The Prince-Who-Lived

Chapter Fifty-nine

Well, his reputation was shot.

Neville nervously wrung his hands behind his back and shifted, waiting for Hermione to come down. It was taking forever. Maybe she'd already left. He didn't think so; Averill had told him she was still up there when she came down, but what if … what if…

Neville took a deep breath, let it out, and waited another few minutes for his reward. When Hermione stepped down, he smiled warmly at her. She blinked, and hesitantly smiled back, smoothing her shirt. Neville's nerves kept his attention on her face, and her impossible hair, and he quickly stepped aside.

"Hermione, would you talk with me for a minute or two?"

"Sure."

She took the other end of the couch and waited, her hands folded in her lap. They were practically alone: most everyone else was already gone, the first and second years slipped away to library or on the far side of the room. Neville smiled, awkwardly bobbing his head and starting, "Your clothes are nice today." Well, she was wearing a well-fitted shirt and the jeans he suspected she'd worn to the wet robe contest, although he'd only taken those in on the way to her face – where he'd know if he'd failed or not. Hermione's answering smile and nod was awkward, so he hurried on. "I'm really glad you set that up for all of us. The show. It was very nice, and not just because you're gorgeous." He ignored his blush and hers. "I know Harry and Alan were really stressed, and that helped everyone to just relax, not to mention getting Susan and Daphne another chance to tease Harry." Neville finished with a short laugh.

Hermione was also blushing. "Thank you, Neville. I was really happy with how it turned out as well. Harry was absolutely flabbergasted. Alan wasn't as excited about it as I thought he would be."

"He's already sleeping with Luna on occasion." Neville pointed out. Hermione pursed her lips.

"Luna didn't mention that."

"She wouldn't. Would you?"

Hermione flushed. "If I was sleeping with you I'd doubt I'd have to mention it for the beaming."

Neville gulped and turned bright red; Hermione slapped her hands to her mouth, and whispered, "Oh my God, I didn't mean to say that, or not like that, or I'm so sorry I shouldn't have said that. Well, I did, but I don't –" She buried her face in her hands and rocked softly before swearing curtly. Neville just swallowed.

"It's alright, I know that was a slip. Everyone has them." Okay, so maybe he was feeling a little light headed from hope. He just didn't want that ruining his judgement or apology or whatever this was. "Look, Hermione? I just wanted to say something."

Hermione moved her hands down to just covering her mouth and gave him an honest and attentive look. Neville struggled not to grin at how silly it looked – and adorable.

"I'm sorry I hurt you last year, and I hope we've moved beyond it." He gulped softly. "I'll understand if you still haven't, but I really treasured you in the beginning of fifth year and want you to understand. If you're agreeable, I hope I won't make such a colossal mistake again. Do you want … to try again?" He finished quietly.

Hermione lowered her hands and took a careful, deep breath. "I was really hurt by your rejection, Neville. But … I understand you weren't in your right mind at the time. I think I've come to terms with it, and how hurt you really were." She smiled weakly. "I'm more than willing to try."

She leaned forward and gave him a long, lingering kiss. Neville couldn't respond at the moment because he was too overwhelmed, but when she hesitated and moved to pull back, Neville put a gentle hand on her neck and stopped her, pressing back before bringing himself to lick her lip slightly. Hermione was never one to not take an opening when given one. He lost himself for the next indeterminable time, until his name suddenly shouted from within his pocket. Neville swore under his breath at Harry, but Hermione had already sat back. He pulled out the mirror and blinked when he saw Susan, tears streaking down her face.

"Susan, what's wrong?"

"Death Eaters are in the village." She offered quietly. "Daphne got hit with a curse. Harry said it was the fifth Dark bleeder curse and you'd know the counter."

"Aemgleo; wand motion is a tear drop – start high, bring it down and around to the high point again, and then a sharp flick down over the abdomen." Neville traced his finger through the air to indicate what he meant. "You're going to want to focus hard on putting as much strength into it as you can. Is there any other damage, as far as you know? Anything visible?"

"No." Susan sobbed. "It's all so overwhelming. Gimme a min to try …"

"Susan, I can't help you any more. I'm coming down; if nothing else, she'll survive until I get there. It's not a particularly prolific curse. I'm coming as fast as I can."

"Okay." She sniffed. "Hurry, Neville, please."

Hermione was listening intently and immediately leapt off him, her wand in her hand, moments before he scrambled up himself, mirror shoved fiercely into his pocket, to run to the door, Hermione following. He didn't care if the fight ended while he ran, or if the area was crawling with dementors or if Dumbledore or Voldemort himself was already present, his friends were in that village and he wasn't staying inside. Someone needed him. Hermione remarkably kept up with him until he jumped the last three stairs to the Great Hall, and paused, considering his options.

"Wait!" Hermione shouted. Neville glanced back, annoyed, "At least let me get on first."

Neville smiled thinly. You got to love a woman who understands. "Sure."

He changed, and Hermione frowned before hauling herself up awkwardly. Neville determined to get her horseback riding lessons as well, and then trotted out of the Entrance Hall, lightly jumping down the front steps. Hermione held on, squeaking and changing her grip until she whispered, "Right. Let's go."

Neville trotted and then broke into a full out gallop. He was going to get to Hogsmeade. Nothing was getting in his way.

IIII

Someone was tapping his cheek. And it was very very loud. Something was sizzling. Sinisterly.

Was that even possible? Sinister sizzling?

Someone was still tapping his cheek. And humming. He blinked open one eye and found a fuzzy blonde mess staring down at him. Was he lying down? He opened the other eye but his vision only cleared; he wasn't seeing anything else. Whoever was tapping his cheek suddenly leaned down and kissed him gently before stroking his cheek.

"Alan, are you awake?"

Alan blinked and then nodded carefully. He immediately regretted it. His head was pounding. He couldn't remember what had happened. And would that noise stop already?

"I knew if we loved you enough you'd come back." Luna beamed at him, speaking singsong and lightly as though she knew his head hurt. What did she mean, come back? He hadn't gone anywhere …

Oh. Wait.

"… Oops?" Alan whispered. "Sorry. Had to take care of something."

