Harry Potter and the Ultimate Battle

The following week in Albus Dumbledore's office Hannah Bell sat in front of the desk. Dumbledore was speaking to her, "Hannah I know that you usually work with Hermione, but I need you to go on a mission that I am sending Draco, and Harry on; I need to know how they well they work together, and I cannot send Ron because it would be a certifiable disaster, his mistrust of Draco combined with Harry's indecision about Malfoy's loyalty would not only keep the mission from succeeding but it would also most likely lead to the capture, or death of those three idiotic hot-headed young geniuses." at this last statement Hannah looked up at Dumbledore sharply, her eyes were green with amusement; she had never heard Dumbledore joke about anyone in this manner, "It annoys me that Ron and Draco still openly distrust each other. Well, Hannah I need someone who is good enough to keep up with both Harry and Draco, and who trust them both entirely, and someone who can give a good account of how well Draco and Harry work together."

While Hannah was thinking about what Dumbledore had said, Harry and Draco walked into to the office at nearly the same moment sitting on either side of Hannah. When Harry and Draco were situated, Dumbledore said, "I have a mission for the three of you."

Harry looked at Hannah, "But sir we hardly ever work together after that first mission..."

Dumbledore looked at Harry and said, "I trust you will not try to burn down London again."

Hanna giggled and Harry choked holding back laughter; Hannah said, "But sir we followed the mission parameters and got what you wanted done, burning the wine shop down was a fringe benefit..." seeing the question on Draco's face she said, "we'll tell you all about it later."

"Quite," Dumbledore said with an amused twinkle in his eyes, "Your mission will be to retrieve a set of scrolls from the Royal library," Draco, who been listening with rapt attention, sighed and leaned back in his chair, "this mission will not be easy Voldemort will want these particular spells so he might send in some Death Eaters if he realizes what you are after."

* * * * * * *

Draco had used the Alohomora spell to open the heavily locked door of the archives. Harry hissed to Draco in hushed whisper, "You stupid git! The whole idea of dressing as muggles and coming here as muggles is to be..." Hannah's eyes flashed purple in the darkness, Harry shut-up, if her eyes were purple Hannah was angry.

Hannah hissed at both Draco and Harry, "Stop it both of you. We have a job to do. Come on let's go, now." Before either Harry or Draco could say anything Hannah spun on her heals and walked in to the darkness of the Archives building toward the vault that, according to Dumbledore, held the spell that could take away Voldemort's immortality. Draco wordlessly followed her. Harry watched her retreating back for a second then followed as well.

While they were working on the door lock to the room with the scroll, Draco asked, "How did you two almost burn down London?" Hannah's narrowed eyes turned a bright green and she giggled, Harry blushed, looking away. Draco even more interested, asked again, "What happened?"

Hannah, mastering here amusement, said, "We got in a tough spot the first mission we had together. We were set upon by Death Eaters who had intercepted an owl, which is why we write everything in code now, by the way. Anyways, we ran into this wine shop, and a few minutes later the Death Eaters came in after us. We had a little magical dual with these four Death Eaters we knocked three of them out, when Harry threw fire at the remaining Death Eater. Now this would have been okay if we weren't in a shop filled with bottles and bottles of flammable ethanol. The fire hit the Death Eater and crisped him quite nicely, actually, but he didn't absorb all the flame, some of the flame unfortunately hit some whiskey or something on the shelf. Well the alcohol of course blew up, and the rest of the store, along with several other stores around it burnt to the ground," Draco broke out laughing, Harry still bright red continued to work on the lock for the door to the room with the scrolls in it.

"Were did you learn that from?" Draco asked Harry bemusedly, looking at the long strips of metal that Harry had used to pick the lock to the door.

Harry snickered, "Fred and George Weasley." Hannah's eyes were bright green as she searched through the scrolls in the room, according to Dumbledore the correct scrolls would be an orange-ish tint to the scroll with the seal of three of the Hogwarts four Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor, and Helga Hufflepuff; not Salezar Slytherin though because apparently he had already left Hogwarts by then.

"Got it!" Draco said triumphantly. Hannah and Harry walked over to him as he smiled at them.

"Yep, that's it. Come on let's go," Hannah said.

"Well, that was easy..."

"Never ever, ever say that was too easy!" Harry hissed and Harry knocked on the wooden table.

Hannah's eyes scanned the dimly lit foyer outside the room they stood in, Hannah's eyes flashed a hazel-purple color, she growled, "We're going, now!"

"I think not," a tall man stood in the doorway, and with his back to the light in the foyer none of the three in the room could at first make-out his features. "At least you will not be leaving here alive," the man stepped forward followed by at least six others. The man was Lucius Malfoy.

