Twilight

Twilight

L.S. Song

Chapter Twenty-One - Standstill

"You won't believe what just happened... the muggles just pledged ALL of their support against Voldemort!" cried Moody, looking strangely giddy, which made his scarred face twist into an even more grotesque shape.

Harry had never seen the old auror act like that at all - he thought it was rather out of character - he must've believed the muggles' help would sure help a lot.

"Excellent!" cried a few people.

Snape, however turned to Hermione, looking slightly ashamed of himself or something.

He cleared his throat. "Um... Miss Granger, if you would... that is to say, will you help organize an attempt to take back Hogwarts? The Order, as you heard, believe it is a pivotal point in turning the war back to our favor... I, that is to say, we, believe you one of the er... brightest minds we have... we could use your help. We have not much time to lose, should the muggle General lose faith in us..."

"Of course I'll help! I love Hogwarts as much as any one of you do, and I'll do my part in trying to take it back," said Hermione, smiling at Snape.

Gosh, even Snape is being nice to her, thought Harry.

Harry almost laughed at the furious expression on Ron's face as Hermione followed Snape out of the room to help with the plan.

Ron stomped out of the living room after them, leaving Harry and Ginny alone again.

Silly git, thought Harry. Does he really think SNAPE is competition for him and Hermione? Must be out of his mind - who on earth would pair Snape with Hermione? (A/N: err.... Sorry to those shippers who actually do =P)

Harry did actually burst into laughter, as Ron stomped back in, grabbed his wand, and stomped right out again.

"Good news about the muggles eh?" offered Harry, turning to Ginny, thinking he sounded a bit off.

"Never mind that. I think there's something wrong with Hermione..."

"What, she's part Veela now? She's bound to change a bit, even if it is just physically - but honestly, I think it's going to tamper with her brain a bit too..."

"Oh... that would explain the makeup!" exclaimed Ginny, her cheeks flushing.

Harry was going to make a skeptical comment about makeup and Hermione, and how the two were not totally independent, but he decided against it.

"Speaking of makeup, what do you have on your lips now?" asked Harry instead, moving closer to her with a grin across his face.

Ginny also stepped closer tantalizingly; licking those lips that Harry was staring hungrily at.

"Nothing at all."

Harry continued staring at her moist lips for what felt like an eternity and found himself bending down towards them, sliding his arms around her. He was about to close his eyes and let himself go when Ginny pulled away at the last second.

"Now you know how it feels!" said Ginny with a dazzling smile, and ran out of the room, leaving a very shocked and very lusting Harry standing there with his mouth open, dumbstruck.

After he got over his initial shock, he chuckled.

Little Ginny Weasley.

Who would've thought that it would turn out like this?

Not, I, thought Harry. Not I.

***

Hermione Granger sat poring over plans, day in and day out.

Images flashed through her brilliant mind.

Blood was sapped out of her body.

Cold.

Pain.

Desperation, as her mind started to go dizzy.

And it was pumped back in, the life force of all creatures alike.

It was warmer than before.

More pleasant.

She felt powerful, yet powerless at the same time.

She felt more... what was it, an enjoyment for life?

Everything was simple.

Life's purpose was to find love and live happily ever after.

Delusions, Hermione thought to herself.

Pure, unfiltered passion.

His blonde hair flew through her mind.

His cold, magical eyes, unlike the old grey ones Hermione had seen for six years.

His aura of darkness, a sense of danger and excitement that she fed off of, that she loved.

All spell induced, she reminded herself.

Harry Potter's vibrant green eyes, a memory of the past, stared straight at her.

They pierced into her soul, like a drill digging through soft soil.

But beyond soil there was a hard core.

And it could not be broken.

For she was lost.

She was Draco's.

Forever.

She would become Mrs. Malfoy.

She would become the mother of his children.

A title that she would enjoy.

Hermione shuddered, all the while trying to concentrate on the plans.

And then the words from her loved one...

"...Keep her under the curse. Don't want her running back to Malfoy with all of our secrets, do we?"

"How could you say that Ron?" came Harry's voice.

"She's not herself. I don't understand why she wasn't strong enough to fight, for us, for me. I would've never succumbed had I been in her situation."

His voice was still stony, unemotional.

"She failed me, she failed us. I don't understand why. I would do anything, give anything for her. Why didn't she do the same for me? I love her, but does she not love me?"

His voice had broken then, shattering her heart with it.

