Afterglow

by prophetoftroy

Hermione didn't care that the soulmate potion didn't reveal who she was meant for, too content with who it wasn't. She only cares about keeping Harry far away from Umbridge and helping the Order wherever she can. But when Harry has a strange vision, they must save Sirius from Voldemort and- well- people just don't stay dead the way they used to... luckily for her.

3. Paintings Long Forgotten

Chapter three: Paintings Long Forgotten

The school seemed to darken as Harry and McGonagall walked Daphne to the Slytherin common room, Harry and Daphne walking a few feet behind the teacher- who seemed to be letting them talk privately and not saying a word. When she walked, Daphne clasped her hands in front of her and seemed as though she were only on a leisurely stroll. She had graceful hands, he thought; though he didn't usually have thoughts like that. It sounded like something a lovesick romantic fool would think in a story book, or perhaps something Luna would say in her way. They were, though, graceful- with fingers that seemed to be disproportionately long by a joint.

"Your Dumbledore," she said, looking over in charming detachment, "is rather an odd character, isn't he? I've never spoken to him before tonight, but he's rather intense."

Harry laughed lightly, looking down at his feet as they walked. "Yeah, I'm sure he gets that a lot. He's brilliant, though."

She nodded, looking down to her own feet. "He seems it. H-he'll be alright, though, won't he?"

"They won't be able to keep him away for long," he told her, a sick feeling settling in his stomach as he said so. "He'll be back, you'll see."

"Severus!" McGonagall called, catching Snape's dark form around the corner. "Good that you're here," she said in rushed, low tone. "It's happened, he's gone."

Snape's black eyes glanced to Harry when she said this and he felt even worse. How many others would blame Harry for the loss of their headmaster? Snape's eyes moved on to Daphne next to him, who had straightened her posture where Harry hadn't realized it could be straightened. "Miss Greengrass, what-"

"She was there with Mr. Potter," McGonagall told him.

She stepped forward and whispered something that Harry couldn't make out, but it made an expression of understanding take hold of Snape's face and he could guess it about their Glow. Daphne moved to stand closer to him, and he resisted the urge to grab her hand the way he had for the majority of the night.

"I see," he said simply, his tone not betraying anything. "Come along, then, Miss Greengrass."

She walked over to her Head of House and turned back to Harry, who was being falling behind McGonagall who had already begun walking away.

"Good night, Harry. And, tonight was strangely fun."

Startled, he stammered, "G-good night, D-Daphne."

*

Somehow, by the next morning everyone in the entire school knew the story of Dumbledore's tremendous escape and his defeat of two Aurors, the High Inquisitor, the Minister himself, and his Junior Assistant. The school seemed to be buzzing with gossip, though there no doubts with anyone that their true headmaster would return. In the words of Ernie Macmillan, "They couldn't keep him away our second year and they won't be able to this time."

The only shining light was the tantrum Umbridge had been rumored to have upon discovering she couldn't get back into the Headmaster's office. But the amusement of that was short lived as students began being called into her own office and coming out with strangely vague expressions, each spouting off potentially embarrassing secrets. She'd started with Harry, calling him into her office for tea. Hermione had continued searching for a way around the Veritaserum, after realizing Harry's Occlumency lessons weren't going any better than they had before- but hadn't found any luck. It seemed that, the smarter students, had the sense to fake drinking and just lying to make it seem that the potion had worked, but it soon became obvious that it wasn't going to deter their new 'Headmistress'.

It happened on a weekend, at breakfast. Umbridge was sitting high in the Headmaster's stolen seat, her beady eyes scanning the tables with a calculating scrutiny that made Hermione uneasy. Like she was looking for something in particular as the students trickled in and took their seats. Hermione looked around as well, looking for whatever Umbridge was looking for, as it couldn't be good. It was hard to think with Ron's loud chewing, having not hesitated in piling food onto his plate.

"Ronald," she scolded, "would you please act like a human and not eat like some beast?"

