Reaching Maturity

Disclaimer: not mine. Am borrowing and will return.

A/N: once again, I shall take this opportunity to remind you that I am working with the A-F grading system that British schools use (OK, OK, I know they use it in Canada, the US and pretty much everywhere else) rather than the ones JKR devised, because I'm lazy and couldn't be bothered to change it all

Happy St. George's Day to all my fellow English folks! Get out there and celebrate it and to hell with the political correctness that so many in authority seem severely afflicted with that considers it racist to celebrate our patron saint's day (despite the fact that everyone celebrates St. Patrick's Day, whether they're Irish or not).

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Chapter 24: NEWT results

McGonagall arrived in the morning to inform them that it had been arranged for them to take their Apparition tests that evening. "I have every faith in you," she assured them with one of her rare smiles. "Mr. Malfoy, if you do not feel up to taking your test with the others, you can take it another time." She was not stupid enough to allow his pallid face and the dark circles under his eyes to go unnoticed, and made a mental note to talk to Madam Pomfrey about it.

He gave her a wan smile. "I'll see how I feel this evening."

McGonagall nodded approvingly at him, then turned to face the four as a whole. "I have done everything I needed to do with you. Come and find me if you have any questions about anything. I shall come and collect you when it is time for your tests. Mr. Malfoy, I suggest you use your free time before Professor Snape comes to rest. Goodness knows you need it, child." Her gaze rested briefly on Draco's thin, pale form before she left. Moments later, Pomfrey appeared, a glass of a sleeping potion in her hand. She handed this to Draco, who was sitting on his bed. "I know you were up and wandering about last night. Drink."

He didn't dare disobey, and was asleep almost immediately. His three friends and Sirius exchanged deeply concerned looks. Hannah, at a loss for anything to do or say, briefly assumed her marmalade-cat Animagus form. When she regained her human form, Sirius grinned at her. "You're a beautiful puss," he remarked.

"Better that than a humongous, scruffy black dog!" retorted Harry in defence of Hannah. "Anyway, Hermione makes a very attractive otter, wouldn't you say?"

Hermione went pink. "This from someone almost as fine as Fawkes!"

"Enough," cut in Sirius. He lay that morning's Daily Prophet on the table, his face – still showing clear signs of the twelve years he had spent in Azkaban – suddenly grim. "Remember Igor Karkaroff?"

"Ex-head of Durmstrang," recalled Hermione. "And a Death Eater."

Harry shuddered, paling at the sudden memory of that fateful night in his fourth year that was the final event of the Triwizard Tournament, when Cedric Diggory had died. The night Voldemort had risen again. "Voldemort said he'd get him. I remember his words – 'One, too cowardly to return…he will pay'. I bet that was Karkaroff he was referring to." At Sirius and Hermione's nods, he continued speaking, half-lost in the memories from three years ago. "He also said, 'One, who I believe has left me forever…he will be killed, of course…' – I bet he meant Snape; we know he's on our side –"

"What makes you so sure?" demanded Sirius sharply. "I'll never trust that little –"

"Harry accidentally knocked a bottle of truth potion into his coffee in Potions in sixth year," Hermione hurriedly explained. "It was the last lesson of the day. Naturally, I took advantage of the situation and asked him if he had left Voldemort forever…"

"And he said that he'd rather die than serve him again," finished Harry. "So you can trust him."

"You don't have to like him," added Hermione, knowing full well that that would be asking too much of either man, "but you could be a little easier on him."

Sirius muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, "When I voluntarily kiss a Dementor".

Hermione let out an impatient, irritated noise. "Can't you two just grow up?" she demanded. "Behave like mature adults. Especially you, it has to be said – no, I don't want to hear it, Sirius. You're both fighting for the same side for the same cause. It is, quite frankly, pathetic, especially for two grown men. Have you ever even apologised to him?"

A pointed silence from Sirius answered her question more than sufficiently.

She decided to try another angle, adopting her lecturing tone. "Look at me, Harry and Draco. We managed it."