"Why should I live when the woman I love won't even fight for me anymore? What is the purpose?"

His voice turned to a whisper.

"Why should I fight Voldemort when I have nothing to look forward to if the day we win comes?"

Those words devoid of hope, yet filled to the brim with emotion shattered the hard steel core that Draco had built in her heart.

And she was freed.

She knew then that no matter how many curses, spells, and befuddlements were placed upon her, her heart could not truly belong to anyone but Ron Weasley.

Hermione Granger looked into the mirror on the sides of the walls, and finding an amethyst-eyed dark-haired beauty staring back at her.

This wasn't her, she thought.

But it was. This was the new Hermione.

She knew she should be upset about all that had happened.

She was, for the most part, but there was a strange layer of happiness that prevented her from going into tears at the mere thought of it.

She really should read up about Veela, and she would've gladly done so had there not been such an important task at hand.

She turned her eyes back to the Hogwarts invasion plans.

But memories plagued her.

"You know, for a while back then, I doubted why Potter and Weasley put up with you... but now, I realize that even scarhead there would appreciate this..."

She slapped him.

"Isn't it nice when breakfast bites back," chuckled Draco.

The layer of happiness seemed to puncture all of a sudden and she found herself teary-eyed.

Why did he do that?

Why her?

Because I was the one who was caught, thought Hermione to herself.

Imagine it had been Ron.

She laughed aloud at the thought of it.

But what if the little bastard was actually a homosexual and the same thing did happen to Ron. He would've fought like a cornered madman! But no one deserved the torture and humiliation Malfoy had put her through.

Looking back, she thought should she had been a bit smarter, a bit stronger, it wouldn't have happened at all.

Hermione sighed.

At Christmas, four months ago, she had told Harry that he was her brother, and she was his sister.

Now she somewhat looked it.

It was a ludicrous idea, but it was true. She had always had nearly the same eye shape as Harry's, but none of the vitality and deepness of his eyes - hers was a boring brown. But now, as she looked into the mirror again, she saw that her eyes were pretty beautiful. Her hair had gone silky and darker, almost black, and her skin had started to pale and shine.

This was exactly what she had wanted when she had been a little child.

To have the look of a queen, the elegance, the posture that everyone admired.

Instead she got a bookworm's posture from her love for books and learning - a love that not many people of her age appreciated or understood.

She giggled softly to herself as she thought about the changes.

Even her voice had changed slightly, sounding more girlish and less bossy than before.

Almost bubbly, she thought.

Was this what she would've wanted if she could do it all over again?

She hadn't, in essence, saved Harry at all, no it was her that needed saving in the end.

Absently, her mind flickered back to Draco Malfoy.

That bastard did this to her.

She was meant to be his slave, his doll.

But Ron had helped her break his curses.

For some reason, she found that funny.

She giggled again.

Hermione Granger did not like giggling - she dubbed it silly and quite vain, something only bimbos like Parvati Patil would do.

But she found that it was quite okay, the sound of a giggle, she pondered, as she listened to the sound escape from her own throat.

What was happening to her?

Something good, she thought to herself.

She looked back into the mirror again.

Her eyes sparkled, her hair caught the flickering candlelight.

And behind her was a red-headed, long nosed, freckled someone.

Ron Weasley.

She giggled again.

She jumped at him nimbly, landing straight into his arms, in the process scattering some of the plans she had been working on.

She gave him a heart-stopping kiss, summoning all her growing Veela powers to make him feel passion like he'd never felt before.

As she closed her eyes, a million images of Draco flashed though her mind. But at the end, Ron's presence drove it all away again.

She would forget.

It wasn't anywhere as bad as what Harry had gone through.

She would be strong.

As she opened her eyes, she saw Ron's familiar face.

And she had Ron to help her through anything and everything.

Just like that, the thought of Draco was blown away like a leaf in a windstorm.

She broke away from Ron, gasping for breath.

Hermione looked into the mirror one last time.

Those gem-like eyes, the dark, straight hair.

Through it all, she could still see the bushy-haired, brown-eyed girl, who loved books, hated Quidditch, loved Ron Weasley, and hated Draco Malfoy.

No matter what happened to her, she'd always be Hermione Granger.

Nothing could change that.

Not even Draco Malfoy.

No doubts about it.

This time as she looked away from the mirror, she smiled.

***

"It's done."

"What's done?"

