Disclaimer: Own nada!
Dedication: to the Red Dragons Order...
Chapter 32: Balls and Surprises
"And friends come to the call
They'll read our names on the door
If they could read our minds they'd find
That since we're sharing the same bed,
We're not sharing the same dreams...anymore"
"Oh, shut the hell up!" Sirius said, nearly throwing the Muggle radio across the room. He'd had a bad night and a sad song about how bad relationships went after a while were not welcomed. Instead, listening to the voice of reason, he switched to another channel.
"Let's go hand in hand
Into love-me land
Side by side
To a world that shines so bright!"
"More bloody likely!" he said and grinned to himself and proceeded to getting up from his bed. A difficult task, since he had a headache. Argh, note to self: never ever drink without supervision like that! And if drinking without supervision, then he would not think about Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. Nope. Never. Must hide all alcohol away. And never think about the twelve years in Azkaban, either.
He got up slowly and threw some clothes on himself so that just in case somebody was in his house, he would be decent enough not to feel extremely weird afterward. Yeah, if Remus may have come, that wouldn't be a problem, but if Dumbledore himself entered the house, well... Let's just say you don't want to be walking through the house in underpants when a man over a hundred is visiting.
He went to Buckbeak's room and fed the hippogriff –who seemed to be ok- and went down to the kitchen. As soon as he had been back, he had been told that Kreacher had been taken away by Jack Towers and he had been replaced by Winky. The poor thing had been simply delighted to serve another wizarding family and Sirius was a lot more like her old home than Hogwarts.
He was just drinking some coffee when a head appeared in the fire.
"Hello, love" said the beautifully-faced woman.
"Iris" he said with a grin. "Do come in!"
"Oh, no, no, have a class in ten minutes" she replied with a smile. "Have you heard of the ball this Saturday?"
"Um... nope" he replied truthfully. "What ball?"
"Dumbledore is throwing one to celebrate the first battle" she replied.
"Is he nuts?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course!" she replied with the same casual smile. "But that's not the issue here. Coming?"
"Well... yes" he replied after thinking it over for a minute. "But am I allowed to?"
"Definitely. I asked Dumbledore if you could come and he said yes" Iris replied. "See you on Saturday, then"
"See you" he replied and smiled as her head disappeared. His day was getting better. And then he realized he had no clue what time he had to be there. "Oh, well, I'll just go there in the early hours of the morning, then" he said to himself with a grin.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Harry yawned and threw himself out of bed. Gosh, he'd have to get ready for classes. Six classes and the first just had to be Potions. And who on earth would he ask to the ball?
Of course Ron didn't have that problem now... No, he was fine. He had Hermione. But what if 'the boy-who-lived' would go alone? Would that be such a terrible thing?
He got dressed and went to breakfast with Ron, not seeing the girls around. They both chatted about the school's normal insanity for a while, not even noticing how they entered the Great Hall and sat to breakfast.
"So what I say, mate" Ron said "is that all Slytherins should be hanged"
"Hey, come on, Draco's not that bad lately" Harry said slowly and shot a glance at said Slytherin who was eating between his Pansy Parkinson and a first year.
"Of course not, but at least Crabbe and Goyle" Ron replied.
"Pardon me" said a dreamy voice behind Harry and he turned to see who it was. "Harry, do you have a date for the ball?"
Harry looked at the girl in front of him: Luna Lovegood. She was smiling at him while her eyes –half-closed- were looking at him maybe a bit dreamily. She had a long necklace with a huge medallion made out of something not very expensive-looking, but quite nice and two quite large earrings shaped like balls and made out of... was that fur?!
"No, I don't" he replied, staring at her.
"Neither do I" she said slowly. "Wanna go with me?"
"Um... sure" Harry replied. It wasn't as if he had anyone better to chose.
"Wonderful. See you there, then" she said and went back to the Ravenclaw table, leaving the two to stare behind her.
"Well, mate, seems you have no problem with the ball anymore, now do ya?" Ron snickered.
"Shut up" Harry replied, elbowing his friend who snickered.
"You like her, don't you?" he asked.
"No" Harry replied truthfully and Ron lost his mischievous smile.
"Oh... ok, then" he replied and dug back in his eggs.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"POTTER!" Snape cried as Harry was about to put his next ingredient to the potion he was brewing.
"What?" Harry asked and quickly added: "Sir"
"What happens if you add that now? Mr. Malfoy, do you know?" the Potion Master said, after glancing around the dungeon.
"The whole potion blows up" Draco replied with a wicked smile. Harry couldn't tell if he was smiling like that because he was thrilled of the thought of the mess the potion would make by blowing up or by the fact that he was in trouble.
"Right. Ten points to Slytherin" Snape said with a small nod and an unpleasant smile. Well, his attitude hadn't changed since he had started going out with Amala, that was true. "So, Mr. Potter, that means ten points from Gryffindor. And you, Mrs. Granger, couldn't you tell him not to do it? Five more points from Gryffindor"
Harry sighed. This way, they'd be at the end of the House Cup Championship that year. Snape moved back to the front of the class and stared at Neville's cauldron.
"Very well, Mr. Longbottom. I see your skills have improved greatly since winter. You haven't blown up any cauldrons anymore and you haven't messed up badly since then. Therefore, I say this calls for a special occasion... the Headmaster claimed I was not fair in my point-awarding. Therefore, I award... one point to Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindors stared and Ron even went as far as to start laughing. One point? One point?!
"What's so funny, Mr. Weasley? Care to enlighten us?" Snape snapped.
"Um... you not being fair, Professor" Ron replied nodding fast. "Funny. You're fair, the Headmaster must know?"
Snape stared at him and shook his head.
"This young and already a suck-up. Indeed, a Weasley" he sighed to himself, making the Slytherins laugh. Ron mumbled something and the Gryffindors glared.
Harry sighed to himself. Some things never changed... but others did. Did Severus Snape award a point to Gryffindor? That was a first. Even if it was well-deserved.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
And so came the great day of the ball. It had been settled to six o'clock in the afternoon –as they all found out off the notice board, since Dumbledore had of course forgotten to tell them-. Hermione had locked herself in the room at three o'clock, taking Amala with her –the later had ignored Ron's loud cry of 'but your boyfriend won't be there' and sighed to herself. Yes, she knew Severus wouldn't be able to even dace with her, but she would still look good-. The boys only took less than an hour to get themselves ready.
And then, they had to actually go down to the Great Hall...Ugh. Harry felt nervous, although a lot less nervous than in his fourth year. Ron seemed to be happy at going with Hermione –he seemed to remember her ball-look from two years ago-.
Amala was wonderfully dressed in a long white robe and she wore a gold necklace and gold earrings. Her black hair was loose, but very well- looking. She wore just a little bit of make-up, but she looked great.
"Come on, Harry, give me your arm" she said with a grin.
"Excuse me?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"You heard me!" she laughed. "Give me your arm! Don't be shy, I don't byte..."
"Snape would kill me" he muttered in her ear.
"Nah, I think he'd understand" she replied quietly with a grin. After that, she raised her voice "Besides, you've got a date waiting for you there, but until then, you should help a girl in distress and take my arm, oh, night in shiny armor!"
"Oh, my, Harry's afraid to take a girl's arm" Ginny laughed. "Fraidy-cat!"
Harry smiled shyly before he took Amala's arm.
"Well, let's go" Ron said, grinning and the four exited the common room, chatting happily. Soon after them, Ginny came in a quick pace.
"Hey, Harry, do you have another arm?" she asked with a chuckle.
"What?!" he asked, confused.
"I'm meeting my date there, so I really don't have anyone with whom to walk" she replied and Amala laughed.
"What, sharing Harry?! No way!"
"Oh, yes!" Ginny said. "Don't be greedy!"
"Fine! But I got to him first!" Amala said and Harry found himself between two women. "Harry, why on earth are you so tensed?"
"Maybe he doesn't like too many women by his side" Ginny giggled and Harry turned red.