Luna blinked owlishly at him, and then abruptly ducked. Alan scrambled into a sitting position, fighting his swinging head, hand plunging into his pocket and grabbing the first thing he got his fingers on. The window they were near shattered; something large, black and draped in fabric smashed into it, shards flying. They bounced off a shield Luna had gotten up, the shield sputtering as soon as the glass ended, and the figure slumped to the ground landing with one arm over Alan's legs. Alan was tense as a drum, his mind thrumming, as he remembered, that again; what's wrong with my head that I have to remember this? and stared blankly at Lord Voldemort. The Dark Lord struggled to lift his head, and abruptly met Alan's eyes.

His expression of astonishment was one Alan prayed he never forgot.

"Oh," Alan grinned tensely. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and pressed the barrel of the gun between Voldemort's eyes. "How's it feel to be a mortal man again, huh?"

The satisfaction of the clean, definite death was more than worth the blazing pain the report elicited from his pounding head.

Of course, the next scream didn't help matters any.

IIII

"What in the glory Fucking-"

Harry drifted into a tangent of indiscriminate swearing, going through Alan's parentage, personal habits, and preferences and ending on the screamed insistence of, "WHY?"

Only then did he realize Alan was clutching his head in agony, eyes shut tight as Luna gently rubbed circles on his temples, apparently finding it unnecessary to stop Harry's ranting. He couldn't blame her. That shock… After several moments of silence, Alan managed a weak,

"Um, could we discuss this when my head is back on straight?"

Harry suppressed his desire to scream again and stalked over to Alan and grabbed his hand, pulling him upright. Severus stalked over and fumbled a phial out of his robes, thrusting it into Alan's hands. Alan muttered something along the lines of, "Thank God," and struggled with the stopper. Luna got it out for him and helped him tilt it back. Its effects were immediate. His shoulders relaxed, his eyes –eye, the other had its scar plainly visible- focusing between the two men staring at him. He gently covered Luna's hand on his arm with his free hand and gave the two men a weak smile.

"Um, yeah."

"What in the blazes did you think you were doing?" Severus growled. "Standing there and offing yourself in the middle of a fight! Was Voldemort not doing a good enough job? Felt you had to hurry it along? I cannot believe he could get into your mind to make you do something so insane."

"Well," Alan attempted. "Hurrying it along is good. He was playing, and no, he didn't bespell me," He flinched as Severus' eyes flashed. Harry wasn't feeling much better, "… and something about seven horcruxes." Luna gave a small gasp, staring at him and looking mildly lost before slowly blooming to incredulously happy as he continued to speak. "He said he'd messed up … or did I say that?" Alan rubbed his temples again; he was plainly struggling to think straight. Small wonder; let's just throw a death curse at our head and see how well we survive it. "Anyways, he wanted to take my eye out so I did it for him. I kinda … thought? Hoped?" Alan shrugged helplessly. "It worked out in the end." He pointed out weakly.

Good grief, Harry was a Gryffindor and thought that plan was stupid. Severus looked murderous.

"Are you telling me you thought your eye might be a horcrux and thus you decided to destroy it while it was still in your head?" He growled.

"I was pretty sure that if my eye wasn't the horcrux then I was." Alan hedged. "I'd rather be dead than keep that bastard alive, you know?"

Severus relaxed minutely. "That factor does have merit, but the timing and arrangement of your abysmally foolish actions is inexcusable." He glanced up and grimaced. "We will finish discussing this later. I think we should probably head in the direction of Hogwarts before we get mobbed."

Harry glanced around and felt a quick sense of agreement. He doubted many had missed seeing his duel with Voldemort – he remembered there had been an excessive amount of show to the battle, although why there had been was currently escaping him. Suddenly, the crowd surged forward and a middle-aged witch leaned over and hugged him.

Okay, just because she was an inch taller than him didn't mean he was a stuffed animal to be cuddled!

"Excuse me, ma'am." Harry offered. "Please, I need to –"

"I'm so thankful, child! Your duelling was brilliant!" She gasped out. "I was so astonished to see you fighting like that!"

"Move aside!" Someone else hollered. Harry rapidly determined this wasn't going to improve, and struggled out of her grip as someone pulled her back, glancing back and seeing Severus was glaring everyone else away from the incredulous stares Alan was getting. Harry shelved pride and ran over to duck within Severus' circle of influence.

"Do you think I'd get arrested if I ran out of here as an Animagus?" Harry asked tersely. Alan laughed softly, and then pointed outside the group.

"Want to ride out on a white horse? Well, dun. Suppose Neville doesn't have everything."

Harry looked up and waved enthusiastically. Hermione was sitting on the back of Neville's horse form, scanning the crowd with concern. When Harry waved, she locked on and nudged the horse closer, finally announcing, "Excuse me! Cavalry coming through!"

Surprisingly, it actually worked and people stepped aside, watching her and Neville with interest. Neville trotted straight up to Harry to nuzzle his hair, and Severus whispered. "Kindly don't change back. We don't need any more sensation than these two morons."

Neville tossed his head and stamped lightly, still snuffing at Harry's hair and tapping his shoulder. Harry laughed.

"Enough, Neville. I'm in one piece. Alan was the moron who almost got himself killed."

Neville immediately glared. Alan tiredly flipped him off in answer. The crowd on the far side was suddenly split by a group of people and students. The spell damage on their clothes announcing they'd been doing something other than hiding in their homes, so the general populace gave them precedence. In the front was Remus. He beamed as soon as he saw Harry, running over and hugging him fiercely. A mutinous murmur went up around them, but Harry just ignored it, hugging back and glancing up at Remus when he had a little more space.

"That was unexpected. What's got you so happy?"

"Fenrir is thoroughly dead." Blaise drawled. "And he," he popped his thumb at Remus, "quite happily ripped the man to pieces. Almost literally."

Harry blinked and beamed back at his honorary uncle, hugging him as well. "That's terrific!"

"That's lovely," Blaise interrupted again, unimpeded by Harry throwing a rude gesture his direction, "but is that cracked-skull corpse what I think it is?" His voice trembled slightly.

"If you're asking if the black mess with his brains blown out is Voldemort, it is." Alan tossed in. "Although Harry's going to be stuck with most of the publicity for it considering he threw the bastard into the window after an apparently spectacular duel with all sorts of pretty lights."

