Yeah for Snowlands! So, if anyone hasn't seen The Chronicles of Narnia movie, GO SEE IT! Besides, what novel do you think Jade read when she was young (and about a hundred times since) that helped inspired her for this story?

Teresa: Okay, I didn't get to finish when you asked about Jadis being the same as Chionia. Basically, Chionia is kind of a caricature of Jadis—and also, way nicer. But where else would I get the inspiration for a Snow Queen? (I think I did mention that she was also somewhat based off the princess in the Candyland board game…you know…)

Pobbin: Yeah…bad typo. Nothing compared to the hilarious wrong name mix-up in this one chapter of Walls That Lie Between, where I put 'Kouga' instead of 'Ayame' so the sentence looked as though Ginta had a very big crush on the wrong person…I fixed that one though. And this one.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Warnings: Some swearing.

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The Eternal Snowlands

Chapter Five

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"That was horrible!" Neville moaned, burying his face in his hands. They had just finished another Potions lesson and Neville's potion had gone seriously wrong. At one point, it was bubbling in such a bizarre way that a bubble rose up and splattered Luna Lovegood. Although no one knew exactly how it had happened, Luna's rabbit ears were gone by the time they wiped the potion off her.

"I miss them too." Luna reached up to touch the top of her head, looking severely disappointed.

"Oh, where are they!" Ginny suddenly burst out. She still hadn't forgiven Fred and George for leaving her there—and she definitely didn't forgive the fact that they had gone without her. She had calmed down after a couple of days and was now prone to small outbursts about it.

"My ears?" Luna blinked.

"No, not your ears, Luna." Ginny sighed. "My brothers. Harry. Hermione. Tonks. Nothing interesting is happening here!"

"I wouldn't be so quick to say that." Luna looked around slowly and then she leaned in as though she had a secret to tell. "I think there's acromantulas in the dungeons."

"There are?" Neville turned an ashen color.

"Don't worry, there's no acromantulas in the dungeons." Ginny reassured him distractedly. "I just wish there was something I could do."

I could have gone with them!

"I know something you could do." Neville looked nervous.

"What?" Ginny seemed interested.

"Protect me from Malfoy!" Neville latched onto her arm. "Ever since Harry left, it's been terrible…And he keeps saying he's going to do awful things to Trevor."

Ginny giggled at that. "Sorry, Neville, it's just when you say that it sounds like Malfoy's going to force him into marriage or something. Where's Trevor now?"

"In a cage." Neville looked downcast. "He hates being in there but if I let him out, Malfoy's going to get him…"

"You could get a chimera from the dungeons." Luna suggested thoughtfully.

"I thought you just said that there were acromantulas in the dungeons." Ginny's brow crinkled in confusion. Luna didn't say anything for a minute and then shrugged.

"It doesn't help that Zabini shares a room with me." Neville continued in a hopeless tone.

"Look, no one's going to hurt Trevor and no one's going to bully you." Ginny decided to take matters into her own hand. It would distract her from certain traitors who had left without her. "First of all, Malfoy only picks on you because he thinks he can get away with it. You've got to stand up to him. And second, you've got me. And Luna. And the others but they aren't here."

"I'll try…" Neville didn't look like he had complete confidence in this plan.

"I'll go to the library and look up some charms that will seal Trevor's cage. That way Zabini can't just nip him out of there for Malfoy." Ginny decided. "And if you run into Malfoy, you just tell him to mind his own business."

"Yes, and I will tell him to take his inferiority complex towards Harry elsewhere." Luna volunteered.

"Oh…okay." Ginny nodded slowly. Sometimes she really just didn't get Luna. "I'll see you guys in a bit." And she began to walk off on her own. Unbeknownst to her, as she turned down a hallway to go to the library, Malfoy, Nott, and Zabini were coming up the other way, Blaise was the only one who noticed her heading off towards the library.

"Um, I'm going to go check something in the library." Blaise told them and Draco raised both eyebrows at him.

"There aren't any mirrors in the library." Draco seemed slightly suspicious.

"I don't care what he does, he's annoying." Nott announced.

"I'm still right here." Blaise didn't look amused but he turned to walk off. He peeked over his shoulder to make sure the other two were on their way and then he pulled out his mirror. All of his hair was in place and he gave the mirror a winning smile, the type his mother would have given to a crowd full of admirers.

Then he jogged to catch up with Ginny.

It was near impossible to talk to her when her brothers were around and he didn't even try. But now that no one was in the way, he thought he had a fair shot at talking to her.

"Hello." He greeted her. She glanced over at him and her eyes narrowed.

"What do you want?" Ginny asked.

"Oh…nothing." Blaise laughed nervously. "I was just…seeing what you were doing."

"Nothing." Ginny answered quickly. "At least, it's none of your business."

