Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot and anything you don't recognise.
The Light at the End of the Tunnel.
Chapter twenty four: The Party.
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS REFERENCES TO UNDERAGE DRINKING, I DO NOT ENCOURAGE THIS BEHAVIOUR, IF THIS IS LIABLE TO UPSET OR OFFEND, I ADVISE YOU TO DISCONTINUE READING. IF IT DOES NOT THEN FEEL FREE TO READ ON.
Harry wandered up the marble staircase slowly. Emotionally exhausted, he was finding it hard to walk in a straight line. The pressure was starting to weigh down on him, the reality of the situation starting to be felt.
He knew that the likelihood was that he had less than forty eight hours left to live. As such, and he knew it was stupid, he was trying to feel everything more, the feel of the wind, the smell of the grass, the sound of birdsong.
He laughed to himself. He was less than two days away from almost certain death and all he could worry about was how much birdsong he could hear. He shook his head. Fear did funny things to you.
The hardest, and unfortunately most important, thing was that he maintained a calm and confident exterior, even if his insides were churning. He knew from experience that troops took their courage from their leader. If the leader is scared, then the troops will be more so. Therefore, it was vital that Harry appeared confident all the time.
He vaguely heard someone calling his name and looked up in surprise. Ron was standing there, looking at him curiously.
"You alright there, mate?"
"Of course."
"Just away with the pixies?" Harry laughed and rolled his eyes.
"I bloody wish." With Ron at least he could let his guard slip a little. Ron laughed as well.
"Good news, mate, the party is coming along nicely. I let Fred and George know and they've sent another couple of crates of firewhisky, disguised as boxes of clothes of course, anyway we now have enough to get the entire school pissed. Should be pretty cool…oh yeah, and Dobby has provided the food…beautiful…mounds of it." Harry laughed as Ron's eyes lit up. The quickest way to Ron's heart really was through his stomach.
"Excellent. I look forward to it. When is it?"
"Tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Yeah. Well, we haven't exactly got a lot of time and everything is ready, so why not?" Harry shrugged.
"I guess you're right."
"I know I am. Have I ever been wrong?"
"Why don't I ask Hermione that?" Harry stepped to the side to avoid the punch Ron had playfully thrown at him.
"I like my dignity intact, thank you." Ron said, trying not to laugh.
"Fair enough. Where are you going?"
"There are a couple of people from other houses that need to be invited. Namely the DA and a few others so I'm just off to find them."
"Alright. I'll see you later." Harry continued up the stairs. He approached the Gryffindor common room with a heavy heart, and in a heavy voice gave the password to the Fat Lady before stepping inside. The scene inside, however, lifted his spirits immediately.
Everyone was talking loudly and laughing as they set the common room up for the party. Long tables with mounds of food had been set up, tables free of anything, presumably for drinks, had been set up against the walls. Curiously enough there also seemed to be a small stage set up.
"Hey, Seamus!" Harry yelled as Seamus carried a box of yet more food to one of the tables.
"Harry?"
"What the hell is the stage for?" Seamus winked at him.
"Wait and see, boss."
"Don't call me that!"
"Sorry, skipper." Harry picked up a bag of chocolates and threw it at him. It hit him hard on the side of the head with a loud and satisfying thud.
"Ow." Seamus complained, vigorously rubbing his head. "That bloody hurt."
"I did warn you. Now tell me what the stage is for." Seamus glared at him.
"Nothing. We just thought it added a touch of professionalism." Harry laughed.
"Idiots. Where are the drinks?"
"We'll put them out later."
"You are disguising them as butterbeer, right?" Seamus shook his head.
"Nah. No point." Harry looked surprised.
"What do you mean 'no point'?"
"Well some of us are going to be dead tomorrow. Why should we worry about punishments?" Although Seamus' tone was light, his eyes betrayed some of the fear.
"We've come through other battles. We'll come through this one." Harry's tone was much more confident than he felt. At that point a third year stepped into the common room, his eyes widened in surprise as he swept the room before letting his gaze settle on Harry.
"Umm…Harry? Your girlfriend wants you. She's down in the Entrance Hall." Harry nodded.
"Thanks." He gave the boy a couple of sickles for bringing him the message before nodding to Seamus and leaving the common room.
Just as the third year said Cho was waiting for him down in the Entrance Hall. She looked up and smiled at him as he approached.
"So you got my message, then?"
"Yep. And it cost me money."
"What'd you mean it cost you money?"
"I tipped the boy for bringing me the message." Cho laughed and slipped her arm through his, leading him outside into the grounds.
"You're too nice. That's your problem."
"Would you have me any other way?" Cho cocked her head to the side and looked thoughtful.
