Revelations and Romance

Revelations and Romance chapter 25/25

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25: Aftermath

Jun 11th, after Gryffindor win the Quidditch Cup

Last chapter ended with:

Following Gryffindor's win over Ravenclaw, a garland of flowers lands on Harry, and he and Hermione discover the hard way that Voldemort has somehow turned an innocent-looking garland of flowers into a Portkey.

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Harry and Hermione landed, staggering. Harry glanced quickly around -- once again, the Portkey's destination was a cemetery, though it wasn't the same one that had been the site of Voldemort's rebirth. There was a wooden shelter containing a bench, which --

'Harry! This isn't a guided tour!' hissed Hermione, shoving him hard. He slipped and fell, and realised she'd pushed him behind a large, ornate tombstone. He crouched behind the stone, and saw that the elaborate carving included small holes, which he squinted through. He could see the shelter, and Voldemort himself was sitting there, smiling evilly. He saw Wormtail standing beside him, and another half-dozen Death Eaters outside the shelter, advancing on him and Hermione. He wished they hadn't been playing Quidditch -- their black school robes would have stood out less than the red Quidditch robes they were both wearing.

'There are two -- again. Bring me Potter. Kill that girl,' said Voldemort in the voice Harry had heard too often. Harry glanced to his left -- Hermione was crouching behind another, equally large, tombstone. She was shaking, and Harry wished he could do or say something to reassure her. As he wasn't sure whether either of them could survive this encounter with Voldemort and his Death Eaters, nothing reassuring occurred to him. Then he saw her take something from her jeans pocket. It was the mirror she'd been carrying ever since one had saved her from being killed by the Basilisk. She held it with her left hand, angling it so that she could see round the stone, which didn't have small holes like the one he was behind, and gripped her wand in her right hand. Harry realised with relief that she was shaking, not from fear, but from hardly-suppressed anger. He'd seen the results of her annoyance with Peeves, and he felt they now had a slim chance.

'My wand doesn't work against him!' he hissed to her.

'I know! Petrify Wormtail instead!' she hissed back. 'When I get to three!' Harry aimed his wand through one of the holes in the carving, and waited as she counted. Both cast Lapiform at the same time and, as far as Harry could see, effectively.

'Death Eaters! Leave them! Help me!' came Voldemort's voice. Harry looked, horrified, at Hermione, just in time to see her mouthing the last few words. He relaxed and grinned, remembering the ventriloquism charm she'd used with Lavender and Parvati before Ron's birthday. He looked back through the hole. The Death Eaters had turned to hurry back. Voldemort's immobility seemed to have convinced them something was wrong.

From above, they'd have looked like a V, with three on each side. 'Attack the outside one on your side first!' he hissed back to Hermione, who nodded. Each of them cast Lapiform three times, and then there were eight Petrified people in the cemetery. No, seven -- one of them, the father of either Crabbe or Goyle from his size, had reacted in time to block the curse, and had also taken shelter behind a tombstone, as they could see from the edge of his robes, which was still visible. The others, hearing nothing from the cursed Death Eaters behind them, hadn't realised what was happening, but this one had looked around to see why Goyle or Crabbe had stopped speaking. The tombstone shielding Harry cracked from the force of a curse.

Hermione looked around wildly, and then realised the yew tree close to the hiding Death Eater had possibilities. 'Gravarbus!' she cast, and a massive branch, suddenly too heavy to remain on the tree, fell upon the Death Eater, knocking both him and the stone over, and exposing the stunned man to Hermione's next Lapiform curse.

'Do you think there are any more, hiding?' Hermione asked in a whisper, looking all around.

'Better not be, I don't think I can manage much more of this.' He risked standing up to get a better view.

'No!'

'I can't see anyone else. He must have thought he had enough Death Eaters to deal with two kids,' he said, now speaking normally again. 'They wouldn't have hidden if they were only expecting me, anyway.'

Hermione stood up cautiously and looked around too. 'That was stupid of him. Though he was only expecting you.'

'I'm not complaining.'

She smiled. 'I'm not really. I thought for a moment I'd never see Ron or my parents again.'

'I hope these flowers will take us back. But they're still round my neck, and nothing's happening. I suppose I was meant to straighten them up myself, so there was a delay after they touched me.' He looked at the eight statues. 'I was going to say that I was sorry I got you into this, but considering the results of you being here ...'

She smiled. 'It worked out OK. If the garland doesn't take us back, I've still got Dumbledore's Portkey in my pocket. That'll take us back to my home at nine this evening, and back to Hogwarts at nine-twenty. But I don't want to wait that long.'

'No! We've got to find a quicker way back! That's about nine hours -- everyone will think we're dead.' He realised something. 'They probably already do.'

'Now I wish Mum and Dad hadn't been watching. What are they going through?'

Harry moved over to hug her. 'They'll be relieved when they find out you're OK. Do you think we had the easy part, then?'

Hermione smiled again. 'No. I've thought of something, though.' She pointed her wand at the shelter. 'Morsmordre!' The Dark Mark rose above the cemetery, just as it had above the woods after the World Cup.

Harry let go of her and stepped back, looking at the Mark in the sky. 'Was that really a good idea? You don't think it'll summon more Death Eaters?'

'I doubt it. I hope not. Mr Weasley said that they used it to mark where they'd attacked. Aurors will probably want to know what happened, so Death Eaters will stay away.' She put her wand in her pocket. 'Put your wand away in case the Aurors react to anyone holding one.'

After a few minutes, during which they guessed who the hooded Death Eaters might be, and hoped Hermione's idea would work, there was a faint pop as someone appeared near to the shelter, his wand drawn, then a series of pops as several others appeared. As each appeared, they looked around, assessing the situation, then one of them advanced towards Harry and Hermione, while the others checked the Petrified Death Eaters. Hermione held her hands up in the air, and Harry copied her.

'What's been going on here, then?' demanded the man.

'Angus!' called another, near the shelter.

'Wait!' he snapped. 'You two -- who are you?' His stare swept across Harry's forehead, and he paused, then cast 'Veritego!' Both pupils gained a faint green aura for a moment, then it faded. Angus lowered his wand. 'You really are Harry Potter. And you are?'

'Hermione Granger. I'm a friend of Harry's,' she told him. He nodded. She asked gently, 'Are you Mr Dunsmuir?'

'Aye. We had a report of the Dark Mark, and came to investigate. What's been going on?'

'Angus, are you still too busy to look?' called the other Auror.

'This'd better be good,' he said, turning to look.

'How about wonderful?' asked the other.

'What are you blithering on about? Is that ... Voldemort?'

'Looks like him,' grinned the other. 'Veritego agrees, too.'

Mr Dunsmuir cast Veritego to see for himself. 'That's no disguise. It is really Voldemort.' He spun around to face the two Gryffindors. 'Did you two do this?' he asked, a broad smile on his face.

'Hermione did,' Harry told him.

'You got half of them,' she said. 'Mr Dunsmuir -- do you know who that is beside Voldemort? Harry Petrified him.'

'He's not one I recognise immediately.'

She said softly, 'He's called Wormtail.'

'This? This is the one who murdered my daughter?' His voice was shaking, but he quelled it with an effort. 'I'll be making sure he rots in Azkaban.'

'Be careful,' warned Harry. 'He's a rat Animagus -- he can probably get out of most of the cells when he's rat-sized.'

'Thanks,' said another Auror. 'We don't want him ever escaping.'

'How do you feel about catching Wormtail, Harry?' Hermione asked him.

'However you feel,' said Angus, 'I owe you a great debt, both of you. Not just me, either.'

'I caught Wormtail,' said Harry, wonderingly. 'But it won't bring my parents back. Or Cedric, or Raine.'

'He won't be able to kill anyone else, though,' Hermione pointed out.

'No. I wonder how Sirius will feel now.'

'We'll take them all back to the Ministry's holding cells,' Angus told them, coming back over to join them. 'I can't believe you managed this. Raine said the school was calling you the "duelling menaces", and now I see why. Oh, and I don't want to know how that Dark Mark got there!'

They both grinned sheepishly.

'I don't know what either of you wants to do after you leave school, but I'll tell you now, if you want to become Aurors, you've already a head start on the tests.'

Harry's jaw dropped and he looked at Hermione, who looked just as stunned. He supposed it made sense; who could ever be harder to capture?

'How did you get here, anyway?'

'This garland round my neck seems to be a Portkey. I'm not sure if it's safe to touch it again,' Harry told him.

'Best not try, then.' Angus levitated it off Harry's neck. 'We'll get you back. I want to talk to Dumbledore, myself. Alex -- take care of this lot. Do we know who they are yet?'

'Macnair, Avery, Nott, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle,' recited the Auror called Alex. 'Plus Voldemort and Wormtail, of course.'

'Wormtail's also called Peter Pettigrew,' said Harry.

'Oh, him,' said Alex. 'I didn't know it was the same man.'

'Now, if you'll take them all back to the holding cells, I'll be taking back these two.' He smiled and summoned a piece of the branch that Hermione had dropped on the Death Eater. 'Portus.' The stick glowed for a moment with an odd blue light, which faded. 'Now, you two each grab a hold of it, and it'll take us to Hogwarts in a few moments.' He held it out to them. They held onto it, waited, and again felt the familiar sensation of a Portkey.

They had time to recognise the Quidditch stadium and the crowd, when Hermione was suddenly knocked to the ground.

'You're alive! You're alive! You're alive!' Ron babbled, hugging her and pinning her to the ground.

Mr Dunsmuir had reacted almost too fast in readying his wand, but smiled now and put it back in his pocket. 'That'd be Arthur's son, from the hair -- and the hug.'

'She's squashed, squashed and squashed,' Harry told Ron with a grin. 'Let her stand up and breathe!' Ginny grabbed him, but was too light to knock him over. He lifted her off her feet, hugged her and kissed her. 'I am not letting you go,' he told her, smiling, and kissed her again.

Ron, looking embarrassed, helped Hermione back to her feet and she immediately hugged him again and looked around.

'Hermione!' cried her mother, running over, followed by Mr Granger. 'Nobody wanted to really tell us anything,' she told her daughter as she hugged her and Ron, 'but Ron just collapsed on the ground crying, and we knew whatever it was had to be bad.'

'It was -- but it worked out all right,' Hermione said. 'We're fine. Everyone's fine.'

Harry kissed Ginny again. 'You-Knew-Who is going to Azkaban. You're safe now.'

'You're joking!' said George. 'You mean, you two got him? Seriously?'

'I suspect this will be a most interesting story,' said Dumbledore, coming up to them and greeting Mr Dunsmuir. 'I am relieved to see that you do not appear to have suffered much, although I do wonder if you might be under the influence of Love Potions.'

Harry grinned. 'No, nothing like that. I can stop kissing Ginny any time I want to.' He kissed her again. 'I just don't want to.' He kissed her again. 'I'll stop later.' He kissed her again.

'I see. I suspect that you are suffering from shock. I believe it would be advisable to go to the hospital wing so that Madam Pomfrey can make quite sure that you are all right.' Madam Pomfrey was, in fact, quite close to Dumbledore, but she stepped forward.

'Now, come on, both of you. I suppose you'd better bring anyone you're sure you can't manage to let go of, even for a moment.' Harry grinned, and followed her, his arm around Ginny.

Once in the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey fussed around him and Hermione, making everyone who'd come to keep them company give them some room. That consisted of Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Mr and Mrs Granger, Angelina, Professor Dumbledore, Mr Dunsmuir and Hagrid. Mr Dunsmuir was telling Dumbledore what he knew, listened to by all but Hermione's parents, who were anxiously watching their daughter. They also kept looking at Hagrid, the largest person they'd ever seen. Fred and George were half-listening, and also whispering something to Ron and Ginny, making Ginny laugh and Ron smile and glance at Hermione.

'They aren't really ill, are they?' Mrs Granger asked anxiously.

'I just want to keep them in overnight, to make sure they're all right. From what I've been told, they could be suffering from magical exhaustion,' said Madam Pomfrey. 'Also, their behaviour suggests a hysterical reaction to shock.'

'What's magical exhaustion?' asked Harry.

'Try casting Lumos,' suggested Mr Dunsmuir.

Harry tried, but it was harder than he expected to make his wand glow. 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing much. You can't really expect to each cast four spells as powerful as Lapiform in so short a time without having some reaction when you relax. It's not permanent, any more than being tired after running a mile would mean you'd never run again.'

'Drink this. It's mainly a restorative, to help you through the exhaustion,' said Madam Pomfrey, handing Harry and Hermione a large vial each. 'Drink all of it, mind you.'

Harry looked at it suspiciously. It was a deep green colour, and he hoped it tasted better than the Skele-Gro he'd once had. He found that it did -- in fact, it tasted of chocolate, and was quite pleasant to drink. 'I'm still ill, I'd better have some more,' he said with a grin, handing the empty vial back to Madam Pomfrey.

'Too much of this potion would cause you problems, Potter,' she said reprovingly. 'And the taste shouldn't surprise you -- you know perfectly well that chocolate is a remedy for the effects of the Dark Arts.'

'It does taste nice, anyway,' said Hermione, handing her the other empty vial. 'Does the Medical Magic course cover that potion?'

'If you take it into the seventh year, yes.'

'Medical Magic?' asked Mr Granger. 'Are you thinking of taking that, then?'

'Yes. It's parental pressure,' she said, smiling at him.

He smiled back. 'What did happen to you, anyway?'

'Oh. You remember that most evil Dark Wizard ever? The one who kept trying to kill Harry?'