"The plans to take back Hogwarts... they're finished," said a drained looking Hermione Granger, plopping down on the sofa next to Harry, who was playing a game of chess with Ron, Ginny watching closely.

Harry looked up from his game.

"Can I see?"

"Snape has them, he'll show everyone them tonight at the meeting."

"When are we going to put the plan into action?"

"As soon as possible - we'll need at least a few days to rally our forces, and I daresay the muggles will need just as long, if not longer to rally their own."

"So what are we going to do?" asked Ron, not looking at Hermione, his brow furrowed, staring at the chessboard.

"I told you, you'll find out tonight," said Hermione, yawning and curling up on the sofa, closing her eyes.

"But Hermione, can't you just tell us a BIT?"

"No, Ron."

"Why?"

"Because I'm tired."

"Oh that's a load of..."

"Checkmate," said Harry, grinning.

In Ron's distraction he had moved his king right to the corner, where Harry, with one move of his queen, had him trapped.

"Oh... my...GOD!" squealed Ginny.

"I...I... what? Checkmate? But you... but I... But-but-but..."

"I told you I'd beat you one day..." smiled Harry.

"But no... it was because... I..."

Hermione opened an eye.

Ron turned red again, as he stared and stared at her.

Ginny giggled.

"Give it a rest mate, you've beat me for seven years, it's about time I took a match,"

Ron nodded to himself, muttering under his breath, his ears still red.

Ginny led Ron out of the living room and up the staircase, shooting Harry an exasperated glance as she went, rolling her eyes.

Ron really could be so childish.

After all, war was coming.

What was a chess game's outcome when the fate of the world could be decided the next few days?

Not much.

It seemed lately that not much mattered at all.

There was life and happiness on one side, and there was death and misery on another.

It was their responsibility to pull the world back to the former.

***

"Cho, it's me, Harry. We need you..."

"Luna, hi, it's Ginny here, its time..."

"Ernie, it's Hermione Granger... remember me? The thing is..."

"Hi Neville, it's Ron Weasley here, come down here for a sec..."

It was a busy day, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and many other members of the Order like Tonks and Kingsley were calling out everyone they knew to join in the massive assault on Hogwarts, Voldemort's now most guarded fortress, much more crowded than Riddle Mansion. They broadcasted using a telephone like floo-system that involved transporting one's words to another's fireplace instantly, much like a telephone does.

By nightfall however, they had assembled their forces. Grimmauld Place was crowded full of old Hogwarts students, all the members of the Order, Aurors from the ministry, and basically anyone that was brave enough to come.

All that was left to do was wait for the General to call.

The telephone rang two mornings later, hours before the sunrise.

No one but the muggle general would call by the telephone.

"Hello?" said Harry as he picked up the phone.

"We're ready to move out. We'll be at rendezvous point at 0600."

"Excellent, General, we will be there."

"Sonarus," Harry muttered.

"EVERYONE GET READY TO GO! WE'RE DUE IN THREE HOURS!"

And afterwards, a loud voice hollered, "HARRY! From outside."

Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron ran to open the doors.

What they saw amazed them.

It was Hagrid.

And behind him were the giants.

And from the looks of it, it was every last giant left in Britain.

***

Cho Chang had been reading the Daily Prophet, reporting yet another attack on the muggles by Lord Voldemort, when Harry's voice rang from the fireplace.

It was a voice she had not heard since her last year at Hogwarts, when Harry had made it clear to her that they were nothing but friends anymore, as she tried to seduce him in the Ravenclaw Common Room.

She had felt so lonely then, so needing of a partner to share her burdens with, and Harry Potter seemed like the perfect shoulder to cry on.

After all, they already had a history together, and they knew that they had already established feelings for each other at one point, to reignite the flames wouldn't be that hard.

Secretly, she still did have some feelings for Harry, despite their many breakups and fights, and her series of relationships afterwards.

She had reckoned she could banish the heart-stoppingly gorgeous Parvati Patil from his heart, after all, if Cho Chang tried to spend a lot of time dazzling herself up, she could just as easily seduce Harry.

It had worked, but she had reckoned without the little girl sister of his best friend, Ginny Weasley. She had talked to him, and she found weeks of careful seduction made useless by a few words from the red-headed girl.

Cho had wondered if they had gotten together yet.

She, in her heart of hearts, knew although she had been beaten out of Harry Potter by this girl who didn't even try, that Ginny Weasley was the one for him.