Draco was glaring at his father in obvious hatred, and revulsion. Lucius looked at his son then away quickly as if the sight burned. "Take them," Lucius said over his shoulder, with out turning his head away from Harry, Draco and Hannah. The men behind him walked around Lucius, while Lucius stood in the doorway watching.

"What's the matter father? To proud to get your hands dirty or are you to scared to face us yourself?"

"I am neither frightened of you the three of you and nor are you worth my time."

That was the last thing that was said before the room exploded in chaos.

Hannah dodged to left as one of the men screamed something in Latin; she didn't catch it because at the same time that she dodged to her left, Harry dodged to his right. They collided in mid-air, which resulted in both of them loosing their wands. Both Hannah and Harry jumped up and sprinted to opposite sides of the room, to be moving targets. Draco on the other hand hit one of their attack with a stunning spell and another with an interesting spell the made his hands bleed so that he couldn't grip his wand.

Before Harry even got to the cover of one of the many bookshelves in the room the attacker with the bloody hands dropped his wand and hit Harry in the shoulder smashing Harry into the bookshelf he had been heading to for cover. Harry dropped in a heap under a pile of toppling books. Hannah heard the clatter, and ran, her body low and balanced, toward the attacker. When she reached the bloody handed man, Hannah didn't stop she hockey-checked the man to the floor. The man grabbed her waist and boasted her over his shoulders as he fell; both immediately rolled to their feet and faced each other, each circling the other.

Harry yelled, "Hannah down!" then Harry yelled, "Stupify!" Hannah reacted just in time, dropping to the floor. She then jumped up and Harry handed her wand, and the two of then advanced upon the two men who held Draco. "Expellarimus!" Harry and Hannah yelled in unison, to their dismay the men not only let go of Draco but Draco flew back into the wall.

Without pausing to see if Draco was okay, Harry and Hannah spun to face the rest of their attackers. The remaining men and Lucius Malfoy were gone.

"Where did they go?" Harry asked looking around.

Picking himself up off the ground, Draco rummaged through his pockets for the scroll. He pulled it out of his back pocket. "Why didn't they take the scroll from me? They had the chance."

"Well let's not wait around to find out. Let's go now," Harry said. Hannah and Draco nodded.

As they reached the door they heard a man's voice, "Come on men there was a lot of noise in the back room a few seconds ago, let's go check it out!"

Hannah's eyes changed to a bright hazel but she said, grabbing Harry and Draco's shirt and pulling them out of the room, "Come on move!" in a hoarse whisper. She pulled Draco and Harry to a back exit, which luckily did not have a fire alarm on it and pushed it open. As soon as the door was open the three ran into the dark and foggy London midnight.

* * * * * * *

After going back to Hogwarts and giving the scroll to Dumbledore, Harry invited Draco and Hannah to sleep at his and Ron's flat since Ron was out on a mission having to do with his job and wouldn't be back for several days. Hannah and Draco both accepted while the three of them trudged back to Hogsmeade.

When they reached the flat however Harry found that he had a minor quandary; He couldn't put Draco in Ron's bed, because Ron still despised Draco, but he also didn't feel he should put Hannah in Ron's room on the off chance that Ron might return from his trip early, and good manners dictated that he, Harry, couldn't let either of his guests sleep on the couch. Harry decided that putting Hannah up in Ron's room and letting Draco use his bed and himself sleeping on the couch, was the best idea. So therefore, after showing both of his guests around the flat, Harry got some sheets out, folded out the couch-bed in the living room, and put the sheets on the mattress.

Hannah wondered out into the living room about twenty minutes later, dressed in a pair of Harry's sweat pants and one of his t-shirts, brushing her long wet hair. "Harry thanks for letting me borrow some clothes and for letting me spend the night."

Harry grinned and asked, "You hungry? There should be something edible around the kitchen somewhere..."

Hannah snickered here eyes a bright green color, "With you and Ron as cooks I'm so sure. But maybe I can make something."

"Hey I'm a good cook!" Harry said indignantly. Hannah just raised an eyebrow at him. "I just haven't been here for a while." Hannah still didn't say anything but the look on her face clearly said 'yeah right, uh-huh sure'.

A few seconds later, just as the silence was getting uncomfortable, Draco walked into the kitchen with a pair of Harry's jogging shorts, and a t-shirt on. Harry left to take a shower, as Draco sat at the kitchen table. Hannah shook her head and began to rummage through the fridge to see if she could make the three of them anything worth eating.

