Chapter 24
Harry was on his way to breakfast, unexpectedly alone as Ron had surprisingly dragged his lazy ass downstairs early. Why, Harry wasn't sure. He strolled into the Great Hall, glancing around for his best friend and spotted bright red hair hunched over what looked like a rather large bowl of oatmeal and a stack of parchment.
Harry dropped down across from his friend. "Morning," he said, and reached for the oatmeal himself.
Ron gave him a unexpectedly clear look, considering his friend generally didn't force himself out of bed until the last possible minute. "You're awfully cheerful," Ron said, before stuffing another bite in his mouth.
Harry shrugged. "Just not thinking about it," he said, adding milk and sugar. Lots of sugar. Good thing Hermione wasn't up yet to lecture him about his teeth. "I have to think about it every damn minute of every damn day, so I'm taking breakfast to not care."
Ron nodded, and went back to his papers and half-empty bowl of cereal. Harry sat back and tried to not think. He just focused on the taste of the food in his mouth, the quiet sound of quill scratching over parchment and the soft murmur of the other early risers in the Great Hall. He let himself mentally drift. It was probably still pretty cold out, he thought, glancing up at the barely clouded ceiling. Probably a great day for a fly...
"Oi, mate," Ron's voice intruded. Harry blinked and looked across the table. Ron didn't look happy.
"What?" Harry asked. He pushed his mostly eaten bowl away as he did. He figured that look meant drifting-time was over.
Ron grimaced. "Sorry," he said, seeming to have a fair idea of what was going on in Harry's head. "But I've been working on this for a couple of hours, and you need to see."
Harry muttered sometime profane under his breath, that had Ron cracking a smile, and reached for the sheet the Head Boy held out. He scanned it quickly. There were notes jotted along the edges of what seemed to be a smaller version of Hermione's chart of the castle. Harry studied it silently.
Ron apparently didn't want to wait on Harry to figure out his chicken scratch. "It just won't work," he said. "Not with what we've got, not in the time frame we've got." He blew out a breath and shoved his own empty bowl away. "And frankly, let's face it, we need firepower. And that means the teachers getting involved."
Harry's mood darkened. "You know they're going to try to lock us up," he said, dropping the chart on the table. "It's what they always do."
Ron snorted. "Yeah, but that was before they found out you have to save the bloody world," he said. He grimaced at Harry's look. "Look, mate, you're going to have to tell them. You know it, I know it, and unfortunately for you, Hermione knows it. And if you don't do it, you better believe she will." Harry muttered something else profane and Ron grinned faintly. "She's right up with Ginny, that one. Bound and determined to save you despite yourself."
Harry gave a glare, then scowled down at the table. "I'm just bloody well sick of being told I have that..."
Ron cut him off by rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, Potter, been there, done it with you." Harry lost the scowl. Ron was right.
He blew out a breath. "Fine," he muttered. "But you're coming with me."
Ron's eyes got big. "What? Wait, no way, this is you in charge, I don't think I need to..."
Now Harry got to grin. "Hah. You're the man with the plan, Head Boy. You're bringing your official ass up to Dumbledore's office with me to tell the man what we need."
"The Headmaster, who just happens to be one of the most powerful wizards alive, could have some ideas to help, you know," came Hermione's voice, tartly. Both boys cringed and turned to face two rather annoyed-looking girls. Uh-oh.
"Morning," Ron tried.
"Don't you, 'morning' me, Ronald Weasley," Hermione fired at him. "What on earth do you two think you are doing, planning on setting everything without us?"
"We would have waited for you," Harry suggested, albeit a little weakly. So he still wanted to protect the two girls who mattered most. So shoot him.
Apparently Ginny was considering doing just that, considering the glare he was being treated to. "Sure you would have, Potter," she said snidely. "Right about the time you would have started spouting poetry at me."
Harry flushed, but wisely shut his mouth. This was one of those can't-win-against-bloody-girls things. Noses in the air, the two gracefully seated themselves next to Harry and Ron and proceeded to daintily consume a moderate breakfast, shooting the boys rather frightening looks if they so much as twitched in the direction of getting up.
Finally Hermione wiped her lips. "Right then," she said decisively. "Hand it over, Ronald." The six-foot something Head Boy meekly handed his notes over to his girlfriend and watched as she pursed her lips and read. "Well," Hermione said thoughtfully. "You've been very thorough." She passed them to Ginny.
"The only thing I would add," Hermione continued, "is that we should have all of us go to Dumbledore. Present this plan as logically and intelligently as possible."
"What do you mean, all?" Harry demanded. He wasn't really happy about the whole thing anyway, and he had a bad feeling he knew where this was going.
"Us, Draco, Neville," Ginny said, setting down the plan. "You know, the people who were putting that whole plan together last night."
Ron grimaced and Harry agreed silently. Freakin' damn Malfoy. THAT was a reason for this war to be over, so they could all go back to never being around each other. "Fine," he grumbled. "But you get Malfoy, I'm not doing it. I've been too bloody nice already."
