There came two shadows at once. One shadow of the serpent that slithered out of the chamber's maw. As it came out, the two girls and Ron were gone, as he had already pulled them both into a stall, where they balanced on a toilet seat while leaning against a wall. Even Luna, who was always so dreamy and whimsical, looked horror struck as all of them heard the basilisk. The other shadow was the one that shrouded Hermione's face into some expression that was not her own.

"My friend is very hungry, but he will not bother us for the time being. Right now, he's having fun looking for your friends. The bathroom is rather large, but it's only a matter of time. So, in the meantime…" Hermione's body puppeteer waved to him and smiled big. "Hello, Harry Potter! So nice to meet you. Sorry, I'm not in my usual form but I assure you, my name is Tom Marvolo Riddle, at your service." He bowed to him, then took a few more steps toward him.

"Who are you? Why did you steal Hermione's body?!" Harry snarled, his anger raging to the surface as he saw her with his golden, serpentine eyes glaring at him.

"The mudblood? Your dear Hermione? Why else? To get to you, of course! Why wouldn't I? After everything I've learned about you and what you've done thus far, I am deeply impressed." Tom said this with a very convincing voice as he gazed at Harry. "I can definitely see what she sees in you. What he sees in you."

"Who? Dumbledore?" Harry asked, suddenly gaining a bit of ground in his thoughts.

"Yes, from what I can tell, he's basically taken you under his wing and made you his little favorite protege! Congratulations… it's a pity it has to be so short lived." Tom said as he wielded Hermione's wand at her side.

"You won't find me wanting in a duel, Riddle. I don't know what they taught at Hogwarts fifty years ago, but how would you like to see how it stacks up to Dumbledore's teachings?" Harry stood taller and Tom seemed intrigued. He perhaps looked a tiny bit worried?

"That's the spirit, Potter. Brave to the end. A fool, like Dumbledore. Even at sixteen I knew I'd outgrown him. Once I'd obtained the name, Lord Voldemort." As he said this, Harry began to laugh hysterically. He laughed so hard, even Ron, Luna and Ginny all looked at each other in confusion. Tom began to grimace at the sound as it continued to go up in volume. He seemed outraged that someone wouldn't quiver at his name or fear his very presence.

"You? Voldemort? Voldie-kins? Outgrow Dumbledore? Even at your height of power, you were nothing compared to him! Don't you understand? You ran and hid behind your mum when he was around." Harry kept glaring at him straight in the face, no fear toward his garbage who held Hermione hostage.

"You! Insolent–"

"Brat? Is that what you were going to say? Insolent brat? Is that all you've got? Alright, how about this? Your spells are rubbish, and all you can do is the Killing Curse. Try something else, you old hack!" Harry shouted over Tom and snarled right back at him.

"They're in the bathroom stall! Kill them now!" Tom Riddle shouted through Hermione's voice and Harry growled loudly!

"Silencio!" Harry shouted, making it to where no voice came from Hermione's body.

Ron very quickly instructed the girls to turn their eyes away. As the Basilisk reared back to strike, he kicked open the door with his head turned away.

"Ascendo!" He shouted as hard as he could as he poured all of his might into it! The basilisk was lifted from the ground and smashed against the high ceiling hard! Many fragments of stones fell to the ground as the serpent shouted.

"Pain!" Harry heard the serpent say, and Tom showed great signs of anguish and a sheer hatred toward Harry. He had clearly heard the serpent as well, he even seemed in some of its pain, Harry noticed.

Just then, a window burst open and Fawkes, the phoenix, soared in, carrying two items in his talons.

As the basilisk hit the tile floor, effectively turning it into pebbles, the phoenix dropped the journal near Harry, while dropping what looked like an old bag straight for Ron. As he looked at what turned out to be the old, patchwork sorting hat, Ginny began to notice movement in the basilisk. She thought for a moment before waving her wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" She shouted, causing the serpent to spasm. Even with his eyes closed, dazed and confused, they kept their eyes averted. Still, slowly it came and Luna backed away from it, away from the stall.

"Impedimenta!" Luna shouted and then turned away from the basilisk with her peripherals turned slightly toward him. She did not know that her spell only partially worked, as the basilisk began to limply slither its way toward her. She started to run, but Fawkes beared down on the giant snake.

The magical bird sliced the thing's eye straight across. The eye immediately went inert and turned completely red in its uneven glow!

