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SIYE Time:10:02 on 29th March 2024
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Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus
By Dianne

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Category: Dark Autumn Challenge (2005-5)
Characters:None
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Fluff, Humor, Drama, General
Warnings: Death
Story is Complete
Rating: PG
Reviews: 15
Summary: Harry admires Ginny from afar, but gets to know her up close and personal on the weekend of a Hogsmeade visit for Halloween. Dumbledore has always preached that love is the most powerful magic of them all as he looks into his heart and finds something over it that could save them all from an unexpected Death Eater attack.
Hitcount: Story Total: 5382







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A/N Once again, both challenges at www.wizardtalesnet and SIYE, were too good to pass up and I have combined them both. The artwork by Agi Vega depicting Harry wearing a dragon likeness upon his bare chest, with Ginny standing behind him, is the inspiration for the dragon part of this story as the challenge for wizard tales is to simply make up a story about that picture. For the challenge at SIYE, the criteria is that it is Harry’s sixth year, there is an attack in Hogsmeade on a weekend in October and the DA members emerge victorious over their attackers. Harry must use a spectacular spell of some sort that no one has heard of, Neville will lead a group to safety, a student makes a hair raising life saving rescue, no students can die, and at least three battles must be described. I have met all criteria from both sites and have used all bonus phrases from both challenges. The artwork by Agi Vega is very well done and I invite you check it out at wizardtales, while I invite anyone reading this to verify that I have stuck to both challenges by visiting the sites and reading the criteria for themselves. This is what I’ve come up from using both challenges. Thanks for reading!

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It was unprecedented in the history of Hogwarts to be able to use Muggle electronic devices within the castle walls, but such were the times of danger that Headmaster Dumbledore had allowed Arthur Weasley to ‘juice up’ a dvd player and televisions in each common room in order to combat boredom.

The weather had been unseasonably cold and Ministry and Order intelligence were reporting possible attacks on the castle itself, submitting the students to frequent confinements in their common rooms for safety reasons.

Dumbledore had not asked Arthur Weasley how he had come to know how to make such devices as Muggle media equipment work in magical places and Arthur had offered no answers. The whole process of setting up four sets of entertainment centres was completed in less than two hours and the Slytherins were not at all happy to have Arthur Weasley in their common room but as no laws were being broken, it was up to the Headmaster’s discretion what equipment was to be in each house.

Mr Weasley left several movies in each common room and by the middle of October, the Gryffindors had watched a variety of horror movies and martial arts movies, which quickly became Harry’s favourite.

Harry came to admire Bruce Lee, a martial artist and actor. Soon, he had watched every Bruce Lee movie he could get his hands on, sometimes staying up so late, engrossed in the films that he was drowsy in his classes the next morning, having dreamt about himself in the role of one of Bruce Lee’s characters, fighting for the woman he loved. He would never admit this to anyone, especially since the woman in his dreams, was always Ginny Weasley, who was dating Dean Thomas on and off.

Harry had run out of Bruce Lee movies quickly and decided to watch a movie called ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,’ which was also a martial arts movie. Most of the students tired quickly of the Muggle style entertainments, but on this particular night, Ginny Weasley, unable to sleep, decided to stay up and watch the film with Harry.

As Ginny sat on one side of the small sofa and Harry on the other, a bowl of popcorn between them, each reached into the bowl at the same time, grasping one another’s hand accidentally. Neither pulled away quickly.

“Sorry,” Harry said, withdrawing his hand, knowing that if nothing else, Dean would not be impressed to find the two of them so close together.

“No problem,” Ginny said, hoping that Harry didn’t notice the automatic squeeze of her hand as soon as it had brushed against Harry’s.

When the movie was over, Harry and Ginny made small talk and when Ginny yawned, Harry knew it was time to call it a night. He wondered when yawning had become cute.

Word came two days before the Hogsmeade trip that Madame Rosmerta was hosting a Muggle style costume contest. Harry had never dressed up in costume before, having never been allowed out for trick or treat as a child and it wasn’t typical for the wizarding world to dress in costume for Halloween.

As it was a Muggle theme party, Ron and Hermione decided to go as Homer and Marge Simpson from a dvd they had watched. Hermione had seen ‘The Simpsons on television during summer holidays and although she detested it, humoured Ron, who loved it and had begged her to go as Marge so he could be Homer.

On the Saturday before Halloween, students excitedly scurried about putting last minute touches on their costumes. No one had been this happy and care free for a long time, and Harry wondered, with much apprehension, why suddenly they were being allowed to go to Hogsmeade when the castle had been pretty much under lock and key since September first.

