Hogwarts High II
By Siriusly Amused

Author's Note: WTF, you guys actually liked the last chapter? And here I half expected to get flamed.

Disclaimer: I own Harry Potter. …No really, I do.

Chapter Fifteen
I Was Never Young

--- Ginny ---

My house was dark when Neville pulled into our driveway shortly after 1 AM. I angled myself to the car door, one hand on the handle, and Neville and Luna smiled over their shoulders at me from the front seat.

"Thanks for the lift, you guys. Looks like I'm making a habit of catching rides off of you," I half-joked sleepily. Neville's smile widened slightly.

"Anytime, Ginny. You know that," he said.

I said my goodbyes, left the car and walked up to my house, silently letting myself in. It appeared that Fred and Hermione had brought Draco and Harry here; I could hear them whispering fervently to each other in the living room. I thought about joining them, asking them why they were here and where we all stood with one another, but I was too tired to deal with any sort of drama, so I passed the living room without looking in.

I ran into Fred in the hallway. He was just leaving the bathroom, drying his hair with a towel as he made his way to his room. He was smiling slightly and seemed more relaxed.

"G'night, Gin," he whispered to me, swatting me playfully with his damp towel.

I raised a questioning eyebrow at his antics, wondering vaguely where the moody bastard of the past week had gotten too as he practically skipped back to his bedroom; then it hit me, something must have happened with Hermione, and I wondered if she was spending the night in his room.

I got my answer when I entered my own room: Hermione was already in my bed, sleeping peacefully. I half wanted to wake her and see if she found out anything about Harry and Draco, but I ended up shrugging out of my dress, pulling on my pajamas and getting into bed, figuring that all questions could wait until morning.

Fifteen minutes later, the mattress sagged with added weight, causing me to jerk out of my light sleep, my eyes opening to find Harry sitting on the edge of my bed, his posture rigid and his eyes fixated on the doors separating my room from Ron's.

I glanced hastily over to Hermione, noting that she was still fast asleep – or at least feigning sleep.

"Harry? What's wrong?" I asked in a hushed whisper, carefully easing myself into a sitting position.

"I wish we had never broken up," Harry admitted in a monotone voice, keeping his eyes on the door.

My chest tightened slightly when I realized that it was the anniversary of our breakup; it still didn't explain Harry's odd mood. I opened my mouth, wanting to question him; however, my brain couldn't form a coherent thought, and I ended up shutting my mouth as a feeling of intense frustration washed over me.

"If I had just paid more attention to you and less attention to Draco last year, then maybe none of this would have happened," he continued in the same dead voice as before. "We'd have a different life right now. We'd probably even still be together."

"Harry," I sighed, extending my hand to touch his shoulder. I froze, just centimeters away from him, when I realized that he was someone else's boyfriend right now. He was much more serious with her than he had ever been with me. My hand dropped.

Harry finally turned to look at me, his eyes latching onto mine. "Draco and I are going back to our foster parents. There's been an emergency and we need to leave now. Hopefully we come back. I promise I'll try to come back to you, Ginny."

He leaned forward then and kissed me very softly on the lips, pulling away just as the door between mine and Ron's rooms opened. Draco and Ron came in, both of them sullen. They grabbed each others' wrists and pulled together in a one-armed guy hug as Harry got up from my bed and strode forward. Ron and Draco broke apart, and Ron immediately turned towards Harry, hugging him as well. Draco's eyes found me and he smiled almost apologetically at me.

"See you around, Weasel the forth," he whispered as Ron and Harry stopped hugging.

"Tell Hermione I said goodbye," Harry added as he and Draco crawled out of my window.

A moment later, they were gone.

"Ron, what's going on?" I asked my brother urgently.

Ron turned and gazed at me forlornly, his hands on his hips. "Noelle's gone. She ran away. Left town," he explained.

It wasn't what I expected to hear. I was asking about Harry and Draco, not Noelle. However, the news was still a shock to me, hitting me like a blow to the stomach. I couldn't talk, my voice dying somewhere in my throat.

Ron sighed and returned his gaze out my window, his brow knitted in concern. "And Harry and Draco are hiding something from us again," he added.

A chill ran over me as I slumped back into my pillows. "Shit," I cursed and Ron nodded, rubbing his hand over his face in an exhausted manner, then returned to his room.

--- Harry ---

"It could be a trap," Draco announced through a mouthful of donut.