Nearer the exit, Tom felt his own eye go completely dead and turn a horrible crimson! He growled in horrible pain as he tried to cope with the searing! That's when Harry noticed that Hermione's wand was going up, but toward her own head.

"OBLIVIATE!" She shrieked! There came a loud bang! Hermione recoiled from the shot, but so did Tom Riddle as his whole essence flew from her body. His incorporeal form attempted to take shape then, making him gasp for breath and do what he could to stop being a formless mass.

Harry sprinted to Hermione as she fell and he caught her just in time. He held her as he carried her down to the floor and laid her there. "Hermione! Can you hear me!"

Both the now dark haired, sixteen year old, Slytherin clothed half-blood wizard and the basilisk were crying in pain as they bled from the eye and rose. That's when Harry eyed the journal and pointed his wand at it. "Confringo!"

The book burst into flames, but it did not catch. It wasn't especially damp, but it also didn't seem to even blemish from the flames. Tom Riddle, on the other hand, recoiled and felt the heat as it seared him.

"Back off!" He shouted, then held up one hand and punched Harry straight into the chest from twenty feet away without using a wand. He recoiled and hit the ground on his back hard! Harry got the wind knocked out of him but he was quickly rising within a second!

"Incendio!" Ginny shouted as the basilisk passed her and to her amazement, she was able to create huge flames that cooked against the reptile! The basilisk whipped away from her, catching her with its tail and knocking her to the ground hard!

"Ginny!" Ron shouted, reaching into the sorting hat and flinging it aside as he swiped the sword straight down into the basilisk's torso! He stabbed straight into its scale, muscle and sinew! Blood spurt everywhere from the wound and it seemed that the serpent was pinned down hard! It attempted to move, but the sword of Godric Gryffindor was stabbed hard within it!

Luna, finally wanting to rid the monster of its lethal eyes, pointed her wand and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Reducto!" There was a very loud pop, like a light gunshot. Blood was all over Luna's robes and the basilisk slithered away feebly. The serpent finally pulled the sword painfully from its side as a thick slither of flesh hung from it. Both its eyes were now pools of blood.

"No!" Tom shouted, no longer seeming to have the connection with the basilisk. This seemed fortunate, as Ginny soon took the Sword of Gryffindor from the floor and headed off the serpent.

Before Tom could do anything, Harry lit the book aflame once more and caused him to growl in horrible pain. He glared toward Potter and readied himself.

Down came the sword, driven straight through the basilisk's brain. It slithered no more as Ginny made sure the sword was good and deep. Nothing could express the feeling of the sword in her hands at that moment when the basilisk went still.

The true heir of Slytherin roared with fury as he turned toward Ginny, his hand glowing with flames.

"Crucio!" A shrill, high pitched voice shouted and soon the book was enveloped in an array of red that tried so hard to sear at the pages. Tom screamed at the top of his lungs as he fell to his knees. Hermione glared an evil curse at the man behind the book. She hated that book so much, she wanted to see it burn. The only book she ever wanted to burn more than any other hate-filled propaganda meant to starve a country! She felt she may drown with her desire to cause it horrible pain!

Ginny gently tossed the sword over to Harry, where the balance in the air made it perfect as he grabbed the handle from the air. With one swipe, the diary of Tom Riddle died in horrible, crippling pain! It was cut in twain, and so, too, was Riddle. There was no blood, just ash coming from a torn, paper man. The diary, on the other hand, bled sprays of thick, black ink. Riddle glared toward Harry and Hermione, who glared back with equal amounts of hatred as he died a coward's death. The embers of death finally caught up to his face as the book's gushing ink finally ceased.

Hermione went to one knee and Harry was there with her. Truly, they were there and he could feel her. She was no longer rigid, no longer in pain. She did not suffer, but was in great relief.

The curse had lifted.

OoooooOoooo

The scene was like a horror novel as the professors finally were able to break their way in through the impervious door. Both Hermione and Harry were bleeding in various places on their limbs. Ron was bleeding from his head where he hit it on the wall. Ginny had bruises all over her stomach and back. Luna was fine and a bit tired.

Once again, there was Hermione and Harry, draped in each other's arms and robes stained with blood. Madam Pomfrey gave them an extra close examination. All of them received mandatory bedrest and potions for cleaning their systems and sterilizing their skin. She muttered hoarsely about how they were mad for ever thinking of battling a basilisk in a bathroom.