Ginny came down the stairs dressed as Catwoman, and Harry’s jaw dropped, despite his valiant efforts not to gawk at her stupidly. She smiled at his more than obvious acknowledgment and asked him why he wasn’t dressed for the costume party at The Three Broomsticks.

“I wouldn’t know what to be,” Harry replied, still unable to tear his eyes from her form in the cat suit.

“Nonsense,” Ginny said dismissively, withdrawing her wand from somewhere in that impossibly tight suit.

“Unbutton your shirt,” Ginny ordered as Harry gaped at her.

Harry stood there frozen, unable to comply. Ginny smiled indulgently and pointed her wand at him. One by one Harry’s buttons popped open and though the common room was chilly that morning, Harry would never have known it at this point.

“Oh, this won’t do. I can’t do it like this with you standing here,” Ginny said in contemplation. “Yes. You’ll need to lie face up on the sofa.”

Harry could have fallen over right then and there, even though he knew he must be dreaming.

They were the only ones in the common room as Harry laid down on the sofa and Ginny approached him, wand aimed at his torso.

‘Well, it can’t be real, but it’s a wild ride,’ Harry thought to himself.

“Okay Harry, close your eyes. I don’t want you to see this until it’s time,” Ginny ordered.

Harry complied and within seconds, he could feel a tickling sensation on his chest and abdomen. ‘She’s tickling me with a feather!’ Harry fancied to himself.

In a matter of five minutes, Ginny spoke again. “Okay Harry. Open your eyes.”

Harry looked down and saw that Ginny had painted a dragon on his chest with her wand. She was already half way up the stairs by the time he had finished admiring her handy work. It hadn’t been a dream. Ginny had merely been helping him dress for the costume party as Bruce Lee, who frequently sported a tattooed dragon on his chest in his movies. He didn’t fancy having a bare chest for the entire party in front of his friends, or even worse his enemies, but Ginny had worked hard on this dragon and he wanted to show his appreciation. He would never have thought of this.

Hermione and Ron came down the stairs arm in arm, Hermione’s huge tower of blue hair wobbling back and forth as she walked. Harry laughed as Ron pulled a face upon learning that his little sister had painted Harry’s bare chest. Ron glared up in the direction of the girl’s dorms as though he had x- ray vision.

“We’re bound to get at least honourable mention in the costume contest,” Hermione said to Ron, trying to get him to lighten up about Ginny’s close contact with Harry.

Hermione knew she had failed in her attempt to draw Ron’s attention away from the staircase where he laid in wait to give Ginny trouble.

“Don’t count your dragon babies until they’re hatched, Hermione. That goes for you too, Harry.” Ron again, glared at the temporary tattoo, courtesy of his sister.

When Ginny came down the stairs, Ron looked disgusted and ran to her, enveloping her in his cloak to cover up her cat suit. Several Muggle- born male Gryffindors started to hum the theme from the Batman and Robin cartoon upon seeing Ginny as Catwoman.

“Please don’t sing!” Ron begged as he continued to cover up Ginny like a spider wrapping it’s prey in a web and she struggled to get away.

In order to maintain peace, Ginny agreed to wear her costume with a couple more well placed inches of material added to it, and Harry secretly agreed with Ron, but for a totally different reason; that she looked more presentable this way. Harry hated himself for breathing a sigh of relief that no other boys would see her in such a skimpy outfit like she’d been in earlier. Dean on the other hand, clearly thought it was none of Ron’s business as he walked down the stairs from the boy’s dorms, his Batman cape swishing haughtily so that if one wasn’t looking directly at him, they could have sworn they’d heard Snape’s usual signature swish of cloaks.

Usually, Filch, the caretaker was very thorough in checking for permission slips to visit the village, but this time, he seemed distracted and seemed in a great hurry to get the students out of the castle.

Harry had learned that a special treat had also been planned for the younger ineligible students. There was to be a costume party in the dungeons of the castle for them.

As Harry walked toward the village with his friends, he couldn’t help but feel that something was terribly wrong, but as he watched Ginny, walking far ahead of him with her friends, he figured that must be it. He was with his friends and she was with hers. And there was something else very noticeable, something very uncomfortably noticeable. There was Homer and Marge, and Batman and Catwoman, and here he was, already uncomfortable and dateless.

Harry looked wistfully down at the dragon on his chest, almost feeling every wand stroke Ginny had swept over his body to make it. Ginny looked back at Harry and he caught her eye as she smiled mischievously at him and he suddenly felt very reassured for some reason. The dragon image felt warm against his skin as he looked back down on it.

“Did you just growl at me!” Harry said aloud to his chest, tripping over a branch on the path and falling headlong onto the ground.