"It's a secret then?" Blaise wished he didn't sound quite so curious. He had to play it cool. "That's okay…I'm sure I don't want to know." Ginny stopped and turned towards him.

"Shouldn't you be off somewhere being a bullying git?" Ginny leaned in, trying to draw on all her height, even though the older Zabini was a lot taller than her.

"Er…all bullied out for today." Blaise tried to joke. "I was just thinking that maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Ginny's tone wasn't making it any easier on Blaise who already had a hard time trying to talk to her.

"I heard you're good at mending clothes." Blaise quickly made up. "I've got this pair of trousers that has a rip in it and I was hoping you could…you know, fix it."

Wow, Blaise, you suck at conversation.

Try to be a little more charming…

"Me?" Ginny was definitely caught off guard. Then she gave him a dirty look. "That's right, the peasant children will be happy to do things for you."

"Oh, you think Malfoy…" Blaise laughed. "No, I don't think he's aware that you sew. He's not really terrible when you get to know him…kind of."

"If he's so nice why won't he leave Neville alone?" Ginny crossed her arms.

"Heh, Neville's just an easy target." Blaise waved a hand around. Ginny didn't look amused at all. "It's just…you know. I mean, he's okay but he's not like…me or anything."

"Like you, how?" Ginny's voice was bordering on defensive. Blaise tried to think of what would get her in a good mood, probably if he gave an honest opinions. That's the kind of thing that group would go in for.

"I'm very good looking." Blaise pointed out. "And Neville's not really. He's nice but he's not going to marry some great beauty or anything. He'll probably never fall passionately in love with anyone. And even if he does, it'll be unrequited. He wouldn't have any friends if people didn't feel bad for him. Like you."

"Wow." Ginny nodded her head for a minute. Then she pulled out her wand and before Blaise could think to duck out of the way, she uttered a curse. "Petrificus Totalus."

He fell over, stiff as a board. Ginny put her hands on her hips and bent over at the waist to make sure he heard her.

"That is the most pig-headed, vile thing I have ever heard in my life!I think any girl in the world would much rather fall in love with Neville than with you! He's a million time better than you! For your information, people are friends with Neville because he's a decent human being, something I'm sure you don't know anything about." Ginny straightened up and started to walk off. "And you can fix your own bloody trousers!"

A minute later, someone started laughing. It was Draco. He had followed and had watched the whole exchange while being partly hidden by some curtains.

"You know, I thought I'd get to watch something mildly amusing, but I have to say, that was the funniest thing I've seen all week." Draco wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. "For that, I'll take the curse off." He took out his wand and did the countercurse

"I don't know what went wrong…" Blaise started to get up. "I guess she's good friends with Neville."

"We could steal a thing of dead spiders from the Potions room and put them in his bed." Draco suggested. "Or live ones."

"I don't know." Blaise thought of Ginny's angry words. "I don't think she'd like that."

"So? Who cares what the poor think? If I spent all my time worrying about what other people thought, I'd be Potter." Draco smirked.

"It's not going to hurt anything if we lay off him for awhile…" Blaise tried quietly.

"Do you realize what Potter might think if he comes back and hears we laid off Longbottom for awhile?" The blonde-haired boy looked as though Blaise had just announced they stopped breathing for awhile. "Please. He'll think we do it to get at him."

"Isn't that why you do it?" Blaise asked slowly. Draco sputtered for a few minutes before straightening his clothes and quickly regained his composure.

"Nott's right, you are annoying." Draco strolled off and Blaise looked to go after him but for a moment, half considered going after Ginny. No, it was probably better not to.

What does she see in Neville that she doesn't see in me?

Aren't I much better looking than him?

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"Hey, look what I found!" Cho came bustling up with a large book. Ginny hadn't really gotten much research done, but was glad to get out a little of her frustration on someone—especially as someone as bigheaded as Blaise. Ginny, Luna, and Neville were sitting in the common room with a few books, trying to find a way to keep Trevor safe. "I was in the library today and I found a book on the Eternal Snowlands!"

"'The Mysterious Snowlands of the North by Farold Granger.'" Ginny read the cover. "Is he related to Hermione?"

"I think I remember her saying something once." Neville put in helpfully. "Is there anything interesting in it?"

"Quite a bit, though he does go on about the ice fairies…" Cho put a considering hand to her face. "Apparently they like to throw parties."

"Do you think they're okay? You know…up there?" Neville asked.

"Oh, they are." Luna nodded happily. Everyone stared at her for a moment. "They seem like they all have good enough reflexes to dodge snow zombies."

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Er, random chapter. I thought it would be fun not to forget our people back at the castle. Don't worry, we'll get back to the group trudging through the snow. (Actually, see, it's my clever way of making time pass in between the Veela Village and…er, what comes next.) It took me forever to write this chapter even though I really liked the idea of writing what everyone else was up to. Please review!