'Was that what nobody would tell us? That he'd dragged you two away by magic?'

Hermione nodded. 'I don't know how he did, though, because the Headmaster knew he was planning something, probably today.'

Dumbledore admitted, 'We evidently need to find a way to prevent such occurrences. I will be investigating how it could possibly have happened.'

'You could both have been killed!' said Mrs Granger. She looked at Ron, as she realised, 'That was why you reacted like that. You knew what it meant. That was why Fred just about dragged us over to the Headmaster, away from you.'

'We all knew,' said Ginny. 'You-Know-Who seems to want Harry for something, so we thought he was probably safer than Hermione.'

Ron nodded. 'I didn't want you near me when I gave way.'

'I know how you felt,' Mrs Weasley told Mrs Granger. 'Three years ago, he captured Ginny, and we thought she was dead.' The Grangers looked at her in horror. 'Harry rescued her,' she added, smiling at Harry.

Hagrid nodded. ''Course, Harry's a real hero, ev'ry bit as good as his mum an' dad. Nah, better.'

Ron took Hermione's hand, and told her, 'I really, really didn't think I'd ever see you again.'

'I got that impression when you knocked me over,' she told him, smiling. She pulled him closer, and they kissed. When they separated, she said quietly, 'I thought the same.'

'You're taking this far too lightly!' exclaimed Mrs Granger. 'What happens now? You just wait for him to try to kill you both again? Can't anyone stop him?'

'He has been stopped,' said Mr Dunsmuir. 'My men now have him and seven of his supporters locked up.'

'You rescued them? Oh, thank you!'

Angus laughed. 'No, don't thank me. Thank your daughter and Harry Potter. Once they'd captured them all, they managed to send a signal and we came and ... well, tidied up. We did no more than that, and bringing the two of them back.'

Mr and Mrs Granger stared at him in amazement, then looked back at Hermione, who was blushing.

'I feel that perhaps Miss Granger is too modest to have told you of her skills and academic achievements,' said Dumbledore.

'We used to call the two of them the "duelling menaces" because they're so good at magic duels,' said Fred. 'We've just been trying to think of a better name for them, after what they just did.'

'They're better than the twins, who are two years above them,' said Ginny.

'The two of you defeated him? Really?' Mr Granger asked.

'No, not really,' said Harry with a smile. 'I just got four of his supporters. Hermione got him and the other three. She is too modest.'

'Don't pretend you didn't do anything!' she protested.

*

It must have been about midnight. Madam Pomfrey had insisted everyone leave some time before nine in the evening, and Ron had offered to use the Portkey to take Mr and Mrs Granger home. Dobby had visited a while later, happy and excited that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was a prisoner. He had told 'Harry Potter, sir' how upset he'd been when he heard he and 'Her Mynee, miss' had vanished. He had finally left when Madam Pomfrey came out to see who was making so much noise.

Harry turned over in his bed, still unable to get to sleep after the day's excitement. He saw Hermione, also awake, looking at him. She got out of bed and came to sit on the side of his.

'Have you thought about what things are going to be like, now that Voldemort's going to Azkaban?' she asked him.

'They'll be very different,' he said. 'No more of Voldemort trying to kill me, no more being suspicious of good friends for no reason. We can tell people that Ginny's my girlfriend, at last.'

'I'm sure she'll like that. We've got two more years at Hogwarts, and now we won't have to worry about anyone trying to kill you.'

'Except for Snape and Malfoy,' he joked. 'Actually, I wonder what Malfoy and his friends will be like now we've got their fathers arrested?'

'We can cope with them. You said a while ago that you couldn't play Quidditch professionally, because it was too dangerous for everyone.'

'Yes, it ... it isn't! Not any more! I don't have to worry about him ever again ... it doesn't matter that he knows where my parents' house is ...' Harry was trying to keep up with all the thoughts suddenly swirling in his mind. 'Ginny, the house, Quidditch if I'm good enough ...It's all different!' He smiled. 'I'll never manage to get to sleep now!'

Hermione smiled at him. 'After all these years, you can stop worrying. No Voldemort, no Dursleys, all you've got to worry about now is your O.W.L. results.'

'Oh right, bring me right back down to earth,' he said grinning at her. 'Right now, even the O.W.Ls can't worry me. Though there are other Death Eaters. We didn't catch them all.'

'No, but Mr Dunsmuir told me that, with Voldemort out of the way, he thinks they'll be too scared to do anything by themselves. The Aurors might capture them after questioning the ones we got -- they can't lie under Veritaserum, can they? So, now you can be as happy as Ron.'

Harry closed his eyes and imagined Ginny. 'I'm just thinking about Ginny now,' he said.

'I won't tell Ron,' she told him, grinning.

'Fine, so it's just O.W.Ls and Ron to worry about. Actually, Ron's the only one of her brothers who knows how I feel about her. I wonder how the others will react.'

'I think Fred and George might have guessed, from the way you kissed her and wouldn't let go. Her parents must know by now, too.'

'Oh, of course. They've probably been interrogating her under Veritaserum since Madam Pomfrey made them leave.'

Hermione laughed at him. 'If they are, I'm sure she'll tell them you've been a perfect gentleman and so on. Besides, how hard can they object? You're the reason she's alive today.'

'I suppose so. That doesn't mean her family will like the idea.'

'It'll confuse Mrs Weasley. I think she already thinks of you as being almost a son, and now you're in love with her daughter.' She shook her head in mock dismay. 'That's illegal you know, unless you're a Pharaoh.'

Harry shrugged. 'I'll just have to remind her I don't have red hair.'

She smiled. 'Her parents don't worry you as much as mine did Ron.'

'I know them better -- I've stayed at the Burrow, remember.'

'This is different, though. Anyway, I'm glad you don't sound worried. You know, I think I envy you.'

'What? Why?'

'You've got all the beginning stages of love still to look forward to.'

'Er ... you two are getting on OK, aren't you? I didn't upset anything by mentioning engagements?'

'No, we're still OK. It's just more ... routine, I suppose, than it was at first. Don't worry about it. We're OK.'

'Don't sound so old,' he teased her. 'Yeah. You Petrified Voldemort, and I got my parents' betrayer, and Cedric and Raine's murderer. We can do anything! No problem is too great!'

'No problem except insomnia,' she said.

'Ha! I defy you, Insomnia! I'll Petrify you too!' he shouted.

A light appeared at the end of the room, and Madam Pomfrey came out of a side room, wearing a dressing gown. 'What is going on?'

'Sorry,' said Harry. 'We're still excited about the day's events, and how different everything's going to be from now on.'

Madam Pomfrey smiled. 'They will be very different, I'm sure. But one thing will stay the same, and that is that I'll be in charge in here. Miss Granger, get back into your bed.'

'Sorry,' she said and returned to her bed.

'Do you want a Sleeping Draught, either of you?'

Both agreed it would be a good idea, and they fell asleep not long after drinking them.

*

The following morning, Sunday, Madam Pomfrey checked that Harry and Hermione could both perform simple spells with ease, pronounced them recovered from their exhaustion, and allowed them to leave the hospital wing.

They went down to the Great Hall to meet the others for breakfast. Many of the pupils who were there applauded, as did Flitwick and some other teachers. McGonagall didn't applaud, but did smile when she saw them enter. Many pupils came over to them to give their congratulations, including Colin, who took some photos. It took the two of them almost twenty minutes to reach their usual seats between Ron and Ginny. Their two friends didn't press them for details, and the four of them started their breakfast, trying to ignore the loud buzz of conversation that had followed their entrance. They had almost finished their breakfasts when Malfoy came over to them with Crabbe and Goyle, as well as Nott. 'So,' sneered Malfoy, 'I suppose you two think you're something special now that you've captured all our fathers?'

'They always were,' said Ron.

Hermione took out her wand. Malfoy's eyes followed her movements cautiously. She said, 'Would you like us to show you how we can Petrify people?'

'What, you're going to petrify the Weasel just to show us?'

'I like Ron, so no. I don't like you, and I've no reason not to use you as a demonstration,' she said, pointing her wand at him. 'I don't think the Aurors will mind having a few Death-Eaters-in-training for their collection.'

'You're asking for a detention,' growled Nott.

'No,' said Harry. 'Go back to your table, the lot of you.'

Draco ignored Harry, and continued speaking to Hermione. 'Snape will mind, you stupid Mudblood. I told you, anyway, I'm not interested in the Dark Lord any more.'

'Then don't use that word!' snapped Ron.

'I bet you a Knut you can get all four of them before they get close to the table,' Harry told Hermione.

'Oh, poor Potter can't afford any more than a Knut.'

'OK, Malfoy, I'll bet you a thousand Galleons she can Petrify you until Friday. For two thousand, she'll get all four of you -- special offer, you can't resist that.'

'You don't have that much money!'

'I do. Besides, you're the one who'll be paying me.'

'If you're not going to bet, say so, and I can get on with Petrifying you,' said Hermione irritably. Harry heard Ginny's sharp intake of breath.

'Clear off, Malfoy, while you can still move,' said Ron with a grin.

'You aren't fooling me,' said Malfoy, turning on his heel and walking off rather hurriedly, followed by the other three.

'Were we trying to fool him?' Harry asked.

'Hermione!' exclaimed Ginny, 'You'll get in trouble doing things like that -- even just threatening to!'

'I didn't get in any trouble for Petrifying their fathers,' she pointed out. 'I practically got a job offer, instead.'

'But those four aren't Death Eaters!'

'Not yet,' said Harry. 'I suppose they won't be, without You-Know-Who to work for. I'm not convinced by Malfoy saying he's not interested any more.'

'He's not getting any politer,' said Hermione, putting her wand away.

Ginny shook her head. 'Well, Snape will give you detention or something, even if that one didn't.'

'Petrify him too,' suggested Ron. 'We know he's got the Dark Mark, after all.'

'That's a thought,' said Harry, looking over at the teachers' table. Snape was looking at the Slytherin table -- Harry wondered if he'd seen and was now pretending he hadn't. 'Right at the moment, I don't think Dumbledore will let Snape do anything about Hermione. Nobody else ever captured him, she deserves to enjoy herself.'

'I hope that Lucius Malfoy is the only one who was likely to try to take over,' said Hermione. 'It would be awful if another of the Death Eaters took over, and tried to become the new Voldemort.'

'Hopefully, anyone who tries will be less dangerous -- and maybe they'll fight amongst themselves to see who should lead them, and kill each other,' suggested Harry.

Ginny changed the subject. 'I told Hannah and Ernie about the discount at the twins' shop. I tried to give them the impression that they'd sold someone those toffees.'

'Tried? So you don't think they believed you?' Harry asked.

'They didn't look quite convinced. It's true that the twins didn't want you blamed, and the discount is to say thanks to them.'

'OK', he said, putting his arm around her and pulling her closer. She smiled and they kissed.

Ron coughed. After a moment he coughed again.

'What's wrong?' asked Harry with a grin as he and Ginny separated.

'He doesn't like us following his example,' said Ginny.

'What example?'

'This one,' she said, kissing him.

'Oh! This one!' he said, kissing her again.

'I think you'll have to give up,' Hermione told Ron. 'They've got a lot of secrecy to make up for.'

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny returned to their common room after breakfast, and Harry and Ginny leant together, arms around each other, as Ginny continued to revise for her exams. All the school's own internal exams were being held this week, now that the O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts were over.

'I'm beginning to think we shouldn't have given them so many bad examples,' muttered Ron.

'I thought they were all good examples,' teased Hermione. 'You always liked them.'

'Yeah, I did. Still do -- if they involve me.'

'I'm not going to kiss you,' Harry told him.

'Good,' Ron retorted. 'And you'd better not go to McGonagall's office with Hermione again! I liked the result last time, but that's not an example for you to follow!'

Ginny giggled. 'We can't stop McGonagall telling people to go to her office!'

'Well, no, maybe not, but you can control what happens afterwards.'

'How about this for an idea?' she asked. 'You shut up for a while and let me concentrate on my exams.'

'Oh. Sorry.'

The two couples sat in silence as Ginny revised, arms around each other, just enjoying a relaxing day after Saturday's events. It did occur to Harry that they hadn't had the usual celebrations after winning the Cup, but he felt happy enough.

*

Ron looked worried at breakfast on Monday when McGonagall told Harry and Hermione that she wanted to see them in her office at eleven that morning.

'That's when we'd have our lesson,' said Ginny. 'I wonder what she wants to see you about? Can you think of anything, Ron?'

Ron frowned.

'She's probably found out we slept in the same room on Saturday,' joked Harry.

'That would be the best reason ever for asking us if we're sleeping together,' said Hermione, 'but it can't be that again! She probably wants to talk about next year's Gryffindor Prefects, or something.'

'So why didn't she talk to Angelina or the other Prefects?' Ron asked, glancing over at Angelina, who was looking at McGonagall with a puzzled expression.

When the two Prefects went to her office, leaving a worried Ron in the common room, and Ginny in an exam, they found a stranger there with a camera. McGonagall explained that he was from Mellidur Publishing, the company that printed the Chocolate Frog cards, and he wanted to take some photos of the two heroes who'd defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. He gave them some forms to sign, confirming that they didn't object to being on the cards, and asked if there was anything in particular they wanted included on the back of the cards.

They went outside, and the photographer chose part of the castle's wall as a backdrop for the photos while McGonagall stood and watched. He got each of them to pose separately, pulling out their wands and pointing them at him. Harry felt silly, especially as he could see other fifth-years watching them. Eventually, they finished and the photographer bade them good-bye, walking along the path that led to Hogsmeade, where he could Apparate back to his office.

