A/N: I do not own Harry Potter (although I wish that I did (money!! $_$)) all rights go to J.K Rowling, though I'm just borrowing her ideas and adding some of mine.
Aftermath
Nightmares tortured Harry in his sleep. Flashbacks of what happened on that day, or shreds of it at least.
When Harry opened his eyes Draco was sitting at the end of his bed, a concerned look covering his face.
"I wondered how long you were going to thrash in your sleep" The pale boy grinned. Unable to hide his look of concern completely.
Harry, unable to say anything yet put on his glasses and stared at his friend.
"What happened?" Draco finally managed to say. "After you left I mean."
Trying to focus his mind on last night, Harry told his story to the boy who had tried to stop them that same night.
"If I had come with you..." Draco said hesitantly. "If I had not been so concerned about Slytherin..maybe I could've saved Rowan." A tear formed in the corner of Draco's eye. He had probably cared more about the third year than he had admitted.
"tss," The voice suddenly spoke in Harry's head. "You were just a pathetic coward that's all!"
Harry was silent. Except for the fact that Rowan died that night, Harry could almost not remember anything else.
"It is said that Dumbledore arrived a short while after you left and followed you." Draco spoke again to break the painful silence. "It is said that he found Weasley and Granger close by where you were, but that he mostly ignored them. He just send them to the hospital wing and continued after you as fast as he could"
"I see..." Harry said. If what Draco said was true, then they had been terribly lucky. Harry wondered if something else could have been done, but dismissed the thought shortly after it came. They had far more important matters to see to at the time. He could only call it luck that no questions had been asked about why Granger and Weasley were as they were when Dumbledore found them. Yet.
"So what happened to the stone?" Draco asked curiously.
Harry searched his memory of the incident. His memories were..foggy, to say at least.
"It got destroyed." Harry said, more because Dumbledore said so then because he actually remembered. "Quirrel wanted it for his own purposes, but he got destroyed in the very end."
"So Quirrel was You-Know-Who's accomplice?" Draco asked amazed.
You-Know-Who….That rang a bell…but Harry still couldn't really place the feeling of recognition.
"I guess he was.." Harry replied. Despite his lack of memory, a headache and questions on the tip of his tongue, Harry smiled.
"What happened in Hogwarts?" Harry asked his friend.
"The story is all over the place actually." Draco said smiling hesitantly. "Weasley is bragging about an epic battle with you and Rowan, but nobody believes him. " Draco's smile turned to laughter at the memory.
The laughter of his friend actually made Harry feel better. It was good to simply laugh with your friend than munch over something he could not longer remember.
The next day, Harry was finally dismissed from the Hospital wing.
The last days of the year turned out to be just like normal days. When Harry wasn't bombarded with questions about what happened, he had to listen to people who offered their condolences. His lessons with Snape continued, who merely said he didn't care about what happened beneath the hatch.
"That is about as much as you will learn from me this year." Snape said in the final week after Harry had successfully managed to heal a broken arm. He had been working on the arm for some time now, and finally managed not to puke when confronted with the thing, which seemed to be alive even while it separated from its body and broken in multiple places.
"Next year we will start with the more offensive abilities. This will be even harder for you to master." Snape said that final lesson. "You already have the maximum wand speed at your age, which does NOT mean that it cannot be improved when you are one year older."
Harry also saw Weasley and Granger multiple times during his last week, who just shot angry looks at him. They probably remembered everything that had passed that night, but asking them after what he had done to them would be ridiculous. It seemed like nobody believed them, but Harry still had to be cautious around them for the time being.
When not in class, lessons with Snape, or talking to students who wanted to know what had happened beneath the hatch, Harry spend time at the great lake with Crabbe, Goyle, Draco and even Nott, who had seemingly forgiven him for his Quidditch disaster. The sun was starting to lower, covering the world in twilight and casting an orange glow on the five Slytherins. They had already done their exams, so the only thing for them to talk about was the upcoming summer holiday. Everything seemed calm, and peaceful, and despite the voice in his head, who kept whispering in the back of his mind, Harry enjoyed this time with his friends.
When it was finally time for the end-of-the-year-feast, Harry remembered how much he was going to miss Hogwarts. Of course he would be going home with Draco, but he would still miss the great castle, in all its might and glory.
Harry, Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and Nott, all dressed in their school robes, entered the great hall, which was as usual, illuminated by hundreds of floating candles and yet empty golden plates which reflected the candlelight throughout the hall. The hall was also decorated with the colors emerald and silver, because Slytherin had won the House cup for the seventh time, and probably for Rowan. When they entered, a short silence followed, and more than one eye eyed the five Slytherins. They positioned themselves at the Slytherin table, and waited for the Headmaster to speak.
"Another year, gone" The aging Headmaster cheerfully told the hall at large. "I hope you have once again stuffed your heads, with knowledge once again, but luckily for you, you have the summer to empty it a bit again.
"Before we start this final meal for this year" Dumbledore continued, and his cheerfulness changed to seriousness. "I would ask for a short time of silence, in honor of a student, who passed away in the last week….Rowan Norton was a student who in the end, sacrificed his life for his friend…..Let us not forget his sacrifice, and let us idealize his ideas that friendship is more important than your own life. Let us all remember Rowan Norton.