"Why do you sound like you've got a concussion, Alan?" Lucille and Salvador limped up together, both leaning on the other for support. Lucille's voice was tired, but no less sharp than usual.

"Because he had to get rid of the horcrux in his eye." Luna answered lightly. "Otherwise Voldemort couldn't die. So he used the Killing Curse."

Harry quickly revised his opinion of Luna's stance on Alan's actions. She was fucking pissed: she'd just sicced all the Slytherins on him.

"You did WHAT?" Blaise screamed.

Lucille blinked. "Alan … Go sleep with the Gryffindors. For the next year. We'll just take Harry in your stead, okay?"

Alan groaned. "I don't care where I sleep so long as I get a bed. Neville, please may I catch a ride?"

"How about you ride Blaise … Er, I'll ride Blaise." Harry added as Blaise just glared at Alan. "And we can put together what happened down here once we can sort the people apart. We're just a bunch of students, we're not needed, right?"

Severus smiled faintly. "No, you're not needed. However, please wait here while I check for anyone who needs immediate medical attention."

Neville suddenly chuffed, and Hermione jumped. "Oh, Daphne! She's with Susan in the … somewhere. She wasn't sure if she'd get the spell right even after Neville told her."

Severus nodded. "What spell was it?"

"Fifth bleeder curse?" Hermione hedged. Harry concurred, and Severus slipped out. Once he was gone, a man stepped forward and called, "Thank you!"

Harry sighed, and rubbed his face, turning away from the admiring masses. "How many Death Eaters were there?"

"About five outside the Three Broomsticks." Remus answered. "I think three more were by the Shrieking Shack. We passed several near Weasley Wizard Wheezes and Honeydukes, but they were thoroughly subdued. Those around here…" Remus shrugged.

"Dealt with." Tracey cut in. Harry jumped; he hadn't seen her join the group. "Although I think we've got a casualty or two. I'm not sure."

Harry kept his hands on his face. "Is everything as good as it's gonna get?"

"Far as I know." Tracey shrugged.

Harry glanced up. "Did you see Melanie or Nanna? I think they were in Honeydukes."

"We could go check." Remus shrugged.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Through this crowd?"

"They're not that scary, Harry." Remus smiled and pointed out.

"Hah." Harry scoffed. "You're not the one who got randomly hugged."

Blaise scowled. "Just glare at them, Harry. You just defeated their Dark Lord,"

"Alan did that." Harry pointed out.

"Alan put a bullet in his brain." Alan pointed out. "You fought him and threw him into a window. If I hadn't stepped up, you'd have had him down shortly thereafter. I call that a defeat in and of itself."

"Gee, thanks." Harry drawled. "Does this mean Voldemort is the first Dork Lord in History to get defeated three times, twice by the same person?"

"I'd follow that." Salvador cut in. "Once by a baby and twice by two students."

"Poor little man." Luna murmured.

IIII

As it turned out, Nanna was fine. Melanie was cursed something bad, but Harry knew most of the curses and their counters and quickly got her stable. A few others in Honeydukes needed some attention, which Harry gladly gave, and he pulled Melanie out gently to rejoin the group. Severus had a small group of injured gathering in front of Weasley Wizard Wheezes, and, unfortunately, there were two bodies so far laid out to the side of the smashed door, covered in black cloth. Neville the horse was standing and stamping nearby, clearly irate, but not moving much as Alan was draped across his back, unconscious. Harry moved to Severus and laid Melanie down with the rest of the injured, pointing the others to join the line of those still ambulatory. Severus quickly turned and finished the spells Harry hadn't known, frowning before sighing.

"She's going to have to wait out the last, it'll be about two days. She'll need to be on bed rest for it; it's one you had. Lack of proper muscle control."

Harry nodded, and left her where she was for the moment, moving along and dealing with spells and injuries as he could, leaving the more complicated and obscure to Severus. He got an affirmative grunt for his efforts, and about five minutes later, someone with brilliant red hair joined Harry at his work. Harry thanked them for healing a laceration he'd been glaring at, and then looked up and gulped,

"Mum!"

"Hello Harry." She grinned. "Weren't expecting me?"

"Er, no." Harry stumbled. "It's just … no one else is here. Of the Order. Well, other than Remus and Severus."

"There was another large attack in Diagon that didn't get the memo that Voldemort was killed. The Aurors and a large portion of the Order are there. I got sent here as soon as Dumbledore got word, but as he'd expected Voldemort in Diagon …"

"He didn't expect him to come here, after Alan?" Harry asked, incredulous. His mother quickly pulled his attention back to the man they were helping, who was fortunately unconscious so his healer's lapse wasn't noticed, but he insisted on an answer. Lily sighed.

"If he did or not is up to him."

"You think he did." Harry asked pointedly, thinking about the spell he was looking at. This was the same as the one on Daphne. "Hermione, come over here?" He called, and then looked at his mother. "Well, mum?"

"Yes, I think he did. And I think he expected and wanted Alan to fight for himself."

Hermione came over and Harry got the counter out of her, correctly guessing she'd seen it and teasing her about why she'd been right there. Hermione flipped him off and sat down to watch him work. Harry glanced at her, and turned back to his mother.

"Do you think Dumbledore knew about the -the horcrux?" It was old news, so no danger of mentioning it out here, and Hermione wouldn't say anything anyways. Besides, he wasn't entirely sure what a horcrux was anyways, other than that it had been keeping Voldemort alive. She'd find an answer if one was to be found soon enough to explain.

"I think he did…" Lily offered quietly. "But I notice Alan is alive. How did everything turn out? I presume you heard about it from Alan?"

"Yeah, just now. Alan shot the Killing Curse into his eye socket to get rid of it." Harry answered curtly. "Under his own will, too."

"What?" Lily shouted.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Well, he survived." Harry added, as though it explained everything. Lily was glaring. "It appears his eye was the horcrux, so Alan just has a massive headache now rather than a spiffy magic-imbued eye keeping his arch-nemesis alive."

Lily rubbed her forehead as Harry finished the counterspell. "It's times like these I remember Sirius Black and Regulus are related. Both you and Alan are insane." She sniffed dramatically. "I'm such a failure as mother."