Harry said, 'Well, we can cheer Ron up now by telling him what happened.'

Professor McGonagall said, 'You might as well wait in the Great Hall for him -- it's almost lunchtime.'

'Already? I didn't realise we'd been that long,' said Harry, looking at his watch. 'Oh well.'

The two of them sat at the Gryffindor table waiting for Ron and Ginny. The fourth-years' exams were taking place in classrooms as usual.

'Is it safe to ask?' was Ron's question as soon as he sat down beside Hermione.

'We'll tell you when Ginny gets here,' said Harry.

'I don't think I like the sound of that.'

Ron and Ginny listened to their description of the photo session. 'OK, we've solved the mystery, and Harry's not going to copy what Hermione did,' said Ron happily. 'Now, where's the food?'

'It was embarrassing,' said Harry, as he stabbed a roast potato with his fork.

'Yes, and I could have done without those Hufflepuffs watching us,' said Hermione.

'Were they? I was concentrating on my pose, and then I was watching you.'

'They were under the tree. Susan kept copying you while your photos were taken. She probably copied me, too -- I was paying attention to the photographer then.'

After dinner that evening, when they were back in the common room, Ginny took a break from her revision to read about Harry and Hermione in that day's paper, which she'd borrowed from Shona. She frowned as she read it.

'What's the matter?' asked her brother.

'Someone's missing. I thought maybe they couldn't get hold of him in time for Sunday's, but he's not in this article either.' She looked at Harry. 'I know he didn't believe you last year, but Fudge has to admit now that You-Know-Who is alive, doesn't he?'

'He's probably too embarrassed to admit it, after denying it all year,' Harry suggested. 'Can't you imagine the headlines? "Minister lied through his teeth" and "Why did you let us down, Minister?" and that sort of thing.'

'I suppose that's true,' said Ginny, chuckling as she looked at the paper. 'Raine's dad's in here. Can you really walk on water and all the rest of it?'

Harry laughed. 'At least he believed us, even if he's a bit too enthusiastic.' He stopped laughing, adding sadly, 'Though he had a much more personal reason.'

'Yes,' said Ginny pensively. 'This paper keeps saying "You-Know-Who". They never print his real name.'

'Of course they don't!' said Ron.

'I don't mean Tom Riddle. Dumbledore said that most people don't know that's his name.'

'Nobody uses his other name. Well, nobody except Harry and Dumbledore.'

'Lupin and Sirius do,' Hermione pointed out. 'So does McCardle, and the Aurors.'

'Raine did too, after she confessed,' said Harry.

'There's not much point in my saying You-Know-Who in our Duelling classes, either, since Harry and Dumbledore don't,' said Hermione.

'You don't mean you always say his name when I'm not around?' Ron asked her in surprise.

'Yes, she does,' Harry confirmed. Ron shook his head in amazement.

'He's a statue, and he's locked up,' said Ginny. 'There's nothing to be scared of any more. It's safe to say V-Vol ...' she faltered. Harry hugged her.

'It might be safe, but it's still unpleasant -- and difficult,' said Ron.

'Oh, shut up. You've never even tried to say Vol ...Voldemort!'

'Yes! Good for you,' said Harry, hugging her tighter. She grinned sheepishly.

'Doesn't that mean Ron's the only one not calling him Voldemort?' Hermione asked.

Ron put his hands over his ears. 'Stop it, all of you!'

'You don't have to avoid saying his name just because of me now,' Ginny told Harry.

'Good,' he said.

*

Tuesday passed fairly quietly. The fifth-years didn't have any lessons, as they'd finished all the classes for the year. Until they got their O.W.L. results, they couldn't be sure what subjects they'd be doing in the sixth year, so they had been given a list of essays to do, unsupervised, since all the teachers were supervising exams for the other years.

The Heads of house had asked each pupil to write an analysis of what benefits they'd derived from each of their classes.

'What are you going to put for Divination?' Harry asked. 'The main thing I learnt was to be cynical unless it's Ginny telling the future, and not to worry when someone predicts my death.'

'I haven't done that one yet,' said Ron, smiling, 'but yours sounds like a good summary.'

'I wrote that it taught me to reject charlatans,' said Hermione. 'I don't suppose McGonagall's that likely to show the essays to Trelawney.' McGonagall had told her that she had to write about all the classes she'd taken, including the two she'd only taken in the third year.

'Considering their deep friendship, she probably won't,' said Harry.

'What did you write about Muggle Studies? You already knew it all,' Ron asked.

'I wrote about the insight it gave me into how wizards view Muggles.' She sighed. 'I wish more wizards really understood what Muggles were like.'

'Have you almost finished?' Harry asked, seeing how much parchment she'd already covered with her small neat writing. 'Or are you writing a novel about each class?'

'I've still got Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes, then I've finished.'

'For Potions, I'm tempted to put that I learnt that people can be as bad as Voldemort without the Aurors chasing them.'

'You haven't written his name!' Ron said, shocked.

'I haven't done the Potions bit yet, but I wrote his name for DADA.'

*

Since they were spending the hours they'd usually have spent in class doing their essays, the fifth-years relaxed in the evenings.

For Harry, the defeat of Voldemort overshadowed everything. His mind wandered around trying to think of all the ways his life would be different now.

In Hermione's case, 'relaxing' meant borrowing books from the library and reading about the subjects she was hoping to take. She wasn't as confident as Harry, Ron and Ginny were that she'd get good passes in all of her O.W.Ls.

Ron was pretending to read books also, but was too worried about his results to concentrate on them.

For Fred and George, the free time meant a chance to sell some more of their Wizard Wheezes and tell people about their new shop. They were hoping that pupils would want to buy some of their products to celebrate their O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. results, but had a problem. Most of the pupils who were likely to want to celebrate in that way had already bought things to celebrate if Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. When Harry and Hermione had vanished so abruptly, nobody knew what was happening, and nobody had felt like celebrating. When they returned, a celebration did start, but it was more muted than the usual Cup victory celebration. The four Weasleys and Angelina had spread the news of You-Know-Who's defeat, and the Sunday Prophet's confirmation of the story had come as a great relief, but the celebration had involved Butterbeer and other things, rather than fireworks and others of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

Angelina was completely recovered, but was no longer talking to the twins, and seemed to be spending all her time with Alicia, working on whatever tasks the seventh-years had been given. In the evenings, Katie was getting all the Quidditch advice Angelina could think of from her one year as Captain. Katie was being very patient in listening to this advice while revising for her own exams.

Neville was spending a lot of time lying down in his dorm. He was the only fifth-year to have needed a Calming Draught after the exams were over. He'd told Harry and the others that he was sure he'd failed all of his exams, and that his grandmother would disown him. They couldn't reassure him, despite trying.

*

Wednesday passed quietly, as they finished their first essay and started another, until the pupils returned to the common room after dinner. Harry and Ginny were again leaning together, arms around each other while she revised, and Ron and Hermione were relaxing similarly. There was a tapping sound against a window, and Harry saw two owls outside. Gently moving his arm from behind Ginny, he opened the window. The owls delivered one envelope each to Harry and to Hermione. Harry shut the window and sat down to look at the contents of his envelope.

'Who's it from?' asked Ginny.

Hermione had already opened hers. 'They're my Chocolate Frog cards. There must be half a dozen of them,' she said. She looked at the first, and smiled.

Harry finished opening his. He looked at the first card. The Harry in the picture drew his wand and pointed it at him, then waved. He looked quickly through the others. 'There's a note,' he said, opening it. '"Samples for approval" ... "send back a card with corrections if necessary" ... "sign approval form" ... "royalties".' He looked at the wording on the back of the card. 'This looks all right.' He signed his approval form. 'If you've signed yours, I'll send them both back with Hedwig.'

'Thanks. I'll swap for one of yours,' said Hermione, smiling at him. They passed the cards round.

'Two brand new cards nobody else has seen,' said Ron, looking at them. 'And they're of my best friends. Incredible.'

Ginny nodded, looking at the two cards.

'If you want, I'll do cards for you,' offered Hermione. 'You remember, like the one I did at Christmas of Ron and me.'

'Oh, yes please,' said Ginny.

'It's not as good as having a real one, but I'd like that,' Ron agreed.

'OK, you just need Trollaroids of yourselves,' Hermione said.

'I've got exams all day tomorrow,' sighed Ginny. 'I suppose there's lunch and after class -- or before the first exam starts. There'd be less people around then. I want to be threatening, like you two are.'

'You're not a duelling menace,' Ron pointed out.

'Well, what do you want to look like on your card?'

'They do look good like that. OK, I'll do the same.'

Ginny looked at Harry. 'I hadn't thought about this, but you deserve to be on the cards. You two did something braver than most people did to get on them.'

*

At breakfast on Thursday, Harry noticed a man talking to Malfoy and Matteo at the Slytherin table, He wasn't a teacher, but he did look fairly old, almost like a much older version of Lucius Malfoy. Harry got Ginny's attention. 'Do you recognise that man talking to Malfoy?'

She looked. 'Maybe. I'm not sure.'

'You don't think he might be that Professor Malfoy?'

'He doesn't look dead. I suppose the portrait wasn't sure about that, though. He's a lot older than the portrait, if it is him.'

'You mean, he might be the one who told Malfoy about you and Ginny?' asked Ron.

'His portrait did, if it is him. He probably doesn't even know that happened.'

Malfoy and the old man stood, and came round to the Gryffindor table, followed by Matteo. 'That's Potter,' said Malfoy, pointing at Harry, and then Hermione, 'and that's the Granger M- ... girl. You two -- this is my grandfather. You were hanging around his portrait.'

Harry looked nervously at the former Professor. The portrait had been polite enough, but Harry's experiences with the Malfoy family had never been good.

Mr Malfoy's face broke into a wide smile, and he stretched his hand out across the table. Harry shook hands, as much from habit as from knowing why. 'Harry Potter! I never thought I would ever meet you! When I heard that you'd defeated Riddle as a baby, I hoped I might be able to thank you, but I never believed I would live this long. My wife had just died, and I did not think I would long outlive her.'

Harry managed to free his hand. 'But his defeat didn't last, you know.'

Mondis Malfoy shrugged. 'That was no fault of yours. You saved many people's lives by your defeat of him.'

'Maybe,' Harry said, smiling. He decided he liked the real man as much as his portrait. His grandson didn't look very happy about all this friendliness, which Harry considered a bonus. Matteo was lurking behind the two Malfoys, grinning.

'You are too modest, besides. Your defeat of him as an infant may not have been permanent, but what of your defeating him last Saturday?' He looked at Hermione, and offered her his hand too. Hermione shook his hand, smiling shyly. 'The world owes you both a great debt, Mr Potter twice over. You are both very talented,' the former Professor told them.

'Professor,' said Harry, 'You can't thank me for what we did last week. It wasn't just Riddle we captured,' he swallowed nervously, 'we captured your son too.'

'That wasn't your fault,' Hermione pointed out.

'I have disowned Lucius,' Mondis said icily. 'You -- both of you, in fact -- are more my spiritual heir than Lucius ever was. Capturing him was a brave and noble deed. He will be punished now for what he has done.'

Draco was looking less and less happy about this. He caught sight of Matteo, who was still grinning, and glared at him.

'You ... you're glad we captured him?' asked Harry uncertainly. 'I thought you'd be angry ... I'm just really surprised. I thought you were dead, for one thing.'

'Everyone did. Legally, I still am dead, though I am challenging that at the Ministry.' He paused. 'You are both in Draco's year, correct?'

Harry and Hermione nodded.

'Do you intend to take Advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts in your next year?'

'Yes,' said Harry. Hermione nodded again.

'I am pleased to hear that. I look forward to teaching you both -- if there is anything you yet need to learn.'

'Teaching us? Is Professor McCardle leaving? Are you replacing her?' Harry asked.

'I am. She is quite happy not to be teaching any longer, as she says she finds it quite a strain. Albus knows, of course, that I have several years of experience of teaching the subject.'

'Oh, I see.'

'Now, I must speak to some others.' He walked off, still followed by his grandson and Matteo.

'I wonder why Matteo was with them?' Ron said.

Ginny explained, 'He's Malfoy's second cousin. Raine told me after the story about me was in the Prophet. He doesn't like the Malfoys. He said that his grandfather's sister married Professor Malfoy, and he thought they were dead, like everyone else.'

Harry looked over to the teachers' table, where Mondis was still talking to Snape. 'It must be nice to find out it's not true. He's like Sirius -- falsely imprisoned for years. And his wife died, too. Poor man.'

'He's going to have a very personal attitude to Dark Arts, isn't he?' Ron asked.

'I suppose so,' said Ginny. She looked at her watch. 'I've got to get to my exam!' She grabbed her bag and rushed out of the Great Hall.

Hermione commented, 'Do you realise, Professor Malfoy's going to be the only teacher we'll always call Professor? Not like McGonagall and the others.'

Ron nodded. 'Yeah, we're too used to "Malfoy" meaning his grandson.'

They went slowly up to the common room, where the trio worked on their second essays, which were about how they viewed their possible future careers. Ron had the shortest essay, since he was only considering working as an Auror, or some other Ministry job if he didn't get good enough passes in his N.E.W.Ts. Harry wrote about being an Auror and a professional Quidditch player. Hermione seemed to be writing an encyclopaedia of every career she'd ever considered.