"That's different!" Sirius objected immediately.

"How, exactly?"

Sirius paused. "Well, it just…is."

"You see? It isn't!" declared Hermione triumphantly. "You just can't bring yourselves to apologise to each other – and you in particular should be apologising. Do you know how childishly you're behaving with all this constant sniping and bickering and insulting and –"

"Could we…?" cut in Hannah, clearing her throat pointedly and tapping the paper on the table.

"Ah. That. Yes." Sirius nodded. "Karkaroff was found dead yesterday. Suicide. Heard the Death Eaters were going to kill him and had tracked him down to wherever he was hiding – Voldemort, oddly enough, isn't overly pleased with him – but they found him dead. Poison, according to this article. There was a note saying that said Death Eaters had found his hideout."

Sirius stopped speaking and allowed the three to read the article for themselves. "The thing is, if Snape really is on our side – no, don't say anything, Hermione – he really is going to have to watch his back. It's no secret that he's a teacher here at Hogwarts – although I don't think any of them would be stupid enough to do something while he's here at the school. We're all going to have to watch out for him as well as ourselves."

He opened the paper to pages 8 and 9. "There have been a large number of Muggles murdered in the last week. Three drowned in a canal in the middle of nowhere – popular opinion is that they were hikers who were unfortunate enough to be too close to something. Plus there was an explosion at one of the train stations in Birmingham. The Muggle officials have put it down to an IRA bomb. It's quite plausible so Muggles won't suspect anything.

"The lists grows longer every day, Muggles and wizards. Innocent people. Voldemort has to fall for good this time. I'm going to commit the murder I did twelve years in Azkaban for. Peter Pettigrew is going to regret the day he betrayed Lily and James." His eyes blazed with pure fury and hatred. "If you meet him, send for me. I want to take him down. Got it?"

The three hastily nodded.

"Good. Now, I understand you all know the Patronus charm?"

"Thoroughly," Hermione assured him. "Our shields are all really strong, and I think we're getting the hang of sword-fighting. And Snape seems impressed by what we've done with regards to potion-brewing, as well."

"It's the power of the Founders," Sirius told her. "You have their most treasured weapons, which themselves have immense power. Most of all, though, you are, all four of you, very powerful witches and wizards. Your individual strengths are different from those of the others and complement each other; that is why you are such a strong group when put together. Voldemort's going to have his work cut out for him if he meets just one of you; I wouldn't like to be in his shoes if he encounters all four of you together, especially as one of you is the son of his right-hand man. In fact, he might save the Ministry the hassle of dealing with Lucius Malfoy and kill him himself. No skin off my nose if he does. Or Draco's, I suspect."

"What's going on with Marie-Jeanne Lenoir?" asked Hermione. "It's been a while since anything's been mentioned about her."

Sirius sighed wearily and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I only wish I knew. But I'm stuck here at Hogwarts and in the local vicinity, where I'm far more use than at Grimmauld Place, apparently. I can't afford to be tracking her now; it's too dangerous for everyone involved."

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"Well?" demanded Sirius impatiently when the four returned with McGonagall shortly before midnight. "How did it go?" He and Lupin had been sitting up waiting for them.

McGonagall beamed. "They passed! All of them. I am absolutely delighted. All first attempts, no splinching at all. It was perfect. A real treat."

"You did better than your father, then, Harry," commented Lupin, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "Took James four attempts, if I remember correctly."

"It did," Sirius confirmed, smirking. "I only needed two attempts."

"I did it first time," Lupin informed them in a quietly superior, lightly mocking tone. Sirius merely stuck his tongue out at him, making the four seventh-years laugh.

"Alright! That's quite enough excitement for one day. Bed, all of you. Now," McGonagall ordered sternly. She smiled as they all tumbled into bed, yawning, fully-clothed, pausing only to remove their shoes. She gently pulled Hannah's covers over her because the girl had been so tired that she had simply fallen asleep on top of the bed. The deputy head had initially been surprised at the Hufflepuff's inclusion, and more than a little doubtful, but now she deemed her as worthy and able as the others.