I sent him an annoyed look before returning my gaze to the road, wondering how so much could change in such a short amount of time. At midnight I had felt almost peaceful, watching the colors from the fireworks bounce around the Weasley's living room walls. And then I had gotten a single text message: It was from Sirius and all it said was I'm alive.

Moments later, Draco received the same message from his mother, and before either of us had gotten over the shock of receiving messages from the dead, we both got another message from our respective guardians, telling us to meet them at some house in the same town that Larry and Susan lived.

It didn't take us long to decide to go. We said quick goodbyes to our friends and left, pausing just long enough to get gas, donuts and coffee from a 24 hour gas station.

"Someone could have gotten a hold of their cell phones and sent us texts to lure us somewhere," Draco continued, reaching for his coffee and gulping it.

"Do you honestly want to turn back?" I snapped at him, slightly annoyed; I had thought of the same things he was currently worrying about.

"Hell no, Potter, I just like to fret constantly; you should know this about me by now!" Draco retaliated.

I rolled my eyes and pressed down gently on the accelerator, watching the orange needle on the speedometer climb through the numbers. I repeatedly, nervously, turned my cell phone over and over on my lap with my free hand, keeping my other hand on the wheel.

"If they have their cell phones on them, we could just call them and talk to them before we meet them. We'll recognize their voices," I suggested.

"If they have their cell phones on them, then why the fuck didn't they call us until now?" Draco quipped angrily; he reached for another donut.

I twitched involuntarily, noting with derision that Draco had a point. Why hadn't they contacted us? Why did they leave us to the system; they must have known that our inheritances would attract nutcases like Larry.

I was just about to suggest not going back, to leave them like they had left us, but before I could even open my mouth, my ringtone sounded.

Draco looked at my phone then at me, his eyes urgent. "Put it on speakerphone," he ordered.

I did as he asked, taking a deep breath to steady myself.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Harry?" Jaclyn's voice answered; she sounded troubled. "Where are you?"

"A few hours outside of town," I answered, only slightly disappointed that it was her calling and not Sirius. "Draco and I went…well, it doesn't matter where we went. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine, but I really need to talk to you. Both of you," she said in a rush, and I could tell that whatever it was, it was important. "When can you meet me? I don't want to tell you this over the phone."

"We should be in town around 7 AM," Draco mentioned casually, avoiding eye contact with me. It took me a minute to remember that he was used to making this trip. "A little before 7 with Harry's crazy driving," he added softly.

"Alright, I'll meet you in the park around 7," Jaclyn announced. "And drive more safely, Harry," she added.

"THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH MY DRIVING!"

"Harry, come on," Jaclyn and Draco both replied seriously.

I sighed and slowed down slightly.

"Did he slow down?" Jaclyn asked Draco.

"Yep," Draco confirmed, biting back a slight smile.

"Good. I'll see you guys in a couple of hours." She hung up, and silence fell over the car once again.

Draco sighed and propped his feet up on the dashboard, slouching slightly as he finished his donut. "You know what I just realized, Potter?" he asked, glancing over to me.

"What's that, Draco?" I asked, humoring him.

"I bet a bunch of kids would kill to have lives half as interesting as ours!" He sent me a wide smile before reaching out an arm and flipping on the radio. Neither of us talked until we pulled into town.

"There she is," Draco announced as we entered the park. The sky was fading to blue with the approaching morning, illuminating a blonde girl sitting on a bench.

Jaclyn still looked as though she were going to a party; she was wearing a sparkly New Years dress, had hair spray in her styled hair and her eyes were rimmed with black. She smiled sleepily, almost sadly, at us as we approached. I hugged her quickly.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Jessie's an idiot," she sighed, her shoulder slumping. "She checked on your accounts without us having to coax her into it. She apparently wanted to see whether or not you were loaded."

"And?"

"The first time she did it, both of your accounts were still there; the second time she checked, Larry had gotten to them."

Draco swore under his breath and turned away. Jaclyn gazed at us with large, apologetic eyes.

"Larry had the money from your accounts transferred to an account belonging to someone named Dobby Hedwig." Jaclyn scrunched her face in confusion as she said the name. Draco, however, turned back around quickly, his face draining of all color.

"Say the name again," he ordered.

"Dobby Hedwig," Jaclyn parroted dumbly.

Draco swore colorfully and collapsed onto the slide, his eyes gazing forlornly up at the lightening sky.

