Chapter 7 – Trapdoors and Dark Lords

The exams were hellish, but then again that's what exams were invented for, by the time it was all over Andrew was wishing his illness was kicking in so that he wouldn't feel so drowsy during exams, but never mind, History of Magic was over and they were free for a week.

"You know, there comes a point for people like me where exams make us feel like parrots," Andrew sighed as they walked towards the lake.

"How d'you mean?" Ron asked.

Andrew answered by letting out a squawk. "1442!" then he whistled.

Fred and George Weasley and Lee Jordan were heading down to the lake too, they heard the whole thing and answered with, "Polly want a cracker?" causing a round of laughs.

"So, what are you guys planning for the holidays?" Andrew asked as they sat under a tree by the lake.

"Not sure mate," Ron answered "Probably spend most of it playing Quidditch with my brothers." He looked to Hermione pointedly.

"I'll most likely go on holiday with my parents again; I can't be sure until I get home." She said with a sigh, it was almost exasperatedly, like the holidays bored her.

"Harry?" Andrew asked.

"Well you've met my uncle, so you can picture that my summer won't be fun," Harry answered with a slightly depressed sigh.

"Maybe I should ask Master Cooper about you visiting the Temple, it'd make getting your supplies for next year easier." Andrew suggested.

That seemed to perk Harry up a bit, so Andrew turned away and watched the twins and Lee tickling a giant squid.

"No more revision," Ron signed, stretching out slightly.

"Yeah," Andrew laughed, "we'll rediscover the meaning of a good-night's sleep. What's up Harry?"

"Yeah, you could look happier mate, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done," Ron told him, and Andrew smirked, "there's no need to worry."

"Yet," Andrew quipped.

"I wish I knew what this means!" Harry burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting, it's happened before, but never this often."

"Maybe you should go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested.

"I'm not ill," Harry answered, somewhat snappishly, "I think it's a warning … it means danger's coming …"

Ron tried to calm Harry down, not wanting his post-exams euphoria to be ended so abruptly. At first Harry seemed to be convinced, but Andrew sensed something click in Harry's mind and wasn't shocked when Harry suddenly jumped to his feet.

"Where're you going?" groaned Ron, he'd been happily dosing off.

"I've just thought of something," he answered, looking rather pale, "we've got to go see Hagrid now."

He set off at a rather brisk pace. "Why?" Hermione asked as she hurried to catch up.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd," Harry started without breaking his step, "that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pockets?"

As Harry continued to explain his thoughts Andrew had already figured out where this was going and picked up his pace.

They found Hagrid shelling peas, Harry asked him about the night he won Norbert, if Hagrid saw the face of the man who had the egg. Hagrid said he hadn't, but that people keeping hoods up in the Hog's Head was normal.

Harry sat down and asked what they'd talked about, Hagrid answered that they'd talked about Hagrid's gamekeeping duties, and the stranger had asked what sort of creatures Hagrid looked after. Hagrid had told the stranger that he'd always wanted a dragon, they played cards for it, but the stranger wanted to be certain that Hagrid could handle it.

"… So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon's gonna be no problem," Hagrid chuckled.

"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked, a little too quickly.

Hagrid chuckled and told him that the stranger was indeed interested, even in the three-headed dog trade you rarely see them, then, without realising it, he told them that he's easy to handle because if someone played music around him he fell straight to sleep.

The four Gryffindors took off running in horror that Snape knew how to get past Fluffy. They didn't

stop running until they got to the Entrance Hall.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore," Harry said once they'd stopped, "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak."

"Where's his office?" Ron asked, bringing forward the only problem that they had.

Andrew was just about to answer that question, when Professor McGonagall demanded to know what they were doing inside, Hermione stated that they needed to see the headmaster, but he'd left ten minutes ago for the Ministry of Magic.

After about a minute of trying to get McGonagall to help, and failing, Harry came to the conclusion that Snape was going for the Stone that night, Snape didn't make himself look very innocent by threatening them with point deductions for standing inside, or by threatening Harry with expulsion if he wandered around at night again.

