Hermione couldn’t believe her eyes. “This can’t be happening!” she whispered.
Luna and Ginny ran over to get a better look at the would-be-murderer and were shocked as they came to the same conclusion as Hermione. She hadn’t been seeing things. It really was Harry.
After the initial shock wore off they all panicked. None of them knew what to do. Then they heard voices from outside the bathroom.
“I wonder where they went,” Neville said.
“Yeah,” Ron added. “And I wonder what’s wrong with my little sister.”
Luna wanted to yell to them for help but she couldn’t get words to come out. Surprisingly, the one who did yell was Ginny.
“Ron, Neville, in here, HELP!” she yelled. She was no longer crying and seemed more put together than before.
From the hallway they heard “D’ you hear that? It sounded like Ginny’s voice coming from the ladies room. Do you think we can go in there?”
“Get in here NOW!" Ginny yelled again leaving no doubt.
Neville and Ron walked in cautiously, afraid of what they’d find, and gasped.
“What happened to Harry?” Neville asked.
“What’s going on?” Ron questioned.
“Harry…. Harry… tried to kill Ginny!” Luna said.
“WHAT?” Neville and Ron questioned loudly in unison.
“Do you need me to repeat myself?”
“Did you just say… no… you couldn’t of…” Neville thought out loud.
“You’re joking . . . my baby sister. . . the git. . . you’re joking, right?” Ron said.
“Yeah, because we’d totally just make this up so we could hex Harry for no good reason,” Ginny sarcastically spat.
“That’s a no, in case you were wondering,” Hermione said.
“Let me explain,” Luna started off. “I was headed to the restroom when I heard yelling coming from this corridor. I came over, to, uh, check things out, and I saw that it was Harry and Ginny. Naturally I thought this was peculiar, so I kept listening. You see, they were having this huge row--”
Ginny cut her off. “We were having this huge row because of this problem. See, Harry. . . Harry. . . Back in the fifth year. . . Back in the fifth year Harry broke up with me ‘for my safety’. Well. . . I kinda, sorta thought that after he defeated V-V- You Know Who, that he’d want to get back together. I must sound like such a child, but that’s what I thought. I waited for him. I waited. . . and waited until finally last week he came by to talk. He said that he knew that the final battle was nearing and that if he survived he wanted to marry me! I was ecstatic! I had been waiting six whole years for that moment. But I was also worried, anxious, and more scared than I’d ever been in my entire life. More scared than in the Chamber of Secrets, than at the Ministry. . . than anything. I was so scared for his safety.” She paused. “The next day I heard about his victory. I was so happy I felt like I was in heaven. But then. . . he didn’t come to visit. . . I didn’t see him until, well, just now, and we got into that row. He. . . he said he didn’t want to marry me anymore. . . he didn’t love me anymore. . . But why? I don’t understand it.” By the time she finished tears were streaming down her face.
“What a GIT!” Ron exclaimed.
“That doesn’t seem like Harry,” Neville said.
“That’s what I said!”
“Something’s definitely fishy,” Luna added.
“Wait. . . so, what did you say about him trying to. . . trying to. . . trying to. . .” Ron started.
“K-kill her,” Neville finished.
“I came with Luna after she came into the Great Hall to get food. While I was talking to Ginny I just felt like I was being… watched. So I said we should go into the bathroom. Then, quicker than lightning a man came in and started to yell the killing curse. Luna was to fast for him, though. She paralyzed him. And that’s when we found out it was Harry. And now you’re here…” Hermione finished the explanation.
“What do we do?” Neville asked. His mind was blank; he couldn’t think in pressured situations. That’s why he wasn’t an Auror, even though his Gram wanted him to be. She wanted him to be like his parents. He was never good enough.
“Harry’s got some explaining to do,” Ron said through gritted teeth.
“I think that first Hermione should go to the potions office and see if they have any truth potions. Second… Ginny, I think you should go somewhere else, since you were the one he was… you are the victim,” Luna said matter-of-factly.
“No! No! No! I’m not getting brought out of the action again!” Ginny screamed.
“Yes, yes, yes you will!” Ron said protectively.
“NO!”
“YES!”
“NO!”
“YES!”
“NO!”
“STOP!” Neville yelled.
“YES!”
“Calm down!” Luna said. “Ok, Ginny, you can help, you can go with Hermione.”
“NO!”
“Fine, I’ll go with Hermione,” Ginny sighed.
“Now, as I was saying, Hermione and Ginny will go get the truth potion. Ron and Neville. . . move Harry, tie him up or something. And get his wand. When Hermione gets back we’ll pour the truth potion into Harry mouth and then undo the curse. Of course all our wands will be pointed at him, just incase he wants to try anything sneaky. I’ll go outside of the bathroom door and make sure no one comes in here or gets suspicious. When they get back we’ll question him. Does everyone understand what to do?” Luna asked . . . as if she did this every day.
Neville added, “So you don’t think we should go get help, then? You know… a professor or someone?” He was worried. A million “What If” questions filled his head. What if something goes wrong? What if Harry kills someone? What if…
“No,” Hermione insisted “if anyone found out . . . they’d think we were insane . . . they’d never believe that the Harry Potter would turn on his friends.” She shook her head. Her mind seemed to be made up. “No . . . we can’t tell, not right now at least.”
With that Hermione and Ginny left, headed for the potion masters office. As they walked down the empty corridors to the dungeon they heard the happy chatter coming from the Great Hall. Why? thought Hermione, Why do such happy occasions get so unhappy so quickly? At the same time Ginny was thinking Why is this happening? What did I do wrong? How did my life get so strