potion they'd used. Their own only lasted a few hours and could easily be disguised unlike this one.
"Ron, did you anger one of the Slytherin's or any other student in particular?" they asked.
Everyone knew Ron hated the colour green so it could have been anyone. But Ron shook his head. Ginny of course was giggling and laughing inwardly. This was too good to be true. Although Sirius had warned them not to play the same prank again within a certain amount of time she got away this time too.
Carya and Harry had just said goodbye to Hermione and her parents and were now sitting in the car with the Dursley's. They explained Dudley the different types of candy they'd bought him and warned him to be careful with the Every Flavour Beans.
"If they say every flavour they mean it. You can get ordinary ones like chocolate and strawberry but also horse radish, vomit or dirt. With them everything's possible," Carya warned him and he got a strange glint in his eyes.
The twins knew he would use them for fun once he went back to school. He had quit Smelting's because he didn't like it there and was now attending Eton Academy. It was a bit more expensive but he was happy there and his grades had risen too.
When they got home they stored away their belongings and went down to the living room. Petunia and Vernon were already waiting. They knew that whatever the twins had wanted to talk about couldn't wait until the evening.
"Eh, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, something has happened during the last year. You know about the fact that we had a godfather, don't you?" the girl asked and her guardians nodded. They hadn't told the kids because Dumbledore had asked them not to.
"He had been accused for a crime he didn't commit and was cleared a few weeks ago. He has asked us if we wanted to live with him, in the wizarding world," she explained further.
The two adults knew where this was leading. The apprehension the twins showed told them that they didn't want to hurt them but the question was clear. Would they allow them to leave?
Petunia looked at her husband. She had always loved them, despite her dislike for her sister when they both were children. It was hard to let them go but this wasn't their world. They belonged to the Magical World.
"We understand what you mean. You can go if you really want to. Just ... just don't forget us, will you?" she asked looking sad.
Carya surprised her when the normally calm girl started crying happily and hugged her fiercely.
"We could never forget you! You gave us a home and a family when we had nothing! If you allow us we would love to try and stay here for a couple of weeks each summer, Aunt Petunia," she said and Harry nodded smiling.
"Of course you can stay. Just make sure to let us know in time so we can stock up on food," Vernon said with an almost Slytherin like smirk.
"You're really going away, aren't you?" asked Dudley from the doorway. It would be the hardest for him. The twins had each other but he would be an only child from now on, "Promise that you'll visit as often as possible!"
"We promise Dudley. You're not only our cousin, you're our brother, friend and if I may say so with Aunt Petunia around, our partner in crime. Think about all those pranks we played in primary school!" Carya told him to cheer him up a bit,
"We cannot just leave you. We would be throwing away part of us. And you could always visit us during the holidays, you know?"
This reassured the boy and they made plans about what they had to enable the twins to move in with that godfather of theirs.
Five days later on June 24th Sirius and Remus came over to Privet Drive to introduce themselves. The Dursley's had feared that they would look like the strange people they'd seen when Lily and her husband had died. But they were different.
Sirius was wearing a pair of jeans, trainers and a plain black t-shirt. His long hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail. Remus was wearing charcoal grey cotton trousers and a loose white sweatshirt with rolled up sleeves.
"Mister and Mrs. Dursley? My name is Sirius Black. I'm Carya and Harry's godfather. It's a pleasure to meet you," he said and Petunia nearly fell over in shock. She'd seen him before but then only known him as Padfoot when he and James came to visit Lily for a day or two during the summers.
"Oh my god, you're that boy who was always putting frog spawn into my bed, aren't you? Lily called you Padfoot, right?" she gasped and Sirius gave her a sheepish grin.
"Yeah, eh, sorry about that. Oh, this is Remus Lupin. He's a friend of mine and the kids other godfather. Anyway we wanted to ask you if the twins could go with me today. I want to visit some friends of them and thought they might like to accompany us," he told her.