"Boys," Ginny sighed as she got up. "I'll do it, I've already seen far more of the boy than anyone else here." Harry gaped and Ron's jaw hit the floor as she headed toward the Slytherin table, where Cara was sitting with her boyfriend.
"What?" Ron said, starting to look a little purple.
Hermione grinned, rather evilly. Harry was still too flummoxed to really notice. "Now, now, Ron, don't go jumping to conclusions," she said sweetly. "She just walked in on Cara and Draco in a rather compromising position, that's all." Hermione examined her nails. "She DID say that she understood why Cara was so into the guy, however..."
Ron was more than a little purple now, and Harry had managed to scrape his mind back into some kind of order again. "Right," he said hastily. "Let's... um, let's get Neville and go, ok? Before we're expected to be at any classes."
Ron glared in the direction of the blonde boy before shoving himself to his feet. Hermione reached over and patted his chest. "Don't worry, Ronny," she said with a consoling smirk. "You're just as cute."
Ron grinned, and tossed a smug look at Harry. "Ha. I'M cute, Potter," he said, trying to make a joke.
Harry plastered a smile to his own face, trying to match the forced lightness. "You keep telling yourself that, Weasley." His own eyes went to Ginny, who was walking back with a scowling Malfoy in tow. Cara was glaring as well as she trailed them all.
"Let's get this over with," Malfoy snapped as he reached the three of them. "I have more interesting things to do than sit around with far too many Gryffindors."
"Ahem!" Cara snarled.
Malfoy swung around on her. "We discussed this," he hissed.
She fisted her hands on her hips and got right back in his face. "No, YOU discussed it and I ignored you." She looked over the taller boy's shoulder at Harry. "I'm in this, too, Harry. Don't even think of trying to leave me out."
Harry studied her, and despite himself caught a wisp of thought trailing from the fuming girl. "Fair enough," he said. He held up a hand. "Save it, Malfoy," he said. "Let's pick up Neville and get this over with. I'm not looking forward to it, either."
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Draco glared at the back of Potter's head as the whole mass of Gryffindors stomped ahead of him. Bloody damn heroic attention seeking idiots...
"What's his fucking problem?" he muttered under his breath.
Apparently Worm-Boy, otherwise known as Longbottom heard him. More was the shame, because the twit slowed to say something, inane, no doubt. "You know what it's like to be trying to tell the truth for six years, and have everyone in the world refuse to listen?"
"He's Harry Damn Potter," Malfoy found him snapping back. "Don't try and tell me that his life is so damn bad."
Longbottom stopped dead and swung around to glare at him. "You know what, Malfoy? You're a pain in the ass. And worse, you're a STUPID pain in the ass."
Draco's face iced and he stepped close, very close to the other boy. "Would you care to say that again, Longbottom?" he said softly.
Somewhat to his surprise, Worm-Boy stared right back. "You don't get it, do you? It isn't about you, it isn't about Harry. It's about right. It's about standing up for the people who can't do it for themselves. It's about," he said just as softly as Draco had a moment before, his eyes just as hard, "it's about getting over your fucking self and realizing that no one cares about you, that you're a cog in a great big wheel." Longbottom stepped back. "Besides," the other boy flung out as he headed after the others, "if you really knew what Harry had to do, you'd shut your fucking mouth and move your feet."
Draco stared for a second, then glared harder and strode after them all. Bloody damn Gryffindors.
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Ginny was kind of regretting teasing Harry earlier with her comment about Draco. He'd been so grim faced since... Of course, she knew that was because he was about to have to talk to all sorts of people, including ones that had tried to lock him out of the whole thing before.
It was something, she supposed as they waited for the gargoyle guarding the door to Dumbledore's office to move, that Harry and the Headmaster seemed to have made some kind of peace. She still didn't know the whole story behind the last year and a half of coldness, but there had been a definite thaw recently. That should make things a little easier, shouldn't it?
The stairs appeared, and Harry led the way up the stairs. They were all quiet as they trooped up the steps. Cara was right on her heels, still fuming at Draco. Her friend had been more than a little pissed last night when she'd realized her boyfriend had tricked her into missing the meeting. Cara had been staunchly on their side from the beginning, and more than deserved to be in on the planning.
Ginny wasn't particularly surprised that Dumbledore was waiting at the top of the stairs. "Mr. Potter," he said quietly. "Come in, all of you. I suspect I know why you are here."
"Lucky us," she heard Harry mutter as they all trooped in. Ginny bit back a groan as she saw Professors McGonagall and Snape-the-Bat seated on one side of the room. This was going to be a long morning.
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Harry was back in the Room of Requirement, blasting the shit out of another dummy when the door opened.
"Potter," that annoyingly icy voice drawled behind him. "I believe you owe me a duel."