"Minerva," called Snape softly from the doorway. "Letter." He strode swiftly across the room and handed over the letter that he had been carrying.

McGonagall took it and read it, her face gradually darkening. "Has Albus been informed yet?" she asked in a low voice, ushering him, Lupin and Sirius outside the room and shutting the door firmly. She knew that Harry Potter – and usually Hermione Granger as well – had a habit of overhearing things that were not meant for their ears.

"I was told to bring this to you first, so no."

"Could you fetch him, please, Severus?"

Snape nodded and slipped off noiselessly, melting into the blackness of the shadows. McGonagall turned to face the two Marauders. "It is official. The final war has begun. Students will be informed tomorrow, and sent home. The fifth-years will be receiving their OWL results soon, as will the seventh-years with their NEWTs."

"What about these four?" asked Sirius, gesturing to the room in which the four slept.

McGonagall obligingly produced four envelopes from her pocket along with a list, which she proceeded to read from. "Miss Granger has, of course, come top of her year with straight As. Mr. Potter has all As and Bs. Miss Abbott has one A, a C and the rest are all Bs. Mr. Malfoy has an A in Potions; other than that outstanding result, he has one B, mainly Cs and a D in Care of Magical Creatures, his worst subject. Still, he has performed amazingly well considering how ill he has been for much of the year."

"And still is," remarked Lupin softly, his face serious. "Minerva, I really don't like the idea of sending him into battle in such a fragile state –"

"We have no choice," McGonagall cut him off shortly. "Goodness knows I don't want to have to do it, but we do have to. I dislike the idea as much as you and Severus. But somehow I have the feeling that he will find the strength he needs, even if he's fighting on adrenaline alone."

They were silent after this, until Dumbledore and Snape arrived. "It has begun?" asked the headmaster gravely.

McGonagall nodded tersely. "It has indeed."

"I shall send owls home to every parent tomorrow, and the Hogwarts Express will depart from Hogsmeade station when I have heard from as many parents as I believe I will hear from – the deadline is this Friday. All students will be sent home then, unless parents explicitly inform me otherwise. Combat training in every area is being set up as we speak."

"What about these four?" asked Sirius, gesturing to the room behind him.

"I shall arrange for the Grangers and Abbotts to be moved to Grimmauld Place. The Dursleys will be sent a letter informing them that Harry is staying here for the foreseeable future." Dumbledore paused and sighed heavily. "As for the Malfoys…I really do not know."

"Let's hope Lucius is too preoccupied with fighting for the Dark Lord and hiding Narcissa, as I believe he is doing, to question a letter stating that Draco is still too ill to leave the school, particularly if Poppy were to write it," said Snape. The others nodded their assent.

"I shall begin on writing the letters to parents. Goodnight." With that, Dumbledore departed.

"So this is it," said Sirius quietly. The four stood in silence for a long time before Sirius slipped into the four's room and, as Padfoot, curled up at the bottom of Harry's bed and went to sleep.

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Harry woke first, at about eight-thirty, from a sharp, stabbing pain in his scar. He instantly curled up, moaning in pain. He couldn't recall any particular dream overnight that had caused it, hard though he racked his brains. His movements and moaning woke Sirius, and within moments he was awake and in human form again, cradling his godson in his arms.

"It – it's started, hasn't it?" whispered Harry after a while, when the pain had eased and become nothing more than a slight ache.

Grimly, Sirius nodded. "The owl that we've been dreading came last night. Everyone else is being sent home for protection and to be with their families. I doubt there will be a single wizarding family left untouched by the end." He pulled an envelope out of his pocket. "And McGonagall dropped this off. NEWT results."

Harry's hand shook from sheer nervousness as he took the precious envelope from his godfather. His future career didn't exactly depend on these results by any stretch of the imagination, but he was still dreading them. If he'd done badly…

"All As and Bs? Seriously!"

Sirius nodded, grinning.