There was no answer, but the sounds had stopped and she'd glanced back to Umbridge- who was looking at their table in wait- when she heard Lavender sounding panicked. "Won-Won? What's wrong?"

Ron had a sort of glazed look on his face, reminiscent of Luna Lovegood on a particularly imaginative day. "Wrong," he repeated in a chilling voice. "Nothing is wrong. I'm perfectly fine. I loved you, you know, Hermione? But you didn't care. Lavender does though. Lav- you're so pretty. Except that freckle on your hand. It freaks me out. Like it's staring at me. Nothing's wrong..."

Hermione looked at Ron's half eaten plate, while no one else in their group had even begun eating. There was a commotion at the Hufflepuff table, then the Ravenclaw, and people began shouting in alarm at their friends' vacant stares. Umbridge looked very smug, straightening her back and smirking at everyone.

"Silencio!" Hermione whispered, waving her wand underneath the table at Ron. He knew things. He knew where Sirius was, where the Order was and who was in it. Likely, that's what Umbridge wanted, but it hadn't crossed Hermione's mind that she might put the Veritaserum in the food.

Harry seemed to understand what it was as well, his eyes darting towards the Slytherin table where Daphne seemed confused, but unaffected. "Hermione, is it-"

"It has to be," she told him, watching Umbridge interrogating a Ravenclaw student and the other teachers trying to control the growing upset. "We need to leave. Umbridge will be coming after us for sure."

Harry nudged Neville and Ginny, who had yet to eat anything, and they stood to follow with Ron being led by Lavender. "She's distracted, we need to get out of here."

"Granger," came Professor Snape's voice. He came through, pushing through people trying to shake their friends' out of it and pulling Luna with him. Luna, who did not have the usual dreamy look, but looked completely blank with no emotion. "Take Lovegood with you. Stay out of sight and away from anyone for at least an hour."

Hermione grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her with them. Almost everyone had been in the Great Hall, but Harry told any student they came across in the corridors to go back to their common rooms, that breakfast was canceled.

"Where are we going?" Neville asked her. "If they're looking for us, they'll expect us to go to Gryffindor Tower. And we can't go back to the Room of Requirement."

"We'll go down to the dungeons," a breathless voice said behind them.

Harry sagged in relief, turning around with not quite a smile. "Daphne!"

Daphne and her sister, who had insisted on bringing Malfoy who was obviously under the influence of the potion. Hermione was glad, for a moment, that Ron wasn't himself and couldn't get angry at the mere sight of him.

"Umbridge was starting to look for you when I was leaving," Daphne told them. "There's a number of abandoned classrooms down in the dungeons where we can hide. Professor Snape said he would keep them away."

"Why would he do that?" Ginny asked. "What are you doing here? Why did you bring Malfoy?"

"Gin," Neville said, glancing back, "we can ask questions later. I hear people coming."

Daphne led them down the corridors, ahead of the people who had left the Great Hall after them. Hermione brought Luna with them, not letting go of her friend's hand as they snuck around corners and towards the dungeons. Harry stayed close to Daphne and Neville and Ginny, though slightly confused at how their morning had gone thus far, followed with Lavender and the vacant Ron.

"Through here," Daphne whispered, opening a class door that looked as though it hadn't seen use in quite some time.

It looked very like Snape's classroom, but as though its students had suddenly stood up and left, never to return. Unlike many classrooms not in use, there were no old chairs or desks stacked on each other in wait for someone to come and use them as they had once been used. There was a thick layer of dust over everything, and on the board there seemed to be leftover writing from a lesson about Wolfsbane. A few of the chairs were still pulled out as though their occupants had left in a hurry and no one had pushed them in after.

"Not creepy at all," Lavender whispered, setting Ron in one of the out turned chairs and looking around the large classroom.

"Oi!" A voice said. Everyone jumped at the sudden sound in the silence, turning to a portrait that none of them had ever seen before. It was a man, with red hair and an intense face, standing in his portrait tall and staring the ragtag group down with suspicious eyes. "Who're you lot?"

