Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter; it belongs to JK Rowling, etc etc.
Authors Note: First of all, I'm not sure if Hogwarts was around before the Ministry of Magic, but for my story it was, so… :p. Oh yes, I forget to mention this during my last authors note, but someone asked about why Dumbledore doesn't get metal hands like what Wormtail did. Quite simply, it would ruin the sacrifice he made if I did that. I considered it, but in the end I decided that it would be a vain act. Dumbledore doesn't really need his hands. You'll see why later on. Though it probably would make his day to day like a little easier… but ah well, in the end I decided not to go that way. If it bothers you, then, well, deal with it. Enjoy the chapter.
Thanks to Rufus Scrimgeour and the board of governors, Hogwarts was now home to the Order of the Phoenix and those sympathetic to Dumbledore and his cause. A few students had remained at Hogwarts when the school closed, and most of those had been joined by family and friends. Hogwarts was officially a safe haven from Voldemort.
Rufus Scrimgeour had strongly opposed, but ultimately there was nothing he could do. He didn't have the power to evict Hogwarts. The school had stood long before the Ministry had been formed and would remain even after it fell. And as it's head, Dumbledore was the only one to control who was welcome inside the castles walls. Technically, Scrimgeour could have opposed Dumbledore, but he didn't. In the end, he had bigger things to be dealing with.
As did Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix.
Classrooms had now been converted into living spaces for the families who had sought out the safety that Hogwarts provided. The former school was now overrun with more wizards and witches than it had ever seen. Not everyone was willing to help combat Voldemort, but even those Dumbledore would not turn away.
Most of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students had remained, with about half of the Ravenclaw class joining them. Of Slytherin, only a token few remained, among them Pansy Parkinson and Heather Pritchard. The two Slytherin's didn't seem to enjoy being at the bottom of the social rung, but they also seemed too afraid to leave Hogwarts as well.
Despite the bleakness of the impending war, Hogwarts was full of life as family and friends reunited and comforted each other. It was a strange thing to see, but it helped keep the darkness at bay, so Neville wasn't going to argue with it.
He had spent the morning with Seraphina and his formidable grandmother. Introducing the two was more nerve wracking than he had expected, and he hadn't been expecting a smooth ride by any stretch of the word. However, they had hit it off right away. His gran seemed to see into Seraphina's immense heart as soon as they exchanged greetings. It was certainly a relief to have two of the three most important women in his life getting along so well.
At dinner they found themselves sitting next to the Weasley family, and as fate would have it, he ended up next to Ginny. They exchanged somewhat awkward smiles as everyone around them tucked into the feast the house elves had prepared.
'Hi,' Ginny said, softly.
'Hi Ginny,' he replied, equally as soft.
'How've you been?' she asked, after a short while staring at her half full plate.
'Pretty good, actually,' Neville admitted.
'Oh,' Ginny said, 'that's good.' Another pause. 'I'm glad that… you're good.'
Neville chewed on a sausage, postponing his response a little. 'It's hard, isn't it?'
'What do you mean?'
'This,' he replied, gesturing to the space between them, 'us.'
Ginny evidently didn't know what to say to that as she speared her own sausage.
'I know we were never…' Neville trailed off, trying to find the right word. Eventually he settled on, 'like that. But you know how I feel. And I know… you like me. As a friend, of course. I was kinda pathetic - following you around like a lap dog. I'm sorry about that. But things are different now. I still… like you, but I know it will never happen. And I have Seraphina and she's amazing. There's no reason we can't be friends, right?'
'Do you love her?' Ginny asked, after swallowing.
'I don't know,' Neville said. 'Maybe. Do you love him?' It still smarted to think that Ginny had picked Draco Malfoy over him, but he could at least talk about it a little now. Accept it.
'With all my heart,' Ginny replied without a pause.
'I'm not being… you know… jealous or whatever, I'm just curious,' Neville stammered out in his own awkward way.
'What?' Ginny prompted.
'Why?'
Ginny allowed herself a reckless grin. 'You love who you love,' she replied. 'I've come to realise logic really has no place in it.'
'I suppose that's true,' Neville conceded. 'Though you'll never convince me he deserves you. You're too good for him. He doesn't deserve you.'
'Neville,' Ginny warned.
'Sorry,' Neville said.
'Thank you,' Ginny said honestly.
'Doesn't make it any less true, though,' Neville whispered, half jokingly.
Ginny didn't think it was funny. She shot him a glare. 'You going to pick a fight with him again?' she challenged.