"Of course they can if they want to. Please come in, Mister Black, Mister Lupin," Petunia answered.
"Oh, please call me Sirius if you don't mind. I'd be more comfortable with that," he told her.
"Well, it's Petunia then, Sirius," she replied.
"And I'd prefer if you called me Remus," Remus said and Petunia again offered her first name.
She led them to the living room, went back to the door and called for the twins," Harry, Carya, your godfathers are here, come down please!"
The two children stormed into the room and hugged first Sirius and then Remus. Petunia smiled at that, she knew now where the kids might have gotten their mischievous streak from.
To be honest, James Potter hadn't been that bad in the beginning but she'd always thought about the other black-haired boy who had teased her mercilessly when Lily's friends were visiting.
'Maybe he has rubbed off on James, who knows?' she thought.
Soon after that the twins, Remus and Sirius left. Vernon was pleased that they were taking the bus doing nothing that would be other than perfectly normal. They got out a few minutes later in front of an old and dingy shop which turned out to be a wizard shop.
From there Sirius, Carya and Harry floo-ed over to 'the Burrow' while Remus returned home before joining them later. He had some things to do there first and excused himself. Ginny was already waiting for them and looked really cute in her green top with blue jeans.
Her dark blood red hair didn't clash so much with any green as her brothers almost orange looking hair did. Hermione was there too. Mister Weasley had collected her earlier that day. The twins met Bill and Charlie and got a clap on the back for the letter they had written.
This made the normally calm twins blush to the roots. Fred, George, Percy and Ron didn't want to greet them and they didn't mind.
"We aren't on very good terms with each other to be exact. House rivalries and ... other problems, sorry," Harry explained and earned a chuckle from Bill who could imagine what he meant.
The children now had to sit through a thorough questioning from Mrs. Weasley. She asked about everything that had happened last year. Especially the thing with Sirius. When the kids finished their tale she was shocked how much Ginny's part in that plot actually had been.
But the children still left some important parts out. No one apart from the people actually involved knew the full story. The newspapers had had a hard time because not one of them was available for any kind of statement or an interview.
There had been questions about how the twins knew Sirius, why they believed in his innocence when everyone else thought he was guilty, what role they had played in Peter Pettigrew's capture?
All of these questions remained unanswered and it took about a month for the press to calm down and return to normal topics. Now the usual articles were printed. Ministry problems, increasing difficulties to hide themselves from the Muggles and so on.
Molly didn't even think of scolding Ginny and her friends like she had planned to. What later would disturb Mrs. Weasley the most was the fact that Pettigrew had lived under her roof all the time. A Death Eater and she hadn't even known. They soon ate lunch together.
The Weasleys had set up the tables outside and now the four reluctant family members had to make an appearance. Remus had also arrived and was now sitting next to Sirius. Ron was wearing a 'Chudley Cannon's' cap and his mother ordered him to take it off immediately.
As soon as he did half of the assembled people burst into laughter. He still had bright green hair. Sirius knew who had most likely done that, only four people were suspects now. But one look at the satisfied smirk on Virginia Weasleys face told him what he really needed to know.
He knew that it had to grow out if the caster didn't say the counter-spell. Sirius felt generous and wanted to spare the boy unnecessary worries this time.
"Ron, you should know that there is a counter charm to this if I'm right about it," said Sirius.
"There is?" asked Fred and George in unison. They had tried everything they knew but nothing had worked.
"Yes there is but only the caster can do it. That probably is why your own attempts failed," he told them.
"But I don't know who did it!" Ron exclaimed in frustration.
"I might know but I'll only tell if you all promise not to retaliate. And if you give your word as a prankster you cannot go back on it. Problem is that it's holidays. You'd have to wait until you are in 'Diagon Alley' as underage magic would be detected here,"
he told the others and once everyone had promised on their honour that they wouldn't do anything he continued, "Ginny, will you release him once you get the chance?"
