HARRY POTTER AND THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

CHAPTER 1: NEW BEGINNING

»So, you're really not going back, are you?«

»No. No use, anyway. I'd only spend a year learning things I won't be needing later. It'll get to that sooner or later and I don't want to stand around and wait for him to come. I'll find him.«

»We're coming with you. You know that, don't you?«

»Thanks, guys. But I still think…«

»Harry! If you think we were gonna let you go there alone, you're death-wrong! We're your best friends and there's no way we're gonna leave you. Not now. We've had our chance years ago and we decided to stay.«

»Sorry. I know you did. You don't know what that means to me.«

»So, where do you want to go?«

»I wanna stop by Godric's Hollow. Just, I feel that's the place to start, right there.«

»Alright. But I think you should tell McGonnagal about…you know, what you learned about Voldemort last year.«

»I sent Hedwig with a letter last night. I told her everything I know and that I won't be coming back. Hope she'll understand.«

»She will. Okay then, we should get going.«

»Won't you say goodbye to your parents, Ron?«

»I told them already. Mum freaked out, but she knows she can't stop us. What about you? D'you tell Ginny?«

»Yeah. She understands. She said she'll try to get as much informations as possible once she's back at school.«

»Let's go, then.«

The three figures in black robes lifted off the porch of a shaggy Weasley's family home on brooms, each with a trunk at the back. They headed south, towards a village called Godric's Hollow, where James and Lily Potter were killed by Lord Voldemort himself seventeen years ago and Harry Potter became the Boy Who Lived.

They've been flying for hours when Hermione saw a strange green light between a patch of trees. They decided to check it out, just to be sure it wasn't what they all feared the most: the Dark Mark.

As they approached the trees, they could see it clearly: a large green skull with a snake in it's mouth, floating high above a large mansion. There were also four figures in black robes with masks nearing the house. Death Eaters.

»Oh, no.« said Hermione. »They're gonna kill.«

»Does anyone know who lives here?« asked Harry. The others shook their heads.

»We have to help them, Harry.« said Hermione.

»There's only four of them. We've taken on more than that.« added Ron.

»It's dangerous. But I think we can take them.« answered Harry Potter and flew his broomstick closer to the mansion with his friends on his tail.

»We can get inside through this window.« he said while getting his wand ready. Slowly, he approached the window and carefully slid of his broom. After he looked around the room, he helped Ron and Hermione.

»Lumos.« Hermione lit the wand, only to reveal a dusty room, full of furniture and paintings.

»It's a spare-room.« she whispered.

Harry headed towards the door and pulled a strange pink string out of his pocket.

»Extendable ears.« smiled Ron. »Lucky us for Fred and George.«

Harry nodded and oushed the Ear under the door. They heard nothing.

»Looks like they're still downstairs.« said Harry while putting the Ears back in his pants pocket. Then, he slowly opened the door. The hallway was dark. Only a small light was seen under the door on the other end.

»There's someone in there.« whispered Hermione.

»Okay, you two check this floor, I'll go downstairs.« said Harry, but Hermione objected: »There's more of them downstairs, Harry. We should go together.«

»Alright, then. Let's check the room first.«

The doors were locked, but hey heard movement.

»Alohomora.« Hermione used a simple spell to unlock the door.

When they entered the room, the first thing they saw was a large trunk in the middle of the room. They'd thought the room was empty until they heard someone speak. Only then they saw a tall, slim woman standing beside the window. She had long blonde hair and was wearing a black robe, similar to those of Death Eaters.

»You're not them.« she said. »Or is the Dark Lord sending students to do the dirty work for him?«

»You're a Death Eater.« said Harry.

»Yes. And you're not, are you? Potter.«

»It's a trap to catch you, Harry.« said Ron, who was guarding the door.