“What did you say, Harry?” Hermione asked, puzzled, thinking she had surely heard him wrong.

Harry sat on the ground, dusting himself off, thinking that he must be getting loopy. He could have sworn the dragon had growled at him. It seemed so very lifelike.

“Nothing,” Harry said quickly, shaking his head and looking up as Ron helped him to his feet. When he was standing again, he noticed that Ginny had stopped and was looking back approvingly and smiling at him before catching up with her friends. Harry also saw Ginny give Dean a disapproving look when he tried to hurry off into the village, casting a rather superior glance back at Harry who was now dusting himself off.

Harry had placed a Warming Charm on himself, knowing that his costume was rather open to the elements. The closer to the village he got, the more he chickened out of wearing his chest bare. He put his cloak on despite the Warming Charm, feeling very self conscious.

Laughter and music could be heard from the inside of The Three Broomsticks as Harry, Hermione, and Ron approached. Ginny and her friends had already entered. In some ways, Harry was glad that Ginny was already inside as he didn’t think he could have taken watching her take her robes off to reveal the Catwoman costume in front of the whole party. Dean had seemed rather eager to show her off as the costume had not been her idea at all and she had never seen a Batman movie in her life.

Hermione explained in a kind of hinting manner that Ginny was at her wit’s end with Dean and had been thinking of calling it quits with him, but she hadn’t wanted to ruin his Halloween celebration. This news did cheer Harry up somewhat, but he felt guilty about it at the same time, taking pleasure in someone else’s loss, and besides, even if she did break up with Dean, he knew he couldn’t just jump right in. He shook his head, wondering what on Earth he’d been thinking, this was Ron’s little sister they were talking about!

Ron’s hand had just reached the handle of the door to the pub when a loud, ground shaking explosion knocked he, Hermione, and Harry off their feet.

Harry’s wand was already out before several students came spilling out of the pub to find out the source of the ruckus. Justin Finch-Fletchley had just been heard saying that he figured the noise and ensuing after shock must have been caused by festive fireworks or something, when his voice tailed off in shock upon seeing the Dark Mark hovering over the village. Justin drew his wand immediately and ran back inside the pub shouting warnings to those inside.

Iniside the pub, chaos was brewing. Once the word, ‘Dark Mark’ had been heard, some students and patrons began spilling into the streets in fear, while others, members of the DA, ran out to help fight the battle they knew was beginning.

Neville Longbottom offered Ron his hand to help him up. Hermione stood, wand at the ready, coughing from the dust that had been billowing in dirty plumes from the rubble that was left of Honeydukes Sweet Shop. Harry had already ran to the entrance of the Sweet Shop to check for survivors, only to breath a sigh of temporary relief upon seeing a sign that read, ‘be back in fifteen minutes.’ Neville shouted to Harry to let him know that the owners of Honeydukes were at the pub taking in the sights since their shop was largely empty due to the party.

Then, all hell broke loose. Seven Death Eaters Apparated into the pathway, laughing about the condition of the Sweet Shop, and so engrossed in admiring their handy work, that they failed to see Ron, Hermione and Neville Longbottom creeping up behind them as they noticed none other than Harry Potter standing in front of where the entrance used to be.

The laughter of the Death Eaters died away to reveal a sinister voice. Bellatrix Lestrange was in her delight to find Harry Potter, apparently alone, in Hogsmeade.

“Oh, it is good to see you again, Baby Potter,” she cooed. “Now we can take you to our master and you can die on the same day your parents died. It’s poetic, no?”

Harry raised his wand, taking a deep breath, but was outnumbered by the seven Death Eaters facing him with an eerie confidence. A few more Death Eaters were Apparating into the village sending destructive curses everywhere, causing several students who were hiding behind Zonko’s Joke Shop to run out into the open and danger.

It was the hardest thing Harry’s friends had ever done, to refrain from starting to fire immediately when they knew how unpredictable Bellatrix Lestrange could be. She was taunting Harry mercilessly and they could see that while Harry stood steadfastly clutching his wand, the words she was hissing, were poisonous to him.

Bellatrix was enjoying her one man audience and showing off for the other Death Eaters who seemed impressed by her storytelling abilities as she recounted the battle at the Ministry Of Magic and how she had killed Sirius.

“Sirius! Sirius!” Bellatrix mocked Harry’s screams of agony at having watched his Godfather fall through the veil and out of his life forever. She did not know that there was more than just one person present who wanted revenge upon her. There was another boy there, just behind her, whose blood now boiled in rage at her taunts, for he too had heard her and knew that she was responsible for him having incapacitated parents and for Harry having no parents.