Neville frowned. 'Me pick a fight?'
'Yeah,' Ginny said, narrowing her eyes. 'Did you forget? Hogsmeade. A bloody Draco. You on top of him. Pummelling him to a pulp. Any of this ring a bell?'
'Well, of course,' Neville said. 'I'm really ashamed of how I reacted then, and I'd apologise if I think it would help, but Ginny - I didn't start the fight. He attacked me.'
'What?' Ginny's eyes widened, her frown dissolving into a hard thin line. 'Don't joke about this, Neville.'
'I'm not joking,' Neville said, beginning to think he had said too much. 'Look, I probably shouldn't have even mentioned it.'
'No,' Ginny said, narrowing her eyes again, 'you really should have - and a lot sooner. Excuse me.'
Neville watched as Ginny got up quickly and left the table. 'Oops,' he said, but couldn't help the small smile that came to his face.
Draco hovered in the air, swaying back and forth on his broomstick as he guarded the Quidditch goal posts. Out in the field, he could see that Harry was using his keen eyes to search for the Golden Snitch for their team. Sirius Black, Nymphadora Tonks, and Katie Bell made up their teams Chasers. Two new members of the Order rounded out the team as their Beaters - named Roger Linton and Giles Morgan.
The opposing team was made up of Charlie Weasley as the Seeker and Ron Weasley as Keeper. Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, and Bill Weasley as Chasers. Finally, Fred and George Weasley as Beaters.
Down on the benches, Hermione, Luna, Hagrid and Remus watched the friendly game of Quidditch, cheering on both teams.
Draco could only spare them a glance every now and then. He smiled when Hermione gave him a big thumbs up, but before he could respond with a cocky grin, Bill Weasley was charging through the air towards him, Quaffle in hand. He squared his shoulders, shifted lightly, fainting to the right. Bill took the bait and went left. Draco swung back and caught the Quaffle with ease. Showing off, he tossed the ball into the air and caught it behind his back, before hurling the ball out into the field again.
Sirius caught it and made his own attack on Ron Weasley's goal posts. The black haired wizard laughed as he whizzed past Dean Thomas, weaving his way through the air, avoiding the Bludgers being sent his way by the Weasley twins. He pulled up short as Seamus flew right at him and tossed the Quaffle to his left into the waiting hands of Katie Bell. Bell soured up into the air and went high with the Quaffle, hoping to catch Ron off guard, but he was ready for it and quickly caught the ball out of mid air.
The play continued, growing more heated. Sirius and Katie hogged the Quaffle for their team, all but ignoring a furious Tonks as she shouted at them to pass the ball. They both knew what would happen if they included her in play and both of them wanted to avoid it if at all possible. Their suspicions proved correct when Sirius was corned and Bell was too far away, forcing Sirius to pass to Tonks. The oft-clumsy witch fumbled the Quaffle right into the hands of Bill Weasley, who swooped right past her and scored a quick goal before Draco could even realise what had happened.
'Oops, sorry!' Tonks called out, blushing.
For lack of a better word, the "Weasley" team laughed and exchanged high fives in midair. '60-40,' Dean called out, 'woo! Yeah baby!'
As play resumed, Draco kept his eyes glued on the action. The Weasley team's Chasers kept the Quaffle in motion, passing quickly between each other as his team's Beaters attempted to unman them. He glanced quickly up at Harry, who was motionless high above, eyes still scanning the field for the elusive Snitch, but the action quickly got his attention again as Finnigan attempted a shot. He caught the Quaffle with less than his usual grace and skill and tossed it back into play.
Sirius grabbed the ball out of the air, spun with a deft twitch of his broomstick and flew down field, aiming at the goal. His ropes flapped around him, the wind blowing his scraggly hair out behind his head, mimicking his robes. He twisted gracefully, throwing everyone off with his unusual movements, spinning like a top as he neared the goal.
The Weasley team gaped at him in astonishment, too surprised to put up much defence. Ron's eyes widened as Sirius came out of his spin alarmingly close, too close for him to do anything as the Quaffle sailed right by his ear and through the center hoop. Sirius rained up with a huge grin on his face.
'What a goal!' Hagrid boomed from the stands.
Draco had to admit, the half-giant had it right. He'd never seen anything like it.
'Don't feel bad Ron,' he heard Sirius say after his barking laugh had subsided, 'you didn't stand a chance of catching that one. It was straight out of the James Potter handbook.'