"Hmm, naked perhaps." Harry laughed.
"Vixen."
"And don't you forget it." She purred, nuzzling into his neck.
"I'm not bloody likely to, am I? Not with you doing that all the time."
"Hmm, are you complaining?" She asked as she bit him lightly. Harry felt his breath catch.
"Nope." He said, his voice slightly higher and more strangled than usual. "Nope, definitely bloody not."
"Good." She stopped him by placing a hand on his chest and moving in front of him. "Good." She repeated before kissing him. They parted breathlessly a few moments later. She looked him in the eye.
"You're scared." It wasn't a question.
"Are you surprised?"
"No. Do you think that you can't do it?" Harry turned away, refusing to meet her eyes.
"I don't know."
"You can. It's about time you started having the same faith in yourself that we have in you. You can do it, Harry, trust me, trust everyone, you can do it." Harry nodded. He didn't look totally convinced, but at least some of the fear had gone. That was a start she supposed.
"Hey," she said tugging on his robe gently, so that he looked at her, "When's this party?" He grinned at her.
"Tonight. Seven." She closed her eyes and took a step closer to him, still holding on to his robe.
"Good." She murmured, "Plenty of time 'til then."
…………
As he was kissing Cho, Harry wondered vaguely what the world would think of him if he merely said "Screw Voldemort" and didn't move for the next several years. As much as he hated it, he doubted the world would be as happy with the sound of that scenario as he was. He laughed slightly.
Cho broke away and looked up at him.
"What?" She asked, looking curious. He leaned in and kissed her neck.
"I was just thinking what people would think if I ignored Voldemort and just stayed here with you." She laughed and held his head to her as he continued to kiss her neck and throat.
"You're so gentle." Harry laughed softly.
"Mmm, do you mind?" He teased. She laughed.
"Of course not." Harry kissed her again.
"Good."
"Mmm, we've got to stop. I need to go get ready for the party."
"Cho…Sweetheart…It's six o'clock. We have plenty of time."
"No we don't. I'm a girl remember, Harry."
"Yeah, I kind of noticed."
"Good, well then we've got to stop, I need to get…Oh no…Don't start that…You know I can't resist you when you do that!" Harry laughed to himself as he gently sucked on her neck. With great reluctance Cho pulled away. Harry looked crestfallen. She gave him one last kiss.
"Later." With that she turned and was gone. Not feeling like rejoining civilization Harry turned and walked towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He sat leaning against one of the trees. He closed his eyes and tried to understand what was happening.
It was hard to fully understand that, after all these years of seemingly waiting, it finally came down to this. That this was the end. Even put like that, plainly in his mind, it still felt unreal. Even before the prophecy had been made known to him it had still felt like he was the one who would have to finally kill Voldemort. He wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because he had fought him so many times, and lived to tell the tale, or maybe it was because it was him who had brought around Voldemort's original downfall.
One thing he sincerely hoped was that if he defeated Voldemort then there would be no more Voldemorts after him. At least, if some other fool decided to try and make a grab for dark power then the world would be better prepared to cope with him. The Guardians would be ready to deal with any threat that should arise, presuming Harry was still alive to lead them and deal with any threat. He had no faith in the Ministry. Even after the rise and defeat of Grindelwald they still failed to spot the warning signs about Voldemort. Harry would just have to hope that if he died then there would be no other dark lord. If he lived then it would be a different matter. He still hoped that there wouldn't be another one, but at least if there was then they, or at least he, could deal with it.
Still not feeling like rejoining civilization he continued to sit there contemplating the next couple of days. It was weird that the fate of the world should finally come to this, should finally come to rest on the shoulders' of a sixteen year old boy. How dramatic it sounded, but how true it was, that the fate of the entire known world rested on a knife-edge.
…………
Harry woke an hour later. Quickly glancing at his watch he realised that it was ten past seven and he was in perfect time to be fashionably late. Laughing to himself he stood up and began walking back towards the castle.
…………
He climbed the marble staircase towards the Gryffindor common room. He stopped in front of a very disgruntled looking Fat Lady.
"What's wrong?" He asked her.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong! For the past half an hour I have done nothing but open and close! Most of it for people I didn't even recognise but they had the password so I had to let them in! And I suppose you want letting in, as well!" She said the last bit accusingly; as if it was Harry's fault he was in Gryffindor. Harry stifled a laugh.
"That would be nice." She sighed.
"Very well. What's the password?"
"Pixie dust." Almost wearily she swung forward. As he stepped into the common room he felt it kinder not to say that she would likely be doing a lot more opening and closing before the night was over.
The first thought that went through his mind was 'bloody hell!' The common room was packed, with a lot of students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Of course there were no Slytherins Harry noted with some amusement.
Ron caught sight of him and hurried over to him.
"Harry, come and join the party, mate! Here…" Ron shoved a glass of firewhisky and some crisps into his hands. Ron sounded surprisingly sober. When Harry mentioned this to him Ron merely shrugged.
"The party's only just started and besides, you weren't here so…" Ron shrugged again, "Anyway, come on, Seamus, Dean, Neville, Ginny, Hermione, Parvati and Lavender are waiting for us." Harry followed Ron over to them, taking note of the surroundings. The tables with the food and drinks had been pushed up against one of the walls and the space in the middle of the room had been pretty much cleared. People were mingling in large groups, talking happily and most with glasses of firewhisky in their hands. Harry took a sip of it. IT was extremely good. It tasted rich and warmed him immensely. He took another sip and smiled. He reminded himself to thank Fred and George sometime.
He and Ron joined the rest of the group. To Harry's surprise even Hermione was holding a glass of firewhisky. He laughed and pretended to faint.
"Jesus! It really is the end of the world! Hermione drinking underage and in school as well!" He pretended to collapse into Ron's arms as the rest of them burst out laughing. Hermione took a swipe at him.
"Oh ha ha, very funny, Potter."
"Why thank you." She took another swipe at him. He ducked at the last minute and she hit Ron instead who, unfortunately, was taking a drink at the time. He leapt back as he spilled it all over himself.
"Hey! What was that for?" He demanded.
"Sorry. I meant to get Harry." She promptly glared at Harry, who was rolling around on the floor laughing.
"Well played, Hermione! That was such a Ron thing to do!" It was Ron's turn to glare at him. Harry took one look at this and burst out laughing again. Ron shook his head.
"Sad isn't it? He's only had one firewhisky." Harry threw the crisps he was holding at him.
"Shut up. I'm just trying to enjoy myself. After all, it could be the last time I ever do."
…………
At eight o'clock Professor McGonagall strode purposefully towards the Gryffindor. There were rumours about the school of a party, and by the sounds of it a big, going on inside the Gryffindor common room. While she was not opposed to parties, so long as they weren't too loud and out of control, she felt she should investigate.
To her immense surprise she saw yet another group of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs hurrying in the same direction as her, they paid her no heed as they ran past her. She began to feel yet more curious and quickened her pace.
She came to the portrait of the Fat Lady, who she noted with some suspicion, looked positively alarmed to see her. Without giving the Fat Lady any time to speak McGonagall gave the password. The Fat Lady hesitated before opening, clearly trying to find reason to deny her entry, however after a few seconds she had no option but to swing forward reluctantly.
McGonagall slipped in unnoticed by the mass of students inside and retreated to the shadows at the back of the room to watch before she said anything. She noted with some surprise and a hint of anger that there were bottles of firewhisky on tables lined up against one edge of the room and most of the students in there, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs as well as Gryffindor, seemed to be holding a glass filled with the drink.
She was about to step forward when she noted where the attention of the room seemed to be focused. She smiled, she should've guessed. Harry Potter was standing there, a glass of firewhisky in his hand, completely relaxed and talking and laughing easily with people. She refrained from speaking, anything with Harry at the centre was bound to be interesting.
Suddenly, completely out of the blue, a voice cried out, she recognised it immediately as Seamus Finnegan's.
"Speech!" Several other people took up the cry. It was immediately clear where it was aimed at.
"Speech! Speech!" Harry looked around in surprise before being given a slight push towards the stage by Ron Weasley.
He walked towards it and climbed it. Immediately the cries died down.
"My friends." The room erupted in cheers and Harry patiently waited for them to subside. They eventually did and Harry paused before continuing. He looked over the sea of heads that looked up at him.
"It all comes down to this. Tomorrow we decide the fate of the world. Tomorrow we fight." Loud cheers erupted again. Harry paused before continuing. "Twenty of those standing amongst you have sworn to stand by my side when we fight, when we fight for our, your, freedom. Twenty of those standing amongst you have sworn to die for you. To die for what is right. And we will not let you down. Let Voldemort come. Let him come and we will show him no fear, we will show him that the DA does not fear him, that the DA will never fail to do their duty, and do their duty they shall. Why? Because they are the best and the bravest amongst us. WE WILL STAND TOGETHER, WE SHALL FIGHT FOR WHAT IS RIGHT AND IF NEED BE, WE WILL DIE FOR WHAT IS RIGHT!" There was another eruption of loud cheers. Harry continued when they died down, his eyes were alight and passion filled his voice.
"And if we do go down fighting, then we will take as many of the bastards with us. We will not die easily! We will die hard, and we will die fighting every step of the way!" There was another eruption of loud cheers, louder than the rest, and these did not subside, Harry raised his goblet.
