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SIYE Time:10:55 on 29th March 2024
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Harry Potter and the Serpent's Coven
By Angelripper

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Category: Post-HBP
Characters:All
Genres: Action/Adventure, Fluff, General, Romance
Warnings: Death, Sexual Situations, Violence
Rating: R
Reviews: 90
Summary: *** The author has been reminded via the e-mail address on file that this story is listed as incomplete and has not been updated in over 2 years ***

Harry Potter realises that returning to Hogwarts for his final year is the only way he will succeed in his quest to destroy Lord Voldemort. It is a year of darkness, horror and new discoveries. Ginny Weasley is not only the witch who possesses Harry's heart, but also the true source of his strength as a wizard. Together, they will find new powers within themselves and each other, and find that there are some things that even the darkest magic cannot break.
Hitcount: Story Total: 170270; Chapter Total: 4415





Author's Notes:
Okay, time to see a new side to the Weasleys...




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Later that evening, a selection of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students was to be found relaxing over a round of Butterbeers in the Great Hall. They were grateful that both staff and visiting parents alike had now left them to their own devices, but something was definitely lacking in the atmosphere. Hermione, despite the call for celebration, had her nose stuck in the Daily Prophet. Ron, who was regularly rolling his eyes and shaking his head at this, had grown tired of abusing his position as a prefect and was once again lamenting the loss of the year’s Quidditch activity.

Harry, meanwhile, was being presented with a golden opportunity. As Professor Flitwick performed his usual festive decoration duties, he was struck by a flash of inspiration. With a few flicks of his wand, he sent dozens of Christmas tree baubles flying at breakneck speed around the hall. Many of the students yelped in surprise and leapt for cover beneath the tables as the professor stood surveying the chaos, barely able to contain his glee.

“Come on, Potter!” he laughed, “Round them up!”

Harry had been trying not to think about his studies, but he was more than prepared. After dodging several of the baubles that flew within mere inches of him, he drew his wand and sent a rapid barrage of spells into the air, transfiguring each bauble in turn into a bat.

Subtilium,” he breathed.

The charm sent the bats swarming into tight formation, from which they formed the shape of an eye that looked down and winked at Harry. He grinned and pointed his wand back at them.

Oppugno!” said the voice in his head.

The swarm darted downwards in a singular attack and chased the surprised figure of Professor Flitwick twice around the Christmas tree, before Harry’s wand twitched again. The bats flew up various branches of the tree and clung to them, hanging upside down. As he transfigured each one back into a decorative bauble, Harry received a huge round of applause, and the professor emerged, breathless and smiling from behind the tree with his own wand drawn.

“Sneaky, Potter,” he said with a chuckle, “but I like it!”

Harry smiled back at him, completely unaware of the bottle of Butterbeer that floated calmly above his head and proceeded to empty all over him.

When the laughter eventually died down, Harry turned his attention to Fred and George.

“So, good day for you two?” he asked, wringing out his t-shirt.

“Marvellous,” replied George, “If we did business like that every week, we could afford some bigger premises.”

“Too bloody right,” Fred agreed, “If people are going to lock themselves in their homes, they could at least take our catalogue with them and send their orders by owl.”

“I don’t believe you two sometimes!” uttered Hermione in disgust as she looked up from her newspaper, “People are afraid, and you know perfectly well why. Just show a little compassion, will you?”

The smiles faded from the twins’ faces. With the greatest restraint, Fred took a deep breath and stared squarely at her.

“Hermione, we’ve know you for six years now. We consider you to be a good friend, and hopefully one who will continue to assist Ron in his quest to become an adult…but don’t you dare talk to us about compassion. We’ve already got one brother lying six feet under, without so much as a decent funeral from the Ministry, and our home is clearly marked under ‘W’ in You-Know-Who’s address book! Do you think we don’t know what’s going on? Of course people are afraid! We’re all afraid, but if we just bow down and live in fear, then we’ll have no life at all, so as long as we’re still breathing, it’s business as usual!”

“Oh, Fred, I…I didn’t mean…” she stammered apologetically.

“We know,” added George, pulling an enchanted Galleon from his pocket and holding it up to the light, “but if the DA aren’t about to live under the whip, then I don’t see that anyone else should have to either. We’re as ready to fight as the rest of you.”