Once outside Harry split them up, Hermione was going to keep an eye on Snape by pretending to need to speak to Professor Flitwick, while Andrew, Harry and Ron kept watch on the third floor.

The whole plan failed, the boys were threatened by McGonagall with more point deductions when she caught them at the third floor corridor and Hermione had to run away when Snape went to fetch Flitwick for her.

That was it for Harry, he'd decided that he was going down for the Stone, maybe he could get it before Snape did, Hermione and Ron tried to stop him and Andrew just stayed out of it.

What Harry said was true, house points didn't matter, if Voldemort returned Hogwarts would most likely be turned into a school for the Dark Arts, if Harry got expelled then it would only take Voldemort a little longer to find him, getting that Stone and keeping it from Snape was the only option they had.

"You're right Harry," Hermione said in a small voice after he'd finished his tirade.

"I'll use my Invisibility Cloak, it's just lucky I got it back." Harry said, not really hearing Hermione.

"Will it cover all four of us?" Ron asked.

That snapped Harry out of it "All four of us?"

"Think about it Harry, you honestly think any of us would let you go alone?" Andrew asked with a raised eyebrow.

It took a little arm twisting, but eventually they came to a mutual understanding, the Cloak wouldn't fit over all four of them, but Andrew was so fast that no teacher had a hope in Sith hell of catching him.

At about eleven o'clock Harry fetched his Cloak.

"We'd better put it on here, make sure that it covers all of us, Andrew, check for us would you?" Harry said.

"Sure, wouldn't do to have a foot walking about on its own," Andrew chuckled.

"What are you doing?" Neville asked from the corner of the room, having followed the boys down from the dormitory.

They tried worming their way out of his question, but he picked up on it.

"You're going out again," it wasn't a question, Hermione tried to convince him otherwise, to go to bed, but he wouldn't have it, "you can't go out, you'll get caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble." He said defiantly.

"You don't understand," Harry said, "this is important."

"I won't let you do it," Neville said while hurrying to block their way out "I-I-I'll fight you!"

"You don't want to fight us, you want to go to bed," Andrew said while waving his hand slowly in Neville's direction.

"No I don't, and no I won't!" Neville said loudly, and slightly confused.

"Okay, not weak minded obviously," Andrew muttered.

"Neville I'm really, really sorry about this," Hermione said as she raised her wand "Petrificus Totalus!" she said calmly while point her wand at Neville, his arms snapped to his sides, his legs sprang together and he started to fall forward.

"Whoa there," Andrew said while rushing forward and catching him, with Ron's help Neville was laid on one of the sofas.

They gave their apologies, Harry tested the size of the Cloak, perfect fit, and they left, Andrew force running to the third floor. He wasn't surprised to find the door already ajar, what did get him was the fact that a harp was playing by itself.

When he heard the door creak open behind him Andrew's reflexes took over and he nearly beheaded Harry, Ron and Hermione while they were under the Cloak, but stopped himself once he realised who was there.

"We'll need to be quick, that'll stop playing eventually," Andrew said as they stepped out from the Cloak.

Without another word they pulled open the trapdoor and debated who was to go first.

"Ladies first?" Andrew offered, but Hermione glared at him. "Right then, I'll do it, I know how to slow down in the air."

He leapt into the hole, holding his robes in just the right place to form a make-shift parachute while at the same time using his feet, jumping from one wall to another, to slow himself down even further.

He landed with a soft thumpand looked up. "It's alright, it's about a twenty to thirty second drop, but there's something soft to land on!" he called and soon enough, Harry landed on his backside next to him, followed closely by Ron and Hermione.

"We must be miles under the school," she said.

"Lucky this plant thing's here really," added Ron.