Harry was not the weak target Bellatrix had anticipated. He’d managed to knock two Death Eaters off their feet and he was giving as good as he was getting in the way of taunts and insults. It wasn’t as if he’d hardened after Sirius had been killed, but he’d resolved that this day would come and if he was to face Voldemort this day, then he would do his best. It was all he could do.

“Oh, look, he fights back, the little baby. Harry looked down at his wand in horror as it turned into a baby rattle. He couldn’t bear to toss it away anyway and he tried hard not to give away his friends who he now saw approaching the Death Eaters from behind. He kept his eyes fixed on Bellatrix, trying not to betray the sudden hope that had sprung to his mind upon seeing his friends coming for him.

“Okay, when I give the signal, we’ll all use Expelliarmus,” Hermione said, creeping up from behind the Death Eaters, remembering what three Expelliarmus curses had done to Snape in their second year.

Neville looked livid, like he wanted to do so much more than Expelliarmus on the one person who had a hand in torturing his parents into insanity. He calmed himself enough to concentrate on complying with Hermione and Ron. The seven Death Eaters did lose their wands from their simultaneously cast Expelliarmus and turned furiously to face the unexpected attack.

“Oh, baby Potter isn’t alone,” Bellatrix went on, not at all fazed by losing her wand. The seven wands hadn’t landed in the outstretched hands of all of Harry’s friends but had all landed in Neville’s hands alone.

Harry had run behind the rubble of the Sweet Shop and was now out of his friend’s sight. Neville had an insane look in his eyes as he held the seven wands, plus his own, aloft against the attackers, who still seemed annoyingly calm.

“I’m going to kill her,” Neville hissed, a fury that neither Ron nor Hermione had ever heard before.

“Neville, we have their wands. Just give them to us,” Ron said, trying to calm Neville, who by now had a malicious glint in his eyes.

“Neville, if you try to curse them with all seven wands in your hand, plus your own, you could kill someone. I thought we were supposed to be the good guys. Besides, you could kill yourself in the process. The magic involved in that number of wands will drain you,” Hermione pleaded, trying to get Neville to see logic as the Death Eaters, sensing indecision, began to move forward and apparently, at least one of them, didn’t need a wand to do some damage alone.

Bellatrix Lestrange stepped forward, drawing her hand from her robes and extracting a golden yellow dust which she blew into the air. The cloud of noxious vapor enveloped Hermione in an instant and she screamed and fell to the ground, clutching at her eyes. Ron and Neville had just dodged the cloud and Neville muttered a curse, which thankfully wasn’t Avada Kadavara, that much they could tell. All seven Death Eaters fell to the ground, Bellatrix Lestrange bearing the majority of the curse and slamming into the heavy beams of the rubble of Honeydukes with a sickening crunch of her upper torso. Unfortunately, Neville fell to the ground too, all eight wands falling from his limp hands.

Justin Finch-Fletchley ran up to Ron, who was stooped over Hermione who was screaming in pain. Ron dragged Hermione behind Honeydukes and Justin enervated Neville, who staggered with some help right behind them. There they met up with Harry, who had already incapacitated three Death Eaters. A simple ‘Finite Incantatum’ had changed his wand back to normal thankfully.

Death Eaters roamed around now, attacking students, instead of the buildings they had obviously been planning to attack. Harry had gotten word to the people still holed up in the pub via Cho Chang, that they were to leave the pub and make their way to Honeydukes. When Cho had looked at Harry like he was crazy, Harry revealed that he was trying to open up the rubble over the spot where the tunnel back to Hogwarts would be. He was nearly there, with some help from Justin, Neville, Michael Corner and Ginny Weasley. Boards were flying into the air until Harry announced that he’d found the stairs to the basement, which were thankfully intact.

Neville volunteered to lead small groups of students from the pub to Honeydukes. Members of the DA had held off an attack on the pub for as long as they could and were helping get the students organized enough to follow Neville to the pub. Madame Rosmerta had taken a hit with a Stunning Curse when she had defended her patrons, trying to lock the doors to the pub magically, but stopping too many times to let in a frightened student. She could not stay inside safe while students banged on her door, scared and about to be killed by the approaching Death Eaters. Six of them in all, one remaining crumpled in front of Honeydukes. They were fierce and their anger was tangible in the chilly night air.

Neville had never taken the time to think about what he had done to Bellatrix Lestrange. He hadn’t heard the crunch of her spine when she’d hit the pillar of Honeydukes as he’d been knocked cold himself.