"What is it now, Malfoy?" I asked, annoyed.

"Dobby Hedwig is my dad's alias," he admitted finally, keeping his eyes on the sky.

"WHAT!?" I shouted, glaring down at him.

"My dad has my money," Draco whined pathetically.

"YOUR DAD HAS MY MONEY," I shouted back.

"Shh!" Jaclyn hushed, looking around nervously.

I collapsed onto the swing next to Draco's slide, putting my head in my hands moodily. "It's all over," I complained.

"Don't talk like that, Harry," Jaclyn scolded, getting up from the bench and coming to kneel in front of me. She took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "Isn't this a good thing, though?" she asked, glancing between Draco and I. "If Draco's father has your money, you can find him and find a way to get it back. You know where it is…you just have to figure out how to get to it."

"You obviously don't know my father," Draco mumbled pathetically.

Jaclyn gazed up at me with large eyes. "I'm not giving up," she told me. I stared at her for a long moment.

"Jaclyn, there's something that Draco and I need to tell you too," I said quietly. Draco immediately turned his head and narrowed his eyes at me.

"Potter," he said in a warning voice.

"It's best that she knows," I explained. "That way if it is a trick, she can come and save us."

Jaclyn gazed at us curiously and Draco sighed and waved a hand as if to say'Well, go on then!' I took a deep breath and told her everything.

--- Narcissa ---

The Greengrasses had always been a close friend with the Black family. I had actually been good friends with Matt Greengrass in high school, but we had drifted apart in adulthood when I married Lucius. You see, the Greengrasses had their own mafia, and they opposed the mafia my husband had joined. But now Matt welcomed me back and accepted my plea. Any excuse to bring down Lucius Malfoy and whatever was left over from Tom Riddle's mafia was a good enough excuse for him.

He was also the one who informed Sirius and I that our sons had been taken in by one of Lucius' men.

"Yep," he had said brightly over a glass of Cognac. "We've been well aware that Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter were residing with Larry Jenkins for awhile now. I thought of you, of course," he added, nodding at me. "But I didn't know what was going on and didn't feel like getting involved."

The news that our boys were currently in the clutches of the enemy upset Sirius and I enough to text them, to make contact with them for the first time in months. Matt had even been generous enough to fly us all down to where they were supposed to be to meet them up with them.

And that's how Sirius, Remus and I found ourselves sitting in one of the Greengrasses many residences, waiting impatiently for our boys to show up.

I bit my nails nervously, my stomach twisting in anticipation. What would he look like? Seven months was far too long for a mother to be away from her teenaged son; surely he had grown, matured. He was seventeen now, less than a year away from adulthood. Would he still need me then? Would he still want me now? After all I had done to him…

"They're here," Matt's daughter, Daphne, announced in a singsong voice as she entered the living room.

I held my breath, my heart pounding rapidly in my chest, and Sirius swore softly next to me as Harry and Draco entered the room.

They had changed: They were taller and broader, their hair a little longer than what I remembered. And adulthood was creeping up on them, showing in their more angular jaws and the shadows under their eyes, ghostly bruises they had acquired in their fight against sleep. They stood motionless, their hands in their pockets as they stared at us through narrowed eyes, their mouths firm lines.

Finally I couldn't take it any longer. I flung myself from the couch and rushed over to my son, throwing my arms around his stiff shoulders and crying into his shirt. For a moment he did nothing; then, he slowly wrapped his arms around me.

"It's alright, Mom," he said softly into my hair. "I'm alright."

I pulled back and stared at him, cupping his face in my hands; I could feel stubble under my fingers. Next to us Harry and Sirius pulled apart from their hug, anger crossing Harry's face.

"You could have fucking called," he scolded his Godfather. "Where have you guys been all this time?" he asked, his brilliantly green eyes flashing between Sirius, Remus and I.

"Hiding of course," Remus replied when Sirius and I couldn't. "At first it was because we had killed a man and didn't want to get caught. Once we realized that the authorities wouldn't arrest us for killing a murderer in self defense, we kept hiding because we knew Lucius was still out there. But then we realized that Lucius would want to come after you two. So," Remus spread his arms, indicating our surrounding. "Here we are."

Both boys still looked hurt and angry, though neither said anything.

"Are you thirsty?" I asked them suddenly, wanting to put an end to the silence. "Could someone get them something to drink?" I looked around hastily, and Daphne rose from her spot perched on her father's armchair. She crossed the room to enter the kitchen, and I noticed my son's eyes following her.