Harry gave her a worried look and moved on to the next injured.

IIII

Within the hour, the fight in Diagon cleared up and the thestral drawn coaches were moving the Hogsmeade casualties into the castle. The dead were arranged to figure out which was which. Surprisingly, there were few Death Eaters left alive, but the number of civilians still numbered too many, including two teachers and three students aside from several people who had simply been visiting. In total, it was only twelve although three times that many were injured, some severely. He didn't look at the students or teachers; time enough for that later. Mostly, he was just confirming the deaths of those who'd tortured him.

One face among the Death Eaters made Harry halt, and his eyes burn.

Raina.

He crouched beside her and wondered what had killed her. It didn't ring as the Killing Curse; she had a bit of a look to her face that wasn't startled…

"It was me."

Harry glanced up to see Theodore standing gingerly nearby. He'd had several ribs cracked, and the rest of him bruised; he wasn't supposed to be up after just having been healed, but apparently he was just as stubborn as Alan.

"She didn't leave me any choice." He continued, his voice surprisingly dull.

"Why?" Harry asked. "Why did she want to die?"

"My guess?" Theodore shrugged. "Self-hatred. I probably didn't help. She saw me get out of it and felt weak. Despite me not getting raped or beaten by my family and only having to deceive a delusional father and not two brothers and both parents… Sometimes people are stupid." He nodded back to her. "It wouldn't have hurt. She was happier for it."

"Her father and older brother are dead." Harry offered quietly. "Vadim got himself strung up in Honeydukes by Dillan."

"But not dead?"

"No, just hung from the ceiling in the corner by his ankles." Harry laughed shortly and stood. "Dillan said he didn't want to scar the children."

"How noble." Theodore sneered. He turned a curious look on him. "Now what's this I hear about Alan being stupidly Gryffindor earlier?"

"What, you mean him surviving the Killing Curse from Voldemort?" Harry laughed out. He didn't know where that one had started, but the tale of his and Alan's duels with Voldemort had already started to get exaggerated. "Yes, he did something stupidly Gryffindor. I think Blaise is starting a petition to get him and I transferred at the start of next year since I refuse to give up my Quidditch Captaincy in the middle of the season. Well," Harry grinned, "more of an opinion poll to see if anybody in the dorms mind. They seem to take the permission part of it for granted."

Theodore nodded, and insisted, "What did he do?"

"Hit himself in the eye with the Killing Curse?"

Theodore blinked slowly. "Um … why?"

Well, that was the first person to not shout. "Because his eye was an accidental horcrux."

Theodore abruptly paled. "Voldemort had a horcrux?" His voice broke on the last word.

"You know what they are?" Harry asked, curious.

"Harry, I had a Death Eater for a father; I didn't want to know but I found out by accident and … that's fucking scary. No wonder he didn't die."

Harry blinked. "Alan mentioned there had been seven… We got them all destroyed, though, as far as I can tell, since Alan's sure he's dead. I'm gonna have to pin him down about that…"

Theodore took a long, deep breath and then sighed. "Okay, I'd like to sit down now, okay?"

Harry laughed softly and walked over. "Fine, be that way."

"Who all are among the dead Death Eaters you know?" Theodore asked softly.

"Antonin Dolohov; I killed him. Fenrir Greyback; Remus did him in. Three Kozumpliks. Thaddeus Pupp; his mother is in custody. So are Crabbe and Goyle actually. Tried to attack in Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Failed miserably, and since the Death Eaters outside had already killed someone within, the crowd overreacted and they expired."

"They would." Theodore nodded. "I managed to keep them in line after Draco left by putting the fear of Merlin in them, but once out here I'm not surprised they tried to act out. Don't they have Auggie Rookwood in custody?"

"Yeah. At both attacks, there were only twenty actual Death Eaters. They had twenty trolls in Diagon, though, and that raised the chaos level pretty high."

"Makes sense. Doesn't look like they did much here."

"Unlike the average wizard," Harry started out sarcastically, "We've got a bunch of overachievers on our side down here. Put in a Hodges and two Bakers, stir with one American and you get a lot more resistence than expected; the supposed Ace of Voldemort being tied up with the only two upstarts capable of matching him results in a fight that's a lot less stacked than expected."

Theodore began to snigger non-stop, and gasped slightly. "Dammit Harry, stop making me laugh!"

"Too easy."

"If I had any breath," Theodore snorted and almost managed to calm down, "I'd so hex you."

"Ah, but then I'd stop supporting you and you'd fall on your newly healed ribs and that wouldn't feel good at all. Alan assures me of it."

"Alan's been through the wringer too many times." Theodore whined.

"Too true. Now c'mon, the big damn heroes need to ride back up to the castle."

Harry helped Theodore into the carriage and then turned to help Nanna, Dillan and Tracey in as well. The injured were up at the castle already; those who had stayed to help pick things up were being taken back in order to ensure all the students were safe and nobody had disappeared. Harry, however, didn't take a carriage and climbed up behind Hermione on Neville- Alan had gone up with the injured. Harry huffed and leaned around her to pat his neck.

"We need to get you a Marauder name so people don't wonder why I've got a horse named Neville."

Hermione snickered. "But I like riding Neville."

Neville's head tossed abruptly, and then ducked down to rub on one of his legs. Harry snorted and started laughing again, pulling Hermione into a hug.

"Hermione, don't say things like that unless you mean the double entendre."

Hermione elbowed him. "I do mean it."

Neville bugled, clearly annoyed. Harry patted his chest.

"Let's head on up already, and then you can join the conversation and get your woman in line."

"I am not a something to be owned!" Hermione growled irritably.

"No, but you are his. It's about the same as he is yours." Harry's tone was maddeningly reasonable. Hermione turned to sit primly ahead of him, working hard on keeping her balance bareback.

"I'm not talking to you anymore."

"Fair enough, but I've currently got the Animagus book." Harry pointed out.

"You still have that?"

"Sure. Dad gave it to us. Neville's practically got it memorized, and I'm done refining my form, so if you're interested … and Ron, too."

Hermione twitched, and then settled for. "If I could hug you right now, I would. However that's quite inadvisable so you'll just have to wait. Of course I want to use that."

