The Hospital Wing and the Astronomy Tower

"Or, you could pay," came a voice from behind the statue of Slytherin.

***

A hooded figure stepped forward. This figure was shorter slightly, than the rest, and the voice was a female one. The figure lifted her hands, and pulled the hood off her head. She looked about sixteen, and strangely resembled Blaise, except her eyes were much warmer, and not so dark, and her long hair was purple and slightly curly. But some of her features still resembled those of Blaise.

"Verity?" said Blaise.

"Blaise," said Verity. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Oh yeah," said Blaise. "I thought you weren't coming until the summer?"

"What be this absurdity?!" shouted Slytherin, hoarsely.

"Shut it, you," said Verity.

Harry looked at her, utterly shocked. Why was she not afraid?

"This night just keeps getting weirder and weirder," came a mumble from Draco.

Seamus stood up quickly. "All right," he said. "What the Hell is this place and why am I here?"

"This is the last straw!" hollered Voldemort. "You children are far too rude, and why are you not afraid to die?"

"Bloody Hell!" shouted Seamus. "You look horrible!"

"Excuse me?" hissed Voldemort.

"Oh shit," said Seamus. "You're He Who Must Not Be Named, aren't you?"

"Good Heavens," cried Hermione. "Seamus, what are you doing?"

"Hermione!" whispered Ron.

"Draco!" shouted Lucius. "What is the meaning of this?"

Draco looked startled. He looked from his father, to Ginny, to Voldemort, not knowing what to say. "Er..." he thought quickly, remembering the Yule Ball."I... er... just want to wish his greatness Salazar Slytherin a happy re-birthday, and... er... ask what it was like to be frozen for a thousand years."

"Nice one," said Ginny, smirking.

"It was hard business," said Slytherin. "But well worth it, because now, I shall rule."

"Hey, hey," said Verity. "Are you forgetting about me?"

"You'll be a fine sacrifice to darkness," said Voldemort, looking her over.

"Watch it," she snapped. "Or I might have to tear your eyes out."

"These dark lords are all perverts," Blaise said to Harry.

Harry nodded, eyes wide. He had never expected a meeting with Voldemort to go quite like this. It was almost entertaining, if, of course, he didn't have the fear of being murdered.

"Shall we begin?" said Voldemort, exasperatedly.

"Let us," said Slytherin. "I trust you have chosen the respective sacrifices?"

"I've decided that little Miss Weasley will be plunged into eternal darkness," said Voldemort. "Along with Potter."

"But why not murder a Mudblood?" said Lucius.

"We shall only need three additional sacrifices," said Slytherin. "Draco, my servant, along with three others."

"But my lord," Voldemort pleaded. "We have these people at hand, why not increase our power?"

"Very well," said Slytherin. "But we must first rid ourselves of this red-headed girl, the one who weakens my servant."

Voldemort and Lucius cackled at these words.

"Any last words, Ginny?" asked Tom Riddle, stepping forward and placing a hand on Ginny's shoulder.

Ginny brushed off his hand, furiously. "Yeah," she said. "If I'm really going to die, I just want to say that Voldemort is a smarmy git, and Lucius Malfoy is a complete dickhead for... for everything he's ever done. And there's just one last thing I want to do." She stepped up to Draco and put her arms around his neck, engaging him in a long, passionate kiss, thinking it would be her last. Ginny didn't dare break the kiss, knowing that when she did, she'd be hit with a simple curse that would end her life forever.

Lucius stared at his son in horror, completely lost for words.

"Isn't that sweet, Uncle Magarsk?" Verity said to Blaise's father.

"Aw, Harry look!" said Blaise. "That's the last thing I would do."

Harry looked at her, a quizzical look on his face.

"But I would kiss you, not Draco," said Blaise.

Ron's face turned beet red, but he didn't dare speak, partly because of the shock of hearing that his best friend and his sister would be murdered, and partly because of fear.

Tom grasped Ginny by the shoulders and pulled her away from Draco.

"I'm not finished yet," said Ginny, looking annoyed.

"That's too bad," Tom sneered. "Say good bye, darling."

Ron jumped up, his face a furious red. He lurched at Tom Riddle, knocking the wand from his hand, and punched him hard in the face. "Don't even think about it!" Ron hollered.

"Stupid boy!" shouted Voldemort. "You'll be next!"

Ron looked up at Voldemort wearing an expression of deep malice. "And you!" Ron snarled. "If you lay one skinny, slimy finger on my sister, or my best-friend, you'll never see another day."

"I am Lord Voldemort," said Voldemort. "You're a stupid Mudblood lover. I believe I could kill you in a second." With that, he raised his wand, but to no avail, because at that moment, Draco jumped at him, wrestling him to the ground.

"Draco!" hollered Lucius. "You stupid idiot!"

"Don't you call him an idiot!" yelled Ginny, and she flew at Lucius with rage, punching him hard in the nose. At times like this, that old Weasley temper was very useful.

"What in Hell's name is going on?!" shouted Slytherin.

"Harry," said Blaise. "This is our chance, we've got to get the old wanker!"

Harry and Blaise lept to their feet, wands pointed at Salazar Slytherin. Harry wasn't certain what curse to use on him, so he decided to use the full body bind. Blaise had used a Cruciatus curse, and evidently, so had Verity, who was also standing with her wand raised.

Everything stopped. The eight hooded death eaters stood still as trees on a windless day, feet planted to the ground. Lucius Malfoy lay on his front, Ginny Weasley sitting on his back yanking at his hair. Ron was sitting on Tom Riddle's stomach, his fist had stopped in mid-punch, and Draco was struggling to keep Voldemort grounded.