The first group of students were lead safely to the passage to Hogwarts in Honeydukes cellar and Neville and Justin went back for the second group. Hermione could not open her eyes but she would not leave the village.

Harry, Ron and Ginny fought alongside their fellow DA members. Harry didn’t have time to be proud of his students but he was thankful that the DA had existed. Every member of the DA stood bravely and smartly against their attackers like they had been expecting this attack.

By the time Zachirias Smith had returned from the school after dropping off the first group of students, to announce that back up was coming, many Death Eaters were already lying prone in the streets. The problem was, other standing Death Eaters kept enervating their fellows, swelling their numbers back up each time. By the time The Three Broomsticks was empty, DA members began looking for stray students or villagers who were in trouble as so far they outnumbered the Death Eaters in this particular location.

“Oh, this is ridiculous!” Ginny cried in frustration as Death Eaters that she had hexed, were just enervated minutes later.

“Cover me,” Ginny said, decisively, suddenly running toward Zonko’s Joke Shop.

Ginny made it to Zonko’s without harm, however once inside, she heard the rafters above her begin to shake. Someone was undoubtedly trying to bring down the shop; someone who wasn’t particularly good with their destructive spells.

Ginny ran from the shop carrying an armload of hats. As she ran toward her friends sheltered behind Honeydukes, she began to bend over fallen Death Eaters one by one. It was clear that no one knew what she was doing as they shouted frantically for her to take shelter. Harry, Ron, Neville and Justin all fired back at approaching Death Eaters as they took aim at Ginny.

“Ginny! Quick! Get behind that pillar!” Harry shouted, just as Ginny looked at Bellatrix laying prone at an odd angle beside it.

Honeydukes was now so flat, one could see from front to back while in a standing position. Ginny paled visibly at the site of the dead Death Eater and she wondered, with a shiver who had killed her and by what means. She knew that Harry had tried the Avada Kadavara before and she didn’t even want to think of what would happen to him if it was him who had done it. As she glanced frantically at Harry as if in need of an answer, Neville stood beside Harry and shook his head, indicating himself as the killer. There was no time to explain just now that the Unforgivable Curse had not been used, so while relieved that Harry would not be implicated, Ginny still worried for Neville.

Ron had just convinced Hermione to leave the area when the tunnel that would have been their only salvation, collapsed. Most of the adult villagers had Disapparated once the magnitude of the battle was realized, leaving only a few random students and actual DA members left.

Harry’s heart glowed for Ginny, who he was now seeing in a way he’d never done before. He had no time to wonder when she had caught up with his age group and he’d never really given any thought to her vast intelligence either. Ginny had been risking her life to obtain Headless Hats made by Fred and George and sold by Zonko’s in order to make the stunned Death Eaters on the ground appear dead. It had worked, too. The Headless hats made the ‘victims’ appear headless or otherwise unable to be enervated, causing their fellows to pass over them for dead and cutting their numbers effectively in half.

******************

Hermione was now writhing in agony. Her eyes felt like they were burning out of her head, and she would not admit to her friends that she had finally figured out what was in that golden yellow powder that Lestrange had blown in her face; Skin Etching Powder.

Things were quiet for a moment, and Hermione tried to remain calm. She called Ron over to him but would not reveal to him why she had forced herself to open her eyes. She knew that unless she got a magical eyewash solution soon, she would be permanently blind and though she hadn’t expressed any specific romantic interest in Ron, she wanted to see him one more time before her eyes would become dark windows to her soul.

Ron took one look at Hermione’s already white coated eyes and tears sprang to his eyes. He tried to reassure her that everything would be okay, but clearing the tunnel to Hogwarts was slow going and another group of Death Eaters who had passed over their ‘dead’ was fast approaching.

Neville opened Hermione’s eyes to peer into them with concern written all over his face. Neville had studied Herbology extensively over the summer months and he knew that Hermione’s condition was worse than even she knew. The acid effect of the powder that was quickly blinding her, wouldn’t stop once it had eaten through the eyeballs. It would continue into her brain, killing her.

Thinking fast for once in his life, Neville searched his pockets frantically. He swore loudly, coming up empty handed after searching for its contents and finding nothing there.

Neville looked out into the street where he estimated he had fallen after killing Bellatrix Lestrange and he saw his pocket’s contents spilled there. For the second time that day, the words, ‘cover me,’ were shouted and Neville darted out into the street to retrieve his pocket’s contents.

“Of all the crazy...” Harry shouted in frustration as he fired hex after hex toward the approaching Death Eaters. Ginny, Justin and Ron stood steadfastly beside him as the street filled with a cold, despair filled air. Dementors were now gliding behind the new line of Death Eaters and Neville had felt them and froze temporarily, the contents of his pockets tucked tightly in his hands.