»No. They're not after Harry Potter tonight.« smiled Narcissa. »They've come for me and my son. He failed Him. Now we have to pay.«

»But, Dumbledore is dead. He didn't fail.«

»My son was to kill him, but couldn't. The Lord can see into the minds of his followers. He knows he wanted to fail him. Now he has to die.«

»Where is he?« asked Hermione. »Where's Draco?«

»Downstairs, I guess. He'll die no matter what. He can't win. We'll both die. My sister's come. She'll make sure we're dead.«

»LeStrange's here?« asked Harry. »Ron, come with me. Hermione, stay here and look after Mrs. Malfoy. Call if you need us.«

»Okay. Be careful.«

The boys hurried towards the long staircase and descended downstairs. Suddenly, the heard a loud crack and a woman yelled: Come out, sister! Don't be a coward!«

»They're in.« said Ron and in a few seconds, they could see a group of Death Eaters, three masked, led by an unmasked woman with long black hair. Suddenly, someone grabbed Harry's shoulder and pulled them both into a cupboard under the stairs.

»What are you doing here, Potter?« asked a tall boy with messy blonde hair and cold blue eyes.

»We're here to help you. 'course we didn't know it was you we're helping before it was too late.« said Ron.

»Did the Order send you?« asked Draco Malfoy.

»No. There's only us and Hermione. We were on our way to…somewhere else when we saw the mark.«

»My mother, she's…«

»Upstairs, we know. Hermione's with her.«

»You're wasting your time, Potter. They're gonna kill us all. Bellatrix won't let us get away.«

»She's your aunt, for god's sake.« said Ron. »She can't just kill you.«

»She will. It doesn't matter to her. I've failed Him. Now I have to pay.«

»You had to. He knew you would. He did that to punish your dad's failure. Now come on, we can't let them get upstairs.«

They slowly opened the cupboard door and sneaked out. Two Death Eaters were still standing in the lobby and they could see one in the kitchen.

»They're searching the ground. But where's Bellatrix?« said Draco just before a green bolt of a curse hit the wall next to his head.

»Damn.« said Bellatrix LeStrange, who was standing behind a pillar nearby.

»Missed.« But before she could say anything else, she had to move from Harry's curse who tore half the pillar. In seconds, the ground floor of the Malfoy manor became a war zone.

As Harry narrowly dodged another curse and hit the first Death Eater with a strong Sectumsempra, he saw a figure on the stairs. It was Narcissa Malfoy, slowly descending towards them with Hermione nowhere to be seen.

»Mom!« yelled Draco. »Get back up there!«

But Narcissa continued her descend and soon reached the bottom of the stairs. And there was Bellatrix, standing in front of her, with her wand raised.

»Bella.« said Mrs. Malfoy. »You wouldn't do this to your own sister, Bella. And Draco, your nephew. He's only but a boy. You knew he would fail.«

»I did, Narcissa. I knew and I know what He wants me to do. Goodbye.«

Bellatrix raised her wand.

»Bella, wait!« yelled Narcissa, but it didn't help.

»Avada Kedavra!«

The curse hit her right in the chest and she fell slowly before her sister's feet.

»Nooo!« yelled Draco and raised his wand towards Bellatrix. Just as he wanted to curse her, a curse hit him in the back. Harry and Ron turned towards the remaining two Death Eaters and finished them off, but as they looked for Lestrange, she was nowhere to be found. Ron sprinted upstairs to find Hermione, as Harry stayed with Draco. The young Malfoy was alive, but his back was badly bleeding.

»You'll be alright.« said Harry.

»Is my mom…did she…?«

»I'm sorry.« Harry took Draco's hand and helped him up. They sat on the staircase and Draco gently caressed his mother's hand with his own.

»Where's Weasley?« he suddenly asked.

»He went upstairs to…there he is.«

Ron and Hermione were coming down the stairs, Hermione with a small limp.

»She knocked me out and locked me in. I'd only just woken up.«

»Did you see Lestrange?« asked Harry.,

»No. She must've disapparated.«

»Now what?« asked Ron.

»I think we should get Draco to the Headquarters. You'll be safe there.« said Hermione.

»And do what? Sit around and wait for someone to tell me Lestrange's dead? I'm not going to be worthless, even if they would take me.«

»They will.«

»Why wouldn't they just leave me here for Him to find me? It's my fault Dumbledore's dead. I don't deserve their pity.«

»You had no choice. He was gonna kill you anyway. Come with us, Draco.«

»Wait, aren't we going to Godric's Hollow?« suddenly said Ron.