Hermione smiled as the twins held their unwavering expressions of defiance. After a few moments, Fred turned to his brother, who still hadn’t broken eye contact with Hermione.

“Maybe that was a little too corny,” he said quietly.

“I know, but it still sounded good,” replied George quickly.

At that point, there came a ripple of laughter and wolf whistles from the far end of the table. As all eyes turned, Luna Lovegood stood up, obviously very upset, and stormed out of the hall.

“You know, for once she didn’t look as if she had her head in the clouds,” Harry remarked, before lowering his voice, “Do you think it’s something to do with Neville?”

“Well, judging by the fact that he’s currently got some poor youngster threateningly by the collar, I’d say it’s a safe bet,” replied Ron, rising to his feet, “I think I’d better bring him up here.”

“Well, I suppose it’s up to me to go and see if she’s alright?” said Hermione with a raised eyebrow, “Honestly, I don’t know how some of those girls can call themselves her friend.”

As Hermione left in pursuit of Luna, Ron painstakingly dragged Neville back to where they were sitting.

“What was all that about?” asked Harry, moving up to make room for him.

“Bloody fifth years, saying Luna was a freak,” he grumbled, “Then when I tried standing up for her, they started getting acting like complete knobheads about it and she walked out.”

There were knowing glances exchanged all round the group.

“Neville, can’t just tell her how you feel?” sighed George, “I may not have been around for the most part, but you blatantly have a crush on her.”

“I…I don’t know what you mean,” Neville replied, blushing a little, “She’s just a good friend.”

“Who are you trying to convince, mate?” asked Ron as he nudged him in the ribs.

Neville went quiet and hung his head.

“I just…think…she’s…special,” he said finally.

Ron smiled and looked up at Fred and George. Fred rolled his eyes and grinned back, but George was staring at one of the doorways leading to the hall, as if in a trance.

“Special?” said George, still refusing to meet their questioning looks and turning Fred’s head around in the same direction, “No, my friend…that is special…”

Now all five of them were looking to see what had grabbed George’s attention. Dressed in gowns of flowing deep purple silk with delicately shadowed eyes, both bewitching and seductive, the Patil twins, Padma and Parvati had just made their entrance. Exhaling in unison, with a long, admiring whistle, Fred and George followed their every movement as they walked into the Great Hall.

“That has got to be the sweetest sight I’ve seen all year,” breathed George.

“Wow…” was all Fred could manage, as he felt his face turn a burning red.

Even Harry and Ron appeared distracted.

“You two may think that we’re hopeless with girls,” Ron remarked with a smirk, “but we’ve actually been out with them.”

These were the words that made George look back at him.

“Ah yes, how could we forget your little performance at the Yule Ball?” he grinned, “Right old pair of Casanovas, you two! Do me a favour, Ron, just don’t even try using that as an example of your romantic prowess.”

“Oh really?” replied Ron indignantly, “Well, perhaps you would both like to introduce us to your girlfriends?”

The twins were perfectly ready for a challenge such as this.

“Ask us that again in a few hours,” said Fred, smoothing down his hair and straightening his jacket with a sudden boost of his old confidence.

With that, they both got to their feet, ready to display the Weasley charm.

“Ladies!” they exclaimed together, turning the heads of both Patil sisters.

“My brother and I have a proposition to put to you,” said Fred, struggling to keep his complexion under control as his eyes met Parvati’s.

“What do you say to the idea of being wined and dined by the finest, most eligible wizards ever to grace the halls of Hogwarts?” George enquired hopefully.

Taken aback, the two witches turned to each other, smiling a little. After a short whisper to her sister, Padma replied.

“Well, I suppose it couldn’t do any harm. Just promise that whatever problem Ron had doesn’t run in the family?”

“I can assure you of that,” said George quickly.

“The boy doesn’t have an amorous bone in his body,” added Fred.

“We think he may have been dropped on his head as a baby,” George concluded.

With another mutual glance, both sisters nodded their acceptance, though knowing the twins’ reputation still displayed a hint of suspicion.

“What exactly did you have in mind?” asked Parvati in her sweetest possible voice, “I mean, where are we going?”

Fighting against her almost hypnotic gaze, Fred grinned.

“The only place you can go to find the finest Hogwarts cuisine at this hour...”

“Shall we…?” they said in unison, taking Padma and Parvati by the hand and leading them out of the room.

Ron and Harry were staring after them for quite a while after they disappeared.

