Bittersweet

by cenagurl

Warning: -SPOILER ALERT- If you haven't read HBP yet, then skip the disclaimer and head on for the beginning of the chapter…

Disclaimer: Sorry for not updating soon… still licking my wounds from the strong impact of HBP I guess… -sigh- But damn, Draco's canon soul is redeemed! I lurve the way JK justified his character… and he's really thinking about switching to the good side! But damn, why does Pansy have to have him? –gags- Anyway, enough rambling… I still don't own Harry Potter.

Note: I won't change my plot even if book six was already released. Lucius would still be abusive and well out of Azkaban, Voldemort still on the loose, Snape still siding with the Order, Dumbledore's still alive, Ginny and Harry are not yet officially together… there would be a few facts taken from HBP though… so just hang tight and please continue reading!

xxxxxx

Chapter 8:

Scribble, scribble, scribble…

Scratch.

Harry resisted the urge to throw his writing quill on the wall. Damn, is this what being a junior auror's like? He mentally asked himself. As far as he knew, they were supposed to fight the dark forces of evil and exciting stuff like that, and definitely not just sitting around in a bloody small office writing some stupid papers about some illegal cursed teapot sellers!

Sighing, he dropped the quill on the table and leaned back on his chair. My, hasn't it been hours since he came here? He wanted to go home. No, he wanted to go outside to have a breath of fresh air… he wanted to ride his broom and at least forget his worries for a while.

Voldemort getting more and more stronger, many muggle killings, Malfoy being in Grimmauld Place… Harry was unable to stop the foul curse that came out from his mouth. Damn that Malfoy!

Harry felt a surge of anger as he recalled how Ginny had defended the git last night. To hell with the ferret-face for interfering with their lives! First he got Hermione, then Ginny… no, he wouldn't let him get Ginny. He would honestly consider murdering him if he laid a finger on her.

Yes, he knew his thoughts were filled with jealousy, but he didn't care. He didn't want Ginny with anyone else.

"I'm just being protective because she's like a little sister to me…" he whispered to himself. "Yeah, that's right, that's the only reason why I'm so damn riled…"

xxxxxx

Dudley Dursley walked down the dark street leading to the abandoned house he and his mates hang out at, his jowls and layers of belly jiggling with every step he took. He whistled a rather bad version of a Three Days Grace song under his breath while he counted the crisp pound money his aunt Marge had so generously given his Diddle-duddikins.

He and his friends were going to have a very fun night. He thought of the cigars and liquors he could buy the money with, and of course, the rest can go to their pot session…

"Waaah!" Dudley screamed as he tripped on something, and with a loud thump he landed on the grassy ground, a loud groan escaping his mouth. "What the hell is---" he staggered to sit up, and when he did, he saw an unconscious woman lying on the ground near him, nearly unclothed and with countless wounds and bruises on her body. Her lank blonde hair covered her face.

"Holy shit!" he shouted, his fat face etched with horror. "Help, there's a dead woman here, help!"

The door of the abandoned house flew open, revealing his friends' faces. "What's wrong Dude?" one of them asked, rushing over to Dudley, who was quickly backing from the woman, his face chalk-white.

"T—There's a dead woman!" he pointed at the woman, and his mates let out identical screams of fear and shock.

"What are we going to do?" Pierre Polkiss asked squeakily, looking so ready to pee on his pants.

"What else, RUN!"

Everyone save Dudley began to run, who seemed to have sprained his ankle. "Hey, don't leave me!" he yelled, but no one looked back. Completely panicked, he dug in his pockets for his phone, and with shaking fingers he dialed their home number.

"Dursley residence," came Petunia's falsely polite voice. "Mum! Help me!" Dudley yelled at the receiver of the phone, and his mother gave a startled gasp. "Duddikins, is that you? What happened? Where are you?" Petunia asked shrilly.

"N—near Magnolia Crescent, at the abandoned house—please mum hurry up, please--!"

"I'll be there right away! Wait for me Duddikins!"

Toot…

His mother had hung up.

Dudley's eyes accidentally strayed over to the woman, and he quickly squeezed his eyes close at the sight. About three minutes later he heard his mum's panicked voice several feet away from him.