"Why don't we have a seat?" Sirius suggested brightly, clapping his hands together; the silence was obviously getting to him too.

Sirius and I sat back down on the couch, leaving plenty of room for the boys to join us; however, they chose to sit on the couch opposite from us, plopping down together in one fluid motion. It was then that it hit me: They were brothers now.

Daphne returned and handed them both a bottle of water, and my son thanked her with a slight smile. Harry continued to look moody.

"Our foster parents work for Lucius," the raven-haired boy mentioned casually.

Sirius and I exchanged surprised looks: Draco and Harry obviously weren't as obtuse as they were last year. Harry continued, adding something even we didn't know:

"He stole our inheritances."

"What?" I asked, sending a shocked, questioning look at my son. Draco nodded.

"Yes!" Sirius exclaimed unexpectedly, punching a fist in the air. "I knew I was smart!"

Everyone in the room looked at him as if he were insane; he elaborated.

"I left all of my money to Harry in my will. However, James and Lily's money is still safe in Regulus' account!"

"You opened an account in your dead brother's name for your dead friend's money?" Remus asked, half scolding.

"Shut up, Remus, it's a good thing I did."

Harry and Draco were staring at us. "So what now?" Draco asked, glancing between the three of us.

Sirius, Remus and I all turned to look at Matt, who was slouched down comfortably in his chair, his hands behind his head. He grinned widely at us.

"How do you guys feel about moving back to Hogwarts Hills?" he asked.

There were two loud thunks as Harry and Draco let the water bottles slip from their hands in shock. Matt's grin widened.

"I take that as a yes."

--- Hermione ---

The last couple of days of winter break passed slowly and quietly. Ron, mourning the loss of Noelle, mostly stayed in his room, coming out only for food and to shower. I gave him some space that first day, but then took to sitting in his room with him for hours at a time. He would do nothing but sit and stare at the wall or TV, and I would sit by him and read, occasionally bringing a hand to rub his back comfortingly.

Fred, to my amazement, was really great about it all. He didn't spy on us, or get moody or possessive. And whenever we were in the same room as Ron, Fred acted as he always did around me. As a matter of fact, no one other than George knew that we were together for certain. Ron, Ginny and Bill had their suspicions of course, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were completely oblivious.

"Hermione's going to show me how to defrag our computer!" Fred announced happily the last night of vacation, leading me through the living room where his parents and eldest brother were currently watching Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?.

"Oh that's nice," Mrs. Weasley answered, keeping her eyes on the screen.

"Show him how to run a virus scan too, Hermione," Mr. Weasley added.

"Theodore Roosevelt," Bill answered the TV.

Fred and I entered the office and closed the sliding door partially.

"It's almost too easy," Fred commented, smiling slyly as he leaned down and kissed me lightly. He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer.

Fred had been my first kiss at age fourteen, a weird twist of fate having caused the bottle to point to him in a game of spin the bottle. The kiss had been completely innocent; our lips had met for only a few seconds; he had been sixteen at the time, and must have realized that I was inexperienced. Ever since then, however, I had always wondered what it would be like to properly kiss Fred Weasley. I was surprised to find out that he was intense and gentle all at the same time. He liked to be close, his body flushed against mine as his hands ran up and down my arms, across my cheeks, into my hair.

"Fred," I whispered after a few minutes of kissing, pulling back slightly to smile at him. "I really do have to use the computer."

He smiled and kissed me softly one last time. "Alright," he said at last, breaking apart. He never pressured me to go on, and I had to wonder if it was because we were still new at being a couple, or because I had told him about Victor and about how I had come close to sleeping with him before freezing up. It was probably a combination of both reasons.

Fred sat on the desk as I turned the computer on.

"So what are you doing?" he asked casually, as though we hadn't been making out two seconds ago. That was something else about him: When we weren't kissing, we were just friends.

"Checking my mail to see if Dumbledore replied about tomorrow. I need to know what time to show up to school for registration."

Fred groaned.

"That's right," he said, "school starts tomorrow."

"What's it to you?" I asked playfully. "You're at work while the rest of us are at school."

Fred breathed in deeply as if he were about to confess to something. "School starts for me tomorrow too; George and I are taking night classes at the local university."

"What!?" I asked, my eyes widening in shock.