"Somehow I doubt that," Andrew said calmly as Hermione struggled like hell towards a wall. The three boys were being attacked without noticing, Harry and Ron were trying to force the plant they'd landed on off of their legs with their bare hands while Andrew started slashing at vines and tentacles with his lightsaber, he was soon free.

"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered Harry and Ron, who were only getting gripped tighter. "I know what this is, it's Devil's Snare!"

"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," Ron snarled with a hint of sarcasm.

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" Hermione snapped back.

"Well, hurry up I can't breath!" Harry gasped while trying to stop it from crushing his chest, at that point Andrew jumped back in to try and keep his friends alive, slowly burning the tentacles away from vital areas, like Ron's throat. On top of that he had to keep the damned thing off himself and if he moved too fast he could easily kill his friends.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare … what did Professor Sprout say? It likes the dark and the damp…" just then a vine whipped up and wrapped itself around Andrew's neck, pulling him roughly down onto his back.

"So light a fire!" he choked as the plant started throttling him.

"Yes, of course … but there's no wood!" she cried, wringing her hands.

"You're a witch aren't you!" Ron bellowed, Andrew having just burned his neck free.

"Oh, right!" she blushed at her slight idiocy, she pulled her wand out and set the plant on fire, it released them and they joined Hermione by the wall.

"Lucky that you pay attention in Herbology Hermione," Harry praised.

"Yeah, and lucky we doesn't lose our heads in a crisis, 'no wood'? Honestly!" Ron complained.

They carried on, there was only one passage way and eventually came to a bright room, with bright objects floating around it, only one other exit, a big heavy door.

"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" Ron asked, he must have thought that they were birds of some kind, understandable as there was an obvious sound of wings.

"Only one way to find out," Andrew said, he ignited his lightsaber and took a few steps forward, nothing, so he deactivated his weapon and motioned the others to join him.

The others did so and they went for the door.

"This is too easy!" Ron exclaimed happily.

"That's what gets me, I get the feeling that this door is going to be …" Ron tried to open said door "locked," Andrew finished and crossed his arms.

"These birds can't be here for show," Hermione deduced after trying the Alohomora spell.

"They're keys!" Harry exclaimed after taking a closer look, Ron added two and two together.

"We're looking for an old fashioned one, probably silver like the handle," he said.

"There're hundreds of them," Hermione said, sounding defeated.

"Well there're three brooms over there, who's going for them," Andrew asked in a pep talk sort of way.

"Well, I'm scared of heights," Hermione admitted, slightly shamefaced.

"I'll go then," Andrew said while patting Hermione's shoulder sympathetically.

So the boys each picked a broomstick and kicked off the ground.

After a while of catching keys, Andrew's reflexes would've made him a find seeker, passing them to Hermione and her making sure that no tried key would join the rest Harry noticed something.

"That one!" he yelled while pointing, Andrew followed his gaze and saw it.

"The one with blue wings that looks like it's been caught harshly already?" Andrew asked and Harry nodded. As Harry continued to point, the other keys seemed to wake up, one flew right at Andrew's head, narrowly missing him as he tilted his head to the side, but one of the wings slashed his cheek.

"Watch yourself guys, those wings are sharp!" he called out as Ron shot at the key they needed, missing it and just managing to stop himself from crashing into the ceiling.

"We've got to close in on it, Ron stay above it, Andrew, you go below and stop it from diving, I'll try to catch it," Harry waited until Andrew and Ron were in position "Right, NOW!"

Ron dived, Andrew shot upwards and Harry streaked after it, he chased it to the wall and pinned it under one hand, Andrew actually felt sorry for the poor thing, mainly because there was a nasty sounding crunch as Harry pinned it.

As Harry made his way back to the ground, the other keys simply dropped out of the air, causing Hermione to have to take cover to avoid any of them hitting her on the head.

The four of them cheered as Harry pushed the key into the lock and opened the door easily. Once the door key was released, with two broken wings, all the others went airborne again. As they made their way into the next room, the boys clothes sporting a few slashes, they saw a huge chessboard. Ron figured out quickly that they had to join the black pieces and defeat the white in order to get across the room; Ron made Harry a bishop, Hermione a castle and himself a knight.