Seamus and Dean were having a distractingly loud argument about Quidditch and football. Seamus seemed to take it as a personal affront that Dean preferred football, despite being on the house Quidditch team.

'Wish they'd shut up,' said Harry. 'I can't concentrate on my essay.'

'You're a Prefect, tell them to stop,' suggested Ron.

'True,' said Harry, standing up and going over to them. 'You're getting a bit loud. Can't you argue more quietly? I know you're disturbing us, so you're probably bothering others.'

Seamus saluted him mockingly, but both boys agreed to argue more quietly -- they left the common room to do so.

*

After lunch, Ron and Hermione went off to the room Harry referred to as their lovenest. Ginny was doing her Muggle studies exam, so Harry was alone. After a brief attempt to talk to Neville, who was still certain he'd failed everything, he sat in his usual seat to finish his essay.

The portrait hole opened, and Harry looked round, expecting to see Ron and Hermione. However, Dumbledore entered instead, and came over to sit opposite Harry, in Hermione's usual seat. 'I had hoped to see Miss Granger here as well.'

'She's busy doing something else,' said Harry, turning red. Well, he thought, she probably is busy. 'I don't suppose they'll be much longer,' he added, glancing at his watch.

'Then by all means, continue reading. I will wait for them.'

Harry tried to concentrate on the essay while they waited. He hoped Dumbledore was going to tell them what he'd found out about the Portkey, and accepted that it was only fair to wait for Hermione, as she'd been caught by it too.

The portrait hole opened again. The two lovers came in, and stopped when they saw Dumbledore. 'Come, be seated,' he said. 'I have information you will be interested to hear.' Ron sat in Ginny's usual chair, and Hermione sat in the normally-empty chair beside him.

'Firstly, I had some information as early as Saturday afternoon. Do you know Miss Heather Kelly, a first-year pupil?'

The others nodded. 'Jon's sister,' said Harry. 'I think I've only spoken to her once, though.'

'She went to see the Head Boy soon after the Portkey had taken you to Voldemort. She was extremely upset and confused, but he took her to see Professor McGonagall, who finally managed to make sense of her story. It appears that she was under the Imperius Curse, and had been given that garland of flowers to throw. She did not know of that curse, and could not understand how she had suddenly gained a garland of flowers, or why she was compelled to throw it. She knew only that you had vanished after she threw the flowers and they had touched you.'

'Poor girl,' said Hermione gently.

'She was reassured and given a Calming Draught. As Miss Dunsmuir had told me the name of her contact, I suspected that he was involved again.'

'Malcolm Baddock,' said Harry. 'Raine told me.'

'Ah. Well, I suppose that did no harm, and it is too late to reproach her now. I eventually had to use Veritaserum to find the truth. He put the Imperius Curse on Miss Kelly when they were both out in the grounds on the last Hogsmeade day, as both were too young to go there. The garland was supplied to him, already enchanted. It appears to have been triggered by touching you. Miss Granger was caught by it because the spell delayed to make certain the garland was still in contact. This may have been to allow you to adjust it round your neck properly.'

'But Hermione adjusted it, so she got caught,' said Harry. 'I started to apologise to her, but ... if she hadn't been there too, I don't know if I'd be here now.'

'Has Mr Dunsmuir found out what they wanted Harry for?' Ron asked.

'None of the Petrified Death Eaters had, as yet, recovered when I spoke to him.'

'What happens to Malcolm Baddock?' Harry wanted to know.

'Although he used a pre-spelled wand to cast the Imperius Curse, it is certain that he knew what he was doing. The Aurors now have him. Due to his age, it is unlikely that he will be sent to Azkaban, but I do not believe he will return to Hogwarts.' Dumbledore sighed. 'Mr Malfoy, while still a Prefect, had arbitrarily deducted points from Miss Kelly, and had received detentions as a result. His loud complaints about the "injustice" of it all led Mr Baddock to choose Miss Kelly, out of the available pupils, as a target, in hopes of embarrassing the Head Boy.'

'So, if Malfoy hadn't been so nasty, Baddock might have picked on someone else?' asked Ron.

'It would appear so. Now, I believe that is all the information I have on the subject so far. We do not know for certain who provided Mr Baddock with the objects.' He added, 'The Aurors have found that all traces of Death Eater activity seem to have ceased. They believe that the remaining Death Eaters are in hiding, after Voldemort's defeat.'

Dumbledore bade them farewell and left the common room. The other pupils there flocked to find out what he'd told them, and the trio gave them a shortened version. Ron managed to make it sound as if Malfoy was more to blame than Voldemort.

Crookshanks jumped onto the chair Dumbledore had been sitting in, and curled up there, purring. He was still there when Ginny returned from her Muggle Studies exam. 'Why have you all moved round?' she asked, sinking into Ron's usual chair and stroking Crookshanks. They explained about Dumbledore's visit and the explanation. 'Oh. Oh, poor Heather,' she said. 'I hope she doesn't feel too badly about it, and Dumbledore told her she couldn't help obeying.'

'I hope she doesn't. I wonder if she'd just be worried if I tried to talk to her. Two years without Voldemort threatening me means I've got enough of a good mood to share,' said Harry, relishing the thought.

'Two years, and then you three will leave me all alone,' said Ginny, pouting.

'Well, you'll have lots of other pupils here. If you're a Prefect, you can boss them around. You'll be in the seventh year then, maybe you'll be Head Girl.'

Ginny frowned at Harry. 'That's not funny. I'd like to be a Prefect. I wish I could be.'

Harry stared blankly at her. 'Maybe you will be. I wasn't joking. You're top of your year, aren't you, like Hermione is of ours?'

'Hermione didn't attack anyone with a Basilisk,' she said quietly. 'She was one of my victims.'

'Dumbledore and McGonagall know it wasn't your fault. I'm sure they won't hold it against you.'

Ginny clearly didn't agree. Harry gave up. He still believed that McGonagall had given away the fact that Ginny was likely to be one of the next group of Prefects, and decided to wait and see if he was right.

*

'History of Magic and Care of Magical Creatures today,' said Ginny at breakfast on Friday. 'That's the last of my exams.'

'Good,' said Harry. 'But you've still got lessons next week, haven't you?'

'Yes,' she sighed. 'I still can't laze around doing essays like you lot. Wait until next year, when you're doing lessons and I'm relaxing.'

'See, it's not all bad. Oh, I forgot something.'

'What?'

He hugged her and kissed her forehead. She giggled and chided him, 'You missed!' They kissed properly.

'I suppose this is better than having You-Know-Who on the loose,' muttered Ron. Hermione frowned at him. 'Oh, you know what I mean.'

'How am I supposed to concentrate on History of Magic if you complain whenever I get some enjoyment?'

'Sorry,' said Harry, hugging her again. 'I didn't mean to distract you.'

Ginny went to the History of Magic classroom for her exam, and the other three took their third essays outside into the grounds.

'Shame Hagrid's doing an exam,' said Ron, looking over at Hagrid and some third-year pupils. 'We could go and talk to him otherwise.'

'Let's go and see him tomorrow,' said Harry. They drifted slowly over towards the lake, and sat in the shade of a tree, looking out over the water. Some pupils were swimming, playing with the giant squid's tentacles. Most of them just seemed to be sitting quietly talking. A few couples were kissing.

Harry looked at the other two, who were sitting close together, arms around each other. 'Do you mind my being here? I don't want to stay with you if you'd rather be alone together.'

'No, that's OK,' said Hermione. 'I promise we won't make love here.'

'Yeah, wouldn't want those Slytherins over there to watch,' said Ron. 'Though it might remind Malfoy of what he hasn't got.'

'Have you "got" me?' Hermione asked him.

'I don't mean like that! I mean, well, romance. Unless he's improved since Raine told us about that.'

'Oh, all right.'

They sat quietly, working on their third essays. This time, they had a more difficult essay to work on -- at least, one where they had to be reasonably tactful. They had been asked to try to identify the best and worst aspects of education at Hogwarts.

'This is a good aspect,' said Ron, hugging Hermione closer to him.

'You can't write that!' said Harry.

'You've got a dirty mind. I meant being able to just write an essay out here, looking at the lake, instead of having to be in a classroom.'

'Outdoor lessons are an idea, at least for subjects like Charms and Transfiguration,' said Hermione. 'As long as they only happen in good weather -- can't you just imagine Trelawney inventing snowdrift reading for Divination?'

Harry laughed. 'Reading snowballs. "Professor, I'm not sure what my snowball means. Can you check it? Catch!" -- that'd be fun.'

She frowned at him. 'Don't give her ideas.'

'What difference is this going to make, anyway? I bet that every year, pupils write "Get rid of Snape!" and they never do. Fred and George told me they did these essays two years ago,' said Ron. 'Now they've been given them back, so they can update them, and they're still saying get rid of him.'

Harry shrugged. He was enjoying the calm and feeling content. He couldn't take this essay seriously, particularly after Ron's comment. He tried to think of other ways his life would change now that Voldemort was out of the way. He'd be able to concentrate on his N.E.W.Ts, for one thing. Apart from that, he kept thinking about the changes he and Hermione had talked about early on Sunday morning, imagining himself returning from Quidditch practice with a professional team, to his parents' house where he'd be living with Ginny.

When they saw other pupils heading back into the castle for lunch, they joined them. Ginny was already sitting at the Gryffindor table, her head resting on her arms as though asleep.

'Are you awake?' Ron asked her.

'No. I've just had the insomnia cure,' she replied without moving.

'Bad exam?' Harry asked her as he took the seat next to her.

'Yeah. I don't think I did very well. We had a question about the Hogwarts Founders, and I remembered Slytherin and the Chamber, and everything I did in the first year.'

'At least you know he's dead.'

'True. I did say where he was buried. Binns knows I know that anyway.'

'Are people supposed to know that?' Hermione asked.

'I don't know, but there's no point pretending to Binns that I didn't see the body, is there?' She sat up and said, 'Well, it's just Hagrid's exam next. That should be more interesting than History.'

'Good. Think positive,' said Harry.

Following lunch, they saw clouds drifting across the sun. 'Let's go and see how Dobby is,' said Hermione, heading back across the Entrance Hall to the door leading down to the kitchens. The others joined her.

In the kitchen, Dobby greeted Harry as enthusiastically as ever. 'Winky is back, Harry Potter, sir!' Winky came over to see them, smiling.

'Hello, Winky,' said Hermione. 'So you decided not to stay with the Malfoys?'

The elf nodded. 'Winky was always free, working for Professor Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore asked Winky to spy on the Malfoy family, and Winky was happy to do that for him.' Harry smiled, remembering his guess that that was the reason. 'Mister Lucius is getting arrested, and Winky is letting Mister Mondis out of locked rooms.'

'We've met him. He's the first Malfoy I've liked,' said Harry.

'Mister Mondis is nice, but now he is living at Hogwarts as a teacher.'

'Now Dobby's old masters need another house-elf,' said Dobby. 'Dobby will not go back.'

'Good for you,' said Ron. 'Malfoy can do his own work for a change.'

They talked to Dobby for a while longer, and Hermione was pleased to see that another four elves had accepted clothes, freedom and pay.

It was beginning to rain when they returned to the Entrance Hall, so the trio went up to the Common Room. Harry looked out of the window. 'Poor Ginny, she's got her exam out there.'

'Oh, yeah,' said Ron, joining him at the window. It was easy to see Ginny at the fenced-off area near Hagrid's hut, due to her red hair. 'It had better not rain too hard.'

'No. You won't let me help her get dry.'

'Harry! Go and sit down, and stop daydreaming!' said Ron, frowning.

Harry laughed and sat down. 'I think I'll suggest that all teachers with the Dark Mark should be fired.'

'Yeah, that's better than actually saying Snape's name.' Ron looked from one to the other. 'I suppose he is the only one?'

'Oh, don't,' said Hermione. 'We can't have more than one former Death Eater as a teacher!'

'I hope it's only him.' Harry wrote a bit more on his essay. 'OK, I've put "Given the recent capture of Voldemort, I think that any people at Hogwarts who are known or suspected to have supported him should be investigated by the Aurors." -- how's that?'

'We'll only have three houses next year, then,' said Ron, grinning.

'I think Blaise and Queenie and some others will still be here.'

'Yeah, and those ones that Ginny's friends with.'

They finished their essays, and the two boys played chess while Hermione watched. The game had hardly started when Ginny and the others returned to the common room. 'Oh, poor Ginny,' said Hermione as the rain-soaked girl dropped her bag by the chair.

'How was Hagrid's exam?' Harry asked her.

'The exam was OK, but I wish we'd had rain for History instead,' said Ginny. 'I'm going to dry off and get changed.' She went upstairs. They'd started a second game before she returned and asked who won the first game.

*

After breakfast on Saturday, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny went outside and took some Trollaroids of Ron and Ginny.

That done, they went to visit Hagrid, who they found tending his garden. They accepted some tea but, having just finished breakfast, declined his offer of something to eat.

'So, yeh did it, Harry,' said Hagrid. 'Yeh beat him, an' the traitor what led him ter yer parents.'

'Well, I didn't really,' he said embarrassed.

'Nah, I wasn' forgettin' yeh, Hermione,' Hagrid assured her. 'Yeh both did a good job there. Nobody else ever done it. So yeh're the duelling menaces, are you two?'

'Definitely,' said Ginny, grinning and hugging Harry.

'Now yeh can relax and jus' enjoy yerselves, right?'

Harry nodded. 'There's no reason to be worried about what Voldemort might do to her, now.'