"Don't look so surprised, Hermione," he replied, smiling down at me. "We realize that our initial success with the store was just luck and some help from Bill. So we're taking a couple of business classes. It's not a big deal."

I wanted to kiss him again.

"Your mom will be pleased," I told him instead.

He groaned again.

"Yes, God forbid she start to think that we're actually growing up. Hi Ginny," he added, looking over my shoulder.

I turned to see Ginny standing uncertainly in the doorway. "Hi," she replied, her eyes bouncing between the two of us. "I'm not interrupting am I?"

Fred laughed and hopped off of the desk, walking over to his sister. "Now Ginny, why would you say a thing like that?" he asked, ruffling her hair as he passed. He left the office and I heard Bill yell 'Oh come on! That one was easy!' at the TV. Ginny turned and gazed at me suspiciously. As casual as Fred and I were, it was obvious that we were hanging out more than we ever did before.

"Fred and I like to kiss sometimes," I admitted, blushing slightly. It was a good way to explain our relationship; I doubted that either of us felt as though we were a couple.

Ginny smiled and shook her head. "I don't know what it is about my stupid brothers that attracts you to them, but as long as you end up marrying one of them someday and joining this family properly, then I don't really care."

She winked, turned on her heel and joined her family in the living room.

--- Harry ---

Threatened with the wrath of Matt Greengrass, Larry immediately handed guardianship over to Sirius and Narcissa.

"Lucius isn't going to like this," he told Narcissa evenly in the court house. Narcissa said nothing.

Draco and I were given one hour to pack our things and say goodbye to Jenny. Saying goodbye to her was a lot harder than I expected it to be. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she clung to us, begging us to take her with us.

We hugged her and stroked her hair and told her that we loved her and that we'd always love her; she was our little sister no matter what anyone said.

We even gave her a necklace: a silver chain with a tiny, silver key on it. We clasped it around her neck, telling her something about how it was the key to her heart and how she should protect it and eventually give it to some guy who deserved it.

Draco and I were obviously very sappy big brothers.

As hard as it was to say goodbye to Jenny, it was even harder to say goodbye to Jaclyn. Draco helped me sneak out of the Greengrasses house the night before we were supposed to leave so that I could go see her.

"Be back before morning," Draco warned. "If they ask where you are, I'm going to tell them."

Jaclyn was waiting for me when I climbed through her window. Her eyes were bloodshot, but she was no longer crying. We stood silently and stared at each other for a few painful moments before I rushed forward and took her into my arms.

"Come with me," I whispered into her hair.

"You know I can't," she replied, choking on her own words. She pulled away slightly and attempted to give me a brave smile. "It's okay, Harry," she whispered. "We'll both be okay."

"Jaclyn," I paused, cupping her face in my hands. "I…love…" but the rest of the phrase died on my lips. I did love her. I did. But not in the way she wanted me to.

"I know, Harry," she replied, placing her hands on my chest. She hugged me again, leaning her head against my shoulder. "Stay with me tonight," she pleaded.

I nodded against her hair and led her over to her bed, wrapping her in my arms and spooning against her as we laid down. She eventually fell asleep, and I gently wrestled myself away from her when her room lightened with approaching dawn.

"I'll come back for you," I whispered in her ear before climbing out of her window and walking away.

I was going home.

-

End Author's Note: Sometimes I don't update for months at a time -- and sometimes I update a day later. I'm strange like that. Anyway, I have a HUGE announcement, and I'm not entirely certain if you guys are going to like it or not. I have decided -- after months of deliberation -- that there will most likely not be a Hogwarts High III. I will finish Hogwarts High II. My goal is to have it finished within the year -- hopefully by the end of May, but I've been so busy with life lately that it just might take me the whole year to finish it. But I will finish it, and I will include an epilogue so that you all know what happens to the characters. I'm sorry about pulling out of HHIII. It's just that I've been writing this series since I was 15 and I'm almost 22 now. Within a year I'll be in grad school and working more, and I have other fics that I want to write and would like to try my hand at original stuff eventually. So as much as I love this series, I'm afraid I'll either have to end it or lose my sanity. And while I'm pretty much certain that once HHII is done I'll be done with the series, I also realize that I'm capricious, and I can see myself writing Hogwarts University out of boredom one day -- not saying that I will, but you never know with me. However, don't get too depressed yet...we still have a long way to go with HHII, so you still have a lot to look forward to.