* * * * * * *

Harry was awoken by a woman's scream. He sat up in his bed a moment disoriented. There was a muffled thud and a man swearing. Harry's mind caught up with what was happening. Hannah's in Ron's bed! Ron must have gotten back early! Harry jumped out of his bed and grabbing his wand bolted down the short hallway to Ron's room. Unfortunately, someone else had the same idea. Harry and Draco collided just outside Ron's door, just as Ron was thrown back through it by a hex Hannah had preformed.

Harry, Ron and Draco disentangled themselves from the pile they had been in as Hannah, eyes flashing purple, stalked to the door to growl at Ron, "trying to hexing a sleeping person is NOT a very civilized way to wake them up!" Harry and Draco looked from Hannah to Ron and back again and both burst out laughing. Ron looked angry and just a little embarrassed to have been bested by Hannah, who had been asleep.

Hannah disappeared into Ron's room and came out a moment later with the towel she had used the night before, and walked out of the room to take another shower as she did she said over her shoulder to Ron, "You can have your bed back now." Ron still looked taken a back and didn't move.

Harry and Draco still laughing walked away, Draco to change in Harry's room and Harry to pull out the London phone book, for a good take out place for lunch, since it was11:30. Draco came in dressed as Harry found the pizza place that he and Ron ordered from sometimes, and ordered two large pizzas and a bottle of soda. Harry left to change in his room.

Hannah and Draco left after lunch. Soon after they left Harry said to Ron, "I have two questions for you," Ron looked at Harry to show he was listening, "'a' why did you jinx Hannah when she was sleeping? And 'B', why did you look so surprised when she beat you in the little fight that the two of you had?"

Ron scowled, "I jinxed her because I didn't know it was Hannah. If I had known that it was her I wouldn't have done that. And, as for your other question, well, I guess that I'm used to the old Hannah. Ya' know? The Hannah that we knew in school was against fighting, always quiet, and everyone's friend Hannah."

Harry shrugged, "She hasn't been non-violent since Voldemort killed her mother and younger brother and sisters, in their house in Surrey, during the summer after our sixth year." Ron nodded in agreement.

* * * * * * *

A few days later...

"The Fire Blood Potion will, indeed, if made properly, in theory take away Voldemort's self-created immortality." Dumbledore said at the opening of another meeting of 'old friends'.

"What do you mean in theory, Albus?" Bill asked.

"To my knowledge this particular potion was used only once before, by Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff on Salazar Slytherin." Dumbledore answered. There was a heavy silence as all present considered this.

"Okay so let's say this potion was made properly, and that it does work, will the potion kill Voldemort, or will we have the joy of doing that ourselves?" Ron asked.

Albus looked at Ron for a long moment then said, "I believe that we will have to kill Voldemort ourselves." Ron gulped and looked away. "Now I have started to brew this potion but it will take several weeks." Dumbledore continued, "There are a few ingredients that I have not gathered yet because they are very rare." Dumbledore looked at Charlie Weasley, "You work mainly in Romania, correct?"

Charlie nodded interested, "In northern Romania mostly but sometimes I need to go all over the countryside."

"Do you know of the red dragon pear tree?" Dumbledore asked.

"Ummm..." Charlie said thinking, "I think I heard of it in northwestern Romania, yes."

"Good. Charlie, take Katie and find a dragon pear tree. Bring back several of the pears; be sure to pick the pears on the night of the new moon." Charlie and Katie nodded. Further discussion of news and tactics of war, and the meeting broke up. Everyone except Dumbledore, because the new term at Hogwarts had begun, went to the Weasley's for dinner.

* * * * * * *

Several days later Charlie Weasley and Katie Bell rode horses toward the small secluded glade that was suppose to hold the very rare dragon pear trees. The only light in the dark forest that Charlie and Katie journeyed through was the light on their wand tips.

"After this jolly jaunt to the middle of nowhere, this potion had better work." Charlie commented after what seemed like several subjective hours of silent riding through the dark lonely woods.

Katie just shook her head, "It'll work." After several minutes more of silence Katie asked, "Charlie, do you get the feeling we're being watched?"

"Yeah, I've had it for a while now. I just thought I was being paranoid." There was a reflective silence. "Perhaps we should extinguish our wands; if there is someone following us it will be more difficult for them to track us if our wands aren't lit."

"Right," Katie agreed. The darkness closed around them as the lights on their wands went out.

After another few minutes Charlie and Katie came upon a small glade. "I think this is it," Katie said looking around. "And unless I am very much mistaken that is a dragon pear tree," Katie said looking at the picture and description in the book Dumbledore had given her before this mission.

The tree in itself wasn't very impressive; it was the fruit that hung from the branches that were impressive. The pears were about four times the size of muggle pears and seemed to glow as they reflected the starlight. Charlie and Katie cautiously approached the tree and dismounted from their horses.