"Let us drink to HATE!"
"HATE!" The room roared it back, thrusting their goblets into the air.
"Let us drink to PAIN!"
"PAIN!"
"Let us drink to FEAR!"
"FEAR!" The room was going crazy, roaring back the words.
"LET US DRINK TO DEATH!"
"DEATH!" The room roared it back, louder than the rest, and then broke into wild cheers. Such was the passion and emotion in the room it was all Minerva McGonagall could do not to start cheering with them.
Harry waited for the cheers to subside slightly, and when they had, he raised his goblet once more and, smiling slightly, he said in quieter voice,
"And let us drink to victory, my friends, for it is victory we shall have. I swear it to you."
The room suddenly erupted into wild uncontrollable cheers, people shouting and grabbing each other. Smiling slightly, over the heads of the students, Harry looked McGonagall straight in the eye and raised his goblet to her.
………….
McGonagall stood absolutely stunned, lost for words at Harry's speech, the power behind it, the feeling of elation it had inspired in the students. She noticed him walking over to her, bearing two goblets of firewhisky.
"Professor." He said, still bearing that slight smile. She struggled to regain her composure.
"Potter." Her voice was shaking slightly. Harry laughed gently.
"Here." He said, holding out the goblet of firewhisky. She shook her head.
"I can't."
"Not with a student?" He still bore that mischievous, relaxed smile.
"Yes." Harry laughed gently again.
"Come now, professor, tonight could be my last night on earth. Do me the honour of drinking with me just once." His relaxed manner and easy charm, inherited from his father, disarmed her and she took the goblet.
"Very well." She said as she regained her composure. "I will drink with you now, and after you have beaten him I will drink with you again and we will toast your victory." Harry looked at her over the rim of his goblet.
"Thank you." They drank. She put down the goblet and looked at him.
"You will beat him. We all have faith in you." And without another word she turned and strode from the room.
Harry smiled and turned back to rejoin Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Cho. Now, along with most of the room, he intended to get very drunk in order to forget and relax for one last night.
Before they fought, before they died, for the freedom of the world.
A/N First of all I am extremely sorry for the delay. My brother fell ill in Malaysia and as such he was not permitted to fly so we could not get back to school when we were meant to. This meant that I had to catch up on a lot of work and so could not devote a lot of time to writing. Fortunately I have now caught up. I apologise for the delay and thank you for your patience.
As a side note, and not of great importance, I received my GCSE results in the summer. To my immense relief I did very well, achieving 5 As, 3 A's and 2 B's.
Next chapter will be the start of the battle and will be out in about a week.
Finally, and most importantly, my heart and thoughts go out to the victims of hurricane Katrina. Let us all hope that order is restored and people can begin to recover their lives as quickly as possible.
The Phoenix King – Thanks for the review. Glad you liked the Malfoy clash, that was one bit I especially enjoyed writing. I'll do my best, mine will certainly be permanent H/G, but a lot of people, including me, think that HBP wasn't the end of the H/G. What do you reckon?
K.N.I.G.H.T.Strike-Freedom - Thanks for the review. Your call, but there is more to this fic than H/C.
Pheonixlover5 - Thanks for the review. Thank you, I'm glad you like this fic. I did well in my GCSEs and I had a great time in Malaysia.
4SwordsLink - Thanks for the review. Good to have you back, my friend. This trilogy has come a long way, and it is such a bittersweet feeling that it is nearly over. I'm glad that JK has confirmed the Ron/Hermione (In the MuggleNet/The Leaky Cauldron interview). It is a shame about her breaking up H/G at the end, but I don't quite think that it is the end…
Sarah Chang - Thanks for the review. Here's the next chapter for you.
Dark Phoenix Mortal - Thanks for the review. Nope, you spelt it right. Explains why guys like violence so much though…
J or the Blind - Thanks for the review.
Anata oka-san - Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like this fic so much, I can't give too much of the plot away but I can say that Lucius is already dead (end of first fic beginning of second).
Aizan19 - Thanks for the review. It's a shame I couldn't but it's nearly finished so it doesn't matter too much.
Hockeyman - Thanks for the review. Here's the next chapter for you, hope it was worth the wait!
Dragon Sword Master - Thanks for the review. Hope this chapter was worth the wait.
D3571nyBan3 - Thanks for the review.
Goddess Usagi - Thanks for the review. Well, I'm not going to say anything in case I give the plot away. Hope this chapter was worth the wait. Thanks, I had a great time in Malaysia.
FSI - Thanks for the review.
Keep reading and reviewing 'cos I'll keep writing.
Fireboy.