Potter47 ~ Part Four ~
Living for Tomorrow
"You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'"
~ Shaw
~ Chapter Nineteen ~
Throne Away
"What's the hurry?" asked the Fat Lady, as Ron came marching up the corridor. He looked like a small child, impersonating a soldier.
"Nothing," he said, stopping in front of the portrait. "What's the password, again?"
The Fat Lady chuckled. "That's for you to tell me."
"Right," said Ron. He strained his mind, trying to recall the password. For the life of him, he couldn't remember. It seemed ages ago, the last time he used it.
"I-I can't remember," he said awkwardly. He couldn't think of another time that he had forgotten the password, in all of his five years at school. "You know me. Couldn't you just let me in this once?"
"Well," said the Fat Lady, "let me think about that..." She rubbed her chin for a moment, before saying, "NO! I've explicit instructions to never admit anyone into Gryffindor Tower, unless they have the password. You could be a Death Eater in disguise. And don't you dare try knocking..." She shivered at the thought.
"But I can't remember!" he whined. "We've been through a lot, the past couple days, and I just forgot!"
"Oh, so now you're a we?"
"No! I-" He now knew how Neville felt. He was the one that always forgot the password.
"Ron!" cried a voice from behind him. He spun around to see, who would've thought, Neville striding down the corridor. "You're okay!"
"Yeah," said Ron. "We're fine."
"Again with the we..."
"How'd you get back?" asked Neville anxiously.
"Harry," said Ron. He didn't feel like explaining Snape's role in the incident. He still wasn't positive the Potions Master could be trusted...
"Harry's back? And Ginny?"
"Yes, Neville," said Ron, uncomfortably aware of the Fat Lady's suspicious gaze on the back of his neck. "You think we could talk about this in the common room?" he asked, hoping with all his heart that Neville would remember the password this one time.
"Sure," Neville said. "You know the password?" he asked uncomfortably. "I kind of forgot it again..."
NO!
"Fata viam invenient," said Hermione, coming out of nowhere. In fact, had it not been Hermione, Ron would have been positive she'd Apparated. The fact that it was her made the thought disappear rather quickly.
"Hermione!" said Neville. "You're okay too!"
"Yes, Neville," she said, "and so is Luna."
The Fat Lady reluctantly opened her frame. Either she still wasn't sure if they were really who they said they were, or she just wanted to hear what they were talking about.
Hermione went through the hole first, then Neville. When Ron came out the other end, Gryffindors surrounded him on all sides. All of them asking questions. Clearly, their disappearance did not go unnoticed.
"Where's Harry?" asked Colin Creevey eagerly, at the front of the pack. He snapped a photo of Ron and Hermione, then moved over to get one with Neville too. "We heard Harry was back."
"How-" Ron started to ask, but he went unheard amid the chaos.
"Did Harry Potter really go back in time?" asked a first year, who had crawled under the legs of some of the older students, to get to the front.
"Er..." Ron didn't know why so many people were gathered, not to mention how they knew what had gone on.
"I heard that Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley ran away together!" a second year girl said proudly.
"What?!" screamed Ron, and this time, he was heard.
"Well, they did, didn't they?" she asked, looking rather hurt, that he didn't seem to believe her. Ron recognised her now, as Natalie McDonald.
"No!" said Hermione. "They did not run away together!"
"How would you know?" Natalie asked. "You didn't disappear until two days later!"
If he didn't know better, Ron would have sworn Natalie was related to Lavender.
"I heard that you guys blew up the Ministry!" said Lee Jordan happily.
"We did not!"
"Right..."
"We really should go back," said Harry, pulling back from Ginny. "They'll think something happened..."
"Yeah," said Ginny reluctantly. "I guess so."
Harry looked up, as he stood. He hadn't even realised they had sat on one of the benches. The rainbow was gone, and the sky was blue. He didn't have any idea how long they'd been on the tower. How long they'd been...snogging.
He found it hard to believe the past...however long they'd been out there...had really happened. He felt sure that he'd blink, and Ginny would be gone. Or the dream would change to a vision, and Voldemort would be laughing...
He didn't want to think about that.
Harry and Ginny started the walk back to Gryffindor Tower. After a few minutes, they both realised their hands were clasped. They hadn't even noticed.
"Is this real?" asked Harry, voicing his thoughts.
Ginny squeezed his hand. "Yes, this is real."
"You're sure?" he asked, unsure.
"Yes, Harry," she said, smiling and rolling her eyes.
"Good."
