Hey guys! Again sorry for the late update And I can't guarantee quick updates from now onwards cause I'm getting a bit busy! But I promise I'll update as quick as I can!

Anyways,Chapter no 24! Read, enjoy and review! [JKR invented HP, owns HP, and will always own HP]

The students of the first five years shuffled out of the Great Hall. Only the sixth and seventh years remained.

"The Ministry," Dumbledore started. "has discovered a new prophecy." He said, glancing briefly at Ginny and Theo, who shared a knowing glance. "This prophecy," Dumbledore continued. "is a very intriguing one. It states that two students from the two most powerful houses are destined to be together." At this, Ginny and Theo nodded vigorously, since they already knew that part. "And as we know," Dumbledore went on. "The two most powerful houses are Gryffindor and Slytherin. Judging by the age of this prophecy, the Ministry is now certain that the students destined to be together are probably in their sixth or seventh year." Dumbledore said, a twinkle showing in his eyes.

The sixth and seventh years stared at one another quizzically, as if wondering if the person they were staring at was one of the students destined to be together.

"The Ministry," Dumbledore began once more. "has also uncovered a memory related to this prophecy."

There were loud, excited murmurs at this.

"Silence!" Dumbledore yelled. The Great Hall was silent all at once. "We have planned to go through this memory this evening. The Ministry has decided that all the students of the sixth and seventh years have a right to know about the details of this prophecy, since this concerns two students in your year. Once we have discovered the identity of the two students, you shall also know who the students are. But meanwhile, there is a lot of waiting to be done. Now, I request all the students to attend your respective classes."

Throughout that day, there were excited discussions about the prophecy and the memory.

Later that night, Hermione stepped into the Head Dorms with Harry. They were surprised to see the others gathered around a huge box.

"I'll do it!" Blaise cried. "Please, please!" he whined like a five year old.

"No." Pansy said firmly. "I'll do it." She said.

"No!" Ron cried. "Me! Me!" he cried, raising his hand.

"Stop that Weasel." Theo joked.

"Can we just get this over with?" Ginny asked exasperatedly.

"This is freaking me out!" Draco said. "Can't one of you just do it? I'm getting tired of this." He said, running his pale hand through his perfect hair.

"What are you guys doing?" Harry asked, stepping into the common room followed by Hermione.

"Oh, nothing important." Pansy waved her hand. "We thought we could have a little fun, so we put in the names of all the sixth and seventh years including us in this box and decided to pick out two names. We've also put a spell on the names inside the box so that the two names picked out will be one male and another female." She finished.

"And?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.

"Let me guess." Hermione said. "I suppose you were trying to pick out the names of the two students destined to be together?" she asked.

"Exactly." Blaise said.

"And these idiots were fighting over who should pick out the names." Draco supplied.

"C'mon guys," Harry said. 'You know this is not gonna be true!" he said.

"We know that." Blaise said. "We just wanted to have some fun." He said.

"I've got an idea." Hermione said. "Let's play a game to decide who should pick out the names." She said.

"What kind of game?" Theo asked.

"I don't know... maybe hide-and-seek?" Hermione asked.

"Excuse me?" Draco cried incredulously. "Are we all five year olds? Sorry, but last time I checked, I was 17." He said.

"Oh, come on!" Pansy said. "I've missed this game a lot. Please?" she asked.

"Come on, let's play!" Blaise said.

"I never agreed!" Draco said.

"No one asked for you to agree." Blaise replied.

"Ok, ok. I'll play." Draco relented.

"So, look." Hermione said. "None of us will be the seeker. We'll bewitch one of our wands to be the seeker. The two players left out will be allowed to pick out the names." She said.

"Sounds fine to me." Ron said, nodding his head all the while.

"Yeah. Let's do this!" Ginny said. "Shall we use my wand?" she asked.

"Sure." Hermione said and grabbed Ginny's wand from her hand and performed a simple spell on it.

"Ok everyone!" she said gleefully. "The wand will start seeking in exactly 50 seconds. Hide fast!" she said and dashed off.

Everyone rushed to find good hiding places. 50 seconds later, Ginny's wand started seeking.

First, Blaise was found hiding in the bath. Second, Ginny was found in her closet. Third, Ron was found in the kitchen, munching on a bag of muffins. Fourth, Pansy was found under her bed. Fifth, Theo was found hiding in the little room under the staircase. Sixth, Harry was found in Ron's closet. The only ones left were Draco and Hermione. Ginny grabbed her wand and joined the others in the common room.

"Draco! Hermione!" Ginny called "You guys are the only ones left! Come on out!"

At almost the same time, Draco and Hermione appeared out of nowhere.

Blaise blinked twice. "Where'd you guys come from?" he asked.

Draco and Hermione were staring at each other in surprise.

"Did you use the Disillusionment charm too?" they asked simultaneously.

"What?" Theo asked. "A Disillusionment charm?" he asked. "I didn't know we were allowed to use spells!" he exclaimed.

Hermione turned to him. "I never said we weren't allowed to use them!" she said.

"Well, well, well." Ginny said, a smirk forming at her lips. "Both of you got the same idea! Great!" she said.

"Shut up." Draco said.

"I'll pick first!" Hermione exclaimed with glee and made her way over to the box. She put in her hand through the small opening and pulled out a piece of parchment. "Your turn Draco!" she said and made place for Draco to come and pick. He put in his hand and pulled out a name.

"Okay!" Pansy said. "Let's hear what Draco's got!"

Draco unfolded the parchment. "Well…." He said. "I certainly pity the man who has been matched with her." He said, shaking his head all the while.