After walking with the two girls through the whole castle, Harry finally made it to the entrance to the Great Hall, where there were a lot of students waiting. Of course, Luna spotted him quickly as he let go of the two.
"Hello, Harry" she said and waved slowly.
"Hi, Luna" he replied and went to her. To his surprise, she hugged him tightly, making him wonder if there was something in the air tonight.
"Let's go in, most students are inside" she said and smiled.
Harry felt a bit surprised before he realized that of course this time there were no school champions to open the ball. He smiled at her and they both went inside... or rather tried to, before he heard a loud cry:
"HE is your date?!"
They both turned to see Ron eyeing his sister with a terrible look on his face. Hermione was trying to calm him down, but then Harry saw who was at her arm: Draco Malfoy.
"Why, I do believe I am, Weasel" Draco sneered. "Have a problem with that?"
"Of course I do!" Ron replied. "How dare you go out with my sister"
"Calm down, Ron, it's not as if he were hurting her or anything" Hermione said.
"Not hurting her!" he cried.
"But you're hurting me!" Ginny said. "Please, Ron, think about it: him or Michael Corner?"
"What?! Michael Corner!" Ron said and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"But at least Draco is more mature" she said. "Let them be!"
"But..." he started, offended.
"Let them!" she snapped and he grumbled as she led him to the Great Hall.
Harry looked behind them and then at Ginny, the youngest of the Weasleys. She was Ron's sister and Ron was like a brother... she also seemed to be his sister.
"Ron may have forgotten this, Malfoy, but I haven't" Harry said with an amused smile. "Hurt her and I'll kill you!"
"I'll watch out for that" he replied simply.
After that, Harry offered his arm to Luna and they entered the Great Hall.
"You know, he stopped dating all those girls when he started going out with Ginny" Luna said slowly.
"Oh my God! He was a don Juan, I forgot" Harry said, his eyes widening.
"Was, past tense" Luna said and stifled her laughter. "Ginny made him stop chasing women. She has that effect on men"
"Right" he said and nodded to himself, as he took in the arrangement of the Hall.
There were small round tables everywhere and most of the teachers sat at the same table. Severus Snape was looking through the Hall glaring at all students. It was pretty much like Harry's fourth year.
Amala sat down with Harry and Luna and she ordered herself some food, after Harry explained to her how she could do it. The two of them also ordered some food.
After they had finished eating, at the teacher's table, Sybill Trelawney appeared, so Snape decided to walk around the Hall. He went to Hermione and Ron and said something nobody could get, but that sounded menacing. The two nodded quickly and, after he left, they smiled at each other. In two minutes, Hermione went over to their table to say something.
"Amala, could I have a word with you?" she asked and dragged the girl away from the company.
Harry looked at them and shrugged as they took Ron and exited the Hall.
"So, how are you, Harry?" Luna asked.
"I'm fine. How're you?" he asked and realized just how standard the conversation was, but Luna didn't seem to notice.
"Wonderful. My dad has a great story on the ghouls in the Egyptian pyramids. It's going to be a great edition!"
"Really?" Harry asked. "What's it about?"
Before he knew it, he had been dragged into a conversation about myths of the wizards with Luna and she was happily providing him all types of information. Which helped him understand that she just had very weird ideas and preferences when it came to passing time and wearing clothes, but otherwise she was rather intelligent and kind. Well, the intelligent part he should have realized earlier, after all, she was in Ravenclaw.
So, it seemed that she knew a lot of everything, but that she preferred all things that were unsure, uncertain, unproved. And she was always dreamy because she dreamed of the day when she and her father would finally prove their theories. That explained a lot.
It was actually funny how people actually were when you got to know them... Maybe Severus Snape wasn't such a bad man either, he was starting to realize. Maybe Amala saw the... human in him.
He glanced around to find him, but he seemed to have left the Hall He didn't blame him either, since next to his seat sat Trelawney. Rose hadn't yet got there. But otherwise, the Hall was full.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Amala was standing next to Greenhouse Three and was smiling widely. Severus had went to Ron and Hermione and, in a snappy tone –as not to raise any suspicions- told them to get her out of the Hall and next to the greenhouse. And of course Hermione had dragged her out and had taken Ron with her, saying she had her own little plan with her boyfriend.
So, now she awaited for Severus to arrive. And she didn't wait long.
"Lovely evening, isn't it, Mrs. Wright?" said a slow silky voice from behind her, making her turn around.
"Yes, Mr. Snape, I do believe it is" she said, deciding to play along. She smiled subtly and stretched her robes with her hands, making them look like a large dress. "But why have you called me here tonight, Mr. Snape?"
He laughed quietly and she dropped her act –and her robes along with it-, joining him in his laughter.
"Because the dungeons are too cold and dark for a young woman" he replied.
She smiled at him and he took her hand, going with her to the front of the greenhouse from where the moon could be seen floating on the beautiful night sky.
"Never knew you were a romantic" she whispered to him.
"There are many things you don't know about me" he said quietly with a small smile which turned quickly in a sad one.
"Hey, don't lose it now, Sev" she said, squeezing his hand easily. "Let's not let shadows of the past darken the present, shall we?"
"Fine" he replied.
They looked at the moon hand in hand for a while before he put a hand over her shoulders and she immediately leaned on him.
"What if somebody sees us here like this?" she muttered.
"Nobody will, they haven't finished eating yet and if they have, they know the dance will start soon" he replied.
Amala smiled at him before she turned to look at the sky again. Yes, fighting for him had proved to be a very good idea.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"Would you like a drink?" Draco asked his beautiful girlfriend.
"Why, yes" she replied with a huge smile.
Draco nodded and went to get the drink from the small bar that Dumbledore had put there –difference from two years ago-. Of course, there were no alcoholic drinks, but still. He grabbed three butterbeers and went back to the table with them. Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione had returned from outside and Ron dragged her to their table, since theirs was occupied.
"Do we have desert?" Ron asked casually.
"I thinks so" Ginny replied and sighed to herself. Was there really no way to get Ron out of there?
"Great! Mind if we sit here? Our table's been taken" Ron asked, not noticing Hermione's 'subtle' suggestions that they should take another table. Draco looked at them and decided that, even if it cost him a night with Ginny, getting along with the Weasleys was a great idea, so he replied with a small, nearly unnoticeable sigh.
"Sure, why not?" he said and sat down with the two drinks. "Would you guys like some drinks?"
"Oh, you needn't bother, Ron will get them, right Ron?" Hermione said with one of her best smiles.
"Sure I will" he muttered and walked over to the bar.
"Sorry about this, Ginny, Draco" Hermione said, smiling shyly. "I couldn't stop him..."
"Don't bother" Ginny replied. "Hey, look, there's Snape, where's he been?"
Hermione saw him enter and replied with a small innocent shrug:
"Dunno"
But as soon as Draco turned his head to look for somebody in the Great Hall, she mouthed to her: 'tell you later'. Ginny nodded and Draco looked for a few more seconds in the opposite direction before his head snapped back.
"Here comes your brother with the drinks" he told Ginny. "Hermione, do you reckon the dance starts soon?"
"Yes, I think so" Hermione replied with a chuckle. "I'll try to keep Ron off your tail, but I make no promises"
"Thanks" Draco said and Ron brought the drinks. "Hey, look at that!"
The other three turned to look at what Draco was showing them.
"Why, it's Sirius Black and Professor Rose" Ginny said, her eyes widening.
"Yes, it is!" Hermione said. "Seems like they're together..."
"Definitely" Draco said with a nod. "Who'd have known?"
Hermione and Ron exchanged a look, but that went unnoticed. And after that, finally, Dumbledore stood up and gave the signal for the beginning of the dance –making Ginny mutter 'finally'-. The Weird Sisters were playing again.
