A Life Worth Choosing

Here it is, the first part to the final chapter. Hope you like it. Here is a pic that may help explain a scene in this chapter: http://groups.msn.com/Hogwartsschool2/charatersofalwc.msnw

Chapter 21: Party- Part 1

Draco lead the remaining Weasley's into the Great Hall where he found that the four house tables had been removed and instead, replaced with many smaller round tables. The teacher's table remained filled with deliciously fresh treats, including a fountain of chocolate. Stars and planets hung around the room giving the room a starry night theme. The table clothes were a navy blue, velvet to the touch, with dancing silver stars. Maroon and silver velvet curtains lined each walls where even more stars twinkled from the lights of fireflies and fairies that flew carelessly around the hall. Snape had even managed to create a starry maroon dragon that flew around the ceiling followed by a smaller emerald dragon.

The room was magnificent. Narcissa had surely outdone herself once more. The only thing missing was a starry night sky which would soon replace the setting sun on the enchanted ceiling.

“Reminds you of the Yule Ball, doesn't it?” Pansy asked.

“Please! Don't remind me!” Ron rolled his eyes.

Draco looked around the hall until he finally spotted his mother, along with Snape and Headmistress McGonagall, working on some last minute details.

“It's simply breath taken!” Draco heard from behind him.

Turning around he found Ginny, Molly, and Penelope gazing around in amazement.

“She does an excellent job, doesn't she?” Draco said walking towards Ginny.

“That she does,” Molly nodded. “I'm going to go see if there is anything I could do to help.”

“How's Kaeda?” Draco asked after everyone was out of ear shot.

“Depressed,” Ginny answered.

“It's only one match. There'll be more.”

“Yes, but it's not only the match she is upset with. It's Avery.”

“What about Avery?” Draco asked confused.

“Don't worry about it. She'll get over it,” Ginny assured him.

“I'm going to take a walk.”

“Want me to go with you?”

“I'm sure I can remember my way around the castle. I'll be back in time for the party.”

_________________________________________________________________________

Draco wandered aimlessly through the hallways of Hogwarts, admiring all the changes the castle had sustained over the years of his absent. The castle itself seemed to remain the same physically, the constant changing of staircases, the vanishing steps, the talking portraits, but the air had changed some how.

As Draco drifted around a corner on the seventh floor, he noticed a loud commotion coming from behind a closed doorway. As he approached the door for a better look, he could hear music, and the cheers coming from several students.

“Go on in and join the party,” a familiar voice said from behind Draco.

Draco turned around to see a large portrait of his old headmaster, smiling down on him.

“Professor Dumbledore?” Draco asked the portrait.

“Yes, Mr. Malfoy?” the old man smiled at him, his blue eyes twinkling through his half-moon spectacles.

“I'm afraid I don't know the password,” Draco admitted.

“Password?” the professor continued to smile. “Dear child, a password is for places in which people are not wanted. Here, everyone is welcomed.”

Draco thought back to a letter he remembered reading that Kaeda had written to Ginny during his first year at Hogwarts.

“A common room for everybody,” Draco whispered.

“Exactly!”

“Shouldn't you be in the headmaster's office?” Draco asked remembering a few visits he had made where you could find portraits of all the past headmasters and headmistress' of Hogwarts.

“I was there for a while,” Dumbledore nodded, “But I asked to be placed here when this room was opened not too long ago.”

“What for?”

“So I could watch over my students of course,” Dumbledore answered matter-of-factly. “Now go on in and join the celebration!”

Draco nodded to the old headmaster before turning to enter the room.

Inside he found it to be brightly lit and almost as large as the Great Hall itself. Banners from each of the houses hung alternately around the walls with one large banner falling across the center which alternated from bright yellow letters which congratulated the Hufflepuff Quidditch team on their most recent victory then slowly faded away to reveal an animation of the last play which won them the match.

Students from every house, including Slytherin, and every year were gathered around the room in a celebration, dancing and cheering for one another.

“Draco!” Bill called out from a top a table where he stood along with Marcel, Aimon, and two other members of Hufflepuff team, bottles of pumpkin juice in hand.

Draco made his way through the crowd to Bill just as he stepped down.

“What brings you to the celebration?” Bill asked.