Hermione and Seamus stood up quickly, and the death eaters all charged forward.

In a flash of red and blue light, every person, and in Voldemort's case, creature, was lying on the floor, some sort of injury harming them in some way or another.

Wormtail, who had been attacked by Seamus, was lit on fire, squealing like a swine. Magarsk Zabini had been hit by his daughter with a severing charm, and Blaise had been hit by her father with much the same. The father and daughter apologized to each other rather rudely. Crabbe and Goyle had flung punches at each other, but then stopped when they realized who they were beating on, and then they had both been flung like flies at the wall.

Verity, who had been barely bruised by McNair, stood up quickly. Her face was rather jolly, and so was her voice when she spoke. "There is no power in numbers," she said. "There is power in time, and in wisdom."

"What does this wench speak of?!" demanded Slytherin.

"One minute to ten," said Blaise, looking at Harry's watch. "And not one sacrifice has been put forward."

"Actually," said Tom. "Finnigan was under the Imperius, which classifies as a sacrifice."

"You stupid dufus," said Seamus. "That doesn't count, because the curse was taken off me, and none of the curses were performed in my duration under the Imperius."

Hermione looked at Seamus, flabbergasted. "How did you know that?" she asked.

"You aren't the only one who studies, Hermione," said Seamus. "We learned about this in Defense Against the Dark Arts in the fifth year."

***

Everything that happened after that was a bit of a blur, (and a bit of a bore). The death eaters were all caught, by ex-auror and ex-framed-convict, Sirius Black, who had regained consciousness, and the Hogwarts' pupils (Crabbe and Goyle included), along with Verity Abernill were taken to the Hospital Wing. The death eaters and their leader (Voldemort) were taken to Azkaban, Tom Riddle was sent back into his own time, and Salazar Slytherin was put to sleep. Sirius was angered that the stupid Minister, Cornelius Fudge, would not allow a Dementor to perform his kiss on Voldemort. Something about not wanting to mix dark creatures...

Draco and Ron decided that the agreement they had shared the last time they were both in the Hospital Wing would now be effective, and Lucius had now been sent to Azkaban, although they also agreed that the only reason they had come up with the idea of getting along was because of narcotic influence.

Harry forgave Blaise, and they agreed that they were perfect for each other. Blaise promised she held no more secrets, and Harry promised he would not get bored of her. But for some reason, Harry still hasn't told Blaise he loves her.

Seamus was over-joyed to see Verity, and so soon, that he asked her to the Valentines Ball, and she said yes. The only problem was that Madam Pomfrey wouldn't allow them to leave the infirmary. But that was no problem for Verity, she sneaked out of the Hospital Wing with Seamus, and rather than going to the ball, they went to the Astronomy Tower instead.

Ron and Hermione were still unbreakable, and deeply in love, although this experience had strengthened their friendship, and Hermione admired Ron all the more for fighting Tom Riddle himself.

Draco told Ginny that as soon as they were released from the Hospital Wing, they would do something special together. He also thanked her for saving him, and she insisted it was he who saved her. Finally, Blaise made them agree that they had saved each other.

Lavender Brown regretted breaking up with Seamus, but Cho Chang had got her respect for Harry back, and she began treating him like a friend again. Although she was still jealous of Blaise; and hated seeing Harry and Blaise together.

***

Once they were out of the Hospital Wing, Harry and Blaise resumed life as normal, back to school, back to doing homework together, and so on, spending evenings out late in the astronomy tower, or perhaps out on the Quidditch pitch.

"Harry, I think I'll be the one to grow bored o you," said Blaise, yawning.

She and Harry were in the Astronomy Tower, and ironically enough, they were actually working on their astronomy homework.

"Now, why would you say that?" asked Harry, sliding down in a seat beside Blaise.

"When I said I wanted to go to the Astronomy Tower, I didn't mean to do homework," said Blaise, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh really?" said Harry. "So what were your actual intentions?"

"You know very well," said Blaise, and she couldn't help but smile.

"I have loads of homework," said Harry. "I really think I should finish it first. And you should do the same."

"Come on, Harry!" Blaise cried. "When did you become so boring?"

"I'm just teasing you," said Harry, putting his arm around his girlfriend. "Come here, you."

Blaise looked up at him. "I love you," she said.

"I know," said Harry, kissing her on the forehead.

"That's it?" asked Blaise. "A mere peck on the forehead?"

Harry rolled his eyes, and sealed his mouth over hers, slipping his tongue into her mouth.

"Now that's more like it, Potter," said Blaise, when they finally broke away, each in need of air.

***

When everything was back to normal, Draco and Ginny spent the next Hogsmeade weekend together. They went into the Three Broomsticks for butterbeer.

"What are you thinking about now?" asked Ginny.

"You always ask," said Draco. "As if you don't know."

Ginny smiled. "You just seem to have changed so much," she said. "You aren't the same Malfoy as you used to be."

"I can still be arrogant," said Draco. "But around you, I don't want to act like a git."

"I didn't think someone could change so much in only a few months," said Ginny. "You don't know how strange it is."

"Believe me, I do," said Draco. "I saw the change in Crabbe and Goyle, and thought that was odd, but now I even see a really odd change in my own personality."

"How so?" asked Ginny.

"Well, I find myself being nice to Potter sometimes," said Draco. "And just yesterday in potions, Snape asked if I was feeling all right, because I didn't try to get Potter for anything."

"You have changed," said Ginny. "But I like it." She leaned forward and kissed him; that same passionate kiss, as though it would be her last.