Ginny noticed Ron wince, and said, 'Voldemort Voldemort Voldemort!' to him.

Hagrid's shaggy head nodded. 'Yeah, I s'pose there's no reason ter be scared of his name now. I'm too old ter change, though.'

They talked for a while longer about how Harry might try to become a professional Quidditch player, then Hagrid wanted to get back to his garden. His visitors went back to the lake, where they found a tree to sit under.

'Today and Sunday, then four days of lessons, and then back home,' said Ginny. She was leaning against Harry, enjoying her new freedom to be close to him without fear of what Voldemort might do if he found out.

'Home and then Spain,' said Ron, hugging Hermione. 'I bet I don't go brown though. That summer I was in Egypt and you went to France, you went very brown, and I just got more freckles.'

'Maybe your freckles will join up and look like a tan,' suggested Harry, stroking Ginny's arm. Both girls laughed.

'What are you laughing at?' Ron asked Ginny indignantly. 'You didn't get brown in Egypt either.'

'Nothing wrong with freckles,' said Harry.

'Good, because I don't think we're going anywhere,' Ginny replied. 'So I won't be able to go brown even if I could.'

'Good, Ginny's getting jealous of my holiday,' said Ron.

'You're being very quiet,' Harry told Hermione.

'I'm just enjoying the moment. We haven't had enough quiet moments like this,' she said.

'No, we haven't. This is going to be the first summer holiday I've ever looked forward to. I'll be staying with Sirius, I expect Lupin will visit ...'

'Oh, tell him we miss him!' Ginny said.

'You can probably meet him. You know how to get to Sirius' house by Floo Powder, all you need to know is when Lupin's going to be visiting.'

'That'll be nice,' said Ginny.

'I probably need to start thinking about what I need to sort out for my parents' house -- well, my house really. I can't go on living with Sirius after I leave Hogwarts. Not if I want to have someone else living there,' he hugged Ginny, 'because there's not enough room in Sirius' flat. Not enough privacy, either.'

Ron sighed.

'By then, I'll be older than you are now,' Ginny told Ron sternly. 'So stop it.'

'Have you two really talked about where you might live?' Harry asked.

'Yes,' said Hermione. 'I want my parents to be able to visit without needing a Portkey. I hope I'll be able to Apparate when I leave here, but they can't do that.'

'Oh, I see. So it's got to be somewhere that's not too far for them to drive to?'

'Yes.'

'Floo powder's easier. They ought to have a fireplace in their house,' said Ginny.

'Well, they haven't.'

'I don't think it matters,' said Harry. 'Hermione should be able to do what she wants.'

'I suppose so. Sorry, Hermione,' Ginny said.

'That's OK,' she said. 'You'll probably be able to get to wherever we live by Floo Powder, anyway.'

'If she wants to see her brother,' said Ron. 'And if you say yes to me when I propose again.'

'Enjoy the moment,' advised Harry.

*

At breakfast on Sunday, Goyle came over to the Gryffindor table, without Malfoy or Crabbe. He looked furious. 'Potter! I'll get you for what you did!'

'Has it taken you this long to notice?' Harry asked. 'You can't be serious, anyway. We just sent Voldemort and a bunch of Death Eaters to prison -- what are you going to do against me? Kneel and whimper?'

Goyle glared at them, and seemed to be trying to think of an answer. When none came, he stormed over to the Slytherin table.

'You want to be careful,' warned Ron. 'He might think of falling on you.'

Professor Dumbledore came over to the table. 'Mr Potter, Miss Granger, I believe I need to speak to you in that room.' He indicated the door behind the teachers' table, where the Triwizard Champions had gone the previous year after being chosen. 'Mr and Miss Weasley, you may come too, if you wish.' The four pupils followed Dumbledore into the room, where all sat down. 'I believe there is something you are unaware of, but which you need to know, about your valiant capture of Voldemort and his supporters.'

'They're still in prison, aren't they?' Ron asked anxiously. 'They haven't escaped?'

'They are still there. Hermione, you mentioned that one Death Eater realised what was happening, and you had to hit him with a tree.'

She nodded. Harry said, 'It's just as well she knew that spell, because I didn't.'

'What spell?' Ginny asked.

'Gravarbus,' said Hermione.

'I should point out that there had not previously been such a spell,' said Dumbledore. 'I presume you combined Gravicrus and Mobiliarbus?' Hermione nodded again.

'Clever,' said Harry.

'That's not a problem, is it? Creating a new spell, I mean?' Hermione asked.

'I hope not,' said Dumbledore with a smile. 'I have created many in my time. No, that is not the problem. I should say, before I continue, that Angus Dunsmuir insists that you have done nothing wrong, nothing illegal.'

'Of course they haven't!' said Ginny indignantly. 'They should get the Order of Merlin!' Harry smiled at her exaggeration.

'There is, firstly, some information that may be of interest to you. Harry, your targets, Wormtail, Macnair, Nott and Avery recovered on the fifth day after your use of Lapiform against them. That will give you some idea of your power to Petrify people. Four days is generally considered the maximum possible time for someone of your age.'

'I used a lot more force than I did on Peeves,' said Harry. 'Five days? That's nice to know. I suppose Hermione managed five days again, too?'

'I assume, Hermione, that you were angry when you Petrified Voldemort?'

'Yes. He just said, 'Kill that girl' casually, and it really upset me, that he thought I should just be murdered like that, hardly thinking about it.' As she spoke, she got angry. Ron hugged her.

'Quite understandable -- I had guessed it would have been something similar. Once you had Petrified him, you must have been less angry when you Petrified his Death Eaters.'

'I suppose I was, because that first one worked. He must have thought I couldn't do anything, because I'm Muggle-born, so he didn't even try to defend himself. I suppose he thought Harry would attack him, instead.'

'The Aurors noticed that Malfoy and Crabbe recovered yesterday, seven days after you Petrified them.'

'Seven days?' said Harry, surprised. 'So you weren't really annoyed at Peeves!'

'What about the other two?' Ginny asked.

'Voldemort is still Petrified, and the Aurors do not know when it will wear off. As for Goyle senior -- you should understand that the Aurors do not keep a constant watch over their prisoners. They were Petrified, after all, and could do nothing to escape. When the curse wore off, they tended to shout for someone to release them. When all but Voldemort and Goyle were known to have recovered, the Aurors checked them, and found that Goyle had recovered but not shouted.'

Harry asked, 'Was he hoping he could escape if they didn't know?'

'No. According to the Healer who attended him, when the branch fell upon him, he received concussion and a brain haemorrhage ...'

'No!' gasped Hermione.

'... naturally, once you Petrified him, his condition became stable. By the time the Aurors checked on him, it was some hours after he had returned to normal, still unconscious. That was quite enough time for him to have bled to death internally.'

'I killed somebody? I didn't mean to kill him! I don't want to go to Azkaban!'

'You mustn't!' said Ron hotly.

Harry told her, 'Hermione, he'd have killed you if he could, and he wouldn't have worried about it. It was self-defence. I'm sure you can't be in any trouble.'

'I killed him.' She was trembling. Ron hugged her again.

'As I said,' Dumbledore pointed out, 'you kept his condition stable. If he had been under constant guard, the problem would have been noticed immediately your curse wore off. Unfortunately, although he was examined on arrival at the Ministry's cells, his wound was not visible in his Petrified state, and the Healer neglected to recommend that he be watched for symptoms upon his recovery. You did not kill him.'

'You're just saying that,' she said quietly, not meeting anyone's eyes.

'Angus insists that neither of you have done anything illegal. As far as the Ministry is concerned, Gareth Goyle died seven days after you cursed him, and the cause was an undiagnosed internal injury. Even if you insist on confessing to killing him, your word conflicts with the evidence.'

'Harry knows the truth. So do all of you.'

'I know it was self-defence,' Harry told her. 'Professor, does anyone other than us and the Ministry know which Death Eaters were attacked by me, and which Hermione attacked?'

'I believe, from what you said, that Voldemort and Wormtail may know which of you Petrified them. It seems only Goyle knew who Petrified who, otherwise. Angus does know, but most of the Aurors, unfortunately, appear to have assumed that the weaker Lapiform curse was cast by a Muggle-born, and the stronger by the Boy Who Lived.'

'So the Goyle who's here,' said Harry, 'doesn't know it was Hermione? Well, we won't tell him.'

'He knows it was one of us!' Hermione said. 'He'll just attack you instead of me, if he thinks it was you. That isn't any better!'

'You aren't going to tell him, either.'

'If he's not sure which of you it was, he'll have to think who to yell at,' said Ron, 'and you can get away while his brain tries to cope.'

'He doesn't need to think to blame Harry,' she said. 'They always think it's him that does anything. Remember those Ton-Tongue Toffees?'

'You can't tell him,' said Ginny.

'I agree with Harry. As Mr Goyle does not know who cursed his father, it is safer that he should not find out.'

'You can't stop me telling him,' Hermione said quietly but defiantly.

Harry thought. He could use Aphasic on her -- but only if he could catch her by surprise. But would he really ever curse her? He thought of a better alternative, and smiled. 'If we think you even might be about to tell him, it's up to Ron to distract you. You'll volunteer for that, won't you, Ron?'

Ron grinned broadly. Hermione sighed. 'Oh, all right. I won't tell him, but I still think he'll attack you, Harry.'

'That is a matter of some concern to me,' said Dumbledore, 'but I do not believe it will be improved by his knowing who was responsible. Now, you may as well return to your breakfasts. I will ask Professor Snape to inform his pupils of Angus' opinion regarding the death. That may help.'

The four pupils returned to their breakfasts. 'My toast's cold,' Ron complained.

'That's not serious,' said Hermione. 'Harry, are you sure you don't want him to know?'

'Well, it's probably better if he thinks it's neither of us, and it's an Auror's error. I don't think he'll risk attacking them.'

'Maybe,' she said, clearly not convinced.

After breakfast, although it was sunny again, they went up to the common room. They knew Goyle couldn't get in there, and they didn't want Malfoy and his friends bothering them if they sat by the lake again.

Ron and Hermione went round to their room for some enjoyable privacy while Harry and Ginny played an innocent game of chess.

'We could play a card game if we still had a Tarot deck,' said Ginny, 'and they wouldn't blow up like Exploding Snap cards.'

'Ron said he didn't want to play a game with any deck that had a Death card. Anyway, that's something to get next time I go to Diagon Alley, then,' said Harry. He grinned, and added, 'Plus visiting a new shop I've heard about.'

'Oh, you don't want to go there! They'll probably charge Prefects double, you know.'

'True, I won't be able to give them detentions after they leave.'

'You don't anyway.' She looked over at the twins, who were discussing something with Lee. 'I wish I could believe that they got all the money for the shop honestly.'

'You think they're overcharging for the Ton-Tongue Toffees?'

'No! Don't be silly, Harry. You know I mean their mysterious investor. I didn't like the way they answered my question about blackmail.'

Harry cast around for some way to answer her question reassuringly without telling her he was the investor. 'Maybe the investor asked them to keep his name out of it?'

Ginny giggled, and moved a castle forward. 'I know that if I'd invested in them, I'd want to keep it very quiet!'

'Would you invest, if you had the money?' Harry wanted her approval, even if she didn't know why.

'I don't know. I see what they mean about not being like Percy. This could be really good for them, if they can make the shop work.'

'They're not doing too badly selling to pupils.'

'That's one thing I wondered about. That shop's going to be there all year. The twins have probably never been to Diagon Alley during term time.'

'Except on Hogsmeade weekends, sorting the shop out.'

'That's true. But then they were involved in the money side, not looking at the people outside. How many adults are going to want to buy things in their shop? Are they stuck with an idea which only works in school holidays? They can't run a business just on a few weeks' sales a year. I know they've got the owl-order side, but they don't need the expense of a shop in Diagon Alley to run that. They could persuade Mum and Dad to let them put some sheds in the field, and that wouldn't cost much.'

'I don't know. You've thought about this a lot more than I have.'

Ginny nodded. 'It might be fun working with them in their shop, if they need people. I've been thinking about it -- I don't really know what I want to do when I leave here. But I can't do that unless the shop is still in business.' She looked at the twins again. 'I hope it does work. It's something they should be good at, making jokes. I hope they've worked out how to cope in term time.'

Harry moved a knight so that it was safe from her castle. 'I hope so too. The shop's a good idea.'

*

'More lessons,' said Ginny sadly at breakfast on Monday. 'And you three just have essays. What's today's essay?'

'We've got one contrasting life at Hogwarts with life at home,' Harry told her. 'I've only spent a few weeks at Sirius' flat, so I'll have to be rude about the Dursleys, instead. I'll enjoy writing that one.'

'We're panicking about our O.W.L. results,' Ron pointed out to his sister. 'McGonagall said they should be here tomorrow. I have got to get more than the twins did.'

'Oh, so panicking is what you go to that room to do? I didn't realise that.'

'There's some comfortable furniture in that room for panicking in. Or on,' said Harry.

'I want to see it,' Ginny grumbled.

'Don't show her it!' Ron warned Hermione.

'If he gets less O.W.Ls than the twins did, will you show me?' Ginny asked Hermione.

'It's a bit late for incentives,' said Harry, grinning at her.

'Will you show me the room, then?'

'Hermione says only she and Ron can open the door.'

'Oh, that's not fair.'

Ron sank his head into his hands.

'I think you're embarrassing your brother.'

'Oh, what a shame,' said Ginny, grinning. Ron muttered something inaudible.

'I think he said it's nearly time for your first lesson of the day,' Hermione told her.