Draco pompously asked Ginny to dance and she accepted, both of them going to the middle of the dance ring. And again, one could notice the difference fro two years ago: the table, although perfectly clear, remained on their spots since the arrangement of the space was so good, there was a dance ring from the beginning. And of course, this time it wasn't crowded because of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students.
"Let's go dance, Hermione" Ron said, gazing after his sister.
"Actually, I was thinking of something better" she said with a mind taking smile.
"Really?" Ron asked, pushing Ginny in the back of his mind.
"Yes... How about you go bring two butterbeers and we go outside?" she asked, smiling her most attractive smile.
"Sure, no problem" Ron replied and got up to search for the drinks. Meanwhile, Hermione searched the Great Hall for somebody –and managed to find her soon-
"Amala! How'd it go?" she asked the white-robed girl.
"Great" she replied, coming over to her. "Never knew he was a romantic, too..."
Hermione grinned and noticed Ron come up with the butterbeers.
"Well, gotta go!" she said to her friend and got up. Amala nodded in a friendly way to Ron and he nodded back. She looked around to find someone to sit with, but she noticed that Harry was dancing with Luna and their table was empty. Ginny and Draco were also dancing. Actually, nearly everybody was dancing. She noticed a table with a single spear chair at it that she would very much like to sit at, but she wasn't sure it would be a great idea. After all, the table currently seated Dumbledore, McGonagall, Severus, Iris and Sirius.
To her surprise, Iris noticed her looking that way and waved her hand towards her in a calling gesture. Surprised, she pointed to herself and mouthed 'me?' and Iris nodded enthusiastically. Amala shrugged and went to the table and sat down right between Severus and Iris –that was the only spear chair-.
"How've you been?" Iris asked. "Have you been practicing?"
"Oh, yeah" Amala replied with a grin. That afternoon when Iris had called her at her office they had had the chance to befriend each other and iris had told her that Naranesh had decided for Iris to be her teacher for a while. So, the beautiful teacher had taught her a few 'light techniques'.
She remembered Iris's small speech at the beginning: As a being on the path of pure light, your path will be more difficult than the others, much more difficult, but the repayment is much greater. There are very few things you can do to help yourself on this path, it is rather about the inner attitude regarding the world. However, in order to increase your power and energy, there are certain 'techniques' you can use. You will learn about breath and how it can help you evolve, about colors and sounds. You will learn of love and devotion. And you must understand that by abandoning yourself to the real source of love and wisdom, you will get to be more powerful than nearly anybody else. Naranesh... she is human, but she became a goddess. That is the power of the light path. The power of keeping all darkness away by mere presence
The rest of the lesson, Iris had told her to practice being very attentive at every small gesture she did. Which was kind of fun, but maybe a bit difficult, more difficult than she had expected it to be.
"Well, it's good to hear that" she said with a smile. "Sirius, aren't you going to ask me to dance?"
"Why, yes, I will" the man replied and got up, bowing slightly. "Ahem, will you please dance with me?"
"Certainly!" she replied with a chuckle and offered her hand to the handsome man who –for an unknown reason- smiled mischievously as she got up gracefully.
Dumbledore smiled at Amala, his eyes twinkling and Minerva looked at her as if something would soon blow up and she was afraid of her. Severus had his cold mask on.
"Excuse me, I'll go get some drinks" he said slowly and got up.
"So, Mrs. Wright" McGonagall said, trying to start a conversation. "You are Romanian, right?"
"Yes, madam" she replied with a smile.
"Wright, quite an unusual name for a Romanian" the Professor said.
"Oh, yes, it's not Romanian!" Amala said with a chuckle. "That's my dad's name, he's British, that's why I know English so well. My mother's Romanian though, her name is Rucsandra Tudoran. But of course I have my dad's last name"
"Ah, I see" McGonagall said. "But how come you came to Hogwarts?"
"Ah, my parents went to China with their dragon caretaking jobs and well, I could choose between going to a school in China –which really wasn't an option, since I don't speak Chinese- and coming to stay with my uncle, Bob Wright and learn at Hogwarts. Maybe I could have stayed in Romania, but there was nobody I knew still there and it wasn't a great school either... Magalia, you know it?"
Dumbledore and McGonagall nodded.
"Besides, there was the habit of students staying at home and only coming to school for courses, or they could stay at school, but most went home on weekends. It wasn't like Hogwarts, where you stay all the time, it was a regional school, most students lived close to it and they could ride a broom to school."
"So, you decided to come to Hogwarts" McGonagall said.
"Oh, yes, definitely better! I love it here!" Amala said. "I'll stay here next year, too, since I'm used to it, even if my parents go back to Romania in summer. They said that China is um... is horrible"
"Really?" McGonagall said.
"Yes" she replied. "Of course, going home would be a small problem, but not too great. I can Appa- airplane fly there"
The girl gave small nod and a 'mhm' to go with it. She had a calm face and an 'everything will be fine' attitude, but inside she was biting her lip. She had nearly said she would Apparate home.
Severus returned to them with two bottles of butterbeer, a bottle of mineral water, and a glass with something red in it. He put the mineral water in front of Minerva, the glass in front of Dumbledore and the two butterbeers in front of him and Amala, making her gap.
"Butterbeer?" she asked, staring.
"I consider it inappropriate for students to drink alcohol" Severus replied giving her a reproachful look.
"I was thinking about you, sir" she muttered quietly, but loud enough for him to hear her.
"I consider it inappropriate for me to drink alcohol when I might need to take care of idiotic students until morning" he replied.
"In other words" Dumbledore said with a smile "he doesn't drink alcohol since he is a supervisor of this event"
Amala chuckled to herself and poured some butterbeer into a clean, empty glass.
"Do these glasses clean themselves?" she observed.
"Yes" Dumbledore replied, his eyes twinkling. "It's one of my better ideas, you see... If students lose their glasses or switch tables, they don't need to worry since there are always clean glasses."
"Unfortunately" Severus snorted "they clean themselves a little too often and it is enough for you to leave the table that they do so"
Amala chuckled and Dumbledore replied, shaking his head:
"Ah, yes, there is that problem..."
She smiled and took a sip out of her butterbeer. She was right where she wanted to be: next to Severus, Harry and Luna surprisingly dancing, Hermione and Ron having fun together outside, Ginny and Draco sitting at the table, talking. And all this at Hogwarts. She missed some of her old friends, of course, but she had found others here and here she would stay, regardless of what her parents said.
Because, of course they bugged her with going back home, to her old school and old house. Of course she'd go there... just that in the summer vacation. She wanted to see Mona again, her favorite aunt, almost her sister, not by age –she was older than Amala's mum- but by heart.
Iris and Sirius returned from dancing and Sirius patted gently on Amala's shoulder, making her turn towards him.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked.
"Why, certainly" she replied, getting up and smiling.
Severus looked at them with his cool mask on before he went back to his drink.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"Ow, my foot!" Harry complained.
"Look who's talking, I must have violet feet by now from bruises!" Luna chided.
"That makes us even" he said with a huge smile and she chuckled.
"Shall we go sit down?" Harry asked. "I'm getting quite hurt here"
"Ok" she replied and they went to sit down at their table which had two other inhabitants, as they could see: Ginny and Draco.
"Sorry, guys, Ron alert at our table" Ginny laughed and Harry looked to see her brother and Hermione at their table, arguing about something.
"No problem" both he and Luna said. "You might need some reinforcements with Ron, though" Harry added. "For later"
"Oh, yes..." Draco sighed. "By the way, Potter"
Harry looked at the scene in front of him: Draco was leaning on his chair and had an arm over Ginny's shoulders. His face was serious and more... noble than usual.
"Yes?" he asked.
"I've talked to my father and I managed to pull some information out of him. Apparently, the Dark Lord wants the Green Flame Torch and is willing to go no matter how far for it" Draco said.
"Yes, I got that part, too" Harry mumbled.
"Where on Earth from?" Draco asked.