That made the score 60-50, but the game came to a stand still before play could resume once again. Ginny Weasley was striding towards the Quidditch pitch, red hair blowing in the wind. She swiped it roughly aside as Hermione went to greet her. Draco watched as the two conversed, an uncomfortable weight settling into his stomach. For some reason, he had a really bad feeling about this.
The bad feeling was confirmed when Ginny turned to glare up at him. 'Draco Malfoy, get down here right now!'
Draco glanced out into the field. The Weasley family gave him dark looks, obviously under the impression that he had done something wrong, something that had upset their sister. Dean Thomas was looking particularly smug - the bastard.
'What's going on?' Harry shouted down at him.
Draco shrugged. 'I better go see what this is about,' he said, looking apologetically up at Harry. 'Sorry about this.'
'Don't worry about it,' Harry said, flying down.
'Lovers spat?' Sirius teased, zoomed up field with a wicked grin of anticipation on his face. 'I love these,' he said, wringing his hands eagerly.
'Love this,' Draco said, giving him the finger, before zipping down to join Ginny, Sirius' barking laughter echoing in his ears.
'Hey, we need a Keeper,' Sirius shouted out as Draco landed in front of an upset looking Ginny. 'Remus! Get your butt up here!'
'Are you kidding?' Remus replied, but Draco barely heard him, his eyes were focused on Ginny's hurt emerald ones.
'Hi, what's wrong?'
'We need to talk,' Ginny said, taking his hand and pulling him away from the field.
'Leave the broom!' Sirius shouted after them.
Ginny dragged Draco away from the Quidditch field and away from Hogwarts. She still held his hand tightly, making sure he couldn't escape. He matched her pace evenly as she marched him onwards, not complaining, or even saying anything. That was fine with her. She needed time to think anyway.
After Neville had told her the truth, she had been all set to rip Draco to shreds. But the walk down to the Quidditch pitch had given her time to really think about the whole situation, and she wasn't so sure she should rip him to shreds anymore. She was still pissed, of course, but…. she just wasn't sure.
'Ginny?' Draco interrupted her thoughts, pulling her to a stop when he ceased following her.
She kept going, or tried to, but was surprised to find that she couldn't even budge him. He had allowed her to drag him this far, but apparently this was as far as he would go. She turned to face him with a stern expression. This was far enough anyway. She couldn't put it off any longer.
Even so, she looked around, trying to buy a little more time. They had stopped by the Lake, Hagrid's hut in the distance. The wind swept the grass, blowing it back and forth hypnotically. She stared at it and tried to think of what she was going to say.
'We need to talk?' Draco pressed, trying to hide how anxious he was, but not doing very well.
She glanced up at him and cleared her throat. Here goes. 'Yeah,' she said, 'we do.'
'Well?' Draco prompted when she didn't continue.
'I think you know,' Ginny said, looking up into his grey eyes.
He looked down at where she still held his hand. 'I'm not sure,' he said.
'You lied to me,' she said.
'Oh.'
'Oh?' Ginny laughed. 'Is that all you can say? Oh?'
'I don't know what to say,' Draco admitted.
'Then don't say anything,' Ginny said. 'Just listen to me.'
'Okay.'
Despite this, Ginny couldn't continue. She still didn't even know what to say. How to put what she was feeling into words he could understand. So the silence stretched on, neither of them saying a word. He waited patiently as she tried to sort through her thoughts, and she was grateful for that. She gave his hand a squeeze.
'Okay,' she said, 'just listen and pay attention. I think I know why you lied to me. I can understand that. I know you Draco, every stupid bit of you. You got scared, so you didn't tell me the truth. But… I know now. And I'm not really all that mad. I mean, I am mad, but not mad to point where we'd… you know… break up. I know that's what scared you. You thought that if you told the truth, then we wouldn't ever get back together, but… but that was wrong.' Ginny laughed with a little self-deprecation. 'I can't stay away. Maybe it would have made things harder. But in the end, we'd be together again. I could be mad at you now, I could rant and rave at you, drag you over the coals, and I'm well in my rights to do that. But why should I? What's the point? I'd forgive you eventually and we'd get back together. Why waste time being mad? So… so that's it, I guess.'
Draco was staring at her in surprise when she finished. 'That's it?' he asked, disbelieving.
'Well,' Ginny sighed, 'I'm still a bit mad. You're going to have to make it up to me. And if you lie to me again, well, I'll probably still forgive you, but… please don't do it again. When will you learn that you can be honest with me? I love you. Whatever you do, I can't control that, I can't change it, and neither can you. No matter what you do, it seems, I'll always love you. And I'm too weak to stay away, even though I probably should. Just be honest with me, please.'