Neville jolted into action, running for all he was worth toward what little protection the rubble of the sweet shop offered. He had almost made it, when he was surrounded by four Dementors.

Ginny stood up to cast her Patronus Charm and everyone, including Hermione, did likewise, although Hermione had to sit back down as dizziness came over her. If there had been time, Harry’s heart would have swelled with pride as his stag galloped beside several weaker, but still effective Patronuses.

The Patronues were not enough to stop all of the Dementors and the Death Eaters and just as one of the Dementors had lowered its hood to administer the fatal kiss to Neville, Harry couldn’t take it anymore. He had been forced to watch, as one by one, all of his family and friends were killed off by Voldemort and his supporters.

Harry stepped out from his shelter, pretending as though he would go quietly to Voldemort, but knowing this gesture would do nothing to save his friends.

“Let him go!” Harry shouted. This was greeted with laughter, just as Ginny screamed in horror as she fought to stay standing on the ground.

Several of the Death Eaters laughed as Ginny hung high in the air, upside down, and they could clearly be heard making reference to the Quidditch World Cup incident in which no doubt, they had participated in doing this very thing to the Muggle family who ran the campgrounds hosting the patrons of the event.

“Oi! Girlie, who’s blood are you wearing all over you?” One of the burly Death Eaters, whom Harry was sure was Goyle sr. The robe that Ginny had thrown over her Catwoman costume dangled uselessly around her head.

One particularly agitated Death Eater, noticed that the blood on her shoes was not Ginny’s own and became furious.

“Well, as my wife is the only one dead around here, I suspect it’s Bella’s!” spat the now unmistakable Rudolphus Lestrange, sounding more angry than bereaved. It was true, Ginny had stepped in Bellatrix Lestrange’s blood when she had hid behind the pillar where the Death Eater lay dead.

“No, matter love, pureblood blends,” Rudolphus spat venomously as he raised his wand and performed a Cutting Curse. Small lines of blood began to trickle from Ginny’s neck and she reached toward her throat frantically.

“Oh, now love, do you want me to kiss it and make it feel better?” Rudolophus shouted up at Ginny who looked revolted now.

“No, I can’t get my lips dirty on a filthy blood traitor, can I?” Rudolphus spat, summoning a Death Eater. “Here now, my friend here will be happy to kiss it better.” A Dementor was already gliding toward Ginny, its speed indicating sheer excitement.

“NO!” shouted Harry, now stepping fully out into the open. But his wand was not trained on the enemies as Ginny looked down upon him, her eyes filled with both fear and encouragement as she stared toward his chest. Harry looked back at her, somehow knowing what he had to do and how to do it.

Harry pointed his wand at his own chest, and for one sick moment, Ron thought he was going to end his life. What happened next, was nothing short of miraculous.

“Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titilandus, Vitalia!” Harry shouted both to the Dragon and to his enemies. He felt a searing hot pain on his chest as even he could not believe what was happening.

The dragon had leapt off his chest, in full living colour and solid mass! It seemed to be an extension of Harry’s very body, his own hidden dragon. The dragon belched a fiery blaze of flames toward the Death Eaters and the Dementors almost seemed to dissolve from its fury as they sped away as fast as it seemed possible.

Ginny was plummeting toward the ground as the dragon caught her on its back, touching lightly and gracefully back down. Harry had fallen to the ground too, momentarily. He forced himself to get up to run to Ginny while Justin Finch-Fletchley and Michael Corner ran to help Neville, who was getting shakily to his feet and heading toward Hermione.

When Neville unceremoniously ripped Hermione’s outer cloak off of her, it was met with angry indignation from Ron, who was trying to open the tunnel back up to get her some help.

“What in bloody hell are you doing, Neville?” Ron demanded, throwing his own robes over the now horribly pale Hermione.

“Justin says the tunnel will be blocked for another twenty minutes. I have an idea to save Hermione’s life,” Neville explained frantically.

“Madame Pomfrey will fix her eyes. Just help us free up the tunnel, Neville!” Ron said in frustration.

“If I’m right about the plant mixture of the dust the Death Eaters threw on Hermione, she doesn’t have twenty minutes!” Neville whispered as quietly as he could.

“What!” Ron exclaimed as Justin and Michael did their best to clear the tunnel.

“It eats inwards and doesn’t stop,” Neville explained. “And if I”m wrong, the worst that will happen, is that her eyes won’t hurt until we can get her some help. If I’m right, we may be save her life.”