"One of my Voldemort-dreams" Draco cringed at the word 'Voldemort' "I can see him then, what he's doing, know what he's thinking, feeling"
"You do?" Draco asked. "It must be horrible"
"It is" he replied.
"Anyway, you should put the Torch somewhere very well-hidden, safe, where nobody's been for years and where the Dark Lord can't enter" Draco said, looking thoughtful.
"That takes the Chamber of Secrets out of discussion" Ginny said. "If he ever were to get in Hogwarts, he'd have no problem going there... But it would be safe, since I don't think he'll ever get in the castle"
"I'm not going back there" Harry said and shuddered. "It's been... four years, almost and I hate to think of what is down there. There are crashed boulders and... ugh"
Draco saw Harry make a disgusted face and raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"And a basilisk's dead and rotten body" Harry replied.
"It's probably been eaten by rats until now" Draco said, making them both wear the same type of disgusted faces. "I mean, it probably was, right?"
"Still, the thought of going back there is not appealing" Harry said slowly.
"Right" Draco said and after about a minute said: "I know! How about the room you guys found? It's perfectly safe, nobody's ever heard of it, it's not underground, we can all easily get there, but he can not"
"Good idea" Luna said. "So, you should move it then"
Harry nodded to himself.
"That, I will. That, I will."
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
The Ball had been, in many people's opinion, great and too short But at twelve o'clock precisely, Dumbledore sent them to bed and they all had to comply to the old mage's order. After a good night's sleep, Sirius Black went back to his house.
This Saturday, a week after the events, he settled once again in his kitchen, watching Winky wash some dishes.
"How are you today?" he asked her.
"Very well, Mr. Black sir, very well" she replied with a huge smile. "Me is having somebody to serve, sir! Me is forever grateful!"
"I'm happy for you" Sirius said with a small smile. "Have you fed Buckbeak?"
"Yes, sir, I have" she sweetly replied. "And me has also cleaned up sir's dormitory!"
"Thank you, Winky" he said and went to the library to get himself a book to read.
He scouted across the bookshelves and picked up a magical history book which he had started reading some time before. At Hogwarts, he had always thought of the subject as being quite boring, but then of course, he had taken History classes with Binns! And Binns didn't teach history, he was history, even then. He had died during his seventh year and everybody had done a double take when instead oh their teacher entering the classroom by opening the door, he entered through the blackboard and didn't even seem impressed by the fact that he was no longer alive.
But history was an interesting subject... especially when it came to the fun part, like battles and betrayals, it was like adventure stories sometimes. Of course, the years were completely useless for him, he read them just to find out in what times everything happened. It was interesting for example, to find out that once the King of France had been betrayed by Lucifer the Magical Councilor and that he had let in the castle a few murderers to slay the king. And that of course he had been discovered and the traitor was sent in exile by the king (who had said something along the line: "You have a bad faith, you are Badfaith!", which Badfaith was Malfoy). Now he could laugh his head off at that name. Seemed like the Malfoys had a bad and ugly history since then.
And of course there were other fun stuff to read: like the history of the Chases –and the last chapter he had seen with his own eyes, that Chase girl at the battle becoming the queen of the long-gone kingdom of Fal'sil-. Yes, that was some history. Even involuntarily, the members of the family always chased after something.
And then there were the usual gobbling rebellions that were fun to read since the author of the book was parodying every little thing that happened in the wars, seeming to like them nearly as much as all Binns' students did.
He sighed to himself and started reading a passage on the Ghost War in the time of the Four Founders and mussed to himself that if there was no war that actually took place, they shouldn't have written about it. He shook his head and flipped through the book when Winky came quickly in the room.
"Mister Black, sir, Shakelbolt sir needs to speak to you urgently! He's in the fireplace!"
Sirius put his book down quickly and ran to the kitchen, where Kingsley's head was in the middle of the fire.
"Sirius! We need help, now! It's all a trap! There's no Towers, of course, but there are about ten Death Eaters... Adrianov and Richard have been captured."
"I'm coming, I'll call Tonks and Remus and we'll be joining you soon"
"Ok" Kingsley said. "Say 'Bolivia Bar' in the floo, that's where I am"
Sirius nodded and Kingsley disappeared just as he took his own floo powder and called the other two to him. After that, the three went to 'Bolivia Bar'. Kingsley was waiting for them at a table and as soon as he saw them, he called them to him quickly and said in one breath:
"It wasn't Jack that sent that cassette. It was somebody else and it was a trap. We were searching for him and we found ourselves in the middle of a lot of Death Eaters. I managed to fight my way out of there, but the other two weren't so lucky."
"So, we need to go get them!" Tonks said. "Ok, let's move it! Just say where."
"I have this portkey" Kingsley said, showing them a sock. "Let's go"
The four put their hands on the portkey and were transported for a long while before landing in the middle of a desert-like area.
"California" Kingsley explained and the other three nodded. "Through here, quickly"
They walked fast, nearly running, after Kingsley who led them towards a hill. He circled it before he made it to a door and whispered the unlocking charm. The door unlocked and swung open, letting them enter.
"They went through here" Kingsley said and led them down the corridors.
"How do you know?" Tonks asked, but he didn't reply, just whispering 'shh'.
They followed him to a large door that he opened quietly. They entered a dark room and walked quietly through its middle. As they were pretty far away from the door, they heard a cold laugh and the lights opened, revealing about six or seven Death Eaters who shot disarming spells at them quickly. Sirius, Tonks and Remus fought back viciously, but soon they were tied up. Kingsley looked at them with unfocused eyes.
"Thank you, Shakelbolt, for catching them for me" said one of the Death Eaters, the one with the cold laugh. "How kind of you"
"Kings?" Tonks asked the man who was staring at her, glassy-eyed.
"He won't reply unless I want him to" the Death Eater said, taking off his hood and mask, revealing his face and blond hair. And I don't want him to"
"Lucius" Sirius spat and the man smiled wickedly.
"I see you know my name, mutt" he said slowly.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
AN: Mwahahahahahaha! A CLIFF-HANGER! And it fits so nicely here... You know, just as I was writing this chapter that the plot finally decide to appear nicely in my head. bows Thanks to the big muse up there! whispers Go, muse!
So, review guys. Let me put it this way to you:
No reviews: update in a month
Up to five reviews: update in two weeks
Up to ten reviews: update in one week
Up to twenty reviews: three days
Twenty-five and beyond: Is tomorrow ok?
I mean it! So, I'm off to write the next chap. See you!
Oh, and also, I'd like to say that if you would like some things to be clearer, you should read my 'Four Founders' Hunt'. It's the beginning of everything, including this war and it explains what's up with the Chases and the kingdom that Jane Chase is queen of. Also, there will be a part at the beginning of Harry's seventh year that will be very much connected to that story. If you don't read it, it's no problem, you can still get the point, but there are some explanations about everything there.
Thanks to:
inu-kokoro: thanks! And I'm glad you like it enough to wait... Sincerely, I loved the part with the Grim, too! huge grin I have that scene in my mind right now, Iris saying she sees the grim and Harry mentally hitting his head against a wall.
jgils: thanks! And here's more!
Juli Black Potter: Well, I guess one of your questions is answered: yes, Sev Amala scene, but as much as I would have loved for them to kiss in front of everybody –I even wrote it!-, I realized that neither Severus nor Amala would really do that... And yes, I'll write about the second war, it's coming. The sequel aka Harry's seventh year is mostly about that.
Tsusetsu: Thanks! For reading and reviewing and... and reading and reviewing again and saying nice things! Yes, I like 'Hotel California'... grins Also, the story will end... just not now! I don't know how, it keeps getting longer, but I don't mind. I like it. I love it! But there are only a few more chapters left. Then, the sequel will come...
The Red Dragons Order: Yes, I was wondering where you had disappeared to. Thanks for reviewing! big goofy grin And I like Towers and his Master, too. mutteres And boy, are you gonna have a sur...stops Hmm, shouldn't have said that. Shouldn't have said that...