There was a collective gasp in the Weasley family. They had mostly come to terms with her being in Slytherin but that she started to play pranks like Fred and George and that she was even more successful at that surprised them.
"Please Ginny, would you take this off? I hate it and I won't retaliate, promise!" Ron pleaded and this one time he actually meant it. It was the first time for over two years that he had spoken to her without malice or ridicule in his voice.
The girl agreed and promised to reverse the spell as soon as possible. Arthur said that he'd take the two kids to 'Diagon Alley' the next day for that and Ron breathed a sigh of relief. Fred and George were already thinking about something like a prank contest but Carya and Harry heard them.
"You wouldn't stand a chance," they said smirking and to the other twins question of why they answered, "Because we were taught by a true Marauder, well, two actually!"
This shocked the Weasley boys, "How do you know about the Marauder's? They were the 'Kings of Pranksters' and they are our heroes!"
Neither Weasley noticed the amused looks passing between Sirius and Remus. The two men were simply watching their godchildren and waited where this conversation would lead.
"Because we know them. And ..." Harry began.
" ... we'll live with them from now on!" Carya continued.
"Three of them were true Marauders ...," Harry added.
"... Moony, Padfoot and Prongs ..." Carya said.
"... but one is a rat, ... literally," her brother went on.
"Eh, did you two just say you'll live with the Marauders? But we thought you'll live with your godfather and Professor Lupin!" Ron remarked confused and forgot his dislike for them for once.
"Exactly! With Padfoot and Moony" the Potters said in unison.
Sirius could hardly hide his laughter. He couldn't believe that the Weasley twins hadn't gotten the clue yet. It as simply hilarious how slow people could be sometimes.
"Though Paddy has to behave first. He still hasn't made up for all the trouble and worry he caused us last year ..." Carya told them smirking since Fred and George were so very slow that day which was proven because they just stared at her blankly.
They were pulled out of their thoughts when Sirius interrupted, "Hey, I resent that. I have promised you the best birthday party you ever had. Isn't that enough?"
He said all that in a mock angry voice that was thoroughly betrayed by his wide grin. You could see the imaginary light bulb above the twins heads as they looked forth and back between Sirius and the Potter twins.
"You are Padfoot?!? But then ... it can't be, can it? Wait a second, if Sirius Black is Padfoot then Professor Lupin has to be Moony. But who's Prongs? And what happened to Wormtail?" George asked.
"Well, You're right. Sirius is Padfoot and Remus is Moony. Prongs is ... he was our father and ..." Harry started but Carya continued. "... and the fourth was Peter Pettigrew. A rat and a traitor!" she spat.
"His name, as you know, was ..." the girl began to explain when Harry continued.
"... Wormtail or previously known as Scabbers," he concluded.
"What? Scabbers? I can't believe it, you mean we had a murderer as a pet for almost eleven years?" the Weasley twins asked shocked and the Potters just nodded grimly.
"I'm speechless. We bought that rat for our children ..." Mrs. Weasley said horrified and looked like she was about to faint.
Mister Weasley quickly changed the topic and asked the twins and Hermione all about Muggle devices. Fred and George were begging Sirius to tell them about some pranks but he refused with saying that he would get in trouble with Harry and Carya.
They both accepted that after a while and a small glare from the Potter girl. They had seen what the twins were capable of when angered and what could happen if you really pissed them off, especially Carya. But Sirius promised to tell them some once his godchildren allowed it.
Soon the day was over and Sirius returned Harry and Carya to Privet Drive. They would stay for two weeks and then move in with him and Moony. Hermione and Ginny would be visiting them for half the holidays and they would celebrate their birthday at Black Manor.
The Dursley's would be invited then too but the twins thought that maybe only Dudley would be willing to spend a full day with nothing but wizards around. The twins would have invited Draco as well but it most likely wouldn't be possible or would it?
End Part Two
Please Read AND Review.
Thx ,
Carya
Review responses at the beginning of next chapter / book 3!