Well aren't you lucky? I only updated yesterday and you already get another chapter! ;) Yeah, I'm just that immense. I was thinking of making you wait… but I'm just too nice.
For reviewing, I would like to thank: Adora81, ForeverTeamEdward13, Oogie
Disclaimer: I only own Mia
Chapter 20: Last Day of Sixth Year
The morning after the Third Task, Mia, Fred and George sneaked out of the castle and into Honeydukes. They brought a large box of assorted wizard sweets. The same box that Fred had given to Mia on her birthday. They went to visit Harry in the hospital wing, but found he was busy, speaking to Cedric Diggory's parents.
They waited for him in the common room, with Ron and Hermione. When he came in that evening, Mia handed him the box, smiling sympathetically. "You ok?" she asked.
"Yeah, yeah… great…" he answered quickly, glancing at Ron and Hermione. She took the hint and left the common room, Fred and George following.
"The end," said Dumbledore, "of another year." The End of Term Feast was not the happy occasion it usually was. Mia sat in between Fred and George, with Angelina, Alicia and Katie opposite them. A little way down the table sat Harry, Ron and Hermione. Everybody in the room was solemn. Everybody in the room had a sad expression on their face.
"There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight," Dumbledore continued, "but I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory."
Everybody in the room stood up. Everybody raised their goblets. Everybody chimed "Cedric Diggory." Everybody sat down.
Dumbledore went on, "Cedric was a person who exemplified many of the qualities that distinguish Hufflepuff house. He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, he valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not." Mia looked down at the table, fiddling with her necklace. She didn't know him well, but she'd seen his body lying on the floor along with everyone else in that Hall, and that caused something to twinge inside of her. Dumbledore still spoke on. "I think that you have the right, therefore, to know exactly how it came about." Mia looked up at Dumbledore, cocking her head to one side.
"Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort."
People started to whisper and Mia's stomach dropped. She let her necklace fall out of her hand. Her wide eyes grew wider. She glanced at Fred and George on either side of her. At Angelina, Alicia and Katie opposite her. At the other faces in the Hall. Everyone had the same expression. A mixture of shock, fear, and disbelief.
"The Ministry of Magic," Dumbledore said once the whispering had stopped, "does not wish me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so- either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you, so young as you are. It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric died as the result of an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, is an insult to his memory." He just said You-Know-Who was back. Back? He couldn't be back! But… why would Dumbledore lie?
"There is somebody else who must be mentioned in connection with Cedric's death," Dumbledore went on. "I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter." Along with everyone else in the Hall, Mia looked down the table to Harry. He was staring intently at Dumbledore. Mia felt pity flow through her.
"Harry Potter managed to escape Lord Voldemort," said Dumbledore. "He risked his own life to return Cedric's body to Hogwarts. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honour him."
Dumbledore looked at Harry and raised his goblet. Mia copied, as did most of the people in the Hall. Except most of the Slytherins. Mia shot a death glare at the table, and one of the girls's locked eyes with her, sending her a look just as nasty.
Still, Dumbledore went on. "The Triwizard Tournament's aim was to further and promote magical understanding. In the light of what has happened- of Lord Voldemort's return- such ties are more important than ever before." Dumbledore looked around that Hall, to all the foreign guests.
"Every guest in this Hall," said Dumbledore, "will be welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you all, once again- in the light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open."
Mia looked over to the Beauxbatons students. They all sat in a line. Then she looked at the Durmstrang students. They, too, all sat in a line.
"It is my belief, and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken- that we are all facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Many of your families have been torn asunder. A week ago, a student was taken from our midst." Mia looked back down at the table.
"Remember Cedric." I will, thought Mia. "Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory." I will, she thought again.
Walking down Hogsmeade Station, Mia plaited her hair quickly, then took George's hand in her own. Next to her, Fred stuck his hands in his pockets.
"Do you believe him? Dumbledore." Mia said.
