Chapter 9

"This is incredible!" Hermione said excitedly, "I can't believe they're both alive! This is…..amazing!" The three of them sat in Harry and Ron's room.

"I know! I can't believe it either! I've got my godfather back! I just wish there was some way for my parents to come back too," Harry answered, "But I still don't understand how Sirius got out of there. I thought-"

"Harry who cares. You have him back so be happy," Ron encouraged.

"But what if he got back using dark magic?" Harry continued.

"Harry, you heard them, Dumbledore helped him out, and you know Dumbledore doesn't use black magic," Hermione explained.

"Well, that's true. I guess it's just weird. It just feels like a dream," Harry said quietly. They were disturbed by a knock on the door. Ron got up and opened it. It was Ginny with a small envelope.

"This is for you three. Errol brought it and didn't make it up here," Ginny said as she handed the envelope to Ron. She turned after a glance at Harry and walked away. Harry watched after her but didn't say anything.

"It's from Hagrid," Ron said surprisingly.

"Really! Oh I wonder how he's doing," Hermione said anxiously as she jumped up and reached for the letter. Ron teased her with it and finally gave it to her. Both had big smiles on their faces.

"It says:

Dear Harry, Ron, and Hermionie,

I've got great news! Me and Olympe have talked to tha giants.

We got em on our side! Thay agreed to help us. Ony, thay want

somethin out of it. Thay want us to give em more space an our word

for thier protecktion. Lupin an Bill are tryin to git tha werewolfs on our side too but it's not looking so good. You three be carefull and don't git into things you know you shooldn't be gitting into. I've allreddy sent a owl to tha Order.

Senceerly,

 

"That's great! Hagrid got the giants! That's wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed.

"But when did Lupin and Bill leave?" Ron asked.

"I guess they left earlier when we were sleeping. Dumbledore must've sent them there," Harry assured.

Ron just shook his shoulders and sat on the bed next to Hermione. There was another knock on the door and Sirius came in.

"Oh hello Sirius," Hermione greeted. Sirius smiled and nodded his head.

"Harry, what exactly did you see in your dreams?" Sirius said immediately. Harry was so surprised at the question he didn't answer. Sirius looked at him as if he were waiting.

Harry recovered and said, "Well, the first dream was that you were bowing down to Voldemort but you didn't look very happy," Sirius nodded and Harry continued, "I also saw that he wasn't sure if he could trust you. Snape was there and…….Oh! Then that's why he- Snape isn't a murderer is he?"

Sirius smiled and nodded again, "That's right Harry. You saw him go uneasy when Voldemort said he killed Dumbledore right?"

"Yeah, how could I've missed that!" Harry said furiously. Sirius smiled.

There was another knock on the door. Harry got up to answer it and to his surprise, it was Malfoy.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry asked impatiently. Sirius gave Harry a stern look and motioned for Malfoy to come in. He did so and stood by Harry's bed away from the others.

"I suppose you all heard Snape?" Malfoy smirked, "So you know I'm on your side."

"On the contrary Mr. Malfoy," Sirius said politely, "We know Snape is on our side, not you."

"But, Snape said he knew I wouldn't kill Dumbledore," Malfoy sneered.

"True, but that doesn't mean you didn't want to," Sirius replied keeping his cool.

"But, I didn't! I left the Dark Lord! What do I have to do to prove it! You're worse than the Death Eaters!" Malfoy cried.

"Please Draco, Dumbledore trusts you and I know he'll do something so all of us will. Just like he did with Snape," Sirius said calmly.

"Wh-what did he do with Snape?" Malfoy stuttered.

"You'll find out soon enough, Draco," and with that, Sirius left the room. Hermione looked at the others quizzically. Harry couldn't imagine why Dumbledore trusted Snape so much. Maybe the same thing would happen to Malfoy. Perhaps Malfoy would join them and help defeat Voldemort. But he knew he'd have to do it in the end. After all, only he could destroy Voldemort once and for all.

Suddenly, Harry remembered something. When Dumbledore came back, he said he destroyed another horcrux. Harry darted out of the room. He ran down the corridor and through many rooms until he reached Sirius.

"Do you know where Dumbledore is?" Harry asked as he struggled for breath.

"Down there Harry. But he's in an important meeting with the Order. I'll tell him your looking for him," Sirius said. Harry agreed and walked back to his room.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked as he came back in and sat on the other side of Hermione.

"Long story," Harry replied shortly. Another knock on the door brought Ginny into the room. Harry watched her and looked away as she sat down.

"So, what's going on in here?" she asked.

"Nothing," Malfoy answered. He was still standing next to Harry's bed. Ginny walked over to him and sat down. Malfoy sat down next to her. Harry felt the anger rise.

Hermione noticed and gave him a warning look. Ron glared at Ginny and Malfoy. Malfoy looked up and smirked. Ginny didn't notice.

"Draco, where is your mother?" Ginny asked.

"Dumbledore sent a few people to go and get her," Malfoy answered.

"Great! I'd like to meet her Draco," Ginny smiled.

"ALRIGHT! That's it! I can't stand it! Ginny, why are you calling him Draco!" Ron shouted viciously, "It's Malfoy! How can you call him Draco!"

"Ron calm down!" Hermione yelled.

"Yeah, listen to your little mudblood girlfriend," Malfoy sneered.

"You little bastard!" Ron yelled fiercely. He dodged at him but Ginny stepped in front of Malfoy.

"Stop it Ron!" she screamed.

"Ginny! Did you just hear what he called Hermione! I'm gonna kill him!" Ron raged on. Ginny wouldn't let him pass so he pulled out his wand. Harry and Hermione ran to take it away.

"Please stop!" Hermione pleaded. Malfoy just stood behind Ginny, smirking as usual.