"What about me?" Andrew asked.

"I need you to keep out of this one, if anything happens to Hermione and me, Harry's going to need somebody," Ron explained, it made sense, so Andrew nodded and stood to one side.

A white pawn moved first and the game was on, it turned out that this game was going to be just like real wizard's chess when the white queen smashed the other black knight and dragged him off the board. Ron's next move was to have Hermione take a white bishop.

The game continued like that, as one side took a piece, they then lost one, one two occasions Andrew would shout, "Ron watch out, Harry's in danger," or "Hermione'll get taken if you do that!" and Ron quickly changed tactics to keep them safe.

Ron was doing fantastically, until he realised that he'd have to be taken himself, he told Harry what to do and readied himself to move to where the queen could get him.

"Ron, keep hold of the reigns and stand on the saddle, maybe you can jump clear before the queen hits you." Andrew suggested.

Ron did as Andrew said and called his move. "Knight to H3!" his knight scraped two spaces forward and one to the left. "Check!" he called, followed by the queen rotating to her right, scraping all the way over to Ron's knight.

"NOW RON! JUMP!" Andrew cried out, Ron leaped for his life as the queen stabbed her pike through the horse and ripped it to pieces. As Ron landed, his head collided with a wall and knocked him out cold. Hermione almost moved off her square to check him but Andrew used the Force to hold her still.

"Don't forget Hermione, we're still playing." Harry pointed out as Andrew checked Ron over, then he crossed diagonally over three spaces and called checkmate, ending the game.

"He'll have one hell of a headache later, but he's going to be fine." Andrew reported, removing his robe and folding it into a pillow to slip under his friend's head. "We'd better get moving, or his last move will have been pointless."

After Hermione ticked off which teachers they'd passed (Sprout with the Devil's Snare, Flitwick with the keys and McGonagall with the chess) they pressed on. It turned out that Quirrell's defence was a troll, which smelled disgusting, and it was already unconscious, so the three of them just tiptoed their way past it and pressed on.

"Well, that was fairly easy," Andrew whispered, worried about waking the monster up.

Te next room held only a table with seven different bottles.

"Snape's," Harry said as he walked in "What do you suppose we have to do?"

Hermione had already walked in, but Andrew dithered "I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this," finally he walked in and a purple fire sprang into life in the doorway, while black flames filled the other doorway.

Hermione noticed a roll of paper next to the bottles and read what it said, and then she sighed and smiled.

"Brilliant, this isn't magic, it's logic, a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic; they'd be stuck in here forever." She explained.

"So will we, won't we?" Harry asked.

"Of course not, everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire and one will get us back through the purple." She explained to Harry while slowly going through the riddle on the paper.

"But how do we know which to drink?" Andrew asked.

"Give me a minute." She answered.

It took her a few minutes, but Hermione finally pointed at the smallest bottle "That one will get us through the black fire, towards the Stone."

"There's only enough for one of us," Harry observed while he looked at how much was in the bottle.

The three of them looked at each other.

"Which one will get you through the purple flames?" Harry asked and Hermione pointed at the rounded bottle on the end at the right.

"You drink that," Harry told her and Andrew, she was about to protest when he stopped her, "no listen, get back and get Ron, grab brooms from the flying-key room, they'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy, go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, we need him. I might be able to hold Snape off for a while, but I'm no match for him really."

"And if Voldemort's with him?" Andrew asked.

"Well I was lucky once, maybe I'll get lucky again," Harry said while tapping his scar.

"Those are short odds aren't they? But there's one problem you haven't considered," Andrew said as Hermione threw her arms around Harry and whispered words of encouragement into his ear.

"What?" Hermione asked, fearing worse than Harry facing Snape alone.