“Just out for a walk around the castle,” Draco answered.

“Since you're here, have a drink,” Bill offered. “Can I get some pumpkin juice over here for Mr. Malfoy?” Bill called out to the crowd.

No more than a few seconds later a goblet made its way through the crowd and into Draco's hand.

“Boy, these kids sure know how to party,” said Bill. “I can't seem to recall any party's like this in my years at Hogwarts.”

“I think the Yule Ball was as close as we came,” said Draco.

Draco looked around the room glancing at the many faces around him.

“You haven't seen Avery around have you?” Draco shouted over the loud music.

“He was in here a few minutes ago. As soon as Kaeda walked in, he walked out.”

“Thanks,” Draco said gulping down the remainder of his juice. “I think I'm going to go back to the Great Hall.”

“Great, we'll see you there!”

Draco walked out of the room and closed the doors behind him before looking up and down the hall.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Dumbledore's portrait asked.

“Looking for? I'm not looking for anyone,” Draco lied.

“Oh, forgive me, did you find whom you were looking for?”

“I'm not look- fine,” Draco gave in. “Avery Potter. Have you seen him?”

“Avery, the eldest of the young Potters, yes. I do believe he walked by here not to long ago. He seemed rather lost as well.”

“Do you know where he was heading?”

“He enter that room over there.”

“Room? What room?” Draco asked staring at a blank wall.

“A room, I'm afraid, you know all too well.”

Draco spun around to question Dumbledore, but it was too late. He had gone from his portrait.

Confused, Draco wandered back and forth through the hallway trying to clear his mind. As he was about to give up, Draco glanced one last time at the blank wall, but this time it was no longer blank. Instead, before him laid a heavy wooden door, slightly ajar.

Curious to the sudden appearance, Draco pushed the door opened.

Inside, once again, was a room exotic to his eyes. There were many book shelves lined with books, both ancient and new, engraved with dates of past and present times. The walls about the room were covered from floor to ceiling with photos of witches and wizards all dressed in Hogwarts uniforms.

“What is this place?” Draco said aloud to himself as he scanned the photos upon the walls.

“The Hogwarts archives,” a voice called from behind a book shelve.

Draco followed the voice around the corner to where he found Avery sitting atop of several cushions with an opened book in his hands.

“Mind if I take a seat?” Draco asked, sitting down before Avery could answer. “So what's this place all about?”

“It explains every little detail of what happened throughout the history of Hogwarts. Every book is a different year. This one right here, is this years,” Avery said picking up a book beside him and handing it over to Draco.

Draco flipped through the many pages filled with writing and photographs.

“Half the pages are blank,” Draco noticed.

“That's because we're only halfway through the year. If you notice it ends with yesterday. If you come back tomorrow then you will find today's entry. Some say that Hogwarts writes it's own history and that those blank pages are already written in, but only those who hold a true understanding of Hogwarts and it's mysteries could make the writing appear before its time has passed,” Avery explained with out looking up.

“How did you find this place?”

“I've been here on more than a few occasions. I stumbled across it one day by accident. They call it the `come and go' room.”

“Of course, the room of Requirements,” Draco said remembering back.

“You've heard of it?” Avery asked.

“Yes, unfortunately, I tried to block it from my memory.”

Avery looked up for the first time with a quizzical expression.

“I don't want to talk about it,” Draco shook his head. “So what do you got there?” he nodded towards the book.

Avery flipped the book closed and held it up for Draco to see.

“Hogwarts year 1988-1989,” Draco read the golden script on the cover. “What's so fascinating about that year?”

Avery took a deep breath as he returned to the page he had been starring at.

“My parents,” he said quietly starring down at the pages. “My birth parents,” he said pointing to an old photograph filled with many witches and wizards dressed in their Hogwarts uniforms and smiling happily. “My Mum's that Slytherin witch off to the side with the long black and hair and that Ravenclaw next to her is my Dad. They were killed when I was five.”

“What happened?” Draco asked quietly.

Avery looked up at him without saying a word.

“You don't have to-if you don't want to,” Draco said quickly.

“No, it's alright,” Avery insisted.

“They owned a small café in Diagon Alley during the war. During those times, of course, my father didn't trust very many people, especially with me, so they brought me with them to work everyday.