"Good. Talk Neville into teaching you. He understands it better."

"You understand Ron better, though." Hermione pointed out.

"It's not that hard to understand Ron!"

"Easy for you to say. How well do you understand Neville's learning processes?"

Harry blinked. "I just thought it was osmosis?"

Hermione just snickered again.

"Oh, fine. I'll help teach Ron. Geez, you stupid smart people."

Neville purposefully put in large bounce in his step, and Harry just started laughing again.

"You set yourself up for this one, Neville."

He tossed his head, and Hermione giggled. "I think he's going to have a few words for you when we're back at the castle."

"Actually, I think we're close enough to walk the rest of the way. You could change and not get caught, so we'll have a little less sensation. Sound good to you?"

Hermione looked and found nobody behind them, so they slipped off and Neville changed back. Immediately, he swatted Harry upside the head and grabbed Hermione. She wasn't fighting the ensuing kiss at all, and Harry just rolled his eyes, coughed, and strode past. He'd gone a few steps beyond when they both finally caught up, Neville laughing happily. Harry found he didn't mind their closeness so much; they were still vitally important to him, and Neville hadn't been this cheerful in too long…

Merlin, he felt sappy. Did ending a war do this to everyone? It almost didn't feel real.

Returning to the castle jacked the surreality level up about twelve notches. The students were mingling with a bunch of adults, and someone almost immediately recognized them and hollered out, "Harry Potter's here!"

If he could have melted into the floor, he would have. Instantly. Maybe he should have pulled out his invisibility cloak. Either way, it didn't matter now, and he was almost swamped with people coming to try and shake his hand, or hug him. He couldn't even argue injury; Severus had gotten rid of the surprisingly few spells that had stuck on him, and other than a mild ache he was perfectly healed. It left him bereft of much of anything to use to get the people to leave him alone. Neville and Hermione could only do so much. Finally, Hermione pushed someone aside, and asked after Dumbledore or the other teachers.

They were directed through to the Great Hall, and glanced around fitfully. It was hard to find anything in the crowd of well-wishers and family. Apparently Hogwarts had become a relay point: off to one side, mediwizards were disapparating with family and injured parties, while a number of Aurors and politicians were yelling at each other in the corner. Someone red-haired and looking like a Weasley hurried over and frowned in concern at them.

"Harry!" He called.

Harry took a moment to actually realize who it was. "Percy? Is that you?"

"Yes. The Minister, Scrimgeour, he really wants to talk to you." Percy sounded pompous as Hell for a moment, and Harry considered how best to tell him to shove it, and then Percy moderated his tone. "Look, Harry, it's my job. I've been an ass, but so has he and I'm tired of it, but I can't do anything. I'll go find your parents; just talk to him, alright?"

Harry grimaced, but accepted. It would get the general populace off his back, and he had Neville. He gave his brother a pleading look and got a nod in return before following Percy over to the new Minister, where Harry abruptly realized it was Rufus Scrimgeour, the former Head Auror.

Wow, he'd really been out of it this year. Hadn't they mentioned that at the party?

Rufus Scrimgeour beamed at him when he found him there, and eagerly shook his hand.

"Harry, it was wonderful to hear you are as dedicated as your father! I've heard from several people you were foremost in taking Voldemort on yourself down in Hogsmeade."

Harry smiled hesitantly at him. He had admired him as a good leader, a good Head Auror. He didn't know what he'd been like as a Minister, and with how often he'd been let down by politicians recently, he wasn't sure what to think, … "It was something I had to do, sir. There wasn't anyone else who could take him on, not after Alan got injured."

"Most remarkable, that." Scrimgeour noted. "But such discussion could move elsewhere. Would you come with me, to the staff room off the Hall? I'm sure some peace wouldn't come amiss."

It wouldn't hurt at all. "Certainly, sir."

He let Scrimgeour lead the way, and gestured for Neville and Hermione to follow. Both did so without a word; somewhere along the way, Blaise joined them with a curious look. Harry just shrugged at his curiosity, and Blaise trailed after them. When Scrimgeour opened the door and found that Harry's friends had followed, he frowned.

"Your friends, Harry?"

"Yes sir. Is it all right if they come in with me?"

Scrimgeour frowned, but nodded slowly. "I see no problem with it. By all means, join us."

Harry gratefully moved to take the couch near the fireplace. Neville sat on the other end, and Hermione sat on the arm, Neville's arm wound around her waist. Blaise stood behind Harry, leaning on the back of the couch. His presence was surprisingly comforting.

Scrimgeour eyed the arrangement, and spoke quickly to someone outside the door before closing it and standing attentively next to the chair opposite.

"Your father has spoken out avidly about taking on the Death Eaters, and while he was disappointed with my leaving my position as Head Auror, I do believe I have done well as Minister. I was very pleased to have Frank take over my position halfway through the school year," He nodded at Neville, and Harry blinked again, feeling ignorant, "And he has done a wonderful job. I'm curious, are either you or your friends thinking of becoming Aurors?"

Harry rubbed at his face. "I'm only halfway through sixth year, sir. I'm not really sure where I'm going."

"It would be an honour to have you in the Aurors, Harry." Scrimgeour offered gently. "Defeating Voldemort –"

"I didn't defeat Voldemort." Harry snapped.

"Bullshit." Blaise snapped. "You defeated him before Alan killed him. Get over it."

Scrimgeour's eyebrows arched across his forehead. "I haven't heard a coherent explanation of what happened down in Hogsmeade yet. Would you offer your insight, all of you?"

"I wasn't there." Neville answered. Hermione nodded; Harry considered beating one of them for opting out. Blaise just shrugged when Scrimgeour looked at him, but Harry answered shortly,

"I went down with Ron; it was his birthday. I was heading to the Three Broomsticks when the first Death Eaters apparated in. I knocked those down and heading back through the town; I had friends I needed to look out for, and suspected Voldemort might arrive for Alan. I found Alan in front of Scrivenshafts, duelling Voldemort. He got knocked out; I took over in his stead and duelled Voldemort for several minutes, culminating in throwing him into the window and Alan shooting him in the head." Harry just shrugged. "And then I hung around to help heal a few people, coming up here as one of the last. I was looking for Dumbledore when Percy found me."