"Blimey! Are those fangs–" Ron whispered and Luna held a finger to her lips. She shushed him and handed him one of the two basilisk's teeth she pulled from the creature's corpse. "What?" He asked, and then he looked to see her eyes were half opened toward him before they closed.

"A token of our first…" Luna looked toward him again, then blushed and looked away. Ron, laying in his hospital bed, raised his brows up toward his very long red bangs.

Ginny and Hermione were playing wizarding chess, borrowing Ron's as she left her own at the Burrow. Harry watched with his arm and parts of his face in reasonably large bandages.

"By the way, Harry, back in the bathroom. I can't believe I didn't tell you this before!" Ron looked at Harry, who gave him a puzzled expression. "I can't thank you enough for telling me not to look that damn thing in the eyes! I gotta tell you, I almost did more than once. How did you know not to do that?"

"Dobby told me the other night. When I fought it in the corridor, he was high up in a sconce on the wall. Honestly, I never got to thank him either." Harry lamented.

"If you say he's really badly mistreated by his masters, you could always set him free." Ron offered and Harry eyed him. "Yeah, if a house elf is really miserable, there's been times when, if they're given some article of clothing, they'll be set free. Mind you, there's some loopholes in that system and more than one house elf has taken advantage of it. That's one way to thank him."

"Yeah…" Harry thought for a moment. His head hurt a little too much to do a lot of that, though.

"Well, dear children," Dumbledore said as he walked into the wing, "I dare say, we should really stop meeting like this. Don't you think so?" He directed his question more toward Harry, who gave a small shrug and a bashful smile. "Though, it is so fortunate that it is in such good company. You are quite fortunate, Miss Granger. I had just sealed the letter to your parents when I got the news that you were found and were safe." He smiled at her and she nodded, also quite grateful.

"What happened… to me?" Hermione finally asked as she seemed to be done with the chess game. She laid back in her bed, still not at all fully recovered.

"You were bewitched, my child. There is no other word for it, I'm afraid. This item carried a malignant curse that went to work very quickly on you. You are fortunate that you were able to draw him from your mind like that. How on Earth did you manage it, child?" He asked with honest curiosity, and this drew looks from around the room.

"I used Obliviate to make myself forget the journal's hold on me. It didn't work entirely, but it worked enough for what I needed. He was in enough pain, it didn't take a great deal of power." Hermione looked down toward the covers.

"Miss Granger, I would appreciate if you were not so hard on yourself. Do you understand the complexity of dealing an Obliviate charm to yourself? One mistake can be utterly catastrophic." Then Dumbledore did something that surprised all of them. He laughed quite readily and slapped his own knee. "Of course you understand. You are here and talking to me, rather than becoming a vegetable. Utterly extraordinary and far above N.E.W.T. levels."

This did not seem to comfort her in the slightest. In fact, she looked more like she'd rather be curled up in a bed, away from public eyes. She looked toward Harry, who looked just as worried as the rest of them. Though, Luna was writing on a piece of parchment with a long quill feather waving back and forth.

"Miss Granger, what is the problem?" Dumbledore finally asked and Hermione looked over toward Harry, who seemed ready for just about anything she had to say.

"I performed an unforgivable curse." Hermione said, and Luna stopped writing, looking at her with her large, exuberant eyes. "It was the Cruciatus curse. I performed it on Riddle."

There was a very long pause and Ron looked absolutely mortified, while Harry, who did witness this, was torn between the idea.

"Well, it seems Tom Riddle was not, in fact, an actual human being, but rather a memory of one. The fact that you performed a curse on him does not stain your reputation." Dumbledore said and he received many bewildered, confused looks.

"My head hurts." Ginny said as she laid on her side on the foot of Hermione's bed.

"It is quite complicated, yes. However, that was not actually Tom Riddle, or as he is known to you, Lord Voldemort." Ron and Ginny took on a look of disgust while the rest looked on, unaffected. "The journal was an object that held part of himself. Thus, the journal was free to act on its own, as if all it wanted was to perform the will of Voldemort, as if it were the Dark Lord himself."

"But, how? It performed wandless magic and even controlled the Basilisk! I've never heard of an object having that kind of power." Ron said, and that had never occurred to Harry. It did, in fact, perform magic as if it were a wizard. How could an object do that?

