A/N:School! Nooo! Now it's back to updating on Friday and Saturday nights! Until March break! Thanks for all the reviews!

Chapter Thirty-Seven: A Very Gryffindor Thing To Do

Harry spluttered. Get him to do what? He raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"I wasn't aware anyone could call on those things."

Luna sighed impatiently. "No, not just anyone can call them. But you could. So please, hurry up."

Harry looked around at Ron and Hermione. Ginny was snickering while Ron looked none too happy at riding on invisible horses. Hermione seemed to be thinking it over before giving Harry an unsure nod of encouragement. Harry shrugged his shoulders before clearing his throat.

"Thestrals? Here, Thestrals, Thestrals, Thestrals! I need your help."

The Forest was silent. Harry kicked the ground sullenly.

"This is stupid. Where's some blood when you need it?"

Then, for the third time that night something busted into the clearing. Ron, Hermione and Ginny crowded closer to Harry and Luna who could see the creatures.

"See, I told you." Said Luna in a slightly smug voice as she walked over to one and began to pet behind its ears. The Thestral made a noise that would have been a purr if it had been a cat. Instead it came out as a bit of a growl. Ron whimpered.

Ginny put a hand on Harry's arm. "Point me to one of these things and let's go."

It took them about fifteen minutes to get everyone situated on a horse- thing. Hermione muttering about preferring brooms over this, put her hand on Luna's shoulder as she swung her leg over the creature looking totally lost. Ron was sitting with his back rigid, face pale with fear. Ginny seemed to be impatient while Luna was humming to herself as her Thestral walked around the clearing. Harry sighed and hopped onto his ride.

"Right." He said as she swung the horse around. "To Little Hangleton. The Riddle Manor. Quickly now."

Stiffening the Thestrals suddenly darted up into the sky. Hermione screamed while Ron yelped and Luna whooped. Harry's face was determined.

"Go faster!" He yelled over the wind and Hermione glared at the Elemental Veela.

"If we get out of this alive I swear I'll kill you, Harry James Potter!"

A sudden dive from the animal tore another scream form the bushy-haired Gryffindor. Ginny snickered.

It was three hours and a few towns later that the Thestrals began to dive closer to a small town. A huge mansion stood on a hill over looking the town with a sinister feel to it's standing. Only the street lamps and a few driveway lights were lit as the group came closer to the town, so they and no worries about being seen. Any muggles who did, would probably chalk it up to too little sleep or a UFO sighting.

It was just before the overgrown garden that the Thestrals stopped suddenly and dropped like flies. Hermione screamed again along with Ginny as they all landed safely in the thin trees surrounding the gate to Riddle Manor. Ron quickly slid off his ride and hurried over to a bush. He retched and Harry winced at the sound of vomit hitting rock.

Lifting his head, the red haired Gryffindor looked green. "Never will I voluntarily get on that – bloody thing - again."

Harry bit back a grin and nodded in mock sympathy.

Luna was already heading toward the Manor her head tilted to the side.

"We've got a problem. There are more wards here. Stronger than ones Neville could have put up."

Harry nodded. He could see the dark colors swirling evilly. Luna looked at him, her eyes worried.

"You know what that means?" she asked in her misty voice.

Harry sighed. "It means there are more than just Draco and Co. in there. Probably more Death Eaters. At least five more. Neville probably had a few low ranking ones to keep the place secret. He'd need them for their power."

Ginny growled. "Yeah, the boy's practically a squib."

Hermione put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "What kind of wards are they? I can probably figure out some way to get us in."

Harry shook his head. "They're done in Dark Magic. Unless you have something to tell us about you and Dark Arts I'm the only one who can do this."

"How?"

Harry smirked. "I'm an Elemental Veela. I can do anything. First we need a plan. There are four of us and who knows how many fully trained Death Eaters in there. Ron, what do we do?"

The gangly red-head looked surprised. "Me? You're asking me? I'm usually the one who gets hurt half way through and gets saved by the hero. I can't help you."

Harry grinned at him. "Ron you're the best chess player I know. The only books you actually read are about strategy and tactics. Once we get inside the wards, we need a plan that will get us in the house. You have to know something."

Ron scratched his chin before looking around the tiny clearing they were in and grabbing a stick. He crouched and began to scratch in the ground.

"We need a distraction." Ron began as Harry and the others crouched down to follow. Ron drew out the house.

"Here we are." He put an 'X' outside a bubble. He then put in all the little details outside the house. "From what I've read about Auror stormings in old pure blood homes and even in times of war, all old houses like these have a secret tunnel that would give them an escape route in case of a siege."