Hermione gasped, her eyes going wide as she walked closer to the portrait with a growing smile. "Yo-you're Godric Gryffindor."

He blinked at her, looking down at her uniform and perking up with a grin. "You're one of mine."

"Yes, sir," she nodded, feeling a swell of pride.

"Sir?" He asked, bewildered as he glanced around. He leaned forward as though he was going to tell her some important secret- or step out of the portrait. Considering no one ever knew the Founder had a portrait, Hermione briefly thought that either were plausible. But he whispered conspiratorially, "I'm just a portrait, lass."

"I didn't think any of the Founders had a portrait," Daphne said, coming forward to examine it as well. "Are you the only one?"

"No," he admitted, "Helga's around here somewhere. You're one of Sal's."

"Shhh!" Harry said, standing at the door and listening out as there were the familiar sounds of Filch's running and wheezing. Everyone held their breath as the door knob rattled and there was a pause on the other side of the locked door. The man seemed to give up, running off again to find them and everyone sighed in relief.

Gryffindor's portrait grinned at them, a face Hermione knew well as one Harry adopted before doing something insane. "Oh, are you all in trouble then? What have you done to inflict being chased? Was it awful? Was it brave?"

Everyone, aside from the drugged Ron, Malfoy, and Luna, crowded towards the portrait to study him in wonder.

"Actually," Ginny said, "we're hiding from the Headmistress. She's dosed everyone with Veritaserum."

He looked startled. "V-veritaserum? That toad tried to drug my students? Oh yes," he said at their surprised expressions. "I've heard all about the recent going ons of my school. Never have things been so dark. Why, not even when Grindelwald threatened the walls did such horror occur."

"So, you know everything that's been happening?"

They explained to him about knowing things the 'Headmistress' wanted to know, or things she thought they knew. Like where Dumbledore went. At each note, the painted man nodded.

"Yes, I am well informed by Helga, who resides in her common room, and Severus who still comes here from time to time. Though his friend no longer visits."

"Friend?" Hermione asked.

"Snape has friends?" Harry asked, a sour look on his face.

"I thought you hated Slytherins."

"Gee, thanks, Longbottom."

"It's true," he said ruefully.

"Silence!" The portrait commanded in a surprisingly commanding voice. For a painted being, that is. "No, I don't hate Sal's students. They just aren't mine."

Hermione glanced around at the group, knowing what they were all thinking. About the infamous tension between Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. It was something of legend, and now it was being implied that it hadn't existed.

"We didn't mean any disrespect, sir," she said. "It's just, we've all been told that you and Slytherin hated each other."

At this, he really looked shocked, but it wasn't his voice that said, "Hate? My dear, they were inseparable. Really, the only reason Rowena and I built the school with them was because of their conviction in wanting to do it."

A woman with brown hair and wearing a long yellow dress, like sunshine, glided into the portrait with Godric. She smiled at them all, a dopey smile that made one want to smile back.

He nodded to her and what she'd said, looking back to them. "True, we fought sometimes, and we disagreed on silly things such as blood status, but he wasn't a bad person."

"No, of course he wasn't," Helga said, scandalized. "Do you think I would marry a monster?"

"Marry?" Harry asked, the first time he spoke to them. "But, he had a basilisk to attack muggleborns! It almost killed Hermione!"

"Harry," Hermione said. "It's fine. Really."

"Sal would never!" Helga insisted gently. "He had Eisza from a baby, and he never used her to attack anyone. He built his Chamber for her when she got too big, so that she didn't hurt anyone or herself."

"I know you," Godric said. "Your eyes, they're- what is your mother's name?"

He was looking at Harry, who suddenly looked put on the spot and he took a step back. Hermione thought about the portrait saying Snape's friend never came anymore... and despite everything Snape had said to Harry about James, he never once mentioned anything about his mother.