"Do you?" Fred asked. Mia paused, licking her lips.
"Yes," she replied, "I don't want to… but I do."
"I do, too," George replied.
"Yeah. Me too," Fred said.
They got onto the train, where most of the compartments were already full. They walked down the train in the opposite order from when they'd walked down in at the beginning of the year. Fred in front, George in the middle, and Mia at the back, still holding George's hand.
Mia sighed. "full… full… full…" Mia muttered as they passed each compartment. They neared the end of the train, seeing three people standing at the open door of one compartment. Two of them were quite large, standing either side of the blonde one. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle. As they neared, they could what he was saying.
"You've picked the losing side, Potter!" Malfoy said, "I warned you! I told you, you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around with riffraff like this!" he pointed to someone- obviously Ron and Hermione "Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods-" Mia fingered her wand, "and Muggle-lovers first! Well- second- Diggory was the f-" she snatched her wand out from her pocket and pointed it forward.
Six spells at once hit the three Slytherins. Mia smiled proudly as leeks sprouted out of Goyle's ears. "Thought we'd see what those three were up to," said Fred, he stepped onto Goyle as he went into the compartment. George stood on Malfoy as he followed. Mia walked over Crabbe's stomach and sat down opposite Hermione.
"Interesting effect," said George, looking down at Crabbe. "Who used the Furnunculus Curse?"
"Me," Harry replied.
"Odd," George said, "I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face," Mia giggled as she looked down at him, "Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the decor." Mia looked down at the disfigured Slytherins as George, Ron and Harry rolled them out of the compartment.
"Exploding Snap, anyone?" said Fred, pulling out a pack of cards.
He handed them out and laid down the first one. The first game ended when the cards exploded just before Mia set a card down. She yelped and flinched slightly, before bursting out with laughter.
During the second game, Mia shifted so she was leaning against George, resting her feet on Fred's legs. He kept pushing them off, but gave up after she put them back up the tenth time.
The third game finished when Mia had one card left. She threw it at Ron moodily, who had the most cards, causing it to explode. Ron dropped his cards and they all blew up, searing his trousers slightly. Mia pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing.
The fourth game stopped as Hermione's cards exploded, causing her to drop them on the floor.
During their fifth game, Harry suddenly asked, "You going to tell us, then? Who you were blackmailing?" Mia glanced up at Fred and licked her lips.
"Oh," said George. "That."
"It doesn't matter," Fred shook his head. "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."
"We've given up," said George, shrugging.
"No, really, tell us!" Ron pushed.
"No."
"C'mon!"
"No."
"Please!"
"No!"
"Oh, te-"
"All right, all right!" Fred exclaimed, "If you really want to know… it was Ludo Bagman." Mia sighed and sat up normally.
"Bagman?" Harry replied, "Are you saying he was involved in-"
"Nah," George cut in. "Nothing like that. Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."
"Well, what, then?" asked Ron impatiently.
"You remember that bet we had with him at the Quidditch World Cup?" Fred said. Harry, Ron and Hermione nodded, "About how Ireland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch?" they nodded again.
"Well, the git paid us in Leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."
"So?" Ron said. Mia rolled her eyes.
"Leprechaun gold disappears!" she said.
"But- it must've been an accident, mustn't it?" Hermione asked. George gave a short laugh.
"Yeah, that's what we thought, at first," he replied, "We thought if we just wrote to him, and told him he'd made a mistake, he'd cough up. But nothing doing. Ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts, but he was always making some excuse to get away from us."
"In the end, he turned pretty nasty," Fred continued. "Told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything."
"So we asked for our money back," said George.
"He didn't refuse!" Hermione said.
"Right in one," Fred replied.
"But that was all your savings!" Ron exclaimed.
"Tell me about it," said George. "'Course, we figured out what was going on in the end," Mia's ears pricked up. She hadn't actually heard this bit before. "Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had, and it still wasn't enough to cover all his debts. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He's lost everything gambling. Hasn't got two Galleons to rub together. And you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"
"How?" Harry asked.