"Dumbledore is taking care of a few things in Diagon Alley – it got attacked as well as Hogsmeade, and they are cleaning things up there as well. He should be along in a little while."

A knock came at the door, and someone brought in a tray of sandwiches, juice and water. Neville and Harry's stomach's both growled, and the tray instantly grew emptier as the three boys liberated a sandwich immediately. Hermione laughed for a little while and finally grabbed one herself, along with a cup. Harry had to admit he was starving, which could both be the fact he was growing again some(he was really hoping that), or the fact he'd just used a lot of energy fighting. Either way, the sandwiches were more than welcome.

Scrimgeour fished for a bit more detail, but all he got were short, concise, and relatively unhelpful answers. Blaise had been down at the Three Broomsticks, fighting with Remus, and Hermione and Neville maintained they'd shown up only at the very end, which was completely true. They weren't alone for much longer, and Dumbledore strode into the room with his usual presence. He smiled at all of them brightly, and addressed the Minister,

"Minister Scrimgeour, I hope you haven't been waiting long."

"It has been no trouble." Scrimgeour answered. "I was just talking with Harry about his part in Voldemort's defeat."

Dumbledore immediately stared at him; Harry felt very self-conscious. It wasn't that important, really! He'd hardly done anything… Well, alright, the duel was pretty hard and he'd been lucky he was so versatile in taking care of himself – and that apparently nobody had gotten hit with his dodges – but still it … hadn't been so much…

With his self-justification falling apart, Harry just shrugged back and didn't look up. Dumbledore nodded carefully and waved to the door.

"I believe we can discuss the children's part in the fight later; there are several matters to be considered before anything else proceeds, including checking several locations. If you four would leave us…"

Scrimgeour tried to object, but none of them were tarrying with the dismissal, slipping out of the room into the chaos of the Great Hall. Harry wondered if it would have been easier to just stay inside and wait out the interrogation and bribes. Several people looked his way and didn't speak, but just as many were staring and talking with their companions.

Blaise squared his shoulders and offered, "Alan's down in the Slytherin dorms. I don't see how any of them can complain about taking you down there."

"Not in the hospital wing?" Harry asked.

"No, no more room and after Pomfrey decided he wasn't in any danger and just needed a headache potion and rest, she told Lucille to find him an escort to keep him in bed." Blaise's mouth quirked. "I think she sicced Luna on him."

"Luna's pissed off at him." Harry pointed out.

"I'd noticed when she outright told all of us what kind of stupid Gryffindor stunt he'd pulled." Blaise dryly agreed.

"Hey!" Hermione shot. "That was not representative of most Gryffindors I know!"

"Hermione, the Gryffindors you know are half Slytherin." Harry pointed out. "Unless you meant Ron…" Harry raised his eyebrows and Hermione frowned, but didn't argue the point. Ron was the typical Gryffindor – and he would do something like that.

"Well," Hermione continued, "it wasn't like Alan had a lot of options. If he'd killed Voldemort and hadn't gotten rid of the horcrux, it could have caused a lot of problems. From what I understand so far," She glared at Harry as though he had actually known what they were before Alan started talking deliriously, "he could have been possessed again, and I'm sure you remember how well that went over."

Harry suppressed a shiver. He never wanted to remember Alan getting possessed again. It had been painful to fight his best friend and know that it wasn't Alan smiling predatorily at him from behind his eyes. He'd been fighting to kill, and the adrenaline he'd had pounding through his veins had left him no room for fear until he passed out as Luna made an effort to halt the fight. He didn't even remember what had happened when it worked – he'd been so tired, although he knew he'd only let go when the fight was definitively over. To have that happen again … it was easier fighting Voldemort face-to-face.

They'd moved along the far wall and were halfway to the door when two girls – Romilda Vane and a year-mate of hers – shoved into the group and wrapped their arms around his neck.

"I can't believe it, did you really fight Voldemort?" Romilda breathed.

"Did you defeat him like they're saying?" Her friend added.

Harry stumbled over an answer and managed, "Yes, but-" before Romilda kissed him.

Kissed him.

He was going to murder Blaise when he got these two girls off him. The boy broke out laughing as Harry firmly removed Romilda's arms from his shoulders and pushed her a step back. "Romilda, please. I'm glad you're happy, but I am not your boyfriend. Don't kiss me. Please, both of you go find someone else to celebrate with."

Romilda gave him a heartbroken look, but her friend sent a glare at him before dragging her away. Harry turned back to Neville and Blaise and glared.

"Not one word."

Hermione softly pointed out, "I think I saw Susan just near the door. That might be Daphne behind her."

Harry canned all dignity and hollered, "Susan! Daphne! That you?"

Blaise was laughing again, but if Harry was willing to bet, he'd say that if he had two girls hanging off him already, most of the others wouldn't try anything that brazen again. He was willing to put up with the black boy's hilarity if he could just stop that from happening. Fortunately for his luck, the girls were within hearing range, and came over. Daphne was frowning at him and her expression promised something that couldn't have been particularly nice. Harry cut her off by dropping to one knee.

"Would you two please stay with me to help beat off random well-wishers? I've been kissed and hugged already and it's very annoying. I'll do anything for you if you'll just keep them away, both of you!"

Susan and Daphne looked curiously at each other. Daphne's face curved into a smile and she smiled at Harry. "One moment, please?"

Harry just nodded and watched her draw Susan off and whisper softly into her ear. Susan glanced back a few times and whispered back. Harry wasn't going to worry about it. Whatever they came up with couldn't be worse than a horde of hormonal women he didn't even know and possibly a few emotional men. Blaise and Neville, while well meaning, wouldn't be a real deterrent. Girls, however, would be. Nobody messes with girls holding onto their men, and it wouldn't look odd if they told someone to back off.

"Alright, Harry." Susan said as she came back over and gave him an expectant look. Harry stood and offered her his left arm, and gave Daphne a warm smile as he extended his right hand. Daphne smiled and took it, stepping onto his right side.

"Where are we going, then?" Daphne asked gently.

"To find Alan." Harry answered. "Are you healed, then? I'm sorry I had to leave, but-"

"Harry, I know." Daphne cut him off. "I'm fine, Susan managed the counter and Pomfrey gave me a couple potions and told me to take it easy but keep moving." She leaned her head against his and laughed shortly. "I don't mind protecting you from getting ravished by random people."