"Lily," she answered for him. "Lily Evans. That's who you meant earlier about Snape's friend, isn't it."

"Snape?" A dreamy voice said behind them, as though the person was waking up from a long sleep. One that you wake up more tired than when you'd gone to bed. Everyone turned to her with a relieved sigh, Hermione included. Luna was blinking at them with slight confusion as she looked around, likely looking for the man in question.

"No," Harry said. "Mum wouldn't be friends with him."

"I think he's lovely," Luna told him seriously, in her whispy way.

Daphne nodded to agree. "He's not really like that, how he is with the Gryffindors. He's different with us."

Harry didn't outright argue with Daphne, only flaring his nose in the way that told Hermione he was holding his tongue- likely with his teeth to keep from doing so. Luna stood up and walked over to where they were at the portrait. Godric looked slightly affronted.

"Lily and Severus were about as close as they could be. We had bets going on whether or not they would marry, but there was something of a falling out..." He faded off as if realizing he shouldn't be saying such things, and wilting at the look Helga Hufflepuff was giving him. He looked back to Harry. "How is she? You'll have to tell her I said hello, and she must come see us after this Umbridge mess is taken care of."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, glances shifting to each other. Hermione cleared her throat. "Lily and James Potter died fourteen years ago, sir."

Both paintings gasped, Helga holding her hand to her mouth with eyes that looked like particularly fresh paint. "I-I'd heard something, but I never imagined, it does explain quite a bit..." She looked at Harry apologetically before clearing her own throat and looking at Luna.

"You must be Miss Lovegood," she said thickly, obviously looking for any change of topic. "Severus has told us much about you. That you saw the Glow with Mate Animae Meae. I admit that potion was created after our time, but I do remember Lily and Severus discussing it when their potion lesson arrived."

There was a groan behind them, and Malfoy was rubbing his head- mussing his hair. "My head feels like a hippogriff attacked me."

Harry snorted. "Have a lot of experience with that, do you?"

Daphne giggled and Malfoy shot them both a scornful look before blinking in surprise. He looked around. "What's going on?" He demanded.

"Draco!" Astoria exclaimed hopefully. He looked to her with a light that Hermione thought looked almost as though she could see the Glow reflected in his eyes. Like Astoria was an angel come to save him.

"Az," he smiled, perhaps the first genuine smile they'd ever seen him give. "Daph, what are we doing here with Potter?"

"We've been drugged," Luna said passively. "I only had a treacle tart, which is really rather disappointing. I like treacle tart, but I fear I might think of them all as traitors from this day forth."

He looked at her in amused disbelief. "What, and you just brought me with you?" He asked with even more disbelief.

Everyone glanced to Astoria and Malfoy quietened, deflating a bit. Lavender sniffed, going back to Ron, who was staring straight ahead of him without sign of situational awareness. "Why isn't Ron waking up? Luna and Malfoy have."

"He ate a bit more than they did," Hermione said logically, not expecting the snarl she got in return from Lavender.

"Oh, you're just jealous," she scowled, "because you don't have a soulmate."

Hermione tried to fight her sudden and unexpected anger at Lavender's tone, she tried to rationalize to herself that the other girl was just worried and taking her anger on anyone in close vicinity.

"It's incredibly unlikely and ridiculous to expect that everyone meets their soulmate in Hogwarts," she said shortly. "And I can promise you, that my soulmate won't have the intelligence, or lack there of, equal to a flobberworm's."

"Hey," Neville stepped forward, ever the mediator. "We're not angry at each other, not even Malfoy. It's Umbridge and the Veritaserum. I'm sure Ron will wake up soon. We have to think about how to avoid the Veritaserum in the food. I'm sure Harry, Ron, and Hermione know some things that Umbridge would bite her arm off to know."

At this, Malfoy perked up- as though expecting them to start listing the things they knew that Umbridge wanted. "Too bad there's not a gun for it."