She left Hogwarts bidding Harry well, although still slightly spiting Ginny Weasley.

It was all a matter of time before they got together, she had said.

And upon her arrival at Grimmauld Place, her brother and father in tow, she had found that she was right.

In the living room, relaxing on the leather sofas was Harry and Ginny, who were snuggling together, laughing about something. They looked so natural and happy, despite the evil situations she knew they must've been through.

As she saw Harry get up and wave at her, she knew that she had said the right thing before.

Harry and Ginny really were meant to be.

And she, Cho, would do nothing to try and break them apart. She truly felt happy for them, all memories of her former relationship with Harry out of the way.

As she smiled at Harry, offering her congratulations about Ginny, he smiled back at her.

"Thanks," he had said.

She would always remember Harry... after all, how could anyone forget him?

It would be her fairy tale story to children of her own one-day.

She had dated Harry Potter... not many could say that!

And she was still his friend, an honor that she felt she really didn't deserve.

If the war was won, and if she was still alive, it would be a tale worth telling indeed.

She looked into those tortured green eyes, just slightly longingly, one last time.

She tore her eyes away.

And then she knew she had closure.

"You're welcome."

***

Ginny was nervous.

If anything Hermione had told her was like what it sounded like, the upcoming battle would be massive.

Thousands of troops on either side.

She stood in Hogsmeade, side by side with her family.

A bit further away stood Harry and Hermione, going over last minute strategies.

And then the muggles arrived.

Jets came roaring in, so loud that Ginny couldn't hear anything but them.

Tanks came rolling around the remains of Hogsmeade.

And behind them was the river of troops.

The muggles had come.

Watching them with interest, Ginny saw that they had all lined up in formation.

The engines went dead.

No one spoke, wizard nor muggle.

No one even moved, as every last camouflaged soldier stood, saluting their General, who was himself came out a jet.

They all looked to Harry at the beckoning of the General.

All the wizards were also focused on him.

No longer there were the warm, loving eyes Ginny cared about.

Every last part of Harry's stature was one of a war veteran.

He stood with his back straight and unyielding, his eyes flaring, his lips thin.

The General spoke.

"Do we have a name for our alliance?"

"How about 'The Bonding'," voiced Snape.

Several people started snickering, and Snape, surprisingly, turned red, and looked away.

All eyes turned to Harry.

It was clear that the question was initially intended for him.

Harry waited a few seconds before he spoke.

"Yes, General..."

Everyone was focused on him.

"Dumbledore's Army."

Cho Chang, Ernie MacMillan, Luna Lovegood, Michael Corner, Terry Boot, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, Zacharias Smith, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Susan Bones, Lee Jordan, Parvati and Padma Patil, Lavender Brown, Anthony Goldstein, Fred, George, Ginny, and Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter all smiled reminiscently at this.

She, Ginny, was also amazed that nearly all of the members of the DA had turned up for the upcoming battle.

Ginny sighed.

Dumbledore's Army.

It was a name from a lifetime ago.

It was a name that brought confidence to those who knew who Dumbledore was, and brought a strange feeling of pride to those who did not.

It was a name that Ginny herself had once thought of.

And as Harry turned and looked straight at her, she smiled and nodded solemnly.

It was a name that was perfect for the situation, a crusade to take back what was theirs.

The General barked orders to his men.

And Dumbledore's Army marched to Hogwarts.

***

It could be seen, still in the darkness, as Dumbledore's Army approached and surrounded Hogwarts.

The wizards chanted.

The muggles could now see the school, in all its glory, with a Dark Mark hanging like a poisonous cloud above.

The sun had started to rise.

The army stopped yet again.

Everything was silent, besides for the engines of the vehicles.

Men, planes, tanks, trolls, dementors, giants all alike halted.

Death Eaters had already stood positioned at windows and at the Front Door.

It was a solemn moment.

White light filled the skies.

Harry Potter walked up to the front of the ranks.

All eyes were on the Boy-who-Lived again.

Twilight shone upon Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

History would be made.

Fortuna meowed on Harry's shoulder.

Through the darkness of it all, a fire lit within the soul of Harry Potter.

He was home.

Hogwarts.

Time to take it back.

On the opposite side of Hogwarts, a ginger colored mysticat returned his meow.

It was a sign, a symbol of unity within Dumbledore's Army.

And then, one word, spoken in a deadly voice, started it all.

"Attack."