Neville pulled out a phial of familiar looking potion. It was, he confirmed, Polyjuice Potion, but he searched in vain to find a stray hair of Hermione’s to use. She had worn a wig and a a hair from her in her current condition would be of no use. The theory was to give Hermione a dose of Polyjuice Potion containing a hair of her very own from before she had been injured. At last, Neville found a stray strand and hoped it had clung from her robe previous to the injury.

Neville added Hermione’s hair to the Polyjuice Potion and she was so far gone by now, that Ron had to help him tip the disgusting stuff down her throat. Hermione wretched immediately, but Neville and Ron forced her to keep the contents down. It was Neville’s only dose and the only reason he had been carrying it at all, was that Dumbledore had leant him a hair from his very old head so that Neville could be dressed as Dumbledore for an hour on Halloween. He had planned to go around taking house points and giving pointless, yet witty speeches and Dumbledore had loved the idea.

“Oh, thank Merlin!” Ron said with heartfelt emotion through free falling tears. Hermione blinked several times, staring with her brown eyes right back into his. She had one hour to be safe as she had transformed back into the healthy Hermione of an hour ago.

There were several cracks and Order members and teachers appeared out of thin air all around them, wands at the ready.

********************

As teachers and Order members arrived, the situation became a little more clear.

It seemed that faulty intelligence had been leaked to the Order and to the school that the school itself had been a target on this particular day, hence the sudden decision that Hogwarts was safe to visit when the students had been told that likely, that would be out of the question for some time. The party had been planned to get as many students out of the school as possible without letting on that the attack was known about. This was also why the first and second years had been moved to the dungeons for a party of their own. Strong enchantments had been placed in vain all over the school, with particular attention paid to the dungeons where the students unknowingly were being hid with the ruse of the enjoyable party they had had.

Disappointment and guilt was written all over the new arrival’s faces, save one; Severus Snape did not seem perturbed one way or the other, that they had been so busy protecting the school, that had let the decoy work when Hogsmeade Village had been the target all along, and they had sent innocent children out into it.

Snape looked at the ‘dead’ Death Eaters whose bodies still littered the streets with an unreadable expression. He reached down to touch the empty area where the head should have been, and pulled off the headless hats one by one. His beady eyes searched for Harry and they found him, holding Ginny Weasley. Snape seemed more interested in exploring the fallen attackers than in lending a hand to the survivors.

Remus Lupin pried Harry’s hands away from Ginny’s neck and immediately put it back with firm pressure, calling for Snape to come quickly. Harry didn’t know if Snape was taking his time to come to their side or if time was now being controlled purely by emotion. Harry was drained to the point of exhaustion and the area where the dragon had been on his chest, was left raw, several layers of skin having been ripped off when the dragon had erupted from his body. He shivered in the cold, the burns on his chest causing a clammy sweat to form on his brow as Lupin threw his cloak over him.

The dragon was nowhere to be seen now as Harry’s eyes had roved frantically from his friends tending to Hermione, to the attacker’s retreat, to his fallen Ginny. She had saved them all. It wouldn’t be fair if she died, but Harry knew that life was far from fair. It was hard to be the-boy-who-lived and it would be harder without Ginny in his life, if even from afar in some fantasy where he could call her his own.

Snape performed some complex spells over Ginny’s entire body, concentrating on her neck and the wound closed, leaving an ugly welt that the Matron could take care of later.

Harry shot Lupin a dirty look when he asked Snape to ease his chest. He would rather bear the pain than have that man touch him.

Harry flinched and was about to pull away when Lupin ordered him to stay still for Snape, who had shown no emotion upon seeing Harry’s seriously burned chest. Lupin winced in sympathy as Harry’s resolve failed him for a moment and he involuntarily let out a gasp of pain as Snape’s wand contacted physically with his wound. The relief was almost instantaneous once Snape was finished a complicated series of movements and muttered spells and he knew his sanity was slipping when he let slip a quiet ‘thank you,” from his lips. Snape merely nodded and went off, presumably to look for survivors who may be in need.

Remus levitated Ginny onto a stretcher and Harry grasped the side of it for support, his knees buckling several times. Ginny was awake and she smiled weakly at Harry.

Professor McGonagall couldn’t figure out why Ron was so frantically insisting that they get Hermione back to the Hospital Wing at once when there appeared to be nothing wrong with her and his own sister was wounded. When Neville explained what had taken place with the brilliant beyond brilliant quick fix of Polyjuice al la Hermione hair, Professor McGonagall insisted that Hermione also get onto a stretcher to be taken back to the castle, much to Hermione’s protests.

Hermione it seemed, as usual, was more interested in education than anything else.