"He put a bet on you, mate," said Fred. "Put a big bet on you to win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."
"Well, that was smart," Mia said sarcastically.
"So that's why he kept trying to help me win!" said Harry. "But…I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold!"
"Nope," said George, shaking his head. "Like Mia said, betting against goblins is pretty stupid. The goblins play as dirty as him. They say you drew with Diggory, and Bagman was betting you'd win outright. So Bagman had to run for it. He went right after the third task."
"Did you know anything about this?" Hermione asked Mia as George started dealing the cards again.
"Found out 'bout… December," she replied, shrugging.
"And you didn't think to tell anyone?"
"I told 'em it might get 'em into trouble!" she looked at Fred disapprovingly.
"But you could've told someone that would've stopped them!" Hermione exclaimed. Mia rolled her eyes.
"Look, if they sent the letter, which they did, there was only a chance they'd get into trouble. Which, luckily, they didn't. But if I'd told someone, then they would've definitely gotten into trouble!" Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but a look from Ron silenced her.
They managed to play seven more games of Exploding Snap before they pulled in to Platform 9¾. Mia looked out of the window for a second, before standing up and following Hermione and Ron out of the compartment, walking over Crabbe's stomach again.
"Fred- George- wait a moment," she heard Harry say. She glanced back at the twins and Harry.
"See you outside, guys," she said. Before pulling her trunk down the train after Ron and Hermione. She ran through the barrier after them. Her parents were standing just a few feet away from Mrs Weasley. She smiled and jogged over to them, hugging her mother.
"How was school, this year, Mia?" her mum asked. She glanced at her mother, then back to the barrier where Fred and George had just emerged.
"Oh, it was well good!" she muttered.
"Say bye to friends, then we gotta get going. Gotta beat the traffic," her dad said. Mia nodded and turned, before looking back at her mum.
"You got the camera in your bag?" she asked. Her mum looked at her before rifling through her back, pulling out a digital camera.
"Ta," Mia said, taking it off her. She ran over to the Weasley's, Hermione and Harry.
"What did Harry want on the train?" she asked as she came up behind the twins. They turned around to face her; George was holding a sack of something.
"He gave us his Tournament winnings…" he muttered, "and then he said he'd hex us if we didn't take them…" Mia's mouth dropped a few millimetres.
"Effing hell!" She said.
Harry passed them on his way to his uncle. "Oh! Harry! Bye! See ya next year!" Mia ruffled his hair.
"Harry- thanks," George told him, as Fred nodded. Harry winked at them before following his uncle.
"Oh! George, smile!" she held up the camera and clicked it. George blinked just after the flash.
"Why?" he asked.
"Well, I'm staying at my cousin's again this summer… and she's really nosey… so she's gunna want to know everything that happened at school… and seeing as I can't really tell her about the Tournament, I have to tell her about something… and that'll probably end up being me and you… so she's gunna want to know what you look like," she winked at him, "it's a camera," she added, holding it up.
"Ron! Hermione! See ya later!" they waved quickly at her, and she turned back to the twins.
"See you next year guys," she told them.
"Bye, Mia!" Fred gave her a one-armed hug.
"Bye," said George. She reached up and kissed his cheek.
"Later," she went bck to her parents. Just before they left the station, she turned around and waved, then ran off out of sight.
So there we are. The story has ended. But I am definitely going ahead with the sequel. It'll probably be up within 1 week. 2 at the most… I'm gunna try and read the first few chapters of Order of the Phoenix before I start writing it, you know, to refresh my memory… plus, I need to decide weather Mia's going to Grimmauld Place or not.
I'll put a 'Sneak Peak' chapter type thing on this story so all you people on alerts will know when it's up…
This story actually didn't take as much time as I expected… wow…
Anyways, remember, please review! Maybe you could just write a word or two on how the story was overall as well?
So… see you in the Sequel!