"Duddikins!" Petunia screamed, running towards her son with tears in her eyes. "What happened to you?" she asked, helping him up. Dudley winced as he put his weight on his right foot. It was surely sprained.

"Mum, look, there's a woman over there!" he said, waving an arm towards the unconscious woman lying on the ground. Aunt Petunia gave a loud sob. "What happened to her?" she asked, but Dudley only shrugged. "Is she dead, mum?" he questioned, peering over at the woman with scared piggy eyes.

Petunia slowly walked over to the woman, her body trembling violently. With her foot she gave the woman's side a little kick. The woman groaned aloud, making Petunia scamper back to her son. "Dudley, let's go," she said, pulling at her son's arm.

"But mum, she's alive!" Dudley said loudly. "I don't care, we're going," Petunia answered hastily, but Dudley didn't move. "We should call the police, mum," he said. "Maybe they'd give us a reward if we surrender her,"

"I don't care about any rewards!" Petunia yelled, attempting to tug at him again. "Well I do, so if you don't want to help me, then you may go home now, mum," Dudley said, bringing out his phone.

Petunia's eyes widened, and she gave an outraged gasp. "How dare you speak to your mother like that—how dare you--"

"Mum, I'm eighteen!" Dudley bellowed. "I can make my own decisions now, and I'm wanting to surrender this woman to the police so they can give me a reward!"

"I'll give you a hundred pounds if you'd go home with me now," Petunia said quickly, but Dudley looked doubtful. "I wouldn't settle for anything less than two hundred," her son said stubbornly.

"Fine, call the police if you want," Petunia said in a defeated voice. Dudley, grinning, dialed the police station's number.

Little did they know that the woman had now gained her consciousness, and was slowly creeping away from them…

xxxxxx

"You're late."

Ron fidgeted under Luna's penetrating stare. Luna checked her watch, then gave him an icy glare. "Three hours to be exact," she said, stomping her left foot on the bricked floor. The redhead gave her an apologetic look. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize---"

"You don't have to explain," Luna cut in sharply. "No matter what lame excuse you've got, Ronald, I wouldn't want to listen to any of it,"

"Luna---"

"I told you, I'm not listening to your excu--"

"I think you look nice today," Ron said, making Luna halt and stare owlishly at him. "Really? Why thank you," she said casually, although her cheeks were flushed a rosy shade of pink.

Ron sighed with relief. He finally got Luna silent. But the compliment was also a sincere one, he had to admit. Luna's looks did improve since they last saw each other, which was during graduation.

He was honestly happy that she had finally decided to drop the butterbeer caps necklace and radish earrings, as well as the dreamy look on her blue eyes.

"So Luna, how long are you going to stay at the headquarters?" he asked nonchalantly. Luna gave him a sly smile. "I guess it would depend…" she started, boring those bright blue eyes at him.

"Depend on what?" Ron couldn't help but ask.

"…"

Ron continued to look at her expectantly. "Depend on what?" he repeated, positively growling with irritation when Luna just continued smiling secretively at him.

"Oh, you're being a prat again, Ronald. It just depends on something, alright? Come now, I'm starving! Let's grab a bite at the Leaky Cauldron before going back to the headquarters. You wouldn't want me howling with hunger like Sirius's mother now, would you?"

xxxxxx

"I'm bored." Draco declared for what seemed like the hundredth time that afternoon as he pressed his nose against the cool windowpane of Harry's bedroom, his gray eyes sweeping over the empty street outside.

Ginny sighed then plopped down next to Draco. "Yeah, Exploding Snap's getting definitely too… common for me," she said.

Draco didn't change his position when he answered her. "It's quite a lousy game, in my opinion," he admitted. "Damn, where the bloody hell is Hermione?"

"Maybe she's still at the conference…" Ginny suggested, glancing at the clock on the wall. "But what's taking her so long? It's almost seven,"

Draco finally turned to face Ginny, a naughty smile on his face. "What about your dear Harry? Why isn't he here yet? isn't he missing his darling sweet little Ginny?"

Ginny's face rivaled the color of her hair. "Shut it, you annoying little ferret," she muttered. A confused look crossed Draco's face. "Ferret?" he echoed. "Couldn't you do better than that, ickle Ginny?"