"It could think for itself?" Harry asked, looking at Dumbledore, who nodded.

"Yes, I'm not sure on all of the details, but I promise you, the two halves of the journal will be studied very, very thoroughly. Until then, all of you have, once again, broken every single rule during enhanced curfew. You have, once again, defeated Lord Voldemort at some capacity. This time without fangs, mind you."

Harry was quick to Hermione's bedside, who had gone rather quiet. Under the covers, their hands met in a gentle, warm hold that made her look up at him. Ginny could see the exchange, she could see all of it, although she pretended to see just Dumbledore, talking about how proud he was of all of them.

"Your circle of friends seems to have grown, Harry, and that is a most welcome sight, of course. Hello, Luna, so good to see you have also found some friends." Dumbledore said as he walked over to her bed and she beamed at him.

"Oh, yes, they're all very nice. Well, at least Hermione seems nice. I'm not sure how much I actually know her yet." Luna said, then looked over at Ron. "But I think I can stick around for at least a little while."

"If you all don't mind me asking," Dumbledore said, drawing all of their attention, "how did you all use such excellent spells? I have seen some wand work in my time, but all of that from second and first years? Quite well above your grade, if I do say so myself."

"Does that mean we pass the O.W.L's?" Ron asked, hopefully, and Dumbledore looked upon him, giving a smaller laugh.

"Your bravery and skills have earned Gryffindor all of the points it will need. I think that should be reward enough. Though, I will say, compliments of your many admirers that these Chocolate Frogs will also suffice to aid in your very delicate recovery."

All three of them eyed the chocolate frog cards and then eyed one another, trying to sum up how many he was holding. He placed them with Ron, and he immediately set about counting them as Dumbledore walked to Hermione and held out his hand. She placed hers in his and he gripped as he closed his eyes.

"My dear," Dumbledore said in a very sober tone that made Hermione look him in the eyes, "put it out of your mind. Much older and wiser wizards than you have been driven to anger over much lesser things than possession of one's body. Learn to temper your anger from here on, and no one else need hear of the finer details."

Hermione nodded to him, starting to understand. The anger she felt was, indeed, white hot. Worse than Malfoy's badgering, worse than Pansy and the pumpkin juice, worse, even, than the hags that attacked them in the forest and in the school. Tom Riddle, the young Lord Voldemort, had held her body as if he held her within a grip of steel. Unbending until the very last minute, when she was finally able to hurt her own brain just enough to cast him out.

She could still feel her brain swelling against her skull and the headache was enough to make her vomit at times. However, Madam Pomfrey assured her, as time went on over the next week, she would feel complete liberation.

Hermione was sitting up in bed as Dumbledore sat with Ginny in a game of Wizarding Chess. He was quite astounded at her skill. It seems she received similar tutelage as Ron.

Ron and Harry were looking at Hermione as if she were made of both diamonds and rubies once again! Somehow, she had received Rowena Ravenclaw, thus completing her set of the original founders. Dumbledore looked upon this achievement with pride, seeing all four of them lined up in such good condition.

Ron, on the other hand, didn't come out empty handed like Harry did. He'd gotten his hands on Honoria Nutcombe, founder of the Society of the Reformed Hags. This prompted Hermione to offer him Bowman Wright, the creator of the Golden Snitch. He immediately took the offer. This gave both he and Harry, Bowman Wright. Hermione was much more keen on creators of more meaningful things. Inventors were high on her list, but Ron loved Quidditch far more and she considered it more than an even trade.

The door to the hospital wing burst open, drawing all of their attention as Minerva Mcgonagall was hollering herself hoarse at who could only be Lucius Malfoy. He was followed very promptly by Dobby, the house elf.

"I don't know who you think you are, barging into this hospital wing, but you have no authority here, Mr. Malfoy!" Minerva shouted and Madam Pomfrey was quick on the uptake.

"That's right! You'd better slow yourself down and quiet your trudging Mr. Malfoy, if you know what's good for your health!" She pulled her wand on him and he immediately stopped and glared at her. "I'm in charge here and if you disturb my patients, I will be forced to employ this. Do I make myself clear, Lucius?" She glared right back.

"Yes… Poppy…" Lucius said and she held it closer to his face, her glare becoming more threatening.

"That's 'Madam Pomfrey' to you. As far as I'm concerned, you are still that little boy who cried over a scraped knee." There was a long pause as the old witch gave him one more moment before putting her wand away.