Katie handed her horse's reins to Charlie and walked over to the tree. "Should I climb up and pick the pears the old fashioned way or should I just levitate them down?" Katie asked.

Charlie looked around the dark and foreboding glade, "I think that you should just use magic so we can get out of here. My skin is crawling; I want to get out of here as soon as possible." Katie nodded in the darkness and began to levitate the large pears down and put them in a bag that was magiced to hold more then its size would have normally allowed it to.

Just as Katie was walking back to Charlie and the horses, a twig snapped in the dark. Charlie spun to face were the sound had come from. A small group of men stood about a hundred yards from were Charlie and Katie stood with their mounts "State your business here." The men held not wands but guns they were evidently muggles.

"We're just passing through, we meant no harm. We were going to stop here and get a few hours sleep before pressing on." Charlie said improvising. I hope this works, Charlie thought desperately, and if it doesn't I hope we can stun them before the shoot us.

The man that had spoken before seemed to think it over. He said, "You will move on now or you will find out what no trespassing means." There was a mumble among the other men as the leader said this. The leader turned to one of his men, there was a whispered argument.

Charlie and Katie looked at each other and by unspoken mutual agreement they mounted their horses. Charlie said, "We'll just be moving on then."

The whispered argument stopped and the leader said, "No, I think we shall not let you go after all."

"Katie go!" Charlie yelled, and kicked his own horse into a gallop a beat after Katie did.

* * * * * * *

"Come on, Harry," Ron yelled. Hermione and he were at one of Harry and Hannah's Quidditch games. Their team, the Surrey Sharks, was shutting out their competition, the Whoton Wolverines eighty to zero; this was due mostly to Hannah's skill as a keeper. The Sharks had good chasers and beaters Harry and Hannah were definitely way above their teammates in terms of skill.

Harry made a spectacular dive followed closely by the Wolverines seeker. Just above the ground, Harry pulled out of the dive; the other seeker was not so lucky the other man crashed into the ground with an audible thud. The man stood shakily and after a few moments, he remounted his broom and kicked off the ground to re-join the game.

The referee blew her whistle and awarded one penalty shot to the Wolverines for Harry's use of the Wronski Feint. Hannah easily caught the quaffle and tossed it to one of the Sharks chasers. A few seconds later Harry dove again, this time, though he chased a glint of gold. Harry pulled out of his dive with the snitch clutched tightly in his fist. The Sharks supporters especially Ron and Hermione jumped up and cheered.

About twenty minutes later Harry and Hannah walked out of the locker room to join their friends for dinner. Before they found Ron and Hermione a man in formal looking dark brown robes stepped in front of them saying, "Mr. Potter, Ms. Bell I am Orion Rauner. I'm the head coach for the Wimbourne Wasps. May I have a word with the two of you?"

As Rauner spoke, Ron and Hermione walked up. Ron's mouth dropped opening shock Hermione looked excited. Harry couldn't talk he was so surprised, after a few seconds he choked out, "Yeah, sure." Ron gave Harry and Hannah a thumbs-up sign as they followed Mr. Rauner back into the locker room were it was quiet enough to talk.

"This coming season we will be without our seeker or our keeper. Wood and Maulich married and have retired," Mr. Rauner scowled as if the happiness of the players came second to the Wasps upcoming season. Mr. Rauner continued, "I have been scouting out all the British minor league teams, and frankly I'm very impressed with the skill the two of you showed on the pitch today. I would like to offer each of you positions on the Wimbourne Wasps."

Harry looked at Hannah at the same moment she turned bright green eyes to his own emerald ones. They both looked at Mr. Rauner and said, "Absolutely," at the same moment.

* * * * * * *

Muddy and exhausted, Katie and Charlie rode silently in through the dark woodlands of Romania; they didn't dare light their wands for fear of attracting the un-wanted attention of locals, animal or human.

It was a long time before either of them spoke. It was Katie who finally broke the silence, "Who do you think those guys were?"

There was a reflective silence, and then Charlie added, "Those guys were likely petty thieves or small time smugglers."

"At least we got the stuff," was Katie's only reply.

"Yeah, but the nearest town in this direction is a four days ride."

"Why can't we just apparate back to Hogwarts?"

"Because the magic could be detected, if the magic is detected Voldemort will look into why we're here, and we don't want to draw attention to the fact that we're trying to make the Fire Blood Potion," Charlie answered.

Katie groaned but said nothing more. Even though it was September there were still bugs flying around in the damp night air. A mosquito bit Katie's arm, and somewhere in the distance a wolf howled, Oh god, Katie thought, This is going to be a long four days...