It had been a rough morning. He'd had to deal with Snape's snorts and glares and McGonagall's protests about students being involved, and Dumbledore's supposedly all-knowing looks and hardly understandable words of wisdom. Honestly, the Headmaster was supposed to be one of the most powerful wizards out there. He had his own bloody Chocolate Frog Card. So why couldn't he speak in plain English?
At any rate, it was perhaps all those irritations combining with the stress that had been sinking in on him the last two years that let Harry give in to the darkly vindictive streak that surged forward.
"All right, Malfoy," he said, not bothering to turn. "Incendio!" And off they went, the two of them. Curses and hexes and all sorts of nasty charms. Malfoy was good, Harry realized. Sneaky and nasty, and darned if he didn't know quite a few curses that were probably illegal.
Harry ducked as a bolt of violent yellow sizzled past his ear. Of course, he hadn't lost the wand yet...
A half hour later, the room was in shambles. Chunks of wall were missing, the mat had long since vaporized. They were sweaty, burnt, limping, and Draco was beaten. He knew it, and was clearly not happy. Breathing heavily, Harry lifted one hand and pointed it toward Draco, who was swaying, wandless, on one foot. "Imoblilis," he whispered.
He let Draco fall to the rather hard floor and just looked for a minute before wearily seating himself on the floor next to him. "Satisfied?" he said aloud. "You're now the..." he counted silently. "The fifth person who knows just how far I can go. Actually, you probably got more of a display than I usually give." He shrugged and managed a weak smile. This was kind of interesting, talking to someone who couldn't talk back. "You should feel special."
He was quite a moment, thinking. "Do you remember that night in the Astronomy Tower, Malfoy?" he said softly. "We both got completely pissed off our asses because our girls had gotten hurt." He gave a sardonic smile. "I wonder if there'll be enough firewhisky to get us through what's coming. It's going to be ugly," he said, more to himself. "Merlin, all the people who are going to die... I hate it. I hate it so much. And fuck it, I hate knowing it's all because of some fucking prophesy."
He glanced at the rigid form of the other boy and sighed. "Fine," he said, and flicked his fingers. Draco sat up slowly, and Harry at least got a bit of satisfaction out of the fact he'd managed to get the better of the other boy. After all, Draco had nearly been a Death Eater, and was a fairly powerful wizard.
"You bitch more than anyone I've ever heard," was the first thing out of the blonde boy's mouth. "And who cares about a fucking prophesy. No one said you had to go looking to fill it."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Ah, I guess you were too busy being an evil git," he said mockingly. "Remember the brunette you happen to be dating? Need a better reason?"
"Fuck," Malfoy muttered. "Fucking stupid girls and love and bloody good people. Life's much simpler as a dark wizard."
Harry shrugged, just lifting one shoulder and dropping it. "You keep telling yourself that," he said. Slowly he heaved himself to his feet and held out his hand. "Now let's get out of here, get some dinner, so we can come back and kick the shit out of everyone else tonight."
Draco eyed him a long moment, then sighed and accepted the hand up. "I can't wait until I can go back to just hating you," he grumbled.
"Me too," Harry snorted, and they headed out the door.
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AN: I won't tell you how much procrastinating went into writing this chapter. You can just pat me on the back and tell me how much you love me. Lol.
Fuzzball – Um, oops?
Quirkygrl – Bwahahahaha... my evil plot to eliminate any opposition to world domination has begun... I mean, um, glad you liked my little tales. And can I get that chocolate ON a Weasley boy?
PolkaDotty – Yeah, yeah, you're not the only one who pointed that out. Humph. At least I remembered what the spell was supposed to do. I mean, that's somewhat impressive for me. (cheesy grin)
Mary-v – What, people die in a war? I never would have guessed...
Shahrezad1 – Mischief? Me?
Barbelibou – Harry might trust Malfoy, but he sure doesn't like him... He found just a LEETLE too much pleasure in kicking Draco's butt. Heh heh.
Plateado – I'm rather fond of Hermione myself... Of course, my sister will tell you that I feel just a tiny bit of sympathy to anyone labeled a 'brain'... Hence my interpretation of her.
Psychopunk, social-flutterby, royal-pain – Dudes, you need some chocolate. (passing over the Hershey's)
Ferggirl99 – Humph. Happy now? And that's an interesting idea for the final battle... not really what I had in mind, but interesting none the less... maybe YOU could write something... (hint, hint)
Maddie – Glad to see your blood pressure's back to normal. Lol.
Ariana15 – I'd like a little massage myself... (drifting off into various fantasies)
Lady of Masbolle, hawkeyessabre, volleypickle16, Sibling Creature, jwhit-moony, cherryblossom08, HP Geek, lluvatar, snitchseekerhp, hplovah, Lozzie, Treck, Willow Ann Rover, Jennifer Cole, divagoddess1, LOTRFREAK, Scarlett1177, sugarbaby, Moonglaze, arios, Silver Warior, Rebecca, mysticruby, WorldConqueror – Yay new reviewers!! I love you even more than the old ones. Well, ok, not really. I love you equally well. Homemade donuts for you all!