A/N hey people!!! Thanks to everyone who reviewed!! I'm making this chapter a happier one, so a bit of humour will come. Hahahahha. That sort of thing.

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Every single flame was snuffed. The Sphere was plunged into total darkness. The four figures in the room were all stock still, none of them moving, three of them not even daring to breathe.

Rory was watching it all happen. She, her essence, her soul, was watching the whole scene. She couldn't really place herself, though.

Was she in the room, watching from above them? Was she among them, inside her body but not awake yet?

It was odd. She could see, envisage what was happening, but she couldn't tell which angle she was at, and couldn't place herself.

As if she herself had no reality in this. She definitely wasn't part of what was happening; that much was obvious. Or, at least, not yet. Any minute now, she would be part of it again.

Wait, how did she know that? She couldn't hear anything that was said; couldn't feel movement in the room when people moved. And despite her lack of being, she was there.

It wasn't as much she could see it, because she couldn't feel her eyes moving or blinking. She tried to wave a hand in front of her face.  "If you can't see your hands in a dream, then it's a nightmare," she remembered someone telling her when she was young. What? This wasn't a nightmare. In nightmares, you were asleep, not…other.

Okay, so no hand waving. It took her a while to realize that there weren't any legs, or eyes, or anything really. She wasn't there.

It was almost as though she was envisioning it without being there, like one did with a book. No, she knew it was happening.

I'm terrible at remembering dreams, she thought miserably. I'm not going to remember any of this at all.

Just as she was planning a way of trying to recall this experience when she knew there was a faint hum around her. Looking down at her prone body, she saw her real self quivering slightly, and then there was nothing.

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Harry felt a chill roll up his spine. He looked over at Aurora. She made the slightest movement, and then suddenly, the candles lit up once more. He dropped the parchment he was holding and, tripping unceremoniously over a candle, ("Ouch! Aargh, my cloak's on fire!") he made his way over to Aurora. Draco was already there.

"She's…um…not awake." Draco spoke bluntly, confused.

Harry felt his hopes drop a bit, before looking closer at her face. "But, look! She's got a lot of colour back in her face – normal colour! She's not so blue anymore. And her wounds are completely healed," he said, examining the holes in her black dress that revealed perfectly smooth skin, with no trace of blood anywhere.

Draco looked over at Harry sharply. "I'll excuse you this time, Potter," he said, his tone suddenly sounding dangerously like Percy Weasley, "But if you EVER look at Aurora's chest like that again, I will hex your balls off."

Rose grinned. "Ouch."

Harry turned many colours; first red, then white then green as he thought it over. "Oh. Alright," he finished weakly, his voice strangely high.

Rose stifled a giggle. "I think she's just sleeping. Do you think we should take her to the Hospital wing?"

Draco nodded. "Madam Pomfrey probably needs to give her a checkup."

Rose snapped her fingers again, and the natural light in the Sphere came back. They opened the door to the Meeting Room and passed through, Harry taking Aurora along using a levitation spell.

As they came clear of the door, the four of them were accosted by Aurors and friends.

"Is she alright?"

"Will she be okay?"

"I'll say this once more, Mundungus, put that whiskey away immediately!"

"But I tell you, Minnie, it'll make 'er better! Put the wind back in her sails."

"Fletcher, as her Head of House I tell you now that you will NOT ply Miss Malfoy with any alcohol whatsoever."

"Oh, Severus, there's no need to pull rank on him."

"Sybill, the girl has been through a lot and now – drinking? It's preposterous! Whiskey from him, no less. Lord knows where the old hobo has been."

"Whoops, I spilled a bit on 'er dress… wait, you called me a hobo?!"

"A useless old drunk, yes. And look, you've splashed my student with alcohol!"

"…least my hair's been washed in the last five years, even if it was with scotch…"

"Minerva, Mundungus, maybe chocolate would be better than whiskey once she wakes?"

"Good idea, Remus!"

"Well, it's no Jack Daniel's, but I suppose…"

"Quiet!"

Everyone froze, looking at Draco's exasperated face before turning around to where Aurora was floating.

"Pansy, I'm trying to sleep. Wish you wouldn't snore so loudly…" the blonde girl mumbled, rolling over in mid-air. On a bed, it would be a very normal action; while floating, it looked very odd indeed.

Harry's eyes popped. "She…huh?"

Draco looked bewildered, but was grinning anyway. "Sounds like she's back to normal."