'Oh, no. It's Herbology -- I hope the greenhouses aren't too hot.' She finished eating, grabbed her bag, and hurried out of the Great Hall.

Ron sat up again. 'Don't show her the room!'

'I can't. Or can I?'

'Not unless you cancel all the charms on the door,' Hermione told him.

'Happy, Ron?'

'Happier, anyway.'

'Let me guess, now you're going to go and "stand guard" in that room to make sure nobody gets in.'

Ron hesitated and looked at Hermione. She smiled and said, 'You're not as bothered as you pretend, Harry, if you're giving us ideas like that. There'd still be time to do the essay.'

'I've lost track of the calendar,' said Ron.

'Today and tomorrow are OK,' she told him. Harry blushed. She smiled and said, 'This is something you're hoping to have to think about from January.'

'I suppose it is,' he admitted. 'I'll worry about it then.'

The rest of Monday went quietly for the three. Harry was left alone while Ron and Hermione visited their room again, and he didn't feel like starting the essay by himself, so he talked to Lee and the twins about the shop. The twins admitted they'd told Lee about Harry's investment in the shop, and showed him Lee's drawings of their products, such as someone turning into a canary. They also explained to Harry that the firework Quaffle which had injured Angelina was part of a complete set of Quidditch ball fireworks, which they'd made to celebrate if they won, and which they were also going to sell in the shop.

'I didn't know you could draw, Lee. These are really good.'

Lee shrugged but looked pleased.

'Ginny's thought about your shop a lot, you know,' Harry told them.

'Is she still wondering if we're blackmailing someone?'

'Partly.' He explained Ginny's doubts about the shop's viability.

Fred nodded. 'We've got other product ideas that we're aiming at a more adult audience. We've talked to Bill about them, since he's the oldest not-parent and not-teacher we could think of.'

'There's Sirius. He seems to have had quite a reputation when he was here.'

'He hasn't had a good time recently, though,' said George. 'At least, not from what we saw in the Prophet.'

'No, he hasn't. He's been cheerful enough when I've seen him since.'

'We'll have to meet him. Apart from anything else,' said Fred, 'he made the Marauder's Map. We really have to meet him, he's our hero!'

'I didn't know Ginny was thinking so seriously about our shop,' George commented. 'She's not a little girl any more, is she?'

'You don't need to remind him of that!' said Fred.

'You noticed,' said Harry quietly.

'Hard not to notice,' George said. 'The way she and Ron went for you and Hermione when you got back here ...'

'Not that we blame the two of you, after what you went through,' Fred added.

'Since you saved her from that Basilisk, we know ... well, we don't object. Thought we ought to tell you that,' said George.

'Er, thanks,' said Harry nervously.

'Yes. You're obviously fond of each other,' added Fred. 'Not to mention, you've bribed us.'

'That wasn't the reason!'

'We know. But your other reason's gone, you know. You said that with You-Know-Who back, we'd need some laughs. Now that he's gone, that doesn't apply.'

'Well, it's time to celebrate, isn't it?'

'You don't regret it, then?' George asked.

'I regret that Cedric didn't win it -- or even survive,' Harry said sadly. 'I didn't deserve it, you should have it.'

'You deserve it for what you and Hermione did after the Cup, though.'

'Maybe,' he said, embarrassed. 'Though Hermione didn't get any Galleons as a reward.'

'Well, she's got other problems. I really never thought she'd go for Ron,' Fred said, grinning. 'Lucky git.'

'I just hope he and Ginny do better than the rest of us,' said George, glancing at Angelina, who was sitting some distance away. 'Someone in our family, other than Mum and Dad, has to have a lasting relationship.'

Fred nodded. 'I'm beginning to think there's a curse on the family. Don't ask, Harry. Just make sure you get it right.'

*

Harry, Ron and Hermione were all down in the common room early on Tuesday. When Ginny arrived, they explained they were all too nervous about their results to stay in bed any longer.

'It's too late to be nervous,' Ginny pointed out. 'I'm the only one who should be nervous, I haven't done the exams yet.'

'That's a big help,' grunted Ron.

'Well, if we walk slowly, now's a good time to go down to breakfast.'

The others agreed and walked slowly, taking a longer route through the castle so that they wouldn't get to the Great Hall too early and look as if they were as apprehensive as they were.

Ginny took some toast and bacon to make herself a toasted bacon sandwich. The other three took only a slice of toast each. She looked at their plates and said, 'You'll starve before you get the results.'

'That'll save me the agony of finding out how badly I did,' Ron retorted.

The owls arrived shortly after, carrying each fifth-year's O.W.L. results. Harry looked nervously at his envelope, and then opened it. 'They don't make it easy to read, do they? They could at least put the total I got at the top.' He started counting. 'Charms with Merit "O" -- wow, Transfiguration with Merit also "O" -- really? Potions "E", Herbology "E", Dark Arts with Merit "O" ...'

'With a mark like that, you ought to be able to capture Voldemort and some Death Eaters before you're even sixteen,' commented Ginny, smiling. She took another bite of her sandwich.

Harry smiled back and continued, 'History of Magic -- I actually got that one? "A", Astronomy "A", Divination "A" -- and I didn't even have to die -- and Magical Creatures "E". That's twelve. That's a lot better than I thought I'd do.'

'You equalled Bill and Percy!' said Ginny, hugging him. 'What did you two get?'

Ron answered, 'I got eleven, so at least I beat the twins and Charlie.'

'Hey!' said Fred. He and George had come over to see what Ron's results were.

'You didn't beat us,' said George. 'We got twelve.'

'Right, twelve between you, or six each,' Ron pointed out. 'While I got "O" in Charms with Merit, "A" in Transfiguration, "E" in Potions ...'

'You got Potions?' asked Fred.

'Well, you two both managed to, didn't you? "O" for Herbology with Merit, "E" for DADA -- I don't think I'd better join you to attack any Death Eaters, Harry -- I even got History! That was an "A", another "A" for Astronomy and Divination, and an "E" for Magical Creatures. Did you get all "O"s, Hermione?'

Harry saw with amazement that she was just sitting and staring at her envelope. 'Hermione? It won't bite.'

'Suppose I've been fooling myself and haven't got as many as I'd hoped?' she asked nervously.

'Then you've been fooling all the teachers too. Come on, I'm sure you got more than we did.'

'What if I didn't?'

'We'll still like you. Come on, open it.'

'Do you want me to open it for you?' asked Ginny. 'I didn't get any O.W.Ls, so you must have got more than me.'

Hermione smiled at that. 'All right, yes please.'

Ginny opened the letter and held it so that Harry couldn't see what it said, although he tried.

'I see what you mean. They should say the total,' she said.

'How bad is it?' asked Hermione.

'You didn't get Divination.'

'I didn't take Divination! Of course I didn't get it.'

'Just trying to put you in a good mood. You did get Muggle Studies.'

'Oh. So Professor Dalton was right. But apart from that, how did I do?'

Professor McGonagall had come over, smiling. 'I trust you are all pleased with your results.' All the fifth-years nodded except Hermione, who was waiting for Ginny to say how many she'd got. McGonagall smiled at her. 'I'm certain that you're pleased, Miss Granger.'

'She's too scared to look at her results,' said Ron. 'Ginny's reading them for her, and trying to work out how many she got.'

'How many did I get?' asked Hermione.

'Hermione, your results are remarkable, and you have every right to be extremely proud of your achievement. You need not be nervous about reading the results, either.' She paused. 'Or should I warn Madam Pomfrey to expect you, suffering from shock?'

'I think I'll manage, thanks. Ginny, are you going to tell me what I got?'

McGonagall smiled and returned to the teachers' table.

Ginny looked at the letter, then grinned at Hermione. 'You know the record number of O.W.Ls?'

'This sounds good,' said Harry with a grin.

'Yes, Tom Riddle got sixteen. How many did I get?' pleaded Hermione.

'You should have opened this yourself if you didn't want to hear it my way,' Ginny teased her. 'Anyway, I don't mean that old record, I mean the new record.'

'Sixteen is the record,' said George. 'Who's ever going to beat that? Six was hard enough, I don't know how you two got twelve and eleven. Hermione didn't really equal the record, did she?'

'No, apparently the record is now eighteen,' Ginny said, smiling as she handed the letter back to Hermione. 'Congratulations.'

Hermione grabbed it. 'Eighteen? Eighteen? You must have misread it!' She read the letter slowly.

'I bet you a hundred Galleons she didn't,' said Harry with a grin.

'I'll bet too!' said Ron.

'You don't have a hundred Galleons,' said Fred.

'So? I won't have to pay out, will I?'

Hermione dropped the letter on the table. 'Eighteen,' she said faintly. 'Every single exam I took, I passed. Eighteen "O" grades. I got "with Merit" for all the subjects I could.'

'You've always passed everything before. Is it that much of a surprise?' asked Harry. 'Congratulations,' he added as an afterthought.

'Eighteen is Percy and one of the twins combined,' said Ginny.

'What a horrible thought,' said Ron, grimacing.

'It'd make an interesting Transfiguration experiment,' said George. 'So ... you really got eighteen?'

'Nobody believes I can count,' pouted Ginny.

'I believe you,' said Harry, putting his arm around her. 'So does Ron.'

'Good, I don't care about Fred and George then. Hermione beat Riddle! Isn't that great? Can we tell him? He'd hate the idea.' She paused just before taking another bite of a sandwich. 'And aren't you three going to eat anything now?'

Hermione laughed. 'Oh, he would. Do you want to owl him?' She took some more slices of toast.

'Oh, yes! I wonder if he can receive owls? "Hated Mr Riddle, The Muggle-born girl who Petrified you has just beaten the number of O.W.Ls you got by two. I hope you rot in Azkaban with that as a constant bad memory, Hate from Ginny Weasley." Does that sound all right?'

The twins, who didn't know who Riddle was, looked at each other in surprise at Ginny's vehemence.

'I suppose so,' said Hermione, smiling. 'Do you think he's allowed to receive owls?'

'Owl Mr Dunsmuir,' suggested Harry, grinning at her wording. 'I'm sure he'd be only too glad to pass it on to his prisoner.'

'I thought you were talking about someone called Riddle,' George said. 'That wasn't one of the names in the Daily Prophet when you caught You-Know-Who and the others.'

'He wasn't born with the name "You-Know-Who",' said Ron.

'Oh. He got sixteen O.W.Ls? What in, Unforgivable Curses? Never mind, I don't think I want to know. How did you know his name, Ginny?'

'She found out in the Chamber of Secrets,' said Ron quietly.

'Oh. I suppose you would,' said Fred. He changed the subject. 'It's all right for you lot. We don't get our N.E.W.Ts results until Thursday.'

'Are you desperate to find out which one you got?' asked Ginny.

'Yeah. Hey! That's "how many", not "which one"!'

'Congratulations, Hermione,' said Harry. 'Did you expect eighteen O.W.Ls?'

'No, I didn't expect that many,' she replied. 'I did hope that I might get as many as Riddle, but I didn't think I really would.'

'Well, you were right about that; you didn't.'

'I mean, I thought I'd get fewer! I hoped I'd do as well as Percy, though.'

'We are going to have to take you to the hospital wing,' said Ron.

Fred and George shrugged and went back to their places and cooling breakfasts.

'It's breakfast,' Ginny reminded Harry and Ron. 'There's food here.' Ron took some of everything within reach and started eating. Ginny giggled and said, 'All your tension's gone, then.'

Harry took some as well. 'I'm happy with my results. Twelve's not bad, even if it doesn't compare with Hermione's score.'

'So,' asked Ron, 'what's the record number of N.E.W.Ts?'

'Don't start her off again!' begged Ginny. 'Especially if it was Riddle's record again.'

Hermione ate her toast, refusing to be drawn on this.

Matteo came over to the Gryffindor table, grinning. 'How much did I win from Draco?'

'You're very optimistic, aren't you?' Ron said. 'Harry did do well, though. He got twelve O.W.Ls.'

'Oh good. What did you two get?'

'Why?' Ginny asked. 'Malfoy bet he'd do better than Harry, didn't he? Did he have three bets?'

'No, he bet he'd do better than the best of the three of you. His ego's too big -- Snape had to move it to a dormitory of its own.'

'Better than the best any of us got?' Harry asked in disbelief, glancing at Hermione. 'Did he seriously expect to get more than Hermione?'

'I'm not saying how many I got until I know what Malfoy got,' Ron said.

'He got nine. And his trolls won't be back next year.'

'Nine?' echoed Ron, pleased. 'I got eleven!'

Matteo looked at Hermione, who was blushing and concentrating on a piece of toast.

'I don't think she's going to tell you,' said Ginny. 'She's too embarrassed. Do the actual grades count, or only pass or fail?'

'He only bet on passing, not grades.'

'That's a shame,' said Ginny sadly. 'He probably couldn't pay off his debt otherwise.'

'She got eighteen,' Ron told Matteo proudly.

'So I get nine hundred Galleons? Oh, this is just wonderful,' he said smiling at Hermione. 'Congratulations -- and that's a new record, isn't it? Snape keeps telling us that a Slytherin set the record of sixteen, so he'll have to stop that now.'

'Does he tell you that that Slytherin was Voldemort?' Ginny asked.

'Oh, don't say his name. Was it? You're joking, aren't you? Or guessing?'

Harry shook his head. 'She's neither joking nor guessing. He was a Prefect, then Head Boy, then a mass murderer.' He remembered Myrtle. 'In fact, his first victim was another pupil, when he was in the fifth year here.'