Everyone looked at Ginny in confusion.

"A gun?" Neville asked, "Like a muggle wand?"

"Why would we need a gun?" Hermione asked, momentarily imagining a bullet wound ruining Umbridge's ridiculous pink robes.

Now Ginny looked confused. "Isn't that where they shoot you with an illness so you don't get sick?"

Daphne briefly glanced up from where she'd sat down. "That's called a shot. Nothing to do with an actual gun. It helps muggles get immune to things like influenza."

Hermione wondered how either pureblood heard of a gun, one being right about its purpose and the other being wrong, when she understood where they were going with it. "That's perfect," she shouted. "I mean, there isn't a shot, per say. So, what if we just take Veritaserum in small doses and work ourselves up to being immune? Luna could ask Snape for another bottle of Veritaserum, and we could try it."

"Would that work?" Harry asked the portraits.

The paintings looked at each other, Godric making a face. "Sal was our potioneer."

"It certainly couldn't hurt," Helga reasoned aloud to herself. "I suppose, and if you made sure that there was a safe place to take it that you couldn't be exploited for it, it would be worth a try."

"Lav?" Lavender shrieked with relief at Ron looking around, crushing him in a hug and reattaching their lips after perhaps the longest period of time they'd been separated. They weren't together long, the disgusting noises only having just started when there was a loud bang in the hallway.

It was a loud sound, that seemed to shake the castle and rattle the desks where Harry was vaguely trying to draw a dragon in the dust. The ceiling above them shook violently, though they could tell it had happened several floors up. Perhaps in the Great Hall.

"My word!" Helga exclaimed.

"What was that?" Astoria asked worriedly.

Hermione walked over to the door, the others following her aside from the Slytherins and the portrait. Obviously. She opened the door a crack to peek out. As soon as it was open, however slight the crack was, they could hear the screams that echoed off of the stone walls.

"Forgive us," Luna said dreamily to the paintings, "but we must go see who is getting into trouble without Harry."

"Quite alright, my dear," Godric told her sincerely, "be sure to come back down sometime and tell us what's happened."

So all of the students left the abandoned room to find out what the kerfuffle was, and it wasn't hard to find. Two floors up, having passed screaming and running students, were a tremendous amount of fireworks having been lit. Dragons of green and gold swept down from the ceilings, breathing fire and making more loud bangs- chasing choice students regardless of house, but without doing any harm. Large shocking pink wheels whizzed dangerously close by. Rockets with long tails of brilliant silver stars took off from unseen platforms.

Hermione's eyes widened at the display, particularly at a group of first years laughing at sparklers that wrote out foul curse words in the air, but it seemed the others in her group were just as shocked. The only things that made them stop staring with slack jaws was the scene of Umbridge chasing an exceptionally persistent firework and trying to stupefy it. When she succeeded in hitting it with her red jet, it went off in some sort of frenzy.

"Don't stupefy them!" She commanded Filch desperately, never mind that the Squib couldn't have done so anyway.

"What did your brothers do?" Neville asked Ginny, laughing. Even Malfoy and the Greengrass sisters were laughing just as hard- ignoring the differences that might have otherwise prevented that.

"Mum's going to kill them," Ginny agreed.

The twins in question popped out from behind a tapestry once Umbridge and Filch were past. "Like them," Fred asked, placing a teasing arm around Hermione's shoulders the way he did.

"Impressive," Harry told George, "you'll have no trouble putting Mr. Filibuster out of business now."

"Wait until you see them try to Vanish one," Fred whispered conspiratorially. "They multiply tenfold when you do."

There was a frustrated, shrill screech down the corridor that told them Umbridge had tried just that. All afternoon, after their missing Charms whilst hiding from Umbridge, the fireworks continued and the 'headmistress' ran around the school with wild desperation to get rid of the ruckus making things. The other teachers didn't seem to mind them too much, finding them more amusing after seeing Umbridge's exasperation for them.