Harry laughed back and glanced pointedly at Blaise – he couldn't exactly point with a girl on each arm – before sighing and resigning himself to a long trip. Blaise was greatly amused as he led the way down to the dungeons.

IIII

Harry had been correct that Susan and Daphne could deter people from actually hugging him, but it didn't stop them from stepping up to him and thanking him, praising him, and various other speeches and calls. The girls got called names twice, insulted and disparaged, but Neville hexed the perpetrators and Daphne and Susan politely thanked him before indicating Blaise to lead them onwards. The crowds thinned some as they entered the depths of the dungeons, but those they encountered weren't uniformly pleased with them anymore – several people outright glared at him, but none of them spoke up.

Entering the common room was a little harder, but Blaise pulled rank as a prefect and got them in, amidst several grumbles and grousing. Pansy nearly shrieked at them, but immediately turned snide upon seeing Daphne.

"Oh, Daphne." She simpered. "I didn't know you were so poor you needed to suck up to the Potter money, even if it means sharing with a duffer like Susan. You could have at least knocked the other tick off –" She cut off with a scream. Susan calmly pocketed her wand again and shrugged innocently.

"It was getting windy. I shut the window."

Pansy screamed again; small somethings were flying around her head – it looked like the Bat Bogey Hex. Daphne hit her with a silencing charm and sighed. "Susan, make sure it's shut next time. My ears are ringing."

"So sorry." Susan returned delicately.

Neville stifled his laughter against Hermione's shoulder, and Blaise frowned.

"If you're quite done, we should go find Alan before someone else complains."

Harry nodded and nudged his two protectors. "Daphne, Susan, let's go. You can laugh at Pansy's misfortunate later."

It didn't stop them laughing, but they did walk along with him to the door Blaise indicated. He knocked, and then pulled it open, letting Hermione and Neville in first and then waiting as Harry let Daphne and Susan pick their own order going in. Daphne got first, and Harry followed Susan as Blaise brought up the tail end. He immediately slid around the girls to go sit on the empty chair by Alan's bed.

His friend looked groggy, and a bruise was forming around his right eye socket. The scar Harry had never seen before was a crooked white line knotted across the middle of his milky pupil. Still, Alan focused on him readily and smiled as though it didn't bother him. It occurred to Harry that Alan had no clue what his face looked like, although it must be very odd to suddenly have only one eye.

"Hey, I hear you're suddenly famous, Harry." Alan said.

Harry snorted. "I hear you survived Voldemort's Killing Curse, Alan."

Alan flinched as most of the Slytherins renewed their glaring at him. "Harry, that was low."

"I hate all this stupid attention." Harry shot back.

"You are the most fickle person." Alan sighed. "You hated attention because of your father, and now you hate attention for something you did yourself."

"I never beat him-"

"Then what the Hell do you call throwing him into a shop window?"

Harry flinched in turn and looked aside. Alright, so he was being petty. "You still killed him."

"Okay." Alan agreed swiftly. Harry didn't trust it and immediately frowned at him. Alan was glaring at him: with his right eye out of whack, it was a particularly unnerving stare. "How much longer would it have taken you to kill him with him on the ground? If I hadn't shot him, what would you have done next?"

Harry blinked, and made himself admit it, "I'd have cut his head off."

"And how would that not have killed or defeated him?"

Harry sighed and sat back in the chair frowning. "Fine. I admit it. I won the bloody war; I beat the Dark Lord. Happy yet?"

Alan beamed at him. "Quite. How are the rest of you?"

Daphne leaned on the back of the chair and slid her hands down his shirt. Harry jumped, but after glancing up at her, he didn't stop her. Her voice was right in his ear as she answered, "Protecting your ever so famous friend here from getting molested by women twice his age, is all."

Alan raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so only girls in his year are allowed to?"

"Yes." Susan answered as she sat on his lap and slid an arm behind his back. Harry just smiled and let them have their way. After all, they were doing him a huge favour by keeping those girls back, and, well … He gasped softly and bit his lip and Daphne rolled her fingers around a very sensitive part of his chest and laughed softly at Alan's very amused gaze. Harry put his hand on Susan's back and signed his explicit response to Alan's amusement, ignoring the heat he could feel suffusing his face. Blaise ignored the byplay and turned to Alan,

"You feeling up to going somewhere else? I think Slytherin doesn't like having three Gryffindors and a Hufflepuff in the dorms, so we should find somewhere we can all hang out."

Daphne pouted. "And what if I want somewhere where I can lay Harry down and have my wicked way with him?"

Harry felt foolish he'd thought she'd let his blush go down before embarrassing him again. Luna purred something into Alan's ear and he straightened, sliding his legs off his bed. He was shirtless – Harry really hadn't expected otherwise – but apparently he must have had some bottoms on to be effectively getting out of bed with all of them there. He smiled at their group.

"I think I know a place where we can have both of that. Go find the rest of the group you want to get together and we can all go find our way up there."

Blaise looked around and shrugged, and Harry didn't have anything to say otherwise. Neville, however, pulled out the map to look over it.

"Ron and Hannah are probably already celebrating by themselves since they're … yeah, hiding in a broom closet. Fred and George are sitting over Carmine in the hospital wing. I don't want to know where the two Bakers are, Tracey … hospital wing with Theodore, surprisingly," Harry snorted at that observation, but he wasn't so surprised. Theo had looked like he might want company, any company. "Ginny is … walking down towards here." Neville glanced up from the map and shrugged at Blaise. "We could pick her up on the way to wherever we're going. Everyone else is busy."

Alan nodded brightly, and shooed them out so he could get into trousers. Once presentable, they did in fact walk into Ginny – who then had to be pried from Blaise's face – and followed Alan all the way to the seventh floor and to a blank wall and a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Neville immediately frowned at it.

"Er, Alan, we don't need more evidence that you scrambled your brains. We were coming to that conclusion fine on our own."

Alan scowled at him. "Luna found this earlier this year, not me. Now, wait here a moment."