Lucius made a much more gentle stroll toward Dumbledore, leaving Poppy and Minerva to observe by the door.

"Dumbledore, I consider this an outrage! The ministry has a strict policy on dark magical artefacts in the schools and the Wizengamot have not even heard the opening statements!" Lucius said in a harsh tone that did not seem to threaten Dumbledore in the slightest.

"That is because, as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, I have, in fact, heard your opening statement, as well as read your entire argument by way of the Daily Prophet. The fact of the matter is, whether your argument is correct or not, the point is moot. The artefact in question, as well as the dark beast known as the basilisk have both been destroyed." Dumbledore was proud to announce.

Both Lucius and Dobby stood in stunned silence. His once perfectly straight back hair had a long lock drape over his face as he stared at the old wizard.

"Wh–What?!" Lucius was at a loss of breath as he started to realize all of the implications. "H–how?! That's impossible!"

"I don't believe it is. As I have told you nothing but the utmost truth. As for how it happened, you need only gaze around the room to see the culprits who brought an end to such dark days." Dumbledore directed his sight around the room and he was shocked to see that the so-called "heroes" of the school were dealing in Chocolate Frog Cards, reading the Quibbler up-side down, and playing Wizarding Chess amongst themselves, quietly.

It was fair to say that Lucius Malfoy looked rather ill. "Are you telling me that all of this was brought to a halt by children who have yet to reach puberty?" He growled under his breath.

"I've gotten a few hairs." Ron announced, making Luna giggle and Ginny gag.

"Yeah, maybe next time don't put your garbage in the most powerful student's cauldron." Harry said as he packed away his card collection safely in its carrier. This obviously made Malfoy Sr.'s breath catch in his throat as he rounded on him. "You're not getting the journal back, either." He was happy to report.

"Are you accusing–"

"Yes, Malfoy, I see where your son gets his dirty looks. No worries, though." Harry picked up a white cloth and snapped it straight into the grown man's chest. "You can wipe it off with that. It's a nice keepsake too! I think there's still piss water from the battle on it."

"Gross." Ginny whispered, grimacing.

Lucius snapped the cloth into Dobby's face as he began to fume and utterly loathe every single fiber of Harry's being. "Oh, my Lord! A sock!"

There was a small pause before the aristocratic pure-blood furrowed his brow in confusion. He looked at Dobby, who was now holding up the white sock with such high reverence! It was glorious and still smelled vaguely of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom! "Dobby is set free! Free! Free!" He began to dance happily as all of them in the room began to smile and laugh.

"You bastard!" Lucius rounded on Harry once more, this time with his wand drawing forth.

Without hesitation there were five spells on Lucius Malfoy all at once from every side of the room. By the end of it, his body became so completely warped, but soon shriveled all the way up into a teddy bear. The little brown bear with the red ribbon around its neck plopped onto the ground and fell onto its face. It was the size of a forearm.

Professor Mcgonagall was struck dumbfounded, as she had gotten out her wand, but did not even cast a spell. "Who on Earth transfigured him into a teddy bear?"

"I did." Hermione admitted in a bored tone as she turned over on her side and went back to taking a nap.

Dobby thanked Harry Potter and all of his friends for their help. They accepted his thanks, but also told him to swear that he would never try to save their lives unless he asked to do so first.

Soon, all of them were permitted to leave the hospital wing, and the term came to an end for the winter holidays. The atmosphere became far more cheery and all of the five of them seemed to grow somewhat closer, along with Fred and George keeping the group in good company.

Harry and she began to sit out in the cold winter air as Christmas loomed over the horizon. They spent a great deal of time in his dormitory when no one else was there, quietly contemplating. They'd lay there, in silence, as the blue flame glowed within the fishbowl on his nightstand, keeping them plenty warm.

"Haven't seen much of Lockhart, ever since Luna's article. Were these pictures really from Colin Creevy?" She asked, seeing the article titled "The Chicken and the Lizard", featuring three pictures of Gilderoy Lockhart running through the halls like a madman and with one tripping over a stair, falling on his face.

The article was so interesting to some, in fact, that many kids bought doubles, even triples to ship home. The article was so popular that former Gilderoy Lockhart fans began writing to Luna.

"Yeah, apparently they went in on a deal. She's made enough with this issue that she's gotten something of a following. I guess Luna's already found her calling." Harry thought as they sat in bed, watching the snow drift outside the window.