They kept walking, one way, then another, then another, through the winding corridors of Hogwarts. Every once in a while, they would squeeze each other's hand, as if to be sure they were still real.
"Harry?"
The two spun around at the voice, as they had thought the corridor was empty. Their hands broke apart. Standing behind them, was one of the last people Harry expected to see.
"Cho?" he said. "What are you doing here?"
She blinked. "I could ask you the same question. I heard you were missing. What happened? Are you all right?" Her cheeks were slightly pink.
"I'm fine, Cho," said Harry, eager to keep moving. His hand felt wrong, without Ginny's in it.
"Oh, Ginny!" said Cho, as if noticing her for the first time. "You were gone too, right? What happened to you two?"
"Nothing," said Harry and Ginny at the same time.
Cho blinked again. "You know, I heard this crazy rumour that you two ran off together," she said. "I knew it was rubbish..."
"That we what?" asked Ginny disbelievingly.
"I know," said Cho. "Like that would ever happen. Not that you aren't nice and all, but...you're his best mate's sister. It would never work."
Harry was really starting to get annoyed.
"Right," said Ginny, irritated.
"We've got to be going, Cho," said Harry. "See you around."
"Bye," Cho said, and Harry and Ginny walked quickly down the remainder of the corridor.
"I cannot believe her!" muttered Ginny once they were out of earshot. "She was acting like she still thought you fancied her! She's only been with Michael for a few weeks...is she bored or something?"
"At least she didn't seem to be crying anymore," said Harry, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was there.
"I just can't believe her!" Ginny said again.
"Neither can I," said Harry.
After a few minutes, they realised that, once again, their hands were clasped. It was as if magnets pulled them to each other. Soon, Cho was incredibly far from Harry's mind. The only thing his brain focused on was his left hand, and the smaller one within it.
"How are we going to get out of here?" asked Ron. Somehow, he, Neville and Hermione had been led away from the portrait hole, and were in the middle of the common room. Gryffindors surrounded them completely, asking questions and informing them of rumours. It appeared that their housemates were demanding a full life story of each of them. Ron didn't want to think about what it would be like when Harry and Ginny got there.
"I envy Luna," said Hermione. "I doubt the Ravenclaws are like this."
Ron's mind didn't even register the fact that Hermione had said that she envied Luna. He just wanted to get out of the crowd.
"Is Snape really going to expel all of Gryffindor?"
"What?" said Hermione, outraged. "Why would Snape expel all the Gryffindors?"
"Because he's Headmaster!"
Ron had forgotten about that.
"No, he's not going to expel us. McGonagall will be back in a few days, anyway," said Hermione, quelling the third year's fears.
The portrait hole opened suddenly, and every head in the common room (including Crookshanks, who had been making his way through the crowd to Hermione), turned to see Harry Potter step into the room.
"Harry! Run while you can!" Neville exclaimed.
Harry's eyes widened as he saw the crowd, and reached his arm back out the hole. He appeared to grab something as his other arm reached into his robes, pulling out the thirteen-and-a-half inch wand. He aimed it at Ron.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?!" cried Ron as Harry yelled out a spell.
"Look!"
"She's back!"
"Loony's back!"
Whispers followed Luna from the moment she entered her common room. Not all were very nice. But she didn't pay mind to them much, as she went to sit on her favourite of the deep blue armchairs. She had found this particular chair when she was a first year, and it seemed no one else ever sat in it. It wasn't near the other comfy ones; it was tucked away in the back of the room, near the portrait hole. It was as if nobody but her could see this special chair...but she knew that was absurd.
As soon as she was safely in her chair, the whispers seemed to stop. She left the mundane world (which, itself, was not-so-mundane), and was in her own place.
Her own palace.
She sat comfortably upon her throne, overlooking the kingdom. Everything was in order: the Snorkacks were a-snorking, and the Humdingers were a-humming.
"Queen Luna," said a servant impatiently, who looked conspicuously like Hermione Granger, "the Explorers have just reported. They've discovered another breed of Snorkack. They want your advice: should this new breed be called the Swirly-Tail Snorkack, or the Whirly-Tail Snorkack? It is most decidedly urgent!" The girl was leaning toward the entryway of the hall, ready to make a swift exit once the answer had been stated.
"Hmm..." Luna pondered, rubbing her chin. "Well, does it have a whirly tail? Or does it have a swirly tail?"
The servant's eyes screwed up for a moment, as she thought back. "Whirly. Definitely whirly."