Dedication: to the Red Dragons Order...
Chapter 32: Balls and Surprises
"And friends come to the call
They'll read our names on the door
If they could read our minds they'd find
That since we're sharing the same bed,
We're not sharing the same dreams...anymore"
"Oh, shut the hell up!" Sirius said, nearly throwing the Muggle radio across the room. He'd had a bad night and a sad song about how bad relationships went after a while were not welcomed. Instead, listening to the voice of reason, he switched to another channel.
"Let's go hand in hand
Into love-me land
Side by side
To a world that shines so bright!"
"More bloody likely!" he said and grinned to himself and proceeded to getting up from his bed. A difficult task, since he had a headache. Argh, note to self: never ever drink without supervision like that! And if drinking without supervision, then he would not think about Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. Nope. Never. Must hide all alcohol away. And never think about the twelve years in Azkaban, either.
He got up slowly and threw some clothes on himself so that just in case somebody was in his house, he would be decent enough not to feel extremely weird afterward. Yeah, if Remus may have come, that wouldn't be a problem, but if Dumbledore himself entered the house, well... Let's just say you don't want to be walking through the house in underpants when a man over a hundred is visiting.
He went to Buckbeak's room and fed the hippogriff –who seemed to be ok- and went down to the kitchen. As soon as he had been back, he had been told that Kreacher had been taken away by Jack Towers and he had been replaced by Winky. The poor thing had been simply delighted to serve another wizarding family and Sirius was a lot more like her old home than Hogwarts.
He was just drinking some coffee when a head appeared in the fire.
"Hello, love" said the beautifully-faced woman.
"Iris" he said with a grin. "Do come in!"
"Oh, no, no, have a class in ten minutes" she replied with a smile. "Have you heard of the ball this Saturday?"
"Um... nope" he replied truthfully. "What ball?"
"Dumbledore is throwing one to celebrate the first battle" she replied.
"Is he nuts?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course!" she replied with the same casual smile. "But that's not the issue here. Coming?"
"Well... yes" he replied after thinking it over for a minute. "But am I allowed to?"
"Definitely. I asked Dumbledore if you could come and he said yes" Iris replied. "See you on Saturday, then"
"See you" he replied and smiled as her head disappeared. His day was getting better. And then he realized he had no clue what time he had to be there. "Oh, well, I'll just go there in the early hours of the morning, then" he said to himself with a grin.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Harry yawned and threw himself out of bed. Gosh, he'd have to get ready for classes. Six classes and the first just had to be Potions. And who on earth would he ask to the ball?
Of course Ron didn't have that problem now... No, he was fine. He had Hermione. But what if 'the boy-who-lived' would go alone? Would that be such a terrible thing?
He got dressed and went to breakfast with Ron, not seeing the girls around. They both chatted about the school's normal insanity for a while, not even noticing how they entered the Great Hall and sat to breakfast.
"So what I say, mate" Ron said "is that all Slytherins should be hanged"
"Hey, come on, Draco's not that bad lately" Harry said slowly and shot a glance at said Slytherin who was eating between his Pansy Parkinson and a first year.
"Of course not, but at least Crabbe and Goyle" Ron replied.
"Pardon me" said a dreamy voice behind Harry and he turned to see who it was. "Harry, do you have a date for the ball?"
Harry looked at the girl in front of him: Luna Lovegood. She was smiling at him while her eyes –half-closed- were looking at him maybe a bit dreamily. She had a long necklace with a huge medallion made out of something not very expensive-looking, but quite nice and two quite large earrings shaped like balls and made out of... was that fur?!
"No, I don't" he replied, staring at her.
"Neither do I" she said slowly. "Wanna go with me?"
"Um... sure" Harry replied. It wasn't as if he had anyone better to chose.
"Wonderful. See you there, then" she said and went back to the Ravenclaw table, leaving the two to stare behind her.
"Well, mate, seems you have no problem with the ball anymore, now do ya?" Ron snickered.
"Shut up" Harry replied, elbowing his friend who snickered.
"You like her, don't you?" he asked.
"No" Harry replied truthfully and Ron lost his mischievous smile.
"Oh... ok, then" he replied and dug back in his eggs.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"POTTER!" Snape cried as Harry was about to put his next ingredient to the potion he was brewing.
"What?" Harry asked and quickly added: "Sir"
"What happens if you add that now? Mr. Malfoy, do you know?" the Potion Master said, after glancing around the dungeon.
"The whole potion blows up" Draco replied with a wicked smile. Harry couldn't tell if he was smiling like that because he was thrilled of the thought of the mess the potion would make by blowing up or by the fact that he was in trouble.
"Right. Ten points to Slytherin" Snape said with a small nod and an unpleasant smile. Well, his attitude hadn't changed since he had started going out with Amala, that was true. "So, Mr. Potter, that means ten points from Gryffindor. And you, Mrs. Granger, couldn't you tell him not to do it? Five more points from Gryffindor"
Harry sighed. This way, they'd be at the end of the House Cup Championship that year. Snape moved back to the front of the class and stared at Neville's cauldron.
"Very well, Mr. Longbottom. I see your skills have improved greatly since winter. You haven't blown up any cauldrons anymore and you haven't messed up badly since then. Therefore, I say this calls for a special occasion... the Headmaster claimed I was not fair in my point-awarding. Therefore, I award... one point to Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindors stared and Ron even went as far as to start laughing. One point? One point?!
"What's so funny, Mr. Weasley? Care to enlighten us?" Snape snapped.
"Um... you not being fair, Professor" Ron replied nodding fast. "Funny. You're fair, the Headmaster must know?"
Snape stared at him and shook his head.
"This young and already a suck-up. Indeed, a Weasley" he sighed to himself, making the Slytherins laugh. Ron mumbled something and the Gryffindors glared.
Harry sighed to himself. Some things never changed... but others did. Did Severus Snape award a point to Gryffindor? That was a first. Even if it was well-deserved.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
And so came the great day of the ball. It had been settled to six o'clock in the afternoon –as they all found out off the notice board, since Dumbledore had of course forgotten to tell them-. Hermione had locked herself in the room at three o'clock, taking Amala with her –the later had ignored Ron's loud cry of 'but your boyfriend won't be there' and sighed to herself. Yes, she knew Severus wouldn't be able to even dace with her, but she would still look good-. The boys only took less than an hour to get themselves ready.
And then, they had to actually go down to the Great Hall...Ugh. Harry felt nervous, although a lot less nervous than in his fourth year. Ron seemed to be happy at going with Hermione –he seemed to remember her ball-look from two years ago-.
Amala was wonderfully dressed in a long white robe and she wore a gold necklace and gold earrings. Her black hair was loose, but very well- looking. She wore just a little bit of make-up, but she looked great.
"Come on, Harry, give me your arm" she said with a grin.
"Excuse me?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"You heard me!" she laughed. "Give me your arm! Don't be shy, I don't byte..."
"Snape would kill me" he muttered in her ear.
"Nah, I think he'd understand" she replied quietly with a grin. After that, she raised her voice "Besides, you've got a date waiting for you there, but until then, you should help a girl in distress and take my arm, oh, night in shiny armor!"
"Oh, my, Harry's afraid to take a girl's arm" Ginny laughed. "Fraidy-cat!"
Harry smiled shyly before he took Amala's arm.
"Well, let's go" Ron said, grinning and the four exited the common room, chatting happily. Soon after them, Ginny came in a quick pace.
"Hey, Harry, do you have another arm?" she asked with a chuckle.
"What?!" he asked, confused.
"I'm meeting my date there, so I really don't have anyone with whom to walk" she replied and Amala laughed.
"What, sharing Harry?! No way!"
"Oh, yes!" Ginny said. "Don't be greedy!"
"Fine! But I got to him first!" Amala said and Harry found himself between two women. "Harry, why on earth are you so tensed?"
"Maybe he doesn't like too many women by his side" Ginny giggled and Harry turned red.