After just a moment, Harry was holding her ever closer and she was laying her head on his chest. "I'm alright, Harry. I don't even remember most of it anymore." Hermione admitted and he looked at her. "Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but it's been going away like some bad dream. I'm finding it easier to sleep for some reason." She smiled up at him and it wasn't long before they kissed.

Christmas came and the cheer in the air around the castle couldn't be dismissed. There was a goblin and troll brass band playing merry Christmas tunes throughout the hall. Green and red bubbles floated throughout the air and popped with a bit of flare and bright light everytime they hit someone.

Harry got up to go to Ron, who found out they were all getting presents under the school's tree. As he did, Ginny was quick to join Hermione at the table. "How are you feeling?" She asked and the two of them held hands over the table.

"I keep telling you, I'm fine, Ginny. You're such a worry wart." Hermione smiled at her and the only Weasley daughter nodded as she looked over at Harry.

"There's no more need to worry about me either, Hermione." Ginny whispered to her as she looked her in the eyes. Their brown eyes met and she nodded. "I've seen far too much love to come between that. My mother taught me better."

There was no more need to say anything at that point. They enjoyed a bit of butterbeer together and spoke as if none of it had ever happened.

Harry returned to the table, carrying a gift from Dumbledore and handing it to her. It was a very tiny, but hard box. It was warm and it had a tag. "From Dumbledore & Fawkes".

"Dumbledore and who?" She asked before she opened it and gasped.

Ginny almost asked what it was before Hermione pulled out a red feather with a small fleck of blue along the bottom. It had an imbued luster to it and it felt so warm and soft. Fawkes, in some enormous show of gratitude, had given her one of his gorgeous phoenix feathers. It took her a very long time to stop marveling at it.

For the first time, it really felt like a normal year at Hogwarts afterward. Harry was able to catch the final Snitch for the Gryffindor Quidditch Cup, which hadn't been in their house since Charlie Weasley's reign as Seeker. Gilderoy Lockhart was allowed to finish out his tenure for the term, but after a public outcry of ridicule, he suddenly had many engagements to attend to. The staff did not see him out. There came some whispers and rumors involving charges of fraud and malignant memory charms.

Hermione was only slightly disappointed in her scores on the final exams. Rather than 109, she only got 105 in Transfigurations and there were similar stories in her other subjects. Soon, though, the year closed with one more hour before their train.

"Well, sad to say he wasn't a vampire this time." Fred said as they all sat on the bench at Hogsmeade station, waiting for the train to arrive. "Still, not a bad year all around, eh?"

"Sure!" Hermione said, as she paced from one bench to the next, clapping hands with both Harry and Ginny lazily. Luna laid her head in Ron's lap as he held the Quibbler up for her and she read it up-side-down. "Don't suppose any of you have been possessed by an evil young man who's now hardly human?"

"Well, it's not quite that serious," Luna said, "but my head has been infested with quite a few Nargles lately."

"Quite a few, what?" Hermione asked, drawing Harry and Ginny's puzzled expressions as well.

"Nargles, they float around in your head and make you all frazzled and it's hard to think. I usually wear butterbeer corks on my neck but I seem to have misplaced mine." Luna said, then Ron was quick to pull out three corks for her. "Oh, did I drop these?"

"No, I've just saved them for you." Ron admitted with his ears turning rather pink.

"Oh, what a gentleman." Luna smiled at him sweetly.

Then, sadly, the train arrived at the station, and all of them began to board as they gathered their trunks. As Hermione checked her trunk to make sure it was secure, she noticed the unfinished wand. It had been so close to complete, but Ollivander understood the circumstances of that year. She swore to finish it over the summer, though.

As Hermione held onto Harry's hand, he was beginning to slow down as they approached the train. They both slowed then and she looked at him as Hedwig squawked impatiently in her cage. The breeze fell through their hair and her wild curls bounced as his hand went to her cheek.

"This won't take long." Harry said as he gazed into her eyes and she gazed into his green ones. Despite knowing they had a whole train ride to go, the castle loomed in the distance as the two of them leaned into one another.

Who cared if they missed the train? Who cared if he didn't see the muggles this year? This is what mattered, and they both knew it. This adventure was a closer shave than they would have liked, but there they were. It was time to move on.

They boarded the train.