Dumbledore was fairly glowing. "Excellent. I think that I should take Miss Malfoy to the Hospital wing now. It seems the spell went perfectly."

McGonnagal nodded. "Of course, Albus. Perhaps the Order should stay here, and finish our discussion."

The old man smiled. "Excellent. I'll take our group of students to the Hospital wing as well."

A short time later, Dumbledore, Harry, Rose, Aurora, Draco, Ron, Ginny, Hermione and Lindsey arrived at the door of the Hospital wing. The Headmaster paused before going in. He looked at Harry, hesitating.

"Professor?" Harry prompted. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Dumbledore smiled, his blue eyes twinkling in a way Harry couldn't quite place. "Yes, Mister Potter, there is."

He leaned closer. "Would you mind going in first to guide Miss Malfoy? Make sure she doesn't hit anything?"

Harry shrugged. "Sure." He opened the door, and led the way in. After taking about seven steps inside, he looked behind him and saw that the other sixth-years (plus Rose) had entered, while the Headmaster was still outside.

He heard some quick footsteps in front of him and whipped around to see Madam Pomfrey in all her glory. She swooped down upon Aurora, making clucking sounds and shining lights into her eyes.

"Why wasn't she brought here sooner, Potter?" she barked at Harry. "I am the Mediwitch at this school! You will turn to ME when a student is injured! Minerva told me what happened, and she waits until now bring her here…"

Not missing a beat, Madam Pomfrey grabbed some hospital pyjamas from a cupboard and chased the boys out while drawing a screen around Aurora and Hermione, throwing the pyjamas to the brunette so she could change her friend. She had just pulled the curtain shut when she froze stock-still.

"Where. Is. He." She ground out through gritted teeth. Harry looked at Ron, confusion evident in his face.

"I'm sorry?" he asked. "Who?"

The Mediwitch balled her fists so that her knuckles turned white. She stomped over to the door to the hospital wing and threw it open, revealing a very sheepish-looking Headmaster.

"ALBUS! What have I told you! You take a student to me immediately!"

He ducked, but it didn't stop him being hit many times with a Magiscope (a magical stethoscope). "But Poppy, there were…circumstances, and…I mean I- er, you see there was a good reason for my actions, and…"

The Mediwitch glowered up at the much taller Headmaster. "You will never, ever do that again," she finished firmly.

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump and many other titles, bowed his head.

"No, Poppy. I won't do it again, Poppy. I'm sorry, Poppy." And he shuffled off, head still bowed.

Draco Malfoy was disgusted. "The only wizard that You-Know-Who has ever been scared of, and he's scared of her?"

Harry shrugged. "She's not one to be trifled with," he said wisely.

"…and why does she smell like whiskey?" came Madam Pomfrey's voice from behind the curtain. She opened it to reveal Aurora sleeping on the bed. The nurse sighed. "Bloody Mundungus…"

Harry felt the urge to laugh, but held it back. He didn't want to be attacked with a Magiscope too.

"I'll let three of you stay until she wakes up, and then you will have to scoot. Understood?"

They nodded dutifully.

"You, Potter, you're covered in mud and blood! All of you are. You can't sit with her in MY hospital wing like that. Get clean immediately, or else…!" before she had finished the sentence, all seven of them had raced into the bathrooms attached to the hospital wing. They weren't about to incur her wrath.

Hell hath no fury like. Especially when her Magiscope was within reach.

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Hermione was getting impatient. "Do you think she's going to wake up anytime soon?" she groaned, propping her chin on her hands.

Lindsey sighed and shrugged. "I have no idea. We've been here for, like, forever. It's been hours. Is that a bad thing?"

Ron frowned. "I'm not sure. Waking up would be good. All this waiting is making me hungry. Lord knows how many hours we've sat here for."

Lindsey turned to Ginny. "How long's it been now?" he asked, for the fifteenth time.

"It's been thirty-two minutes," Ginny said, looking at him strangely. "Two minutes after you last asked me. Boys really are impatient, you know that?"

Harry shrugged. "You may have mentioned it."

Rose sighed. "You know, this is the fourteenth time we've had this discussion. It's getting kind of old."

Draco groaned, stretching. "I agree. For once."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Agreeing with a Potter. Yikes. Did it hurt?" she asked sweetly.

He just looked at her witheringly. "I'm not going to dignify that with a response."

Rose rubbed her face. "What does Pondera Recrare mean anyway?"