Hermione was looking at the youngest Weasley son ins awe. She'd never seen this side of him. Ron pointed to a well that was close to the edge of the wards and on a slight hill in the valley in which the house sat upon.

"See that? It isn't in the right place for a well. Not only is it too far away from the house but would never fill up with water. That's the muggle escape route."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows in thought. "Muggle? So there's more than one?"

Ron nodded." You-Know-Who wouldn't want any attention drawn to this place, so the wards won't hurt the muggles, just wizards and witches. That's why the muggle escape route is blocked. The wizaridng one is over there in that graveyard. It's the tomb."

Hermione looked amazed. "How'd you figure that out?"

Ginny answered. "Our mum's a Prewitt. Our grandmother on her side owned the Manor there. When Death Eaters attacked and our two uncles were killed, Mum told us the story of how she and Grandmum escaped down in the secret passageway in the tombs. Only family or someone like Ron would see where that place would be. It's impossible for an outsider to tell as it deals with blood magic. Since Voldemort is a half-blood and his father a muggle, this place has no blood magic on it."

Harry grinned at his best mate. "I knew I liked you for a reason." Ron stuck out his tongue. Harry pointed to the square that represented the tomb on their little makeshift map. "So we just get in there and navigate it into the house?"

Ron nodded looking worried. "It probably has a bunch of traps, curses and hexes in it. Really nasty stuff. Everyone will have to be careful."

Harry stuck out his lip in thought. "Hermione, do you know any spells that reveal dark magic?"

The girl nodded. " Aperio Pravus. It should tell us if there are any wards, hexes or curses put on the entrance."

Harry looked over the map. It wasn't the best plan, but do-able.

"Okay, we're going to the graveyard. But -" Harry warned as everyone turned to move. "we have to be careful. Stay in the shadows and be on your guard. Wands at the ready."

Harry led the way, stepping gracefully over fallen logs and branches, his group trying, most of the time unsuccessfully to mimic his movements.

A sudden flash of violet light in the house made everyone freeze and drop to the ground. Light seemed to be coming from the basement now along with what appeared to be a room just under the attic in the house.

"I don't like the looks of this." Hermione whispered. "We need to get in and out fast before the Death Eaters present call for aid."

Harry nodded. They were at the fence of the graveyard anyway.

Silently, the group slinked around the iron bars, looking for a gate or a hole to crawl through. Twice they stopped, Harry having heard something slither through the forest but after a few tense minutes they continued.

They found the gate at the opposite end of the fence from the house. It gave them more than enough cover to use some discreet magic. Hermione used her revealing spell and Ron groaned when the lock glowed a sinister red.

Ginny looked at Hermione. "Well? What does red mean?"

The brunette blushed. "I don't know."

Ron stopped his groaning to look at Hermione in shock. "You don't know? You, Hermione Granger, resident brain of Hogwarts, doesn't know something! Quick, Harry, is the sky falling?"

Ron had grabbed his best friend by the arm in mock-panic, looking up at the sky with wide eyes. Luna was smiling while Ginny snickered.

Harry took sympathy on his best female friend. "I'll simply not touch the lock Hermione. Ron, calm downyou're making me nervous."

The Ravenclaw and three Gryffindors stood back as the Elemental Veela cautiously approached the hinges of the gate. There he cupped both of his pale hands around the iron and narrowed his eyes in concentration. A faint red glow appeared around them along with the hiss and gurgle of melting metal. A twitch of Harry's eye and his hands changed from a glowing hot red to a cold pale blue and the iron froze with a snap.

For each of the four hinges Harry melted and froze them. Ron gave his friend a look.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Chemistry 101 Ron. Pure bloods, honestly! When a metal is heated and cooled in a quick succession like that it becomes-"

Harry grabbed a bar form each side of the gates and pulled. The hinges shattered and the Boy-Who-Lived dropped the gate with a satisfied thump.

"- brittle." Hermione finished with a smile. Ron blinked.

"That," he said slowly the awe in his voice obvious. "was brilliant! Do it again!"

Ginny glared at her brother. "Now is not the time to play, Ron! Death Eaters are in there with Harry and my mates! How would you feel if that was Hermione in there?"

"Ginny!" Ron hissed, stealing side looks at his crush who was froze with shock.

"Me?" she asked, her question more directed at Ron than the group. The red-head did his hair justice and nervously scratched the back of his head.