"Then the answer is obvious: swirly. It is entirely logical, you see." The Queen smiled at the lesser being.
"Thank you, Queen Luna! Without you, this entire breed would have been named the wrong name, and titled the wrong title for ever! What would Logica-Land do without you?!"
"Simple. Without me, the founder, and queen, Logica-Land would be enveloped in the colossal Envelope of Oblivion, and you, and all the other residents all would be floating around in the Chocolate River, sopping up your supper."
"Of course, how silly of me!" And she dashed out of the hall.
Luna sighed. She missed him. He had been gone for weeks, and days, and hours, and lilisks. He was only supposed to be gone a little while. Now it seemed he was never coming back.
A great black bird swooped into the room through the stained-glass window on the opposite end from Luna's throne. As it neared her, it became clear that it was not in fact a bird; it was a harpy. Half bird and half woman, the great beast came to a rest on the perch beside Luna.
This was Harpia, one of Luna's closest companions. Especially, when he was gone, Luna found that Harpia was a great friend to have; to talk to. But on this particular occasion, the harpy was not here to chat.
"He's back," she told the Queen. "The king has returned."
At once, Luna jumped from her throne, and ran the length of the hall. Her royal robes billowed behind her as she sprinted as fast as she had ever in her life. As she neared the entryway, she was caught up in a loving embrace.
"Ronald!" she exclaimed. "You've returned!"
He smiled down at her. "Of course I did."
The space between their faces disappeared, and the two were lost in a kiss. It seemed lilisks went by before they finally broke apart.
"You're even weirder than we thought."
Luna's eyes snapped open. She was laying on the floor, of the Ravenclaw common room, faces staring down at her from all directions. It was a fellow fourth year, Jimmy Corner, who had made the comment.
"What?" she asked, sitting up and leaning on her hands.
"You run across the room, fall on the floor, and start snogging thin air. Talk about Loony."
Some of the other Ravenclaws laughed. Some looked perplexed. But the two who laughed the most were most definitely Jimmy's brother, Michael, and his girlfriend Cho. They were hysterical with laughter.
Luna, however, simply stood, brushed off her robes, and strode purposefully toward the staircase. She could finish her dream, and she would not be interrupted again.
The spell that Harry exclaimed was not one that Ron had heard before. To him, it sounded like some kind of freezing spell, but that was not what happened at all. Not to mention, Why would Harry freeze me?
It seemed, in fact, that freeze was a rather close guess. But, instead of Ron being frozen, each and every other being in the room was frozen. Yes, being. Crookshanks was floating in midair, as if he was a glitch in a video game - not that Ron would know what that was - and there was no sign of gravity pulling on him.
But Ron was just as he had been before. He could turn, he could walk, and he could yell.
"What did you do?!" he screamed to Harry, who was now climbing into the room, Ginny following in his wake. "You froze them! And Hermione too. And Neville."
"I couldn't see them," said Harry simply. "You stood out, with your hair, and the fact that you screamed. I couldn't keep all of you moving."
"But- what did you do?" Ron asked, in a rather awed voice as he waved his hand in front of Hermione's nose. "Why'd you freeze them?"
"He didn't," said Ginny, speaking for the first time.
"Of course he did." Ron gestured to the room at large. "It's not like we're going faster or anything."
Harry blinked. Ginny blinked.
"We're not, right?" asked Ron unsurely. "Are you telling me that you sped us up so much that they're not moving at all?" he demanded.
"Er...yes. I am."
Ron shook his head in disbelief. "Wicked."
The three decided that the only way out of the sea of people would be to keep the spell intact. Thus, they could either leave Hermione and Neville to be picked clean by the vultures, or they could do something. They opted for the latter.
Ron and Harry awkwardly lifted Hermione up, and brought her to the girl's stair. Ginny, laughing, followed.
"Er, Harry?" she asked.
"Yeah?" he grunted.
"Why are you carrying her?"
"Huh?" said Ron, struggling to keep balanced. Harry, being a great deal shorter than him, did not hold Hermione at quite the same height. "I thought we decided we were going to-"
Ginny cut him off. "Are you a wizard or not?
"Mobilicorpus!"
Hermione floated out of their hands.
Ron's ears turned red. "I would have thought of that eventually," he muttered.
"Right."
Ginny floated Hermione up the stairs, still chuckling.
"We'd better bring Neville up," said Harry, walking back through the crowd. Ron grudgingly followed.
~ Next Chapter ~
Time to Live
"'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
'To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings.'"
~ Lewis Carroll
~ Coming Soon ~