Andrew picked up the round bottle and held it up to the light to confirm his fears, "There's only enough in here for one person, one of us is going to be trapped in here, and I volunteer. This might set off my claustrophobia a little though, but Dumbledore can get me out when he gets here."

"How come you're not freaking out right now?" Hermione asked.

"I'm usually alright so long as I tell myself I can get out," Andrew let out an involuntary shudder as he looked from purple flames to black and back.

Harry nodded, Hermione took the bottle off of Andrew and drank it, she shuddered; it was so cold and ran through the fire.

Harry picked up his bottle and walked towards the onward exit.

"Harry," Andrew called, he turned, "good luck."

Harry nodded and downed the potion then walked through the flames. Andrew walked as close as he dared to see if he could hear what was happening.

"You!" Harry gasped.

Andrew couldn't see through the flames, so he had no idea what caught Harry off guard.

"Me," someone said calmly, the voice sounded familiar, but slightly off, "I wondered whether I'd be meeting you here Potter."

"But I thought Snape…"

"Severus?" the voice laughed, so it wasn't Snape. "Yes he does seem the type, doesn't he? So useful to have him swooping around like an overgrown bat. Next to him who would suspect p-p-poor st-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell?" the minute he stuttered Andrew got it, and he glared into the flames, that guy had been giving Andrew the creeps for months now, and now he knew why, he felt like an idiot.

Harry was confused, he thought Snape had tried to kill him, but Quirrell corrected him, it was he who was trying to kill Harry, but Hermione had knocked him over while trying to set fire to Snape's cloak, Snape was muttering a counter-curse.

"Snape was trying to saveme?" Harry asked, still trying to get his head around the fact that the roles he'd put Snape and Quirrell into had been reversed.

"Of course," said Quirrell coolly, "why do you think he wanted to referee your next match? He was trying to make sure I didn't do it again. Funny, really … he needn't have bothered. I couldn't do anything with Dumbledore watching. All the other teachers thought Snape was trying to stop Gryffindor winning, he didmake himself unpopular … and what a waste of time, when after all that, I'm going to kill you tonight."

There was a snap of fingers. Andrew started looking around the room he was in, he had to find some way through the fire to help Harry, this was tormenting, the sense of feeling confined wasn't helping either.

"You're too nosy to live Potter." Quirrell taunted. "Scurrying around the school at Halloween like that, for all I knew you'd seen me coming to look at what was guarding the Stone."

"Youlet the troll in?" so Harry wasn't gagged or unconscious.

"Certainly. I have a special gift with trolls; you must have seen what I did to the one in the chamber back there? Unfortunately, while everyone else was running around looking for it, Snape, who already suspected me, went straight to the third floor to head me off, and not only did my troll fail to beat you to death, or that Jedi friend of yours, that three headed dog didn't even manage to bite Snape's leg off properly. Now wait quietly Potter. I need to examine this interesting mirror. Then I'll deal with you, then the Jedi."

"(Yeah, you'll deal with me soon alright, Quirrell,)" Andrew thought darkly.

Quirrell started mumbling to himself, Harry speaking every now and again to try and distract Quirrell.

"(Maybe the Force can help me through the fire,)"

Andrew heard Harry fall over and started to worry again, he decided to try out his theory, but on the purple fire, it worked. He was about to make his way through the black flames when Quirrell spoke again.

"What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me Master!" he cried.

"Use the boy … Use the boy …" a high, cold voice answered.

"Yes, Potter come here!" Quirrell clapped his hands. "Look into the Mirror and tell me what you see." After a few minutes of silence, Quirrell got impatient. "Well? What do you see?"

"I see myself shaking hands with Dumbledore, I-I've won the House Cup for Gryffindor." Andrew could tell he lied, but could Quirrell?

"Get out of my way!" Quirrell snapped.

"He lies … He lies …" the high voice said.

"Potter, come back here!" Quirrell shouted, Andrew wasn't sure what to do. "Tell me the truth! What did you just see?"

"Let me speak to him … face to face …" the high voice commanded.