Harry leapt off the bed in delight but was quickly grabbed by Sirius, who pointed out that the others were still fast asleep and would be unlikely to appreciate being woken. Harry hastily apologised.

It was not long after that that Hannah woke up, followed immediately by Hermione. Sirius gave them their envelopes, which they opened and then squealed earsplittingly in delight, as eighteen-year-old girls getting important exam results are prone to doing. They hugged each other violently, and then Harry and Sirius – and very nearly Madam Pomfrey as well. She merely rolled her eyes and smiled tolerantly as she brought breakfast in, recalling getting her own results ("Of course, we were a little more level-headed about it than you two").

The two girls smiled guiltily. Pomfrey shook her head in amusement. "Well done, all of you. Now, if you'd like to calm down and eat your breakfast…?" They did and she gently awoke Draco, who took his envelope from Sirius and gave the others a wan smile of relief. "At least I passed," he said softly. "I thought I'd failed half of them and done really badly on the rest." Hannah hugged him tightly and helped him to the breakfast table.

Pomfrey was less than impressed by his attempts to eat, and she shook her head sadly. "Child, I worry about you. You were doing so well…"

He shrugged wearily, resignedly, his grey eyes once again filled with that chilling, haunted look, and went back to tearing the uneaten toast into tiny pieces. During breakfast, Sirius had informed them of the latest developments. They now knew with absolute certainty that they would be needed, and soon. Draco was too tired to concentrate enough on the conversation to follow it, so he quietly left the table to go back to bed. Even the thought of eating was making him feel sick, and he was so tired.

Hannah noticed his departure and abandoned her own breakfast, anxious. As she sat down on his bed where he was lying, she noticed the black circles under his eyes and the ashen face with the small beads of sweat breaking out across his forehead. "Draco? What's wrong?" she whispered, gently wiping the sweat away and brushing his hair off his face.

"Don't feel well," he mumbled, too exhausted to divulge further details.

Hannah's heart twisted at this. This was the last thing he – or any of them – needed right now. She gathered him gently into her arms, not saying anything, just holding him comfortingly. She could feel him slowly begin to relax, aware of the hot tears of discomfort, fear and despair that were slipping down his cheeks, knowing him well enough to not comment on it.

The others noticed this after a while, but Sirius quietly warned Harry and Hermione to leave them be. "They don't get much time alone now," he said. "And the way things are in our world are at the moment, they don't know how much longer they have left together. Every second they spend together is precious, priceless." He looked meaningfully at the two in front of him.

Hermione took Harry's hand and squeezed it tightly, earnestly. "We'll defeat Voldemort if it's the last thing we do!" she vowed passionately. The other two laughed at this and she released Harry's hand, standing up. "I'm full. Anyone up for a game of Exploding Snap?"

"Sounds good to me," said Harry, also standing. "I'll get my cards."

He ended up winning quite comfortably. Lupin appeared not long after he had got the cards out, and he joined in – as did Dumbledore, who had come up with the DADA professor. Draco and Hannah slipped out partway through the morning to sit at the window where Draco had encountered Blaise. They sat there in silence, Draco leaning against Hannah's chest, simply enjoying each other's company.

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TBC

Additional comments for chapter 23

I know Harry tells McGonagall in OotP that he wants to be an Auror, but given the choice between being an Auror and being a professional Quidditch player, somehow I suspect he'll go for the Quidditch and probably train as an Auror at a later date, when he retires from Quidditch. Maybe.

I deliberately did it so that people wouldn't think the four members of the Assembly are actually together. They might suspect that Harry and Hermione are spending some time together, and that Draco and Hannah are probably together, but it's unlikely that anyone would think of all four being together. Which is good and invaluable.

In the middle of this chapter I talk about the four completely transforming. I deliberately didn't state their Animagus forms because I wanted to leave you all hanging, wondering what I was going to make them. In 24 (this one), all is revealed.

I'm not going to comment on Blaise's motives for what he said to Draco.

The part about the stars was written a couple of days after I'd had that conversation with my dad.