After a silence, Dumbledore spoke once again, although the seriousness remained.
Now, I understand that the house points are as follows: Fourth place, Gryffindor, with 312 points; third place, Hufflepuf with 352 points; second place, Ravenclaw, with 426 points, and Slytherin on the first place with 472 points.
A storm of cheering and clapping exploded from the Slytherin table, and despite his sadness for Rowan, Harry could not help but laugh, cheer and clap together with his friends and the other Slytherins.
"Yes, yes, well done Slytherin" Dumbledore said once the storm had settled a bit. "But taking recent events into consideration, I have a few points to give myself."
"First" Dumbledore continued. "To Mr. Ronald Weasley,"
Harry saw Weasley's head turn red like a swollen balloon, and noticed Draco and Nott rolling their eyes.
"For the best game of chess, Hogwarts has ever seen: Fifty points!"
The Gryffindor table also exploded in a storm of clapping and cheering, and somebody who could only be called an older version of Weasley proudly stood up and announced that that was his brother.
Harry felt like he had been struck in the face with a bare hand. Fifty points for a game of CHESS!? His respect for the headmaster was suddenly lowered an awful lot. He looked around and saw that many other Slytherins shared his viewpoint.
"Next" The headmaster continued ", is miss Hermione Granger, for cold logic under heavy circumstances: Fifty points!"
Gryffindors continued to clap and cheer and Harry felt a growing unease. They were still leading but if that senile old man kept giving hundreds of points for things they did every other day they could lose that.
"Next, for pure love, and enormous courage, I give Harry Potter: sixty points!"
Harry once again felt like he had been hit in the face, this time with a fist. Sure enough his respect for the headmaster rose again, but this was just a confirmation that the old man was mentally disturbed in Harry's opinion.
Nobody clapped or cheered at the Slytherin table, everyone was probably expecting (just like Harry) that the man would keep throwing hundreds of points to other houses.
"And finally" Dumbledore concluded. "There are many different kinds of courage. It takes courage to deal with your enemies. But even more, to stand up to your friends. Therefore I give ten points. To Draco Malfoy."
This time, the Slytherin table exploded again. It was final now; they had won the house cup! Harry kept cheering and laughing with his fellow Slytherin, and could not help but feeling delighted at the disappointed looks of the Gryffindors at the next table. Harry looked at the teachers table to see Snape giving him a small smile, and professor McGonagall looking as if she just swallowed a lemon on accident and hated the fact that she did.
"Even though Gryffindor did a great job, Slytherin did even better, so I'm afraid that the decorations this year are still correct as they are!" Dumbledore said smiling.
"Let the feast, begin!"
Harry had never felt better in his life. He had survived Quirrel, won the house cup and was now eating together with his friends. He looked to his left where Rowan normally sat and could almost picture the boy actually sitting there and laughing with them.
He would never forget that night.
Harry had almost forgotten about the exams they had a few weeks before, but Draco informed him that he had passed. Both Harry and Draco wondered how Weasley could have possibly passed the exams, but after Nott told them that Granger had probably given him all her answers, they decided that that was probably the only logical thing that would explain the matter.
Before Harry knew it, their trunks were packed and on the train, and the big gamekeeper was herding them towards the train.
When on the station, it looked as if the gamekeepers was about to say anything to Harry, who ignored him and went on the train with Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and Nott. He did no longer care what anybody said about or to him. He was going home.
When they arrived at Kings Cross station, Harry and Draco found Narcissa waiting for them, who said that Lucius was out on business and surprised Harry by giving him a firm hug.
Together two Malfoys and one Potter passed through the barrier of 9 ¾ . A shrill voice made Harry reach for his wand in his robe.
"Look mum, look, its him, its him!" a red haired girl squeaked. Noting Weasley standing next to the girl and a pretty fat woman with equally red hair, he could only assume that she too, was a Weasley and therefore not worth of his attention.
"Silence dear" The fat woman said. "It is impolite to point at people." The look she gave Harry told him that she was going to say something to him, but Narcissa gave the woman a cold stare and moved on with small sounds through gritted teeth which sounded like "…Breeding……pathetic…" and "..Fat". Laughing, Harry and Draco followed her, leaving an uncertain Weasley family behind.
A/N: Hello again readers, I'm pleased to inform you that I'm actually not dead, as the quietness in my storyline possibly suggested. This was actually a pretty tough chapter to write, for I didn't really know what to talk about blabla…writers block….blabla….school, holidays etc.
My next chapter will take place after the summer holidays, in what the official book calls:" Chamber of secrets" but hey, this is my fan fiction so to hell with everything, I'm naming it "Slytherin's Secret".
I understand that there was a small problem with my authors note from my last chapter, which stated for you readers not to use the word "interesting". As I have stated in numerous emails. I apologize for this incident and ensure you loyal reviewers that it will not happen again. What you can do is tell me how to change my author's note in my previous chapter, so that new readers won't be insulted or offended.
I hope that said author's not did not insult/offend you that bad that you actually stopped reading my story (of course it didn't else you wouldn't be reading this).
As always, read and review, and as always: Give tips or advise about how I could improve the story or how you would like the story to continue (if its good/logical, I might actually do it :P)
Arildun