"Whose name have you got?" Theo asked.

Draco smirked. "Millicent Bulstrode." He said.

Theo laughed. "Let's hear who her match is!" he said.

Hermione unfolded her piece of parchment. She started laughing as soon as she saw the name.

"Why are you laughing?" Harry asked. "Who is it?"

"R- R- Ha ha!" was all Hermione could say.

"Who the hell is it?" Blaise asked, his patience coming to an end.

"R- R- RON!" Hermione said.

Everyone burst out laughing.

Ron stared wide-eyed at her. "This is no time for jokes Mione!" he said. "Have you really got my name over there?" he asked.

Hermione handed him the parchment. Ron stared at his name strangely. "No!" he cried.

"Oh, come on Ron!" Pansy said between bouts of laughter. "You know this is not true."

"But…. But still…. Why?" he exclaimed. "Why me?"

Finally, everyone stopped laughing.

"You know what?" Hermione said. "This prophecy is really a big torture." She said.

"Yeah." Draco agreed. "Just imagine if Dumbledore announces the names of the two students destined to be together like this," he made his voice deep and began. "We have discovered the identities of the two students destined to be together. Mr Ronald Weasley and Miss Millicent Bulstrode."

"Shut up!" Ron cried, his face going pale.

They all laughed.

"You know what?" Ginny said. "Theo and I need to tell you something." she said.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Um.." Theo began. "We already knew about this prophecy." he said.

"What!" Pansy cried. "And you didn't tell us?" she asked.

"We wanted to!" Ginny said. "But Professor Dumbledore told us not to tell anyone."

"When did he tell you about the prophecy?" Harry asked.

"Remember when Theo and I used the Oppugno Jinx on Lavender and Parvati? And then Professor Dumbledore called us to his office?" Everyone nodded. "He told us that it was he who exchanged our possessions to promote inter-house unity because of this stupid prophecy. At that time, it was only known that two students from the two most powerful houses are destined to be together. We knew this part. But Dumbledore told us not to speak about it." she finished.

"Oh, leave it!" Hermione waved her hand. "It's nothing serious." she said.

"Okay." Ginny said.

"Hey Mrs Malfoy!" Blaise called, wanting to make Ginny and Theo feel better. He knew that they were feeling a bit guilty for not telling their friends about the prophecy.

Hermione turned to him, shooting him a glare. Blaise, however, ignored it.

"What if your and your husband's names are announced tomorrow?" he asked.

Hermione decided to play along. "Then, I shall be extremely happy to be with my husband." She said, smiling.

"Oh, please!" Draco said.

Hermione stuck out her tongue at him in a childish manner and said, "I'm going upstairs to my room to do a bit of reading!" She then went up the stairs. Just as she reached the top, she looked towards Draco and said, "Goodnight, my darling husband." She said.

Draco smirked in return. "Same to you, love." He said. The others just enjoyed the show.

Hermione smiled once more and turned to go to her room. All of a sudden, the door to the Head Dorms burst open. Everyone looked towards the door, startled. Professor Dumbledore entered, followed by Professor McGonagall and several Ministry officials.

Hermione rushed down the stairs. "P- Professor? What's the matter?" she asked.

"All of you must come with us to my office." Professor Dumbledore said.

"But.." Harry said. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"You will know." was all Dumbledore said. "Now, move." He instructed.

Everyone walked out of the Head Dorms to Dumbledore's office. They walked through the corridors in dead silence. Finally, Harry broke the silence.

"Sir?" he called tentatively.

"Yes Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Why have you called all of us?" Harry asked.

"You will know that as soon as we get to my office Harry." Dumbledore said calmly.

Harry fell silent. He understood that Dumbledore wasn't going to reveal anything until they reached his office.

They walked on to Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore went up to the Gargoyle and said,

"Sugar Quills!"

The Gargoyle sprung to life and made way for all of them to enter. They reached the top and were ushered into the office. There were already two Ministry officials inside the office, supposedly keeping watch on the wash basin-like thing. Clouds were swirling in it.

"What is that?" Ron asked curiously.

"A Pensieve." Harry, Draco and Hermione said together. They stared at each other and grinned slightly.

Harry had seen this very pensieve in his fourth year when he had fallen into the memories in it without meaning to in Dumbledore's office itself. Draco had seen various types of pensieves his father owned at Malfoy Manor. Hermione had not actually seen a pensieve(she had seen its picture in a book but not in reality), but had read about them.

"Professor," Blaise began. "What is a pensieve?" he asked.

"A pensieve, Mr Zabini," Dumbledore said. "can store memories. Anyone can unravel a memory from their mind and eject it into the pensieve. For instance, this pensieve here contains the memory regarding the prophecy."

"The prophecy?" Pansy asked, surprise evident in her voice.

"Yes, Miss Parkinson." Dumbledore said. "We have summoned all of you here to show you this memory."

"Us?" Ginny asked. "But why us?"

"You will find the answer to your question after you witness this memory." Dumbledore said his eyes moving from Ginny to Draco, then to Hermione and back to Ginny again. He then went up to the pensieve and disappeared into the memory swirling inside it.

"Now," Professor McGonagall said. "All of you, come over here. Quick!" she ordered. They walked over to the pensieve. "Gather around!" she said and pushed them forward into the pensieve.

All of a sudden, they were thrown into a whole another world that looked exactly like Hogwarts, except that it was an older version of the school.

Done! Pls review! I'll tell you guys once again, I won't be able to update regularly but I will certainly update as soon as I find time. Please don't hate me for this! Sorry! Bye!