Chapter 66

The Ball and the return of Fudge

Halloween was turning out to become an interesting one for the students and staff alike. They were all aloud to go down to Hogsmeade the weekend before to get what they needed for the ball. All the girls were dragging their boyfriends along to the village, and some of the second years that were going with their third year boyfriends or girlfriends were given special permission to go to Hogsmeade as a group with a Professor as a escort.

That afternoon found the guys going through that years trunk to see if there was anything that they were wanting to get out of it before that night. They each took out their personal pouch of money that was there for them, and also took out the one for their ladies, or at least the ones that was part of the group. They found that there was a locket for each of the ladies that were for the guys to give them, including for the ladies that weren't part of the group. "I think that my parents have gotten into something cool gents, they seem to have known what we all need, or maybe there is someone else at work here. I don't know, but I thank them for it." Harry didn't know how true his last statement was, for his grandfather, our lovable Headmaster, was there that very morning putting the lockets and money into the trunk.

Harry and the other guys were downstairs in the common room that minute waiting for their dates for the dance that night. Dudley had joined them with permission from Professor McGonagall to pick up his date, Pavarti Patil. He was sitting there playing a game of wizardring chess with Ron, and while he was giving him a run for his money, he still lost. He had accompanied Luna Lovegood to the Gryffindor Common Room for her to meet her date Ron. Ron was flabbergasted to say the least. For Luna had really outdone herself and was totally beautiful that night. He gave her a quick kiss, and smiled as she sat down with him to wait for the others.

Hermoine was the first to come down that night, and Harry's jaw hit the floor. She was wearing a green dress to match his emerald green eyes just right. She had her hair done up with it less bushy and more manageable. He went over closing his mouth, and gave her a kiss, "you look great Moine, I will be one of the luckiest guys there." He smiled as she blushed a bit, but thanked him with another kiss.

Next was Lavender, and she was wearing a off the shoulder number that made Seamus let out a loud whistle and he walked up to her smiling. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and led her over to the others where they were waiting. "Don't worry guys, the other girls will be down in a minute or two."

Ginny came down a little hesitantly, but was a ravishing beauty for Neville, and he showed his appreciation for it, by handing her a dozen roses and kissing her on the cheek. The other girls looked at their dates with wonder why they didn't provide roses for them. The guys quickly looked at each other and smiled. With a wave of their wands each girl was given a dozen roses, and the ones that were still waiting for their dates, were holding a dozen roses.

Pavarti came down with a silver dress on, and her hair up in a french braid. Dudley came up to her and handed her the roses while smiling. "You look great Pavarti." He was smiling and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She blushed a bit and thanked him.

The last one to come down the staircase was Dawn Lupin, she was going to be going to the dance with Ernie McMillan, and she looked great in a black strapless number. When she saw Ernie, she smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek for the roses and the compliment.

The guys all pulled out a small box for each of the girls, and handed it to them. There were a lot of gasps when they opened them and found the lockets. They each had their respective date put it on them, and then gave them a kiss also. None of the guys looked to surprised when Ernie pulled one out also, even tho he nor his date were part of the crowd. They just thought that he had gotten one for her also when he had heard that the guys had gotten one for their dates.

They went down to the great hall, and had a great time that night. The guys hadn't told their dates about it, but they had all been taking dancing lessons from a couple of the pure bloods that were great dancers. Luckily for them, they had one as a good friend, and he and his date were more than willing to teach them all they knew about dancing.

About half way through the dance, Harry was getting a strange feeling from his amulet that he was wearing. He shot a worried look at Hermoine, and the others went to him and asked what was going on, for they also were getting the strange feeling. "I have a strange feeling that there is something wrong with Lightning and Star Dancer, we need to go to them." They made their way up to Dumbledore and told him that something was wrong with the two Unicorn's and that they needed to go check it out.

Dumbledore was a bit surprised that they knew something was wrong, when he himself didn't. "How are you sure that there is something wrong with them?" His eyes weren't twinkling as much as they were before when he asked.

"It's the amulets that they gave us, that are acting up, and we know that something is wrong. I'm sorry Professor, but I can tell that something is wrong. We can't just stand here talking about it, we need to go and help them. Please Headmaster, she is with a foal, and I don't want to loose either of them." Harry was getting frantic now, for the amulet's were now burning.

"Ok you all go, but take Hagrid with you. I don't want you to go alone into the forest at night or any time. Well what are you waiting for, I will have Hagrid waiting for you at the entrance to the forest." With that, he sent a message through Fawkes to Hagrid, and the group went made their way down to the forest.

When they got down there, they were met by Hagrid and fang as they went into the forest to where they felt that the Unicorn's were at. What they saw when they got there broke their hearts. They found that both Lightning and Star Dancer were standing over the body of two young Unicorn's protecting them while a man in a black robe was pointing a wand at them.

"Who are you and why are you bothering these Unicorn's?" Hagrid's voice bellowed at the man, and as he turned, they could see that it was Fudge. There were stunners fired off at the former Minister of Magic which he easily dodged, and he through a killing curse at one of the Unicorn's that missed the two adult ones, but hit one of the young ones. As it lay there still, Harry, Ron and Draco shot stunners at Fudge, and he fell. They took and bound him up to be taken to the Ministry of Magic for questioning and trial. As they were tending to the wounded Unicorn's, they heard a small pop, and as they turned around, they saw a black robed figure take out Hermoine and Ginny with stunners and take and aparate away with Fudge. They ran over to where the girls were lying, and cast Enervate on them to wake them up.

"Go back to the castle Harry, we will be alright now, thank you for your help. Don't worry about the young one, we will take care of the body, and take the other one in with our herd. Don't worry, I'm all right now." Lightning gave his hand a nuzzle letting him know that she was indeed alright.

Harry and the rest of the group watched as the three unicorns took there dead and wounded off into the forest with the help of a couple of Centaurs that had shown up to help. "Ok everyone, you heard her, let's get back to the dance, and let them know that we are all right." They trudged back up to the castle, and into the rest of the dance. They were all greeted with hugs and smiles from the rest of their friends. The rest of the dance was a great one, and they had a great time.

A/N: Ok next chapter will be Christmas Holidays, where Harry will be spending it with the Grangers. —Donald