After walking with the two girls through the whole castle, Harry finally made it to the entrance to the Great Hall, where there were a lot of students waiting. Of course, Luna spotted him quickly as he let go of the two.
"Hello, Harry" she said and waved slowly.
"Hi, Luna" he replied and went to her. To his surprise, she hugged him tightly, making him wonder if there was something in the air tonight.
"Let's go in, most students are inside" she said and smiled.
Harry felt a bit surprised before he realized that of course this time there were no school champions to open the ball. He smiled at her and they both went inside... or rather tried to, before he heard a loud cry:
"HE is your date?!"
They both turned to see Ron eyeing his sister with a terrible look on his face. Hermione was trying to calm him down, but then Harry saw who was at her arm: Draco Malfoy.
"Why, I do believe I am, Weasel" Draco sneered. "Have a problem with that?"
"Of course I do!" Ron replied. "How dare you go out with my sister"
"Calm down, Ron, it's not as if he were hurting her or anything" Hermione said.
"Not hurting her!" he cried.
"But you're hurting me!" Ginny said. "Please, Ron, think about it: him or Michael Corner?"
"What?! Michael Corner!" Ron said and Hermione rolled her eyes.
"But at least Draco is more mature" she said. "Let them be!"
"But..." he started, offended.
"Let them!" she snapped and he grumbled as she led him to the Great Hall.
Harry looked behind them and then at Ginny, the youngest of the Weasleys. She was Ron's sister and Ron was like a brother... she also seemed to be his sister.
"Ron may have forgotten this, Malfoy, but I haven't" Harry said with an amused smile. "Hurt her and I'll kill you!"
"I'll watch out for that" he replied simply.
After that, Harry offered his arm to Luna and they entered the Great Hall.
"You know, he stopped dating all those girls when he started going out with Ginny" Luna said slowly.
"Oh my God! He was a don Juan, I forgot" Harry said, his eyes widening.
"Was, past tense" Luna said and stifled her laughter. "Ginny made him stop chasing women. She has that effect on men"
"Right" he said and nodded to himself, as he took in the arrangement of the Hall.
There were small round tables everywhere and most of the teachers sat at the same table. Severus Snape was looking through the Hall glaring at all students. It was pretty much like Harry's fourth year.
Amala sat down with Harry and Luna and she ordered herself some food, after Harry explained to her how she could do it. The two of them also ordered some food.
After they had finished eating, at the teacher's table, Sybill Trelawney appeared, so Snape decided to walk around the Hall. He went to Hermione and Ron and said something nobody could get, but that sounded menacing. The two nodded quickly and, after he left, they smiled at each other. In two minutes, Hermione went over to their table to say something.
"Amala, could I have a word with you?" she asked and dragged the girl away from the company.
Harry looked at them and shrugged as they took Ron and exited the Hall.
"So, how are you, Harry?" Luna asked.
"I'm fine. How're you?" he asked and realized just how standard the conversation was, but Luna didn't seem to notice.
"Wonderful. My dad has a great story on the ghouls in the Egyptian pyramids. It's going to be a great edition!"
"Really?" Harry asked. "What's it about?"
Before he knew it, he had been dragged into a conversation about myths of the wizards with Luna and she was happily providing him all types of information. Which helped him understand that she just had very weird ideas and preferences when it came to passing time and wearing clothes, but otherwise she was rather intelligent and kind. Well, the intelligent part he should have realized earlier, after all, she was in Ravenclaw.
So, it seemed that she knew a lot of everything, but that she preferred all things that were unsure, uncertain, unproved. And she was always dreamy because she dreamed of the day when she and her father would finally prove their theories. That explained a lot.
It was actually funny how people actually were when you got to know them... Maybe Severus Snape wasn't such a bad man either, he was starting to realize. Maybe Amala saw the... human in him.
He glanced around to find him, but he seemed to have left the Hall He didn't blame him either, since next to his seat sat Trelawney. Rose hadn't yet got there. But otherwise, the Hall was full.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Amala was standing next to Greenhouse Three and was smiling widely. Severus had went to Ron and Hermione and, in a snappy tone –as not to raise any suspicions- told them to get her out of the Hall and next to the greenhouse. And of course Hermione had dragged her out and had taken Ron with her, saying she had her own little plan with her boyfriend.
So, now she awaited for Severus to arrive. And she didn't wait long.
"Lovely evening, isn't it, Mrs. Wright?" said a slow silky voice from behind her, making her turn around.
"Yes, Mr. Snape, I do believe it is" she said, deciding to play along. She smiled subtly and stretched her robes with her hands, making them look like a large dress. "But why have you called me here tonight, Mr. Snape?"
He laughed quietly and she dropped her act –and her robes along with it-, joining him in his laughter.
"Because the dungeons are too cold and dark for a young woman" he replied.
She smiled at him and he took her hand, going with her to the front of the greenhouse from where the moon could be seen floating on the beautiful night sky.
"Never knew you were a romantic" she whispered to him.
"There are many things you don't know about me" he said quietly with a small smile which turned quickly in a sad one.
"Hey, don't lose it now, Sev" she said, squeezing his hand easily. "Let's not let shadows of the past darken the present, shall we?"
"Fine" he replied.
They looked at the moon hand in hand for a while before he put a hand over her shoulders and she immediately leaned on him.
"What if somebody sees us here like this?" she muttered.
"Nobody will, they haven't finished eating yet and if they have, they know the dance will start soon" he replied.
Amala smiled at him before she turned to look at the sky again. Yes, fighting for him had proved to be a very good idea.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"Would you like a drink?" Draco asked his beautiful girlfriend.
"Why, yes" she replied with a huge smile.
Draco nodded and went to get the drink from the small bar that Dumbledore had put there –difference from two years ago-. Of course, there were no alcoholic drinks, but still. He grabbed three butterbeers and went back to the table with them. Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione had returned from outside and Ron dragged her to their table, since theirs was occupied.
"Do we have desert?" Ron asked casually.
"I thinks so" Ginny replied and sighed to herself. Was there really no way to get Ron out of there?
"Great! Mind if we sit here? Our table's been taken" Ron asked, not noticing Hermione's 'subtle' suggestions that they should take another table. Draco looked at them and decided that, even if it cost him a night with Ginny, getting along with the Weasleys was a great idea, so he replied with a small, nearly unnoticeable sigh.
"Sure, why not?" he said and sat down with the two drinks. "Would you guys like some drinks?"
"Oh, you needn't bother, Ron will get them, right Ron?" Hermione said with one of her best smiles.
"Sure I will" he muttered and walked over to the bar.
"Sorry about this, Ginny, Draco" Hermione said, smiling shyly. "I couldn't stop him..."
"Don't bother" Ginny replied. "Hey, look, there's Snape, where's he been?"
Hermione saw him enter and replied with a small innocent shrug:
"Dunno"
But as soon as Draco turned his head to look for somebody in the Great Hall, she mouthed to her: 'tell you later'. Ginny nodded and Draco looked for a few more seconds in the opposite direction before his head snapped back.
"Here comes your brother with the drinks" he told Ginny. "Hermione, do you reckon the dance starts soon?"
"Yes, I think so" Hermione replied with a chuckle. "I'll try to keep Ron off your tail, but I make no promises"
"Thanks" Draco said and Ron brought the drinks. "Hey, look at that!"
The other three turned to look at what Draco was showing them.
"Why, it's Sirius Black and Professor Rose" Ginny said, her eyes widening.
"Yes, it is!" Hermione said. "Seems like they're together..."
"Definitely" Draco said with a nod. "Who'd have known?"
Hermione and Ron exchanged a look, but that went unnoticed. And after that, finally, Dumbledore stood up and gave the signal for the beginning of the dance –making Ginny mutter 'finally'-. The Weird Sisters were playing again.