Matteo stared blankly at Harry, then went back to the Slytherin table.

'I shouldn't have told him all that,' said Harry. 'He was enjoying the idea of getting all those Galleons from Malfoy, and now he might not feel like gloating enough.'

'I was the one who started it,' said Ginny. 'He's telling Malfoy something now,' she added, standing up to see over the seated pupils in between.

Malfoy's shout of 'You're lying! You must be!' was clearly audible over the chattering of pupils. It seemed that everyone in the Hall fell silent, and turned to look at Malfoy. Snape glared at him, and beckoned him up to the teachers' table. Malfoy went slowly up to the table, where Snape seemed to almost hiss at him, his face furious.

'What do you think, detention or lost points?' Ron asked.

'One detention for shouting, and another one for not getting more O.W.Ls,' Ron predicted.

'That wouldn't be fair,' protested Hermione.

'He wouldn't have had to shout like that if he'd got eighteen,' Harry pointed out.

'He wouldn't have been so shocked if he hadn't been biased against Muggle-borns,' said Ginny. 'I don't see why you're the one who thinks it's unfair.'

'She's soft-hearted,' said Ron, smiling at Hermione.

'She'd have to be, to like you so much,' Ginny retorted. 'Well, you three can spend all day having breakfast -- are you going to eat anything, Harry, or just look at that? -- but I've got lessons to go to.'

*

After her last lesson, Ginny came back to the common room and dropped her bag by the chair. The trio were writing their essays about their homes, or a thorough castigation of the Dursleys in Harry's case.

Ginny went over to Hermione. 'I thought of something.' Hermione put down her quill and looked at her. Ginny hugged her and said, 'Thank you!'

'Er ... what for? What did I do?'

Ginny released her. 'You forgave me for Petrifying you, and I just realised this morning, when we were talking about the letter, that you Petrified the man who made me do it, and the man who planned it -- that's as close as I can get to revenge, and I'm glad you did it.'

Hermione smiled. 'I'm glad I did it, too.'

'I couldn't say it this morning, because Fred and George would have heard me, and I'm not ready to tell them yet.'

'That's OK, it gave me time to recover from the O.W.Ls shock.'

'I'd like to have that sort of shock,' said Ginny, sitting down beside Harry. 'You know, by Petrifying Voldemort, you gave me Harry.'

'Gave you me? If she didn't have me before, how can she give me to you?' Harry asked. 'I don't think anyone can ever manage eighteen O.W.Ls again. If you did the maximum possible subjects and got them all, you still wouldn't get eighteen. Hermione managed it because she did more subjects than there was time for in a week.'

'I know, Ron told me about that. Oh well.' She took her timetable from her bag and counted. 'I'm doing enough subjects to get seventeen, if I'm as clever as Hermione. I hope I beat the twins, anyway.'

Harry laughed. 'That's a bit of a drop in expectations!'

'Got to be realistic.' She hugged him, and he hugged her in return. 'I didn't mean to make you sound like a birthday present earlier.'

Harry said slowly, 'You hurt my feelings, so I think you should kiss me better.' She smiled and did so. Ron groaned.

*

Wednesday was a quiet day for Harry, Ron and Hermione. Each of the fifth-years had been given a list of the subjects they had said they'd take, with their O.W.L. result next to those that were continuations of their earlier lessons, and the minimum grade of result needed to continue the subject into the sixth and seventh years.

'I don't need to do Potions,' Harry realised suddenly. 'With Voldemort out of the way, I can play Quidditch, if I'm good enough. I don't need a N.E.W.T. in Potions.'

'You won't be there in Potions?' asked Ron, looking stricken. 'We've always done the same classes before. Well, except for you passing Flying in five minutes.'

'I know, but Snape'll probably be nicer to you two if I'm not there.'

'Yeah, he probably will.'

'Hermione?' Harry asked. 'You don't look convinced.'

'I can think of a reason why you might want that N.E.W.T., but it's not a very nice one,' she told him.

'So you're not going to tell me? I won't mind. Whatever you say, it won't be something just to be nasty.'

'No, I'm worried about something nasty, though. We won't be leaving Hogwarts for two years ...'

'That's not nasty.'

'... and things might change. What about the possibility of a Death Eater taking over Voldemort's organisation?'

'Oh, don't,' Harry groaned. 'OK, so it is nasty, but that's not your fault. So maybe it still wouldn't be safe to play Quidditch.' Ron sighed. Harry added, 'So you think I should take Potions just in case I want to become an Auror after all?'

'You don't need to!' Ron objected. 'Mr Dunsmuir already offered both of you jobs.'

'But it's not just having a N.E.W.T., is it? Aurors need to know about antidotes and so on.' Harry leant back and thought.

'I'm sorry,' said Hermione gently.

'No, it's better to think about it now than when they're throwing Killing Curses. OK, I'd better do Potions. Snape had better improve.'

'What subjects are you doing?' Ron asked him.

'Everything on the list except Spell Structure and Business Management, so far.'

Ron asked Hermione, 'Why are you doing Business Management, anyway? Do you want to open a joke-shop too?'

'It was on the list, so she's doing it,' said Harry with a grin.

'No, that's not why!' Hermione said. 'I still don't really know what I want to do, and I like McGonagall's suggestion about being an independent researcher. That'll mean being self-employed -- and it can't hurt to learn it.'

'Not like Potions,' Ron grumbled. 'You realise that we're only doing it so we can be Aurors, and we're being taught by a "reformed" Death Eater? How stupid is that?'

Harry couldn't answer that, so he asked, 'Hermione, if you're not just doing everything on the list, what subjects aren't you doing?' She pretended to study the list. Harry grinned. 'I thought so. You are doing them all, aren't you?'

'I won't need a Time-Turner again, though,' she said.

'But you're supposed to have some free periods in the sixth and seventh year, to keep up. Still, in your case ...'

'Yeah, she doesn't need them,' said Ron. 'My lover's brilliant.'

'I've noticed,' Harry said drily. 'Which subjects are you taking, Ron?'

'Not sure about Herbology, but I'm doing the other "Advanced" ones. I've got Duelling too, and Medical Magic next year, then Apparition for the seventh.'

'Not Household Magic?'

'Er, no.'

'You aren't?' Hermione asked him.

Ron squirmed in his seat. 'Well, I know Scourgify, and I can ask Mum to show me the cooking charms she uses.'

'You're sure you're not counting on house-elves coming to work for Hermione?' asked Harry with a grin.

'No, he's not!' Hermione replied for Ron.

'No. No, of course I'm not,' said Ron.

Harry decided not to tease Ron any more. 'It's going to be strange, having pupils from all four houses in our classes.'

'Ancient Runes and Muggle Studies are already like that,' Hermione pointed out. 'There aren't enough pupils wanting to do them, for it to be worth splitting the year into houses.'

'Well, I haven't ever been in a class like that. I wonder why everyone in Gryffindor chose to do Divination, anyway?'

'Why did you?' she asked him.

'Like Ginny says, so I could work with Ron on our homework,' he replied with a grin.

'I'm glad I dropped that one.'

'I think Trelawney was, too.' Harry signed the bottom of his subjects list. 'Well, now I can hand this in.'

*

Thursday's breakfast saw the arrival of owls carrying the N.E.W.T. results to all the seventh-years. Harry and Hermione also got an envelope each. Fred and George tore theirs open impatiently and came over to see Ron and Ginny.

'Five!' said George exultantly. 'So there, Ginny!'

'Just four, but that's still not bad,' admitted Fred. 'What are you two reading?'

Harry turned to grin at the twins. 'Congratulations, you got more than I did -- I only got one, though I got an "O" in it.'

Fred said scornfully, 'One's nothing, even we beat ... what?'

'I only got one "O", as well,' said Hermione happily. 'Didn't we tell you Dumbledore put us in for a N.E.W.T. in Duelling?'

'Oh, yes, you did,' said George. 'Well, at least I got that one too. Just don't ask what grade.'

'I didn't pass,' sighed Fred.

'Don't we know some clever people, Ron?' asked Ginny.

'We do. Very nice, very clever people. Makes up for some of our brothers, really, doesn't it?'

'You didn't get Duelling,' George pointed out. 'You need to be careful.'

'I need to keep being nice to Hermione, then she'll protect me,' retorted Ron.

'And Harry will protect me,' said Ginny smugly. 'And we already talked about how much Mum will like having statues for the garden.'

Fred shook his head. 'If only all those rumours about Hermione and Harry were true, we might get some respect from our little brother and sister. Hermione taking Ron up to her dorm ruled that possibility out, though.'

'You never show Percy any respect,' Ginny reminded them.

'Well, he's Percy. What do you expect?'

'So I'm following your example. Shouldn't have played so many jokes on me when I was younger, should you?'

'You were a sitting target, so we couldn't resist. What did you expect of us at that age, foresight?'

George said, 'We could have used a bit. How long did it take us to work out why Mum always knew it was us?'

The twins went back to their breakfasts, talking over the best jokes they'd played as children.

'Have you got lessons again today?' Harry asked Ginny.

'Yes. Hagrid's first. That's the last lesson I've got this year with the Slytherins.'

'Good,' said Ron. 'I don't like the way you've got friends in Slytherin.'

'I've got friends in Gryffindor too! But I see those in most lessons, and half of them are in my dormitory. It's just that you only notice when I talk to people in here or other places where the Slytherins can be.'

'What about Lorelei and others?' Shona asked from the other side of the table. Ron and Ginny had been talking loudly. 'Lorelei's in Hufflepuff -- is she all right?'

'Hufflepuffs are OK,' admitted Ron.

Ginny asked, 'Isn't it one of my Gryffindor friends you're more worried about? I mean Harry.'

'You can be friends.' Ron glanced over at the twins. 'I wonder how the twins would react if they knew.'

'It doesn't matter, they won't be here next year.'

'It doubly doesn't matter,' said Harry. 'They've already told me they know and don't object to us.'

'Oh,' said Ron. 'So I can't use them as a threat to keep you two restrained.'

'I promise,' said Harry, 'we won't do anything you two haven't already done.'

Ginny tried to smother a giggle, while Ron put his head in his hands and groaned.

'So you two are serious?' asked Shona. 'Ginny, you never told us!'

'Sorry,' said Ginny. 'It wasn't safe then.'

'Harry, you will give Ron a bit of warning, so he can grab some blankets from his bed, won't you?' asked Hermione. 'You don't want him to be too uncomfortable when he's forced to sleep in the common room, like Lavender and Parvati.'

'I might not copy that example,' Harry told her with a grin.

'You'd better not!' Ron exclaimed.

'We've got lessons,' Shona reminded Ginny.

'Oh, this is more fun. All right, I'll see you all later,' said Ginny, picking up her bag and following Shona out of the Great Hall.

It was an overcast day, and Harry, Ron and Hermione returned to the common room, partly to avoid the Slytherins and partly due to the weather.

'Of course, if Professor Malfoy can control Malfoy, then Goyle ought to stay away from us anyway,' commented Ron as they sat down.

'Malfoy might not be able to control him now -- I did kill his father, after all,' said Hermione sadly. 'I wish I hadn't, even if it wasn't really my fault.'

'He'd have killed you without worrying about it,' Harry reminded her. 'I'm sure Ron prefers it this way round.'

'She knows that,' grinned Ron.

'It doesn't make me feel better,' said Hermione. 'It just makes me wish that there weren't any people who think like that.'

'Think of Spain,' urged Ron. 'Get away from it all, leave Harry and Ginny behind.'

She smiled at him. 'I'm looking forward to that. But I don't think it's going to make me forget. I wish I could have just Petrified You-Know-Who and those three Death Eaters, and enjoyed it, without this.'

'That would have been better,' agreed Harry. 'Maybe we can find out from Mr Dunsmuir how many people Goyle Senior probably killed. Would that help?'

Ron sat looking from one to the other, not joining in. Harry supposed he couldn't think of anything reassuring.

She asked, 'You mean, by making me into a Greek Fury, avenging their deaths? Hermione was the site of a temple to Aphrodite, not the name of one of the Furies.'

'I didn't know that. I didn't mean anything about Greek stuff, just that you've prevented more murders.'

Hermione shook her head. 'I suppose if I did become an Auror, I might have to kill people intentionally. I don't think I could ever do that, not in cold blood.'

'I'd have happily killed Voldemort and Wormtail, if that's how it worked out. I wouldn't have worried if Malfoy's dad had died too -- he could have killed Ginny.'

'But Goyle wasn't any of those. We just assume he must have killed people Lucius Malfoy wanted dead.' A frown passed briefly over her face, as if she half-remembered something.

'Come on, Ron, you say something.'

Ron shrugged, but then inspiration struck. He leant towards Hermione, moved the arm he had around her so as to pull her closer, and kissed her.

'I must remember that,' said Harry.

Ron groaned as he and Hermione separated again. 'Do you get the impression that everything we do is just giving him ideas?' he asked her.

'Probably, but he's going to get ideas from somewhere, so why not us?' she asked.

Harry smiled. This looked like being a better line of conversation. He watched as the two lovers teased each other.

*

The last task on the list was optional. It was to write about what changes they'd seen in one of their fellow pupils over their five years at Hogwarts. Harry felt that Ron hadn't changed as much as Hermione, who he hadn't liked to begin with, so he wrote about her. When he finished, he discovered Ron had also written about her.

'You didn't write about yourself too, did you?' Harry asked Hermione.

'I wrote about the boy who started out with just a reputation and a Muggle background, and ended up capturing Voldemort,' she told him, smiling.