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione cried. Ron's wand shot out from his hand. He turned around to face her.

"Enough," Hermione said quietly. Ron's shoulders sunk and he quietly left the room. Hermione followed. Ginny turned around and hugged Malfoy. She was crying. Malfoy kissed her on the top of her head and Harry went off.

The next moment he and Malfoy were on the floor slamming their fists into each other with Ginny shrieking trying to stop the fight. She pulled on Malfoy and Harry and tried to get them away from each other but wasn't strong enough. Hermione barged in the room and screamed for Ron. Ron couldn't help himself from joining the fight as soon as he realized what was going on. He picked Malfoy up and punched him in the stomach. Harry continued to thrash his fists in Malfoy's face. Malfoy tried to fight back but with two blows coming at once from all different sides gave up and fell to the floor. Harry kept hitting him in the face until Hermione, Ginny, and a reluctant Ron pried him off. Ginny got Malfoy to his feet and rushed him out of the room. Harry wiped his bleeding lip on his shirt sleeve. Hermione hurried to their sides and examined their wounds. Ron had a few cuts and bruises but wasn't badly hurt. Harry had a busted lip, bruises, cuts, and a black eye. Neither had any missing teeth or broken bones. Malfoy on the other hand didn't look so good when they came downstairs. He was sitting in a chair with a blanket over him. Harry could see a sling around his arm. His face looked pretty bad. His nose was obviously broken and both eyes were swollen along with his bottom lip. Someone other than Ginny had tended to his wounds.

"Well, Ginny won't have a reason to look at him now," Ron joked. Harry couldn't help but grin then realized what he had done.

"Ron, we really hurt him," Harry said quietly.

"Yeah," Ron sighed. Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for Malfoy, but he had to admit, it felt great to get rid of all that anger. He just used the wrong technique to get rid of it.

"Come on, let's go back upstairs," Hermione murmured quietly. All three turned and went back upstairs.

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione reached the room, they found a strange-looking creature jumping on one of the beds. Harry and Ron recognized him immediately. Hermione on the other hand wasn't sure who it was.

"Hello Dobby," Harry greeted. The tiny house elf stopped and jumped off the bed. He ran to Harry.

"Hello Mr. Potter, sir. It's great to see you again, sir!" squeaked Dobby.

"Dobby? Oh, this is Dobby. Oh, yes, I remember! How could I forget?" Hermione said.

"So Dobby, how's that sock collection going?" Ron asked.

"Oh, wonderful Mr. Weasley, sir!" Dobby squeaked excitedly, "Dobby's even started collecting ties too, sir!" Ron smiled.

"He called me sir," he whispered happily to Hermione. She shook her head and sat down.

"So Dobby, why are you here? I thought you worked at Hogwarts," Hermione asked.

"Well, Dobby did, Ms. Granger, Dobby just left after Mr. Dumbledore died. Dobby couldn't work there anymore," Dobby said sadly.

"But Dumbledore's alive. He's downstairs right now," Ron added cheerfully. Dobby perked up and started cheering.

"Ron! I don't think we were supposed to tell anyone! We don't want word getting around that Dumbledore's alive!" Hermione scorned.

"Don't worry miss, Dobby'll keep it all to hisself. Dobby won't tell a soul!" he cheered.

"Who is that?" came Ginny's voice from the doorway.

"Don't worry Ginny, it's alright. He's just a house elf. This is Dobby," Ron said as he pointed to Dobby.

"Dobby is honored to meet you, miss. It is an honor to be in the presence of the first Weasley daughter in several generations!" he squeaked happily.

"Well it's great to meet you too, um, Dobby," Ginny said. Ron leaned over to her and whispered, "Don't you love the way he talks? It's like we're kings or something!" Ginny gave him a weird look.

"Well, I came up here to tell you what you've done! Draco has-"

"Oh come on! Call him Malfoy," Ron said.

"Malfoy! Mr. Malfoy sir is here? Dobby must leave!" Dobby scrambled around the room.

"Dobby, it's alright. He's not going to hurt you," Harry said politely. Dobby calmed down and sat on the floor.

"Anyway," Ginny said ignorantly, "His face is all busted up. His left arm is broken in two places. Two teeth were knocked out and his right leg is swollen."

"Well, we did a good job then, didn't we?" Ron teased.

"Ron! This isn't funny! You seriously hurt him!" Ginny screamed in frustration.

"Trust me! It could've been worse! You need to stay away from him Ginny!" Ron yelled angrily.

"You can't tell me what to do!" she said and stormed out of the room.

"I'll bet she'll tell Dumbledore," Ron groaned.

"Well, then let's talk about it now. Why did you two attack him?" Hermione asked earnestly.

"Hermione, we're not werewolves. We didn't "attack" him," Harry said honestly, "We just, beat him up."

"Well whatever you did, you hurt him badly," Hermione lectured.

"Why doesn't anyone listen to us?" Ron yelled furiously, "I mean, how do you know we can trust him?"

"I don't know but just because you can't trust someone doesn't mean you go beating the snot out of them!" Hermione argued.

"Dobby knows something," the house elf squeaked, "Young Mr. Malfoy doesn't like the dark arts. He pretends to so he can live up to Old Mr. Malfoy's name."

"How do you know that?" Ron asked sharply. Dobby cowered at the edge in his voice.

"Because, sir, Dobby used to be his house elf, sir," Dobby said quietly.

"Oh," Ron said shamefully.

"Okay, let's just go to bed, alright?" Hermione yawned.

"Fine," Ron said as he ushered her out the door.

"Good night!" she called from the hall. Ron and Harry said goodbye to Dobby as he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

"Strange night huh?" Ron said as he crawled into bed.

"Yeah," Harry answered. He pulled back his covers and lied down. He instantly fell asleep.