"Master, you are not strong enough!" he sounded concerned.

"I have strength enough … for this …" Andrew wasn't overly convinced, but readied himself to move in, he pulled out his wand and slid it into his lightsaber, not taking any care to ensure that the click wasn't heard.

"Harry Potter …" the voice whispered "See what I have become? Mere shadow and vapour … I have form only when I can share another's body … but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds …"

Andrew tuned the creepy voice out then, he needed to concentrate, he reached into the Force and pushed into the middle of the flames, willing them to part and let him through, and then he made a dash and was through as the flames closed behind him.

"SEIZE HIM!" Andrew looked up into a chalky white face with red eyes, it was looking straight at Harry and grabbing his wrist, and Andrew spoke, which caught its attention, Quirrell released Harry with a scream.

"Lord Voldemort I presume," Andrew said questioningly "I'd say it's an honour," he ignited his lightsaber "if I had the slightest amount of respect for you."

"I'll deal with you later," he hissed and went for Harry, only to find Harry being pulled back by Andrew with the help of the Force.

"I think you want to deal with me now," Andrew taunted, Quirrell turned his body to face him, snapped his fingers and several figures made of shadow emerged from nothingness, each sporting two curved blades.

"Stay behind me, Harry," Andrew ordered as the nearest assailant took a swing at his head, Andrew blocked it easily and slashed through the shadows chest, making it disappear, the Jedi then went to kick another in the head, only for his foot to pass right through, the creature dissipated and reformed behind Andrew's back. It slashed at Andrew's back, cutting him across the shoulder blades.

Andrew rolled forward, turning to face the remaining four creatures. "(Okay, kicking doesn't work, punching probably won't either,)" he thought to himself, feeling blood trickling down his back. "(Their blades cut like the real thing, meaning they can kill if given the chance.)" Another lunged at him, he side-stepped the attack, spun and swung his blade easily through the hips of his attacker, leaving three, one of which was going for Harry.

Behind him, Quirrell shot lightning from his fingertips, Andrew sensed it coming and spun swiftly, catching the attack with his lightsaber, as he completed his spin, he redirected the lightning at the shadow which was creeping towards Harry, the electricity pierced through the creature from back to front and caused it to explode.

The remaining two shadows attempted to attack the Jedi at the same time, hoping to simply overpower him, however they had poor timing, they took turns trying to attack and were no match for Andrew's Force assisted speed, he blocked one, then parried the other with ease. Quirrell took another opportunity to shoot lightning at the Padawan from behind, catching him where he had already been cut, one of the shadows took the chance and tried to run the boy through, but he just managed to dive and roll between them, cutting the legs from the one on his left.

As it floundered on the ground, Andrew slowly got to his feet, his clothing smoking slightly. The last standing shadow cracked him on the back of his head with the hilt of its blade, dazing him. Harry then shot sparks into the shadow, making it stagger while Andrew turned and severed its head. The one on the floor grew some new legs and was just standing up when Andrew ended its existence with the same move.

Andrew then started gagging and gasping for air. Quirrell was holding one hand out at the Jedi's neck, using magic to choke the boy, the same way a Sith would use the Force. Harry charged forward and grabbed Quirrell by the throat, Quirrell screamed again and Andrew noticed his face blistering, Harry seemed to be suffering too.

As Harry and Quirrell both sank to their knees, Andrew felt the pressure on his neck lift, he too fell to one knee, gasping for breath and trying to shake his head clear, lack of air and loss of blood combined together to blur his vision. He gritted his teeth. "Harry? DUCK!" as Harry fell more than ducked out of the way, Andrew threw his lightsaber, it arched through the air, spinning around and around, until the tip embedded itself in Quirrell's chest. "The safety's off!" Andrew yelled, Harry got the idea, gripped the hilt and pulled it out, spinning once, he easily took Quirrell's head off.