The redhead glowered at him with utter annoyance. "If you had your memory right now, I'm sure you'd be spitting mad," she said, and he merely cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't think so, Ginny because I'm much more sensible than that to get angry with those petty things, and besides, aren't redheads the ones with the shortest fuses?" he said smoothly, and Ginny, like a wildcat, lunged at him, her small hands closing on his neck as the two of them came crashing on the ground.

"Take that back, you idiot!" she yelled, but Malfoy just laughed as she tried in vain to choke him.

"Ha-ha, Ginny's spitting mad, Ginny's---" the two of them stopped dead on their tracks when the bedroom door swung open, revealing a stunned-looking Harry, his mouth hanging open and his green eyes huge.

Ginny hastily moved away from Draco, her face flushed. The blonde boy sat up, rubbing his bruised neck with his fingers.

"Harry---"

Before Ginny could say another word, the door slammed loudly on her face, the pictures on the wall rattling, and Sirius's mother screaming like a banshee again from downstairs.

Draco stood up, then walked over to Ginny, whose eyes were sparkling with tears.

"Ginny?" he called out timidly. Giving a loud wail, Ginny rushed past him and went out of the bedroom, leaving a bewildered Draco in her wake.

"What did I do?"

xxxxxx

Hermione wasn't happy with the arrangements of their formation in coming back to the headquarters. She had been most unfortunately paired with Snape, and right now they were slowly walking with a sea of muggle strangers, all who were oblivious to their weird outfits--- Snape was wearing his usual billowing black robes, while Hermione had on her favorite red robes over her muggle clothes.

They had not spoken to each other for the whole trip unless it was really very necessary, which Hermione had found gratifying because she had absolutely no desire to speak to her former potions master at all.

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, they reached their destination, and as they entered the threshold, Snape left her without a word.

Relieved that she was finally rid of his presence, she proceeded up the stairs to check on Draco and Ginny.

Just as she was walking by Harry's bedroom, a lithe figure came speeding towards her, causing the two of them to topple like a pretzel on the floor.

"Wha--- Ginny?" Hermione asked when she caught sight of red hair. The girl literally threw herself against Hermione and sobbed on her shoulder, incoherent words coming out of her mouth.

"What happened?" Hermione asked quickly. Ginny didn't answer, just gave another round of bawling that nearly made Hermione deaf.

The door of Harry's bedroom opened and Draco came out, a guilty look on his face when he saw Ginny crying on Hermione's shoulder.

"What did you do, Draco?" she asked sternly. Draco gulped, then began to back away when he saw a dangerous glint in Hermione eyes.

"I—I—I didn't…"

"What's going on here?" asked a misty voice from the stairs.

Hermione shifted her gaze from Draco, and gasped when she saw Luna standing near the stairs, Ron right behind her.

"Luna!"

Ginny's head snapped up, her eyes still bloodshot. However, a huge smile crept upon her face when she saw Luna, and she quickly disengaged herself from Hermione.

"Luna!"

Luna didn't seem to hear them though; she was staring in horror at the blonde boy standing near the door, her face chalk white.

"Y—You're the one that crippled Minerva!"

xxxxxx

A/n: hope you like this. –fingers crossed- I know it's kind of crappy, but as I said, I'm still not over HBP… damn! I swear to make up for this in the next chapter.

And here are some answers to some of your comments…

Shadowy Corner: Yeah, I know the conversation between Harry and Hermione was kinda lame, but I'm not changing it, 'cause I'm a lazy dog and I'm already contented with it. ) And about the mum of Tonks and Narcissa… were they really sisters? So she's also a sister of Bella? I really have to get my facts straight… thanks! Oh, and about the Harry-Ginny thingy… I love them too! That's why I was experiencing a huge dose of euphoria when I read book six…

And for the people who find my chapters now too long… damn! I'm getting confused with whom to follow! Many were complaining before that they were too short, but now, too long? –sigh- I'm sorry, but I won't cut my chapters short because I'll be updating much less often now because the first quarter exams are nearing, as well as the entrance tests to the Universities I have applied in. So I'm telling you now guys, my next update might be on the second week of August… so just hang on tight!