Draco rolled his shoulders. Rose marveled briefly at how well muscled he was. Shame it was wasted on such a arrogant guy. "It means 'Balance be Restored," he said disinterestedly. When Rose looked at him surprised, he continued, "My mother gave me a classic education in Latin before Hogwarts."

Ron bit back a yaw. "You know, I feel kind of jipped. I mean, she's in perfect health – just sleeping. Why don't we just wake her up and eat?"

Harry shook his head vehemently. "No way! Madam Pomfrey'd blame us for waking her patient. I, for one, do NOT want to be hit with a Magiscope."

Hermione giggled. "I couldn't believe it. Dumbledore, of all people! It was like watching the Pope being scolded for not brushing his teeth. And no, I don't know why I thought of that. It just jumped into my head."

Ginny looked at the brunette. "O-kay," she said slowly, looking at Hermione weirdly.

Ron grunted, sighing again. "Please? I say we just give her a good poke in the ribs. It'll work. Then, we can eat."

Draco looked down at him. "Weasley, your stomach rules everything you do. You may want to work on that." After a few seconds of silence, he caved. "Despite that, I second the motion."

Harry shrugged. He leaned over and gave Aurora a healthy poke in the ribs. "Wake up," he said in a low tone, not wanting Madam Pomfrey to notice.

Nothing happened. Hermione 'hmphed' and gave another, harder poke. "Aurora, wake up!" she said.

The blonde girl grumbled. "You gotta be joking." She muttered, rolling over and burying her face under her pillow. Hermione giggled.

"Come, on, Aurora, time to get up."

The blonde groaned. "Aw, Blaise, five more minutes, I promise."

Then, she stopped. "Blaise?" she asked. "Why did I hear male voices a minute ago?"

Draco rolled his eyes, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her onto her back. "Because you're not in Kansas anymore."

Aurora's eyes slowly opened. The first thing she saw was a collage of eight faces.

"Huh?" she pronounced eloquently.

"Aurora!"

"Rory?"

"Misia?"

"Miss Malfoy!"

"Sweetie?" Harry's pronouncement came last, and was only heard by Hermione. She turned to look at her long-time friend, amusement in her eyes. She raised an eyebrow, and Harry blushed, stammering, "Um…Aurora, I mean, um…what?" Hermione grinned and looked back at the blonde girl.

Said girl was reeling. "Um…guys? Air, remember?"

At once, everyone backed off at least a foot to give the girl some space. She looked a bit sleepy still, but apart from that was great. "Huh. And suddenly I'm in the Hospital wing. Odd."

She looked at everybody in turn, pausing at Harry. Her face went blank when she looked into his eyes, and she just stared at him for a few seconds, Harry, who was starting to feel awkward under the eye-contact, shifted slightly from foot to foot. "So, Aurora…um. How are you?" he asked lamely, starting to go pink.

Her gaze didn't move from his face. "Oh. My. God." She said in a low voice, horror spreading across her face. "Oh, no, this is not…It c-can't be happening." She looked almost panicking now, and her eyes were still boring into Harry's.

"What? Aurora, what's wrong?" Harry asked, concerned. She reached out suddenly towards his face. He jerked as she swiped his glasses clean off his face.

"This can't be happening!" she screeched. "What the HELL happened to my hair?"

In a swift movement, she was up and out of the bed, racing over to a mirror on the wall. Harry smiled goofily. He had never seen her look so beautiful.  She continued to wail. "I have bed-hair! It's all sticking up, and the ends are…charred. Why would the ends be charred?"

The mirror wheezed. "On the upside, dearie, it matches the huge dark bags under your eyes."

 

A/N hey there!!! That was funny, wasn't it? (yes, yes, RoseRiddle, it most certainly was!!!) oh, stop it. You guys flatter me too much. There was some fluff there, and I intend on writing some more.

Now, don't be shy. I really do appreciate reviews, and it helps me write more if I know what you guys think. If there's something you want to ask or if you just want to give me an honest opinion, I would really love it!!

Ooh, in future chapters there's gonna be some romance-conflict, and a very painful incident including-

Pez: shut up! You can't tell them that.

Me: aww, but I wanna.

Pez: no way! It's a surprise.

Me: ok, ok. Fine. But it'll be hilarious, I promise! You guys will love what I have in store for this story!!

Review if you really, honestly want me to continue. I mean, why should I update if you don't review? I feel jipped, really. Hmmph. I probably will anyway, But I'd be really snooty about it and that does nothing for my complexion so it really would be best for everyone to REVIEW.

…please?