They also packed most of their things away into their trunks during the day.

Hermione took her books back to the library during the last lesson of the day, and returned just as Ginny and the other pupils who'd had lessons were getting back to the common room.

Ginny sank into her chair. 'No more lessons until September!' she exulted. She watched as Harry struggled in the chess game, suggesting moves for him. Since the chess pieces were also making suggestions, the game was getting quite noisy. Harry almost missed the fact that Professor McGonagall had entered the room, and was reading from a list of names. Ginny and most of the other fifth-years were on the list, but the first two names were those of Neville and Harry.

'Permission slips,' Ron told him. 'You won't need one -- either of you.'

'Go and get them,' Hermione urged them, smiling.

Harry and Ginny returned to their seats and read the wording on the slips.

'This seems a bit ... definite,' said Harry. 'As though we're saying we're definitely going to do something.'

'I didn't get mine signed until I was sure,' said Ron. 'You don't have to rush.'

'You didn't get yours signed until we'd been sleeping together for two months!' Hermione pointed out. 'Both of you -- be sensible. Get them signed.'

Harry put the form into his pocket. 'I'm glad I don't have to get the Dursleys to sign this. Sirius already mentioned this at Christmas, he won't mind signing it.'

'I don't suppose Mum will mind signing it, either,' said Ginny. 'You showed me her letter about yours, Ron. You know what she and Dad got up to when they were here.'

'No, I don't!' Ron protested. 'You're just guessing.'

'Ron likes to pretend that he's the only Weasley who ever had sex,' Ginny told Harry and Hermione. 'Even though he saw the room Fred and George have been using.'

'Well, I'm sure Percy hasn't, whatever the twins have done.'

'No, I don't think he has. He was just so embarrassed when I caught him and Penny together. I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone, and got away from there as fast as I could, so I could laugh.'

Harry laughed. 'I can imagine that. He always seemed to be so formal, and you can't be formal when you're kissing someone, can you?'

'We could try,' said Hermione. 'Mr Weasley, would you do me the honour of accepting a kiss?'

Ron laughed. 'Certainly, my dear,' he said, trying to bow while still sitting. The two kissed.

'It's not entirely convincing,' Harry said to Ginny.

'It was a good try, though,' she replied.

'It was definitely worth trying it,' Hermione said, leaning against Ron.

'I think you should try dinner,' said Ginny, indicating the other pupils who were leaving the common room to go to the Leaving Feast.

They joined the others down in the Great Hall. The hall was decorated with Gryffindor's colours, and Dumbledore began his speech by awarding the House Cup to Gryffindor.

He continued, 'As I am certain you are all very much aware, the threat posed by Lord Voldemort to all of us in the wizarding world has now been ended.' He paused while many of those present cheered or applauded.

'Many of you may not know that Lord Voldemort himself was once a pupil at this school. I trust that all of you will choose your paths more wisely than he did. Now, I wish to speak of two pupils who are far better examples to be followed, two pupils who, when unexpectedly taken from our midst and faced with Lord Voldemort and seven of his Death Eaters, coped superbly, not merely surviving -- a feat of some difficulty in itself -- but succeeding in capturing the group and summoning Aurors to take the criminals into custody. I honour Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.'

Dumbledore turned towards Harry and Hermione, and raised his goblet to them. as he had to Harry the previous year. Harry smiled. This year, it was for a much better reason. Most pupils stood and drank to their names. Harry glanced at Hermione, who was smiling shyly.

A goblet flung from the Slytherin table fell short, spilling pumpkin juice over Orla at the Ravenclaw table. She jumped back, squealing. Harry noticed Lee almost start to his feet, but then he sat back down again. Harry supposed that Lee's initial reaction had been protective, but that he'd stopped before the twins could tease him again about his 'girlfriend'.

'So often in the past,' Dumbledore continued, 'the activities of Lord Voldemort and his followers have caused death among our families and friends.' His gaze passed across the pupils, seemingly lingering on Harry and many others, presumably those who had lost loved ones, like Neville. 'His threat is over, and this is a time for rejoicing, for celebration. Now, we have a reason to celebrate, and a feast to enjoy.' He clapped his hands and plates filled with food appeared on the tables.

'Good for you two,' said Ron. 'Now, this is the part I can join in on!' He filled his plate and started to join in.

'That was probably Goyle who threw the goblet,' Hermione told Harry quietly as they put food onto their own plates. 'Don't you think so?'

'Probably. He can't do anything after we've left, and he won't be back next year.'

Dumbledore had left his seat, and was coming around the edge of the room to where Harry and Hermione were sitting. 'I have another piece of information which I believe will be of interest to you. Angus Dunsmuir contacted me this afternoon to report that Voldemort has recovered from the Lapiform curse.'

'Today? He didn't recover until today?' asked Harry. Ginny gaped at Hermione.

'I thought he must have recovered already, that you just hadn't told us,' said Hermione.

Dumbledore shook his head. 'No. Your curse lasted for twelve days. A remarkable feat for anyone, but even more so for someone of your age.'

'Twelve days?' spluttered Ron, his mouth still half-full.

'Oh, Ron!' scolded Ginny.

'Twelve days?' echoed Hermione, looking stunned. 'Didn't you say five was normal?'

'No, four is considered the maximum for someone in their mid-teens.'

'Hermione, you weren't paying attention in a lesson,' teased Harry.

'Ha ha,' she said. 'That's ... that's good.' Harry had never seen her at such a loss for words before.

'"Good" would indeed be a word to describe your abilities,' said Dumbledore, smiling. 'However, "superlative" might be a more appropriate one.'

'Superlative Hermione,' said Ron. 'I suppose that's a better nickname than "the duelling menace".'

'Oh, stop,' said Hermione, blushing.

'Voldemort has been an almost unstoppable menace for half a century,' Dumbledore reminded her. 'Only you and Harry have ever managed to stop him. I take particular pleasure in the thought that a girl who was Petrified three years ago as a part of his plot ...' he glanced at Ginny, 'It was his plot, and not the responsibility of another girl he possessed.' He looked back at Hermione and finished, '... has now ended his menace by Petrifying him in return.'

'That was quite satisfying,' Hermione admitted.

'I am sure that it was. Now, I believe I will return to my seat and try some of this excellent beef.' He smiled and went back to the teachers' table.

'It's just as well your parents are Muggles,' said Ginny. 'You can spend the whole summer holiday without meeting many people who know what you've done. It's just Ron, and the rest of us if you come to the Burrow, who'll know.'

'I hadn't thought of that. I hadn't thought of how people would react,' Hermione told her. 'After all, I only reacted to a dangerous situation. I wasn't thinking of what it would mean to everyone else.'

'Well, in a way I'm sorry you got dragged along with me, but I'm glad you were there,' Harry told her. 'Voldemort wouldn't have been surprised by my wand this time, and the Death Eaters would have attacked when I tried to do anything. Your being there saved my life.'

She smiled shyly again.

'You're both great,' said Ginny positively.

*

Harry packed the last of his things on Friday morning, and checked that he hadn't forgotten anything. His new cards were in there, with one of Hermione's, and the fakes of Ron and Ginny that Hermione had made for them. The Firebolt was packed, the Quidditch headband ...

Harry sighed and sat down on the edge of his bed, ignoring the curious looks from the dormitory's other occupants. Even though the headband had really been from Voldemort, it didn't remind him of the prisoner the Aurors were guarding. It reminded him of Raine. At least, he hoped, she was Voldemort's last victim. Before her, that Prophet reporter had been killed -- true, she'd made up stories based on almost no facts, but did she deserve to be murdered by a Death Eater? No. Before them, Cedric, Mr Crouch, his own parents ... so many victims, right back to Myrtle. He couldn't remember his parents, and of the others, the one he felt he knew best was Raine, the one who'd betrayed him and then regretted it. He found himself wishing that it was Voldemort who'd died at Hermione's hand -- two people had already escaped from Azkaban, that he knew of, although the Aurors would be a lot more careful with him than any of their other prisoners.

'Are you all right?' Ron asked him.

Harry recovered his thoughts. 'I'm just thinking. It's been quite a busy year, hasn't it?'

'Yes.' Ron picked out the headband. 'This was what you were thinking about, wasn't it? It wasn't your fault. You didn't kill her, and you got the rat who did.'

'Yeah, I know.' He took the headband from Ron's hand and put it back into his trunk. 'I think I've packed everything except Hedwig. I'll go and get her.' He picked up the cage.

'I'll come with you and get Pig,' Ron said, following him.

Hermione and Ginny were waiting in the common room when they got down there. A basket beside Hermione was meowing at her. The boys told them they'd meet them down in the Great Hall, and headed for the Owlery, which was crowded with other pupils collecting their own owls at the last minute.

When they got back down to the Great Hall, they found the girls had already started their breakfasts. Crookshanks was quietly eating some pieces of bacon Ginny had put into his cat basket without Hermione noticing. Harry put Hedwig's cage beside the basket and grinned at Ginny while Ron and Hermione kissed.

She grinned back at him. 'All ready to go to Sirius' for a nice summer?'

'Yes. You remember the Floo address, don't you?'

'Yes, "Godric's bakery flat" isn't it?'

'Good.'

'I'll be keeping an eye on you,' Ron warned.

'When are you going to Spain?' Harry asked innocently.

'Next Tuesday,' said Hermione. 'Then we fly back on the second Tuesday after that.' She glanced at Ron. 'And I didn't pick the date, they did.'

'OK,' said Ron, smiling at her.

'So now you know when you can't visit me, because he can't check on us,' Harry said to Ginny. Both grinned.

'Well, Mum and Dad will notice, even while I'm not there,' Ron reminded them.

*

A while later, the Hogwarts Express pulled out of Hogsmeade station. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George were sharing a compartment. The twins had just found out about Ron's holiday plans after Ginny had mentioned them, not realising Ron hadn't told them yet.

'You're going with Muggles, so you can't Apparate or fly, you're going to have to drive to the coast and swim across,' Fred told Ron.

'It's all right, there's a tunnel under the Channel now,' Hermione said.

'Can you imagine walking through a tunnel that's long enough to get to France?' asked George. 'You won't be able to use Lumos outside school, you won't be able to see anything without a Muggle torch.'

'How are you getting to Spain?' asked Ginny, seriously.

'Flying -- on an aeroplane,' Hermione told her.

The twins continued to tease Ron about the dangers of Muggle flight. Ron didn't seem bothered, as Hermione clearly wasn't nervous about flying that way.

Ginny eventually asked, 'What do you think Dad will say when he finds out how rude you're being about Muggle stuff?'

'He won't -- "will"? "When"?' echoed George. 'Ah, Ginny, how would you like some of our latest Wheezes for free?'

Ginny smiled and told Hermione, 'Don't forget that you can't use magic after you get off the train -- you'll have to Petrify them before then.'

'Oh, don't,' groaned Fred. 'Angelina's still not talking to us, except to mention statues whenever she sees us.'

Hermione gripped her wand, and turned towards the twins, who were sitting closest to the door to the train's corridor. Both looked nervous, then realised she was looking at the corridor, not at them.

Harry saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle hesitating outside. He took his own wand out, and held it pointing towards the door. The three Slytherins appeared to think better of it, and left them without even opening the door.

'It's nice to have a reputation,' said Ginny wistfully. 'So, what are you two now? You were called "duelling menaces" before you defeated Voldemort and the others.'

The twins winced at their sister's use of the dreaded name.

'I don't know,' said Harry. 'Do you think we need a new name?'

'How about "heroes of the wizarding world"?' she suggested.

'That's a bit much. I don't mind "menaces". Hermione, what do you think?'

'Yes, let's just stay with that one.'

The train finally pulled into King's Cross, and they dragged trunks, cages and cat basket out of the train, and out through the secret exit. There they saw Sirius, Hermione's parents and Mr and Mrs Weasley with Bill.

'I expect we'll see each other this holiday,' Harry told the others, as they walked towards the adults. 'It'll be easier for me to visit the Burrow now.'

'Yeah!' said Ron enthusiastically. 'And I've got to unpack my school stuff and then pack to go to Hermione's house next Monday.'

'I suppose you have told Mum and Dad about that already?' George asked him.

'I told all the important people,' Ron replied, grinning.

Sirius and the other adults greeted them as they reached them.

'I wish I'd been there when you got back to the school,' Sirius told Harry.

'Oh, that's OK. Madam Pomfrey would have gone mad if anyone else had joined us in the hospital wing. Wormtail's in prison, Sirius.'

'I know, it was in the Prophet. Good work, Harry.' Sirius patted his back.

'Bye Harry!' called Hermione, as she and her parents started to leave. 'See you on Monday, Ron!'

Harry waved to her. 'I can get to you by Floo powder, now that I'm staying with Sirius,' he told Mr and Mrs Weasley. 'Do you mind if Ginny and I visit each other that way?'

'No, of course not,' Mrs Weasley told him. 'I expect we'll be seeing more of you this holiday, then.'

Harry nodded. 'Good-bye until then.'

Sirius asked him, 'How are you feeling? I should have asked that first.'

'Everything's wonderful. Let's go home.'

---

Will Fudge finally believe that Voldemort really came back? Will Voldemort and Lucius still manage to wriggle out of trouble? How will Ron and Hermione's holiday in Spain go? What will Harry and Ginny's romance lead to? What is the secret of the ancient tribute paid by the goblins to the wizards? Wait -- this is the last chapter! I'm planning other novel-length fics that aren't sequels to this one.

---