Voldemort's spirit hissed its way out of Quirrell's corpse and fled, passing through Harry's chest and knocking the boy to the floor, Andrew's lightsaber clattered along the stone floor to its master's feet, deactivating as it went. Andrew plucked his weapon off the ground and hauled himself to his feet.

"Yeah, you run 'My Lord', I look forward to our next encounter," Andrew muttered, and then he looked over Harry's unconscious form. "Thanks Harry, you saved my life and finished off Quirrell, now we can only wait until Dumbledore gets here to get us out."

It was then that Andrew felt a sharp pain in the back of his skull and heard something dripping behind him; he reached his hand up to the back of his head and felt something wet. Stumbling to his feet he fought to stay awake "(One of those creatures bludgeoned the back of my head)" he thought and examined his hand, it was soaked in blood. He started pacing but was becoming more drowsy by the second, he knew he was in trouble from blood loss.

When he was on the verge of passing out the flames died out and, quickly, Andrew hoisted Harry into a fireman's lift and started carrying him out, only to be stopped, by Dumbledore.

"I'll take him from here Andrew, you've done well," Dumbledore said, noticing the body of Quirrell and the blood that Andrew had trailed around the room.

"Come along, you need the hospital wing as much as Harry." Andrew simply nodded and followed, leaning on the arm that Dumbledore offered, while Harry was placed on a stretcher and levitated out.

It took a few minutes, but Andrew got to the ward before collapsing, and woke up about three hours later with a headache, bandages around his head and chest.

Three days later Andrew, Ron and Hermione received word that Harry had woken up, it took a bit of arguing, on both sides of the door, and even a half-hearted threat from Andrew, but eventually the three of them were allowed to see Harry for five minutes, partially because Andrew had was due for a change of dressing anyway.

"Morning sleeping beauty," he joked as he sat on the bed next to Harry and grinned, Harry grinned back, the bandage that Pomfrey had insisted Andrew wear for a couple of days made him look slightly comical especially with his braid poking through two of the strands.

While Madam Pomfrey unwrapped Andrew's head, they just sat around, talking about what had happened, Harry told them what happened after walking through the black fire, Andrew helping as much as he could with his point of view and Ron and Hermione told Harry the rumours that had been going around, which Andrew had been tuning out. As the matron got to removing Andrew's shirt to change the bandages around his chest, Hermione became quite interested in a pair of robins nesting outside the window.

They debated on weather or not Dumbledore had intended for Harry, and maybe Andrew too, to face Voldemort, and Ron explained that Gryffindor had lost to Ravenclaw in the last Quidditch match of the season. Shortly after Ron mentioned the end-of-year feast Pomfrey finished changing Andrew's bandages, saying his back would probably have a scar, that cut had been particularly deep, but he shouldn't need any new dressings after the ones she had just applied. Then she kicked Ron, Hermione and Andrew out of the hospital.

The next evening Andrew, Ron and Hermione saved a seat for Harry, he arrived alone, but was watched like a hawk by Madam Pomfrey, she honestly could be quite the buzzard at times, but Andrew couldn't fault her for it.

Harry sat next to Andrew with Ron and Hermione sat across the table, Dumbledore stood up to make his speeches and the Hall went silent.

"Another year gone!" he said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were … you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts …" at those words a few people sniggered, while Andrew just gave the Headmaster a pointed look, which didn't escape the man's notice.

"Now as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points," there was a round of polite applause from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables and a lot of sneers from the Slytherins, "in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two points," again more applause, this time a few Gryffindors joined in, "Ravenclaw have four hundred and twenty six," more enthusiastic applause "and Slytherin, five hundred and twenty-two." This was the only point of the evening that Slytherin made any noise.

"Yes, yes, well done Slytherin," Dumbledore said after they had calmed down, "however, recent events much be taken into account. And I have a few last-minute points to dish out."

The Hall was dead quiet now. "First, to Mr Ronald Weasley … for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

The Gryffindors cheered for Ron since he'd just gotten them into third place by ten points.