"Well- I- that is, you- us- um, me...I dunno!" He looked at Harry. "What doI say?"

The Gryffindor lent in and said in a stage-whisper, a hand blocking his mouth for show. "Hmmm..how about...YES!"

Ron blushed redder, if that was possible. "Er, right. Well then-" he cleared his throat and looked at Hermione. "Yes."

Hermione blinked. "Yes?"

Ginny huffed. "For Merlin's sake! Harry do something! I was trying to avoid this!"

Harry rubbed his eyes. Screw being subtle. He walked up to his two shell-shocked friends.

"Yes, Hermione, Ron likes you. Yes, Ron, Hermione likes you. I now pronounce you man and wife, boy and girl, witch and wizard. You can kiss each other later. Come on!"

Luna had a dreamy grin on her face. "You're quite good at that Harry. Have you ever considered a career as a minister?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at the seer. "No, I can honestly say I haven't."

Luna shrugged. 'Too bad. Come on, let's go." Without a glance back, the fifth year Ravenclaw skipped off into the graveyard like it was her idea in the first place. Harry sighed gustily before turning to Ginny.

"You're friends are odd."

The youngest Weasley shrugged as well. "You're my friend."

Harry grinned. "See what I mean?"

The group weaved there way through the rows of headstones, trying to get to the middle if the graveyard where Cedric had been killed and Voldemort had returned.

Suddenly Harry stopped and listened.

"Intrudersssss... mussssst return to masssssssster at once ... Harry Potter isss here..."

It was a snake and Harry had heard that hissing before. Nagini, Voldemort's pet, was here. Which meant that either Voldemort was coming or was already here.

Harry swallowed. Was he ready to face Voldemort tonight? He was here for Draco. Draco and Remus and Sirius and all those Slytherins the Gryffindor had come to see as either family or friends. If that meant going through Voldemort, then so be it.

Hermione touched Harry's sleeve, shaking him from his thoughts.

'What is it?" she mouthed and Harry signaled them in closer.

"Voldemort's pet snake is somewhere close by, in this graveyard. She knows where's here and is gong to tell her Master. We have to stop that. We have to draw her out."

Ron looked like he was going to be sick again. "Voldemort's in the house?" he asked, his voice shaking. Harry shook his head.

"I don't think so. I'd've felt him if he was and me and Ginny would probably already be dead. The one thing Voldemort doesn't have is that I can feel his presence when he's close by. He doesn't know that."

Harry stopped when he heard more hissing.

"Mudbloodsssss and blood-traitorsssss are here...how dare they dissssgrace my massster's home?Hisss land, hiss honor! I mussst defend him!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw something among the headstones tense and the Elemental Veela threw up his left hand just as the huge snake darted out to strike down Hermione.

Instead of claiming its mark, Nagini's head bounced painfully off what looked to be a shiny, slightly translucent bubble. The bubble rippled and crackled with power as Harry's eyes, once again cat-like darted around the group looking for the snake.

Ron looked at their shield. "What is this?" He asked as he poked it. It did not hurt him but it had seemed pretty painful to the snake a moment ago.

Harry, never taking his eyes off the darkness that surrounded them, answered. "It's the 'protego' spell only I enhanced it with some elements. Add a bit of heat and lightening and you get fried snake."

Hermione looked hesitant to speak. "Do we- do we have to- kill it?" she asked in a pleading voice. "It's a helpless animal."

Harry gave his friend an exasperated look. "That helpless animal tried to eat me in fourth year and just called Ron, Ginny and Luna blood-traitors and you a mudblood."

The bushy haired girl's eyes widened before they narrowed in anger. "Give it hell for me Harry."

Harry nodded and looked at his surroundings in thought. Many of the headstones were odd shaped, just perfect for a snake to get caught up in...

"Ginny." Harry whispered and the girl came over, her eyes serious. Harry handed her his sword.

"I'm going to leave the shield up around you guys and get Nagini to chase me about out there. When I come back to you, I'll drop the shield and you have to give it all you've got with that sword, okay?"

Ginny's face was pale with fright, her freckles sticking out but she nodded anyway. Harry ruffled the girl's hair. "I knewI could count on you. On three, okay? One-" Harry raised his hand. "-two-" Nagini hit the shield again on the opposite side that Harry was facing. "-three!"

A flash in the shield and Harry was out and had the bubble sealed up again. Hermione screamed and began to beat at the wall.

"Harry! What are you doing? Get back here!"

Ron was no better. "Harry, you're going to get yourself killed! You idiot!"