Draco pompously asked Ginny to dance and she accepted, both of them going to the middle of the dance ring. And again, one could notice the difference fro two years ago: the table, although perfectly clear, remained on their spots since the arrangement of the space was so good, there was a dance ring from the beginning. And of course, this time it wasn't crowded because of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students.
"Let's go dance, Hermione" Ron said, gazing after his sister.
"Actually, I was thinking of something better" she said with a mind taking smile.
"Really?" Ron asked, pushing Ginny in the back of his mind.
"Yes... How about you go bring two butterbeers and we go outside?" she asked, smiling her most attractive smile.
"Sure, no problem" Ron replied and got up to search for the drinks. Meanwhile, Hermione searched the Great Hall for somebody –and managed to find her soon-
"Amala! How'd it go?" she asked the white-robed girl.
"Great" she replied, coming over to her. "Never knew he was a romantic, too..."
Hermione grinned and noticed Ron come up with the butterbeers.
"Well, gotta go!" she said to her friend and got up. Amala nodded in a friendly way to Ron and he nodded back. She looked around to find someone to sit with, but she noticed that Harry was dancing with Luna and their table was empty. Ginny and Draco were also dancing. Actually, nearly everybody was dancing. She noticed a table with a single spear chair at it that she would very much like to sit at, but she wasn't sure it would be a great idea. After all, the table currently seated Dumbledore, McGonagall, Severus, Iris and Sirius.
To her surprise, Iris noticed her looking that way and waved her hand towards her in a calling gesture. Surprised, she pointed to herself and mouthed 'me?' and Iris nodded enthusiastically. Amala shrugged and went to the table and sat down right between Severus and Iris –that was the only spear chair-.
"How've you been?" Iris asked. "Have you been practicing?"
"Oh, yeah" Amala replied with a grin. That afternoon when Iris had called her at her office they had had the chance to befriend each other and iris had told her that Naranesh had decided for Iris to be her teacher for a while. So, the beautiful teacher had taught her a few 'light techniques'.
She remembered Iris's small speech at the beginning: As a being on the path of pure light, your path will be more difficult than the others, much more difficult, but the repayment is much greater. There are very few things you can do to help yourself on this path, it is rather about the inner attitude regarding the world. However, in order to increase your power and energy, there are certain 'techniques' you can use. You will learn about breath and how it can help you evolve, about colors and sounds. You will learn of love and devotion. And you must understand that by abandoning yourself to the real source of love and wisdom, you will get to be more powerful than nearly anybody else. Naranesh... she is human, but she became a goddess. That is the power of the light path. The power of keeping all darkness away by mere presence
The rest of the lesson, Iris had told her to practice being very attentive at every small gesture she did. Which was kind of fun, but maybe a bit difficult, more difficult than she had expected it to be.
"Well, it's good to hear that" she said with a smile. "Sirius, aren't you going to ask me to dance?"
"Why, yes, I will" the man replied and got up, bowing slightly. "Ahem, will you please dance with me?"
"Certainly!" she replied with a chuckle and offered her hand to the handsome man who –for an unknown reason- smiled mischievously as she got up gracefully.
Dumbledore smiled at Amala, his eyes twinkling and Minerva looked at her as if something would soon blow up and she was afraid of her. Severus had his cold mask on.
"Excuse me, I'll go get some drinks" he said slowly and got up.
"So, Mrs. Wright" McGonagall said, trying to start a conversation. "You are Romanian, right?"
"Yes, madam" she replied with a smile.
"Wright, quite an unusual name for a Romanian" the Professor said.
"Oh, yes, it's not Romanian!" Amala said with a chuckle. "That's my dad's name, he's British, that's why I know English so well. My mother's Romanian though, her name is Rucsandra Tudoran. But of course I have my dad's last name"
"Ah, I see" McGonagall said. "But how come you came to Hogwarts?"
"Ah, my parents went to China with their dragon caretaking jobs and well, I could choose between going to a school in China –which really wasn't an option, since I don't speak Chinese- and coming to stay with my uncle, Bob Wright and learn at Hogwarts. Maybe I could have stayed in Romania, but there was nobody I knew still there and it wasn't a great school either... Magalia, you know it?"
Dumbledore and McGonagall nodded.
"Besides, there was the habit of students staying at home and only coming to school for courses, or they could stay at school, but most went home on weekends. It wasn't like Hogwarts, where you stay all the time, it was a regional school, most students lived close to it and they could ride a broom to school."
"So, you decided to come to Hogwarts" McGonagall said.
"Oh, yes, definitely better! I love it here!" Amala said. "I'll stay here next year, too, since I'm used to it, even if my parents go back to Romania in summer. They said that China is um... is horrible"
"Really?" McGonagall said.
"Yes" she replied. "Of course, going home would be a small problem, but not too great. I can Appa- airplane fly there"
The girl gave small nod and a 'mhm' to go with it. She had a calm face and an 'everything will be fine' attitude, but inside she was biting her lip. She had nearly said she would Apparate home.
Severus returned to them with two bottles of butterbeer, a bottle of mineral water, and a glass with something red in it. He put the mineral water in front of Minerva, the glass in front of Dumbledore and the two butterbeers in front of him and Amala, making her gap.
"Butterbeer?" she asked, staring.
"I consider it inappropriate for students to drink alcohol" Severus replied giving her a reproachful look.
"I was thinking about you, sir" she muttered quietly, but loud enough for him to hear her.
"I consider it inappropriate for me to drink alcohol when I might need to take care of idiotic students until morning" he replied.
"In other words" Dumbledore said with a smile "he doesn't drink alcohol since he is a supervisor of this event"
Amala chuckled to herself and poured some butterbeer into a clean, empty glass.
"Do these glasses clean themselves?" she observed.
"Yes" Dumbledore replied, his eyes twinkling. "It's one of my better ideas, you see... If students lose their glasses or switch tables, they don't need to worry since there are always clean glasses."
"Unfortunately" Severus snorted "they clean themselves a little too often and it is enough for you to leave the table that they do so"
Amala chuckled and Dumbledore replied, shaking his head:
"Ah, yes, there is that problem..."
She smiled and took a sip out of her butterbeer. She was right where she wanted to be: next to Severus, Harry and Luna surprisingly dancing, Hermione and Ron having fun together outside, Ginny and Draco sitting at the table, talking. And all this at Hogwarts. She missed some of her old friends, of course, but she had found others here and here she would stay, regardless of what her parents said.
Because, of course they bugged her with going back home, to her old school and old house. Of course she'd go there... just that in the summer vacation. She wanted to see Mona again, her favorite aunt, almost her sister, not by age –she was older than Amala's mum- but by heart.
Iris and Sirius returned from dancing and Sirius patted gently on Amala's shoulder, making her turn towards him.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked.
"Why, certainly" she replied, getting up and smiling.
Severus looked at them with his cool mask on before he went back to his drink.
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"Ow, my foot!" Harry complained.
"Look who's talking, I must have violet feet by now from bruises!" Luna chided.
"That makes us even" he said with a huge smile and she chuckled.
"Shall we go sit down?" Harry asked. "I'm getting quite hurt here"
"Ok" she replied and they went to sit down at their table which had two other inhabitants, as they could see: Ginny and Draco.
"Sorry, guys, Ron alert at our table" Ginny laughed and Harry looked to see her brother and Hermione at their table, arguing about something.
"No problem" both he and Luna said. "You might need some reinforcements with Ron, though" Harry added. "For later"
"Oh, yes..." Draco sighed. "By the way, Potter"
Harry looked at the scene in front of him: Draco was leaning on his chair and had an arm over Ginny's shoulders. His face was serious and more... noble than usual.
"Yes?" he asked.
"I've talked to my father and I managed to pull some information out of him. Apparently, the Dark Lord wants the Green Flame Torch and is willing to go no matter how far for it" Draco said.
"Yes, I got that part, too" Harry mumbled.
"Where on Earth from?" Draco asked.