*

All week Fred and George were the heroes of Hogwarts, bowing deeply whenever someone came to thank them or commend them on their explosions. Marietta's pimple problem didn't go away in the next few days, though it was obvious that she was trying to get rid of them, and every time Hermione passed them- Cho and Marietta gave her glares as venomous as they could make them. Fred and George were even more full of themselves when a Slytherin prefect, Montague, was discovered jammed inside a toilet on the fourth floor. That was the night Harry came back to the Gryffindor Tower early from his Occlumency lesson.

Hermione wasn't naive. She knew that Snape wouldn't have just let Harry stop taking his lessons, whether he knew enough of it or not. If nothing else, he would keep them going because it made Harry miserable. She wasn't entirely sure why he was done with lessons, but she knew it wasn't for the reason Harry gave her.

They hadn't gotten together again with the Slytherins since the Breakfast Debacle, though she thought it likely Harry had been spending time with Daphne. With their friends paired up, he'd been slipping away from Gryffindor at odd times and flushing red when he was caught sneaking back. Hermione, for her part, spent time studying. It became glaringly obvious that her soulmate was no where in the castle, and despite what she'd said to Lavender, she was rather worried over it. Suppose she didn't have a soul mate. She was no where near the only one who's Glow hadn't come.

Easter holidays came, but few students left for them. It suddenly occurred to everyone, most especially the fifth years, that their exams were only six weeks away. There was something of a panic for the right books to study from and the right answers and trying to figure out what questions would be asked. Harry was distant, though he didn't argue when Hermione gave him his study schedule. About halfway through the holiday, Luna came to them and told them that she had asked Snape for the Veritaserum and when did they want to meet. So Hermione told Harry, and Harry told Daphne, and Daphne told Malfoy and her sister.

"I need to talk to Sirius," Harry was telling Hermione and Ron a few hours before they were meant to meet with everyone else in the same room as before. "And Fred and George have offered to help."

"How exactly are you expecting you'll do that?" Hermione asked him quietly. "All of the fireplaces are watched except for Umb- no. No, you can't."

"It's important," he pleaded. "You don't understand. I need to talk to him about... some things. About his Glow, and... a few things about my dad."

Ron, who was looking through job leaflets, lowered one about training security trolls. "Can't you ask him this summer? I mean, there's only a few weeks left."

Harry shook his head. "No, I have to know some things or I won't be able to concentrate on anything else."

Hermione couldn't help but wonder if this had anything to do with Harry's end of Occlumency lessons and Snape's increasingly bad mood. Maybe it was his hormones making him have such bad ideas and an apparent disregard for wanting to live, but she didn't have time to comment before they were heading towards the dungeon. She, Harry, and Ron were stuffed under the Invisibility Cloak and she thought with a sense of nostalgia that the Cloak seemed smaller than in the years before.

Malfoy, Daphne, Astoria, and Luna were already there. Lavender, Neville, and Ginny walked in shortly after them.

"How should we start it?"

"The official dose is three drops," Hermione said, remembering Snape's instructions and her own private reading on the substance. "But knowing Umbridge, she'll be using much more than that. I think we should each start with one drop until we no longer feel compelled to be truthful. Then we'll progress to two drops, then three, but no higher then six. That's when it starts getting dangerous, but by that time we should be fine."

"If it starts getting dangerous by six," Malfoy started, "then how dangerous would it have been for her putting Merlin knows how many drops in the food?"

The incident hadn't been repeated, and it seemed that the food lately had been safe to eat, but that didn't mean she wouldn't do it again.

"And, if there's only a few weeks left of school," Astoria said, "why are we bothering?"

"Because it isn't likely Umbridge is just going to leave over the summer hols," Neville told her. "And with the short time to the end of term, it's more likely she'll try to do it again- knowing that she's running out of time."

"Besides," Harry said. "Who says Voldemort wouldn't try to drug people."