Harry ignored them as he darted around a statue of an old man. Nagini was nipping at his heels and Harry could feel her excitement.

SNAP! The snake's teeth sank into the rubber of Harry's shoes and the Elemental Veela kicked her off before pumping up his speed. Darting around a tight left corner, Harry saw the perfect thing. It looked like a stone wreath, sticking up form the ground.

Harry vaulted over it and smirked to himself when he saw the snake do exactly what he wanted it to and dart through the hole. Ginny saw Harry running toward her and pushed the others out of the way. Gritting her teeth, Ginny tightened her grip on her sword and waited for Harry's call. Two steps away, the Elemental Veela shouted, "NOW!"

Nagini had caught herself on one of the awkwardly shaped headstones and pulled up short as Harry jumped to Ginny's left. The red-head swung the sword over her head and with a fierce yell brought it down on the snake.

It cut clean through the animal and the group was sprayed with dark, hot blood. Nagini's body twitched and wiggled for a bit longer before going still. Nobody moved. Ron was green again while Ginny still had her hands on Gryffindor's sword, which had been embedded into the soft ground at the strength of the girl's attack. Luna actually looked shocked for once, while Harry lay panting on the ground. Hermione still had her fist raised to hit the shield that wasn't there.

Harry recovered first and quickly went to Ginny, gently prying her hands off the sword before pulling her into a hug.

"I'm so sorry you had to do that. I could only trust you to actually do it. Hermione would have hesitated, Ron would have fainted and Luna would have tried to have a conversation with it. If there was any other wayI would have done that, I swear!"

Ginny just nodded into Harry's shoulder. "I understand. It's just that..I killed Voldemort's snake. He's going to be so angry with me. He'll hurt Blaise if he finds out it was me."

Harry pulled back and put his hands on her shoulders. "Not if we get Blaise first."

Ginny visibly pulledherself together and took a calming breath. "Let's go."

Covered in blood and shaken, the group marched on toward the tomb. It was sealed tightly with no dark spells on it.

"We need a password." Hermione said after they had taken a turn around the great stone monument. "Although where was would even say the password is a mystery to me."

Harry stood back and looked at the thing again. The tomb was old and weather worn, with markings all over it's walls and a statue on it's roof. Harry's head tilted to the side as he studied the statue. It looked newer than the rest of the stone and stuck out for some reason., like it was familiar.

Hermione suddenly smacked her forehead. "I'm an idiot!" she proclaimed as she walked up toward the tomb and looked up at the statue. She turned back to the group, her eyes shining.

"What's special about this statue?" she asked excitedly.

Ginny shrugged. "It looks like every other statue I've seen in a graveyard."

Luna 'hmm-ed'. "It is rather ugly and not very creative."

Ron squinted at it. "The bloke's nose is off center."

Hermione wilted and Harry scratched his head. The thing was pretty ugly, it's hair a mess, it's face old and worn. His robes were made to looked like they were flapping int the wind-

"Hang on!" Harry said as he starred at the face of the statue. "What is a wizard doing in a muggle cemetery?"

"YES!" Hermione cried out. "I was thinking the same thing. If we knew the significance of the wizard, we could probably get in."

"He looks familiar." said Ginny after a pause. Harry nodded. "To me as well. Where have we been that has a lot of statues of wizards?"

Luna closed her eyes and smiled. "When you were younger, Harry. You ventured into the depths of Hogwarts and called the firebird in your time of need."

Harry blinked. That was random. Firebird? Fawkes? The only time he'd ever called the phoenix to him was just last night and that time in his second year.

"Salazar Slytherin." Harry breathed and Ron punched the air in triumph.

"Remember how we go into the Chamber of Secrets harry?" Ron asked excitedly but Harry was already looking at the snake that was carved into the stone at Slytherin's feet.

"Open." Harry hissed and snake wriggled it's way down the stones. They shuddered before collapsing onto themselves to reveal a stone staircase that lead down into the darkness.

Harry shivered at the cold coming from the tunnel. He looked at his friends.

"Anything goes from here on out. Severing spells, Cutting hexes, whatever you need. Don't hold back because they sure as hell won't. Follow me."

Stepping down onto the first step, Harry made a small ball of light in his right hand. Luna, Ron, Hermione and Ginny lit their wand tips and followed the Elemental Veela as the stones sealed up behind them.

A/N: There! It's about six pages. I'm finding it hard to write this action bit. I like dealing with emotions and thoughts better. Let me know if it's okay.

S.Tangerine