"One of my Voldemort-dreams" Draco cringed at the word 'Voldemort' "I can see him then, what he's doing, know what he's thinking, feeling"
"You do?" Draco asked. "It must be horrible"
"It is" he replied.
"Anyway, you should put the Torch somewhere very well-hidden, safe, where nobody's been for years and where the Dark Lord can't enter" Draco said, looking thoughtful.
"That takes the Chamber of Secrets out of discussion" Ginny said. "If he ever were to get in Hogwarts, he'd have no problem going there... But it would be safe, since I don't think he'll ever get in the castle"
"I'm not going back there" Harry said and shuddered. "It's been... four years, almost and I hate to think of what is down there. There are crashed boulders and... ugh"
Draco saw Harry make a disgusted face and raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"And a basilisk's dead and rotten body" Harry replied.
"It's probably been eaten by rats until now" Draco said, making them both wear the same type of disgusted faces. "I mean, it probably was, right?"
"Still, the thought of going back there is not appealing" Harry said slowly.
"Right" Draco said and after about a minute said: "I know! How about the room you guys found? It's perfectly safe, nobody's ever heard of it, it's not underground, we can all easily get there, but he can not"
"Good idea" Luna said. "So, you should move it then"
Harry nodded to himself.
"That, I will. That, I will."
/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
The Ball had been, in many people's opinion, great and too short But at twelve o'clock precisely, Dumbledore sent them to bed and they all had to comply to the old mage's order. After a good night's sleep, Sirius Black went back to his house.
This Saturday, a week after the events, he settled once again in his kitchen, watching Winky wash some dishes.
"How are you today?" he asked her.
"Very well, Mr. Black sir, very well" she replied with a huge smile. "Me is having somebody to serve, sir! Me is forever grateful!"
"I'm happy for you" Sirius said with a small smile. "Have you fed Buckbeak?"
"Yes, sir, I have" she sweetly replied. "And me has also cleaned up sir's dormitory!"
"Thank you, Winky" he said and went to the library to get himself a book to read.
He scouted across the bookshelves and picked up a magical history book which he had started reading some time before. At Hogwarts, he had always thought of the subject as being quite boring, but then of course, he had taken History classes with Binns! And Binns didn't teach history, he was history, even then. He had died during his seventh year and everybody had done a double take when instead oh their teacher entering the classroom by opening the door, he entered through the blackboard and didn't even seem impressed by the fact that he was no longer alive.
But history was an interesting subject... especially when it came to the fun part, like battles and betrayals, it was like adventure stories sometimes. Of course, the years were completely useless for him, he read them just to find out in what times everything happened. It was interesting for example, to find out that once the King of France had been betrayed by Lucifer the Magical Councilor and that he had let in the castle a few murderers to slay the king. And that of course he had been discovered and the traitor was sent in exile by the king (who had said something along the line: "You have a bad faith, you are Badfaith!", which Badfaith was Malfoy). Now he could laugh his head off at that name. Seemed like the Malfoys had a bad and ugly history since then.
And of course there were other fun stuff to read: like the history of the Chases –and the last chapter he had seen with his own eyes, that Chase girl at the battle becoming the queen of the long-gone kingdom of Fal'sil-. Yes, that was some history. Even involuntarily, the members of the family always chased after something.
And then there were the usual gobbling rebellions that were fun to read since the author of the book was parodying every little thing that happened in the wars, seeming to like them nearly as much as all Binns' students did.
He sighed to himself and started reading a passage on the Ghost War in the time of the Four Founders and mussed to himself that if there was no war that actually took place, they shouldn't have written about it. He shook his head and flipped through the book when Winky came quickly in the room.
"Mister Black, sir, Shakelbolt sir needs to speak to you urgently! He's in the fireplace!"
Sirius put his book down quickly and ran to the kitchen, where Kingsley's head was in the middle of the fire.
"Sirius! We need help, now! It's all a trap! There's no Towers, of course, but there are about ten Death Eaters... Adrianov and Richard have been captured."
"I'm coming, I'll call Tonks and Remus and we'll be joining you soon"
"Ok" Kingsley said. "Say 'Bolivia Bar' in the floo, that's where I am"
Sirius nodded and Kingsley disappeared just as he took his own floo powder and called the other two to him. After that, the three went to 'Bolivia Bar'. Kingsley was waiting for them at a table and as soon as he saw them, he called them to him quickly and said in one breath:
"It wasn't Jack that sent that cassette. It was somebody else and it was a trap. We were searching for him and we found ourselves in the middle of a lot of Death Eaters. I managed to fight my way out of there, but the other two weren't so lucky."
"So, we need to go get them!" Tonks said. "Ok, let's move it! Just say where."
"I have this portkey" Kingsley said, showing them a sock. "Let's go"
The four put their hands on the portkey and were transported for a long while before landing in the middle of a desert-like area.
"California" Kingsley explained and the other three nodded. "Through here, quickly"
They walked fast, nearly running, after Kingsley who led them towards a hill. He circled it before he made it to a door and whispered the unlocking charm. The door unlocked and swung open, letting them enter.
"They went through here" Kingsley said and led them down the corridors.
"How do you know?" Tonks asked, but he didn't reply, just whispering 'shh'.
They followed him to a large door that he opened quietly. They entered a dark room and walked quietly through its middle. As they were pretty far away from the door, they heard a cold laugh and the lights opened, revealing about six or seven Death Eaters who shot disarming spells at them quickly. Sirius, Tonks and Remus fought back viciously, but soon they were tied up. Kingsley looked at them with unfocused eyes.
"Thank you, Shakelbolt, for catching them for me" said one of the Death Eaters, the one with the cold laugh. "How kind of you"
"Kings?" Tonks asked the man who was staring at her, glassy-eyed.
"He won't reply unless I want him to" the Death Eater said, taking off his hood and mask, revealing his face and blond hair. And I don't want him to"
"Lucius" Sirius spat and the man smiled wickedly.
"I see you know my name, mutt" he said slowly.
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AN: Mwahahahahahaha! A CLIFF-HANGER! And it fits so nicely here... You know, just as I was writing this chapter that the plot finally decide to appear nicely in my head. bows Thanks to the big muse up there! whispers Go, muse!
So, review guys. Let me put it this way to you:
No reviews: update in a month
Up to five reviews: update in two weeks
Up to ten reviews: update in one week
Up to twenty reviews: three days
Twenty-five and beyond: Is tomorrow ok?
I mean it! So, I'm off to write the next chap. See you!
Oh, and also, I'd like to say that if you would like some things to be clearer, you should read my 'Four Founders' Hunt'. It's the beginning of everything, including this war and it explains what's up with the Chases and the kingdom that Jane Chase is queen of. Also, there will be a part at the beginning of Harry's seventh year that will be very much connected to that story. If you don't read it, it's no problem, you can still get the point, but there are some explanations about everything there.
Thanks to:
inu-kokoro: thanks! And I'm glad you like it enough to wait... Sincerely, I loved the part with the Grim, too! huge grin I have that scene in my mind right now, Iris saying she sees the grim and Harry mentally hitting his head against a wall.
jgils: thanks! And here's more!
Juli Black Potter: Well, I guess one of your questions is answered: yes, Sev Amala scene, but as much as I would have loved for them to kiss in front of everybody –I even wrote it!-, I realized that neither Severus nor Amala would really do that... And yes, I'll write about the second war, it's coming. The sequel aka Harry's seventh year is mostly about that.
Tsusetsu: Thanks! For reading and reviewing and... and reading and reviewing again and saying nice things! Yes, I like 'Hotel California'... grins Also, the story will end... just not now! I don't know how, it keeps getting longer, but I don't mind. I like it. I love it! But there are only a few more chapters left. Then, the sequel will come...
The Red Dragons Order: Yes, I was wondering where you had disappeared to. Thanks for reviewing! big goofy grin And I like Towers and his Master, too. mutteres And boy, are you gonna have a sur...stops Hmm, shouldn't have said that. Shouldn't have said that...