He said this staring at Malfoy, who flinched at the name and looked away. He took the vial from Luna and offered to give Daphne a drop of it, the green liquid falling onto her tongue. Next, Neville and Ginny. And Astoria. And Ron and Lavender. One drop, as opposed to how ever many Umbridge had used in the breakfast, didn't seem to do much to them. Hermione only felt a slight tingle at swallowing the potion.

"How do you know it's working?" Godric asked, watching them curiously.

"Someone try to lie," Helga advised.

No one seemed to want to go first, Harry and Malfoy looking back and forth at each other distrustfully. It seemed they were both thinking that they were expected to tell some deep secret, though Hermione doubted either boy had anything terribly secretive as they likely thought they did. Hermione knew Harry too well, and Malfoy was too smug to be able to keep anything quiet for long.

"Oh," she scoffed, "stop being silly, the both of you. My favorite color is re-lavender."

At the point she was trying to lie and say her favorite color was red, it was like she couldn't control herself and the truth blurted out. Like when she was younger, trying to hold her breath in a contest with her dad and her face would get red before she had to gasp in air and he won.

"My name is Sco- Draco."

He had the same red tinge to his face that she could imagine having had herself when trying to lie. The others tried to do the same with like minded questions, favorite colors and foods and holidays and the likes. It seemed Daphne's favorite day of the year was Boxing Day, and Luna's favorite color was htun... whatever that was. It seemed no one was successful in fooling the potion, though surprisingly Neville got the furthest through his.

"Perhaps you all need more incentive," Helga said quietly from her portrait. "Godric and I could ask you questions. Not serious things, but perhaps things that you'd rather not answer in front of you peers."

"That doesn't sound like a disaster waiting to happen," Malfoy said snottily.

Hermione groaned. "Can't you just go with it? If you don't want to be here, then you are more than welcome to leave. No one is stopping you."

He glanced to Astoria and huffed. "I'm waiting," he said imperiously to Helga.

She wasn't put off by his attitude, but smiled. "Career Meetings are to occur next week. What profession are you looking into?"

Malfoy's face went red, and he sputtered, but was obviously trying not to answer her until he knew he could lie to her. In the end, his mouth betrayed him. "Healer."

"You?" Ron chuckled derisively. "A Healer? Think I'd rather die than rely on you to fix me."

"Funnily enough," Malfoy responded, crossing his arms and wrinkling his nose, "I think I'd rather that too."

Hermione smacked Ron in the back of the head at the same time Daphne did the same to Malfoy. Next, it was Luna- who wanted to be a magizoologist. Neville, not surprisingly, wanted to teach and study Herbology. Ginny wanted to fly for the Holyhead Harpies. Ron wanted to fly for the Chudley Cannons.

"I used to want to be an astronaut," Daphne said quietly. "But now, I think I just want to study physics."

Everyone looked at her blankly, the muggle-raised or muggle-knowledgeable in surprise, the purebloods in confusion. Harry especially looked surprised.

"Really?" He asked.

She nodded. "I-I like looking at the stars and I like numbers. I love the muggle world."

"I want to run an ice cream shop," Harry said with a red, obviously embarrassed, expression. "Or maybe a flower shop since I like gardening okay."

She smiled at him, a small and hesitant smile. "That sounds lovely."

Lavender wanted to have her own robes shop. Astoria wanted to have children and teach them music. Hermione wanted to fight for rights for everyone; improving life for Magical Creatures like werewolves and house elves.

After everyone had answered Helga's question, only half of them remembering they were supposed to try lying, they all looked at each in new light and perhaps respect.

A/N: I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter... I don't really have plans in mind for the portraits, nor did I really mean to put them there it just happened. However, next chapter will have Fred and George's departure and Harry's conversation with Sirius. Tell me what you think of the inter house relationship that I'm thinking about. Also, I love seeing your theories on who her Glow will be. If you ever want your theory confirmed or denied, tell me and I will tell you. Happy New Year to all!

Dasvidanya, Mia.