“Then there was that day. The Battle of the Alley as they call it. My Mum and I were in the back room. She was teaching me my letters. I remember like it was just yesterday. We were working on the letter `R'.

“We heard a loud commotion coming from the front so my mother went to check if my father needed help. Everything just became so confusing after that. She came running back to me shouting and she shoved me into a room that was hidden under a trap door and told me to stay. No matter what I heard, I was to stay. That she would come back for me and she left.

“The next thing I remember was hearing a scream and yells and all that noise. All I could do was stay there and cover my ears. Then everything just stopped!

“I don't even remember how long I was there, but it was quiet, until I heard the voices and that name. The name of the wizard that my father use to tell me about before I went to sleep. The one wizard who would save of all from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Harry Potter.

“I knew he was there to help me so I pounded on the door until it opened and I saw him for the first time.”

“And he decided to adopt you,” Draco stated.

“Well, not right away,” Avery corrected him. “You see, I kind of went mute for a while. Over a year to be exact. They didn't even know my name, so they took me in temporarily until they could find my parents. After a while, they just started calling me Avery and I became part of the family. To this day they never found either of my real parents.”

“What is your real name?” Draco asked.

“Nikko.”

“And they still called you Avery?”

“Actually, I never told them,” Avery sighed. “There's only one person, other than you, of course, that knows it.”

“Kaeda?” Draco guessed.

Avery smiled as he nodded his head.

“She was actually the one who got me talking again. I had just turned six and she was only four. We were in the waiting room at a Muggle Hospital with Grandmother Molly waiting to meet James who was born just moments before. There were these Muggle kids there, and they were picking on me because I wouldn't talk. Then Kaeda comes out of no where and- lets just say she wasn't capable of controlling her powers back then.

“I couldn't let her get in trouble when it wasn't her fault, so when Aunt Ginny and Grandmother Molly starting to yell at her, I told them that it was my fault and that she was just protecting me. They were so intrigued by my speaking that they forgot about Kaeda. I've been speaking ever since.”

“Speaking of Kaeda, I never got to thank you for catching her out there today,” Draco said breaking the silence of Avery's reminiscing thoughts.

“Yes, well, unfortunately she didn't see it that way. She thinks Quidditch is more important than her health.”

“But you don't think that.”

Avery silently shook his head.

“I love Quidditch, but I- well- they'll be other matches.”

“Junior and Talon tell me that you two are in row. That it's affecting your game.”

“They bet against us didn't they?” Avery smiled. “Bloody Gryffindors.”

“Well there will be plenty of matches once you sign with Portree. You are signing aren't you?”

“I don't know!”

“You don't know?” Draco asked. “Don't you want to play Quidditch?”

“Of course I do, it's just that-” Avery paused a moment to clear his head. “Portree is too far away. I mean it's on an island and I can't dissapperate over water yet and it's just too far too quickly.”

“What you're saying is that something-or someone- is holding you back,” Draco said raising an eyebrow.

“It's me! I'm holding myself back,” Avery admitted. “I just can't bring myself to leave. We're so close- I'm just not willing to allow myself to throw it all away.”

“Throw what away?” Draco asked now a little confused.

“Nothing,” Avery shook his head.

“Well then, what if I told you that you could still play Quidditch without having to go so far?”

“You mean join the Magpies? I already tried. I'm not good enough for them. They only want me on the reserve team and I-”

“I'm not talking about Montrose, I'm talking about the Hogwarts Hotchpotch.”

“The what?” Avery asked.

“Well it's still a working name, but it's a new Quidditch team that will be forming this summer and I hear they have a great manager.”

“Really? Who?”

“Me!”

“You're starting your own Quidditch team?”

“No, Mr. Blinko of Quality Quidditch is and he's asked me to help him,” Draco explained.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes! So what do you say?”

“I got to find Kaeda!” Avery said jumping to his feet.

“Is that a yes?” Draco called after him as he disappeared out the door.

“Yes!” Avery said reappearing for a moment before disappearing once again.

_________________________________________________________________________

“Ok, now I want Junior, Kaeda and their dates in the middle,” Molly called out as she arranged the children into position for a photo. “I want the boys in the back, and Kaeda you sit in front of your brother. Perfect, now Katrina, dear, you sit down beside Kaeda. Wonderful dear. Now Branden you stand beside Junior, behind Kaeda.”