Alan quickly strode up the hall, spun on his heel and strode back, making a face at Blaise as he went. Further back down at a large vase, he stopped, spun again, and came back to their group.

Harry's eyes jumped from Alan to the wall behind him where a door had suddenly materialized. Harry just stared; Neville swore under his breath.

Happily, Luna announced, "Welcome to the Come and Go Room!"

"Or, more normally," Alan wryly added, "just another room in Hogwarts."

Luna pouted at him. "We have to call it something."

"You got that name from the House elves."

"Fine. Room of Requirement."

"R.o.R. or not," Blaise interrupted, "what's in there?"

Alan turned to face him and then stepped forward, "Whatever you need." He opened the door with a flourish and waved them inside. Luna happily skipped in first, followed by Susan tugging Harry and Daphne along to follow her. Cautiously, Harry walked inside and just stared.

It was a large, comfortable sitting room, arranged with a large couch, two love seats and an armchair around a blank fireplace. The room was decorated more like Grimmauld Place than anything, dark grey, rich brown, some black and a spattering of green or blue. The metal work was all silver. Daphne and Susan both finally let go of him to look at the paintings and items and squeal with glee as Luna poked and prodded several items into making puffs of smoke and noise. Hermione and Neville were walking to the wall near the door that had bookshelves on it, and Blaise and Ginny came in last, followed by Alan. Immediately, Blaise looked back at his friend and scowled.

"Transporting the couch from the common room here is not appreciated, Alan."

Luna piped up immediately, "This is actually the first room we opened; the armchair is straight from the library."

Daphne and Blaise both immediately stared at Alan with arched brows. Alan coloured. "Oh shut up, Luna. That would have been a lot more fun than getting covered in dust looking for a horcrux."

The word changed the whole feel of the room. Hermione tugged Neville off the bookshelves and stalked up to Alan. "What is a horcrux, Alan? This is the first time I've heard of them."

Alan blinked cautiously, and then swore under his breath. "No, it actually isn't –"

"Yes, it is!" Hermione and Neville both snapped in turn. Harry let them beard him; they'd both know if they'd heard a word like that before.

"Alright, lemme sit and then we can explain. And a book about them would probably help …"

The coffee table between the couches immediately was graced with a mouldy, dark-looking book that rattled. Luna skipped over, followed by Daphne and Susan and everyone picked a chair. Harry blushed as he realized the couch was where Susan and Daphne were planning on sitting; Hermione and Neville were already taking over the loveseat to his right, Blaise on the loveseat to the right of Alan's armchair. Alan, with Luna in his lap, glared at the book for a long moment until Neville coughed lightly. Giving up on the book for the moment, Alan straightened and ran his hand through his hair.

"Alright, you have heard mention of the horcruxes before; just not their names. Regulus' locket was a horcrux, one of seven. So was the cup Peter bargained. Luna was looking for one here; Dumbledore said he'd taken care of a few others, to a total of six."

"You said there were seven …" Blaise pointed out.

"Yes. Seven." Alan touched his eye. "An accidental seventh was made out of my eye."

"What is a horcrux?" Neville demanded.

"A piece of one's soul, broken off when one commits murder."

Everyone in the room paled to one degree or another. Neville coughed, and finally weakly asked, "Truly? That cannot be right."

"Well, you have to do rituals and plans and so forth in order to seal it into an object. Otherwise, it's just damage. I don't know much about them myself, I just know what they are and that they exist." Alan's hand hovered back over his eye again; Harry wondered if he knew he'd done that for years when he spoke of Voldemort. "I really didn't care, or want to know anymore." He laughed abruptly. "I just thought they weren't my problem. Ironic, that."

Soft laughter travelled between them before they finally settled into a contemplative silence. After a minute, Hermione had to ask once more, "So your eye was a horcrux? Are you sure it's gone?"

"A killing curse destroys the connection between body and soul. The shock of how abrupt it is kills the body in a way a dementor never would." Alan answered softly, with academic detachment. "Since I still have my soul, and my body didn't stop working, I'd say there was something up with my eye. With his other horcruxes and the mess he'd made of himself, I'd say another horcrux is more than plausible."

Luna was nodding slowly, holding Alan tightly. Harry could only smile for a long moment. He was just happy his friend was alive, but he had to say it. "So, the 'shock' of the horcrux being detached is probably why you've got a great shiner blooming, then?"

Alan blinked and touched his eye. When he flinched, giggles started. When a mirror abruptly appeared on the table, and he glanced into it and swore, Harry couldn't help but all out laugh.

Alan studied the look with an expression of disappointment until he finally sighed and admitted, "Yeah, that's probably why. Luna, why didn't you tell me I had a black eye?"

"Because your eye is actually white with that scar, rather than your normal black. Your other eye is black too."

Alan clearly stopped himself from picking up the mirror again and turned to tickling Luna.

While everyone else was laughing, Harry felt Daphne tug on his arm. He looked, and then followed her finger to a door in the wall that didn't lead outside. On his other side, Susan also was smiling lightly. With everyone else distracted, Harry hesitantly stood with the girls and followed to the door. Daphne inched it open on a lush bedroom with a larger bed than Harry had certainly ever seen. The girl's smiles were making his belly flutter, but he stepped over the threshold just before he heard Alan shout,

"Good luck!"

His face scarlet, Harry considered running up until the door swung through him to slam shut. Trying the doorknob would've looked cowardly and like he wasn't nearly as interested as he was – and with his luck, it was locked anyways. He was still considering it when Daphne softly called out, "Hey Harry, you did say you'd do anything for our protection, right?"

Harry swallowed and turned around. He gulped.

Susan was about as red as he felt; even Daphne was a little pink in the dim light. While he watched, Daphne unbuttoned her shirt while Susan just pulled hers off. Harry was pretty confident in making a wild guess about what they wanted.

Well. He'd be a cad to refuse, now wouldn't he? War heroes were supposed to expect that kind of thanks ... right?

A/N: Wrapping the stuff up. Explaining a few things not previously explained in this story, and... well, one more chapter to finish it all off.

I should've gotten this up last night, but surely you can forgive me for having gotten lost in doing the revision? Please? I've almost redone second year! Do be excited.

Any of you see one big thing that hasn't been resolved? *winks* Or more...

Fire & Napalm