“How…?” Ron began, “How…do…they…do that?”

Harry looked back at his friend and smiled.

“Ron, Hermione loves you to bits, I really don’t think you need to worry yourself about that. It’s just their way, I suppose.”

A quiet sense of warm satisfaction spread through Ron at hearing this. The words were comforting. Even though he had spent so much time in Hermione’s company since the beginning of his first year at Hogwarts, he felt that there was a part of him missing now that she wasn’t sitting right beside him. He closed his eyes and her image was instantly burned into his mind. Her eyes, her hair, her mouth, the shape of her body, even her smell; it was all as crystal clear as if she were standing right there. No matter how affectionate he had tried to be over the past few months, he was now ashamed that he hadn’t said or done nearly enough to let her know how special she was. This was too much to bear.

“You’re right,” he replied, getting purposefully to his feet, “I’ll err…see you later.”

So saying, Ron hurried out of the hall, leaving Harry both perplexed and thoroughly depressed. He had hoped the celebrations would help take his mind off Ginny, but now she was at the forefront of his thoughts more than ever. Everyone else, even Neville, had a piece of happiness that was at least within their reach, and yet here he was, waiting for what seemed an eternity for a girl whose life was currently far beyond his understanding. He felt anger suddenly bubbling up inside him, and was inches away from following Ron’s example. His nails were digging into his palms and the urge to break something or hurt someone was quickly getting the better of him.

No, he thought. This wasn’t right. Now was the time to be following Professor Lockhart’s advice, as idiotic as the suggestion might have sounded. Taking a steadying breath, he turned his attention to Neville, who was now absorbed in the copy of the Daily Prophet that Hermione had left on the table.

“So,” he said brightly, “How’s the N.E.W.T revision going?”

He felt a little stupid and dull discussing schoolwork when relaxation was the order of the day, but Neville wasn’t listening to him anyway. He was instead looking dumbfounded by the article he was reading.

“Neville, are you alright?” Harry enquired.

Neville slowly looked up.

“Harry, I think you should read this,” he said, pushing the newspaper in his face.

Inside the centre pages, Harry saw an animated black and white photograph of Ministry wizards emerging from a house with grim expressions on their faces, attempting to shield their eyes from the flashing cameras of the wizarding press. The headline above read “ONWARD DOWN THE PATH OF DARKNESS”. Taking a quick glance around them, Harry read the article aloud, keeping his voice low enough to ensure that only he and Neville could hear.

In a bizarre turn of events, we can now reveal that Narcissa Malfoy (41) has been killed in a violent altercation with Ministry Aurors at a muggle dwelling in the town of Maidstone, Kent. Acting on information gathered from muggle law enforcement officials, a team of Aurors conducted a raid on the house in the early hours of Wednesday morning. One of the team, Dante Kästner, was killed in the raid, and a further two were injured before the situation was brought under control.

“She clearly had no intention of going quietly,” a Ministry spokesman stated yesterday, “All possible measures were taken to ensure that there would be no excessive force used, but the death of the perpetrator was simply a matter of self defense. After a thorough search of the property, the bodies of five muggles, as yet unidentified, were discovered in a horrifically mutilated state. From noting the internal organs that had been removed from the victims, we were able to determine that Malfoy had been practicing some manner of ancient Dark magic. This theory was confirmed by the markings and incantations scrawled across the walls of the basement. There is no concrete evidence to suggest that she was in the service of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but given the circumstances and her family associations, we are certainly not ruling out the possibility.”

Narcissa, wife of disgraced Ministry official and exposed Death Eater Lucius Malfoy, had been reported as missing from her family home almost a year ago, and the whereabouts of the Malfoys’ seventeen year-old son Draco has remained a mystery for the past five months. Unofficial sources claim that he too has been ensnared into the service of….”


Harry’s voice trailed into silence, his eyes now as big as Professor Trelawney’s. It wasn’t a matter to which he had given much thought, but now he felt sick with fear as he reminded himself just what Dark witches and wizards were capable of.

Many miles away, the very same newspaper article lay open on an oak table in a large stone cottage. The wretched figure of a young wizard sat shuddering gently in a corner with his head in his hands and greasy curtains of blonde hair plastered to the sides of his face. If Harry could have seen him at that moment, he would have concluded that the contents and implications of the article were slowly sinking in.
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