“It's Braedan,” he corrected her.

“Sorry dear. Now Teddy and Jaylee beside him, now. Marcel, you and Ella just stay there and Mr. Ryan why don't you-”

“Already got it under control, Mrs. W,” Talon announced pulling a chair in front of Marcel where he casually sat down.

“Not what I had in mind, but it'll do. Now PJ, you sit next to Kaeda. Perfect,” Molly smiled as she stepped away to view the finished product. “Wait! Something is missing. Where's Avery?” she asked looking around just as a tired, panting Avery came running into the Great Hall.

“Avery, where have you been?” Molly asked taking in his disheveled appearance.

“I was- I was,” Avery panted trying to catch his breath.

“He was with me!” Draco announced walking in as well.

As Avery caught his breath he dropped to his knees in front of Kaeda, “I need to talk to you,” he whispered.

“Not, now. I'm a little busy here,” Kaeda said through gritted teeth.

“It's important! We need to talk!”

“After!”

“Avery Potter, I've been looking all over for you!” A black haired, spectacle witch called out as she wondered over to him.

“Who are you dear?” Molly asked politely.

“I'm Ara. His date,” she answered sweetly pointing to Avery.

“Oh, how sweet dear, then we'll place you next to Ella and Marcel. Come on now Avery,” Molly said trying to get him to his feet.

“Kaeda, please,” Avery begged.

“I'm not interested in talking to you, Potter,” Kaeda said quietly.

“Avery, come on!” Ara said wrapping herself around his arm trying to pull him to his feet.

Avery pulled himself free of the witch and fell back to his knees where he leaned over to Kaeda's ear, “I love you!” he whispered softly.

Kaeda gasped as Avery gave in to Ara and allowed her to pull him to the place beside her for the photo, his eyes still locked with Kaeda's now glistening orbs.

“Now everyone smile,” Molly called out as Ginny held up the camera and a bright light flashed, timelessly freezing that moment for ever.

Avery waited only for a second to allow his eyes to adjust after the blinding light before running back over to Kaeda and collapsing down before her.

“Did you hear me?” he asked quietly.

The still flummoxed witch just nodded her head.

“Come on, hun, let's dance,” Braedan said offering his hand to Kaeda, only to have Kaeda swat it away.

“Avey, I'm thirsty, can you get me a drink?” Ara whined, wrapping her arms around Avery's once more in an attempt to lure him away from the witch.

“Get your own drink,” Avery said, pulling his arm free and holding it out for Kaeda. “Can we talk?”

“But Kaeda?” Braedan pleaded with the witch as Ara whined to Avery.

“But what about me?” she moaned.

“Look Braedan, I only agreed to go with you because Avery went with her,” Kaeda snapped back at him.

“Awe, poor Kaddy had to go with a skrewt,” Ara teased. “What's a matter, not good enough for a Potter?”

“Is that the only reason you like him?” Kaeda asked now angry. “Because he's a Potter? Well I have news for you. Avery's not even a real Potter. He was adopted and the only reason he asked you was to make me jealous!” she said standing up to meet the witch face to face.

“Huh, that's so not true,” she huffed annoyed.

“Actually,” Avery said standing up. “It is.”

Furious, Ara raised her hand ready to strike Avery, but in mid-swing, she changed her mind. Without warning, she spun around and the assault hit Kaeda right across the face.

“You bitch!” Kaeda said, her left handing holding her redden cheek while her right hand whipped out her wand and pointed it at Ara's chest.

“What are you going to do, Malfoy? Kill me?”

As Kaeda lunged for her, two arms wrapped around her waist, twisting her around and away before she could retaliate.

“Let me go!” Kaeda struggled, her blonde locks falling over her face, blocking her vision.

“Not until you calm down,” she heard her father say.

After a few moments of struggling, Kaeda finally gave in and relaxed.

“That's it,” Draco said loosening his grip.

When Draco was finally satisfied with her state of calm, he let go. To his dismay, his decision was premature. As soon as she was free, Kaeda sprinted foward at Ara. This time, her fist making contacts.

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