'I'll try,' he said, stepping closer.
She put her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. 'Try hard,' she said sternly.
He laughed. 'Yes ma'am.'
'I'm serious Draco,' she chastised, pulling back to give him her best glare.
'I know,' Draco replied, serious as well. 'I'm serious too. I really will try - as hard as I can. I want you to be happy… more than anything.'
'Thank you,' Ginny murmured as she leant up to kiss him on the lips. 'Don't forget, I'm still mad at you.'
'If this is you mad,' Draco said pointedly, trailing off with a raised eyebrow and a smirk on his sharp face.
Ginny whacked him on the arm as hard as she could. 'Stop trying to trivialise this,' she scolded.
'Come on Ginny, you can't expect me to pass that up,' he argued. 'Anyway, I think I know just how I can make it up to you.'
'What do you… oh…' Ginny tried very hard to keep the excited smile off her face as realisation dawned. 'And what makes you think you've earned that privilege?'
'Trust me,' Draco drawled, leaning down to whisper in her ear with his hot breath, 'you don't want to turn this down. I guarantee, after this, you won't even remember being mad at me.'
'So confident, aren't you?' Ginny teased. 'I'm not so sure…'
'I'll prove it to you.'
'Please do.'
With a delighted giggle, Ginny ran after Draco as he pulled her towards Hagrid's hut.
'In there?' Ginny gasped, eyes wide.
'Got a problem with that?' Draco asked, smirking that damn sexy smirk of his.
Ginny hardened her face. 'Nope,' she said, popping the "p". 'Do your worst, Draco Malfoy.'
'Worst?' he chuckled. 'How about… best.' The door of Hagrid's cabin slammed behind them.
Harry and Charlie spotted the Snitch at the same time.
Team Weasley was up by seventy points, but if Harry could catch the Snitch, his team would win. He angled his broom down, diving towards the fluttering gold object as it hovered just above the grass on the right side of the pitch. Charlie was sweeping along the grass; eyes alight, bearing down fast. Harry pushed his broom faster, his hand twitching, ready.
At first, he didn't realise what was happening as the warm living room flashed before his eyes. He blinked, shaking his head, focusing again on the Snitch, but not two seconds later and his eyes clouded over again. He saw the room more clearly this time.
It was night time outside, a fire was roaring in the fireplace, and a couple sat together on an old cream sofa.
Harry felt his hands loosening on the broom, but he couldn't see anything but the living room. He heard a cry of fear, heard a crash at the same time that the door of the cottage (and that was surely what it was) blew open, showering the room in splinters. Someone screamed.
The cottage was bathed in a bright crimson glow. Jane Granger shrieked as she jumped up from the sofa, her hand flying to her mouth. Her husband joined her, standing protectively in front of her. As the splintered bits of wood clattered to the floor and against the far wall, three dark robed figures entered the house.
'Who are you?' Alan Granger roared in defiance, clenching his fists. 'What do you…' He trailed off, his eyes dropping to the gigantic snake as it slithered in between the three robed figures. His jaw fell open. He'd never seen anything so monstrously huge in his life. He backed up a step, pushing his wife up against the wall.
'Alan,' Jane's voiced quivered, her eyes riveted on the doorway. 'Look.'
A pale white hand grasped the doorframe. Standing in the doorway, Lord Voldemort turned his head up, his crimson snakelike eyes glowing malevolently. He smiled.
Jane Granger shrieked again and fainted.
'Harry?' A voice called from far away.
He felt like he was shaking.
'Harry? Can you hear me?' Was that… Sirius?
He was shaking… no, someone was shaking him. He tried to open his eyes. It was harder than it should be.
'Ugh,' he groaned. His body felt like it had been ran over. His eyes opened a little. He could see Hermione kneeling over him, her face tear streaked and worried. 'Hermione…' He groaned, his vision coming back to him, his heart thumping in his chest.
'Harry!' Hermione cried, burying her head in his chest. 'Do you hurt anywhere? Are you okay?'
'Hermione,' he whispered, tears coming to his eyes.
'What? What is it? Are you okay?' Hermione asked anxiously, pulling back to look into his facer again.
'Hermione, I'm so sorry.' He reached for her hand, relieved to find that he could move. 'I'm so sorry.'
He saw the realisation hit her face. Her mouth fell down at the corners; her tears ran fresh down her already stained cheeks, her mouth quivering. He didn't have to say it. She knew. She saw it in his face.
Voldemort had found her parents.