»Maybe you could take Malfoy to the Headquarters and I would…«

»No!« all three yelled.

»I'm not going there. I told you.« said Draco.

»And we're coming with you, remember?« said Hermione.

»Alright, then I guess we're all going. But I think you should look at his wound, Hermione.« agreed Harry before he got on his feet and helped Ron pull the Death Eater bodies away.

Hermione took out her wand and gently lifted Draco's shirt.

»Does it hurt?« she asked.

»I'll live.«

She muttered a spell and soon, the wound stopped bleeding.

»Thanks.« said Malfoy. »You're good.«

»Took ya long enough.« smiled Hermione and got on her feet. Then, she froze.

»Uh-oh.«

»What?« asked Malfoy.

»They're coming. A lot of them.«

»Who's coming?« he asked again and got up to see for himself. »Crap.«

There were at least a dozen Death Eaters approaching the house, no doubt more had surrounded it.

»Oy, Potter!« yelled Draco.

»Yeah, we see them. I suggest we get put of here.«

»How? We can't fly, they'd see us.« said Hermione.

»We could apparate.« suggested Malfoy. »But you should still get your brooms.«

»I'll get them. Accio brooms!« Three broomstick flew down from the upper floor and one from the cupboard in which the boys hid before the fight.

»That's mine.« Malfoy grabbed his Nimbus 2001 and turned to Harry.

»Where are we going?«

»Dunno. What's the safest place?«

»That would be Hogsmeade, but that's way off course.« answered Hermione.

»What about Diagon Alley?« suggested Ron.

»That'll do. Let's say…the Leaky Cauldron?«

»Okay.«

A loud band blew the door to the Malfoy manor wide open. Two tall figures entered the lobby.

»They're gone.« said the man, who was over a head taller than Bellatrix Lestrange.

»I'm sorry, master.«

»Potter took young Malfoy with him. His punishment will have to wait. What about his father?«

»Lucius is heavily guarded, my Lord. We could take the Aurors down but…«

»It would be a waste of time and men. We'll get him. But now, we must follow the plan.«

»Yes, master.«

Meanwhile, four cloaked figures entered the Leaky Cauldron on Diagon Alley. Three of them hurried upstairs while the girl stepped to the barman.

»How may I help you, Miss?«

»We'll need a room for four, Tom.« she put a few galleons on the bar and smiled.

»Ofcourse, right away, Miss Granger. Someone's been expecting you, though. In the back room. Someone from the school if you know what I mean.«

»Thanks, Tom.«

Hermione took the key and headed upstairs. The boys were waiting for her just at the top of the stairs.

»Tom said someone's in the back room, waiting for us. Someone from school.« she told them.

»Did he say, who?« asked Harry while Ron peered over the fence as though he could see through the door of the back room.

»No. Probably someone from…«

»Okay. Let's go see.«

As they stood before the room, Hermione had an idea.

»Maybe you could use your cloak, Harry?«

Harry nodded and put on his invisibility cloak and soon they could see the door opening.

Harry entered the room, lit only by a few candles. In the corner sat a tall woman with vivid pink hair.

»You can take it off now, Harry.« she said.

Harry pulled the cloak off and sat into a chair next to her.

»Hey, Tonks.« he said. »Great to see ya.«

»You too. And you,« she pointed to the door which burst open with Draco, Ron and Hermione standing in the doorway.

»Hey, Tonks.« said Ron and Hermione while Draco simply nodded.

»What are you doing here?« asked Hermione as she sat down next to Harry.

»We heard what happened at the Manor,« began Tonks and looked at Draco. »but we couldn't do anything about it. Our spy was nearly captured by the Eaters and we were too late. Good job, though. Anyway, Remus thought it would be the best if someone came after you and since we knew you're going to need a place to stay…I'm here. I'm here so I can take you to the Order and then you'll perhaps be considerate enough to tell someone where you're actually going and what you are planning to do. Because we don't know anything.«

...to be continued...hopefully...:)

anyway, this is my attempt to finally write something longer than a one-shot, tho I might continue CHANGES once (I like it, I'm just out of ideas)...this is my update after...months...sorry abot that...well, I hope you like this and I'll try to update sooner :)

xoxo