After things quieted down Dumbledore started again. "Second, to Miss Hermione Granger … for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points." The Gryffindors were speechless but applauding and cheering Hermione, who had burst into tears, anyway.

"Third, to Mr Andrew Payne … for refusing to give in, when all hope seemed lost, for giving his blood, sweat and even perhaps a tear or two, to help those in need, I award Gryffindor house fifty points." Andrew was nearly deafened by his fellow Gryffindors, but he merely bowed to them, trying not to wince, and continued to listen, Gryffindor were now in second, but Dumbledore wasn't finished.

"Fourth, to Mr Harry Potter …" Dumbledore said after things quieted down and he could be heard, at the mention of Harry's name the Hall went deathly quiet "… for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points." If Andrew thought he nearly lost his hearing for his award, he was certain he'd lost it completely for Harry's, Gryffindor were now tied with Slytherin, and his new hearing problem aside, Andrew couldn't help wishing that Dumbledore had awarded one more point to any of them.

Dumbledore raised his hand and the hall fell silent again … eventually. "There are all kinds of courage," he said with a smile, "it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points … to Neville Longbottom."

A lot of things happened at once, Neville was shocked to have actually scored a single point for Gryffindor, let alone ten, the Gryffindor table exploded into cheers, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw joined in since it meant the downfall of Slytherin, and Malfoy looked torn between shock, dismay and polite admiration. The only Slytherin who wasn't looking totally miserable was Starr, he just looked bored.

"Which means," Dumbledore yelled over the noise, "we need a little change of decoration." In an instant the green banners changed to red, it was amazing, Harry was over the moon, the points that he, Hermione and Neville had lost were obviously forgotten and practically everyone in the room was dancing in celebration.

When the exam results came in everyone in the year was pleased to find that they'd passed, and it was time for the difficult part of the year, packing everything up and saying 'goodbye' to friends. Andrew was actually surprised to find that he wasn't permitted to use magic outside of school, but never mind.

They were having a good time on the train, trading wizard robes for muggle clothing, Andrew spent a good half-an-hour trying to decide weather to wear his Jedi robes or just a T-shirt and jeans, and eventually he opted for the shirt and jeans so that he could blend in.

"I guess that I'll see you guys in September?" Andrew asked.

"I'll ask my Mum about you three staying during the summer, I'll send you an owl." Ron answered.

"Thanks, I'll need something to look forward to." Said Harry.

"Well if you think I can keep Snowfire away from Hedwig then I have no idea how you passed the exams," Andrew joked with a slight nudge to Harry's shoulder.

"How's your back doing?" Hermione asked with a hint of worry.

"Not too bad, the skin's stopped feeling tight and Ron told me earlier that the scar's barely noticeable anyway." Andrew answered.

When they got into the muggle world they instantly heard shouting.

"There he is Mum, there he is, look" it was Ron's little sister Ginny.

"Be quiet Ginny, and it's rude to point." Mrs Weasley said. "Busy year?" she asked the four of them.

"Very, thanks for the fudge and jumper, Mrs Weasley." Harry told her.

"Yeah, thanks for those, the other Padawans thought I looked weird, but I wore the Weasley jumper with pride," said Andrew beaming.

"Oh it was nothing dears," she answered.

"Andrew! Over here!" Mel was shouting while trying to get through the crowd, in the end she decided she'd go over them and Force jumped to Andrew's side.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron said, only to be scolded by his mother for his language.

"How are you young Payne?" Master Bailo asked.

"Fine Master," Andrew answered with a bow.

"Mum, can I be a pain…" Ron started.

"No you can't, I'm A. Payne!" Andrew interrupted.

Ron blinked at him, Jarod signed from Dela's side and Mel swatted Andrew's arm before everybody got the joke and, at the very least, cracked a smile.

The Dursley's turned up then, saying that they were waiting to take Harry home, he left, hinting that he'd be tormenting Dudley with threats of using magic on him and, saying his goodbyes, Andrew left for the Jedi temple.