“Neville, Harry, that was brilliant! You have to teach us that!” Hermione beamed. If for nothing else but to get her to go to the Hospital Wing, Neville promised her that he would explain his whole thought process leading up to his quick first aid solution. Hermione knew all about Polyjuice, of course, but now the possibilities associated with cures that could be gleaned from the process Neville had used, danced in her head as Neville beamed with pride.

Harry for his part, could not think there would ever be a way to explain what had happened when the dragon had suddenly leapt from his chest where Ginny had placed it that night. No one present had ever heard of or seen such a bizarre and impressive spell.

As he was helped back toward the castle, Harry couldn’t take his eyes off of Ginny. He didn’t have to ask her out loud what had transpired. He could feel it. There was only one power that the Dark Lord knew not and that was love. Love, Harry knew, from his own mother’s sacrifices, was the strongest magic of all. Ginny’s fierce love for Harry, the love she had always possessed, came to life from a mere drawing when mixed with the love he knew he had for her. This was storybook love and yet real to the very soul.

Back in the Hospital Wing, Hermione lay, eyes bandaged but without permanent damage thanks to Neville. Several other DA members in particular were being held by the Matron for a variety of minor injuries.

Ron was sitting beside Hermione reading, ‘A Guide To Healing Properties Of Magical Plants and Fungi’ to her. Hermione’s fingers clenched as though wanted to leaf through the pages hungrily herself, but glad just the same that Ron would indulge her in this fashion, bless him.

Neville sat propped up in a bed, hands bandaged from where they had been singed by Death Eaters trying to make him drop his prized Polyjuice that he’d risked his life to get for Hermione. Luna sat patiently beside him, holding the Quibbler upside down for him, much to his annoyance. He’d wanted to read the article that he was mentioned in as being one of the heroes of the battle. But Neville would wrestle with the fact that he had accidentally killed someone, even though he’d bragged of wanting to do just that moments before. He had only meant to stun Bellatrix Lestrange in the end, but fate played her role, satisfying Neville’s need for revenge without damming him to a life in Azkaban, for casting an Unforgivable Curse.

Luna was unscathed despite having been one of the former DA members who had held off Death Eaters at The Three Broomsticks.

None of the DA members were permanently damaged, but with a Healer like Madame Pomfrey, it was unlikely any of them would be getting out before two days time.

Harry had always hated the Hospital Wing and though for once, he wasn’t an inpatient and could have left at any time, he couldn’t. He and Ginny had never talked this much before in their lives and Harry knew as soon as he made his way up to the dorms with Ron, that he would be called to give account of the dragon incident.

Ginny had been told by the Matron that Dean Thomas had asked about her, but had declined to come see her and though Harry had been told by Hermione that Ginny had planned to break up with him anyway, the fact that he was not here when she was injured, still hurt. It didn’t hurt in the way Harry perceived she would feel, it hurt her because now she knew that she had indeed been wasting her time with Dean and perhaps if she’d had the courage to break up with him in the summer when he’d started to show qualities she didn’t care for, she and Harry could have been together sooner. She didn’t express the last of her thoughts out loud but she did indicate that she and Dean were finished.

Harry had better sense than to say much on the subject of Dean, but somehow it seemed that a window had been opened this day. He’d put off his feeling for Ginny for a long time, mostly for the fact that he knew that anyone he cared about, usually ended up hurt or dead. That logic seemed wasted as they sat together, after all, she hadn’t been his girlfriend when she’d been hurt earlier that day, so, with him or not, Ginny and indeed all of them would be in danger until Voldemort was dead. Harry promised himself he would revisit these thoughts when he was sure that Ginny was ready.

Dumbledore had always said that love was more than just important, but now Harry understood it. This did not make him want to talk about it any more than he did yesterday. He just wanted to talk to Ginny and it seemed as though they’d never run out of conversation.

When Harry yawned, Ginny giggled and reached out from her bed to tickle him into alertness. Harry laughed a truly joyful laugh for the first time in ages.

“Hey! Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titilandus!” Harry laughed.

“That’s right, Harry, you found your hidden dragon,” Ginny said quite seriously and now Harry understood. Every time the queasy feeling in his stomach and the jealous monster within reared whenever she was with someone else of the opposite sex, had been his hidden dragon, and nothing would come between he and Ginny again.

“Well, I guess you’ll have to be my crouching Catwoman,” Harry replied slyly, but he couldn’t help but unbutton his shirt to have a look at his chest. It had healed nicely and there was nothing there but running magical ink that had mixed with his sweat from battle. The dragon would remain hidden, but his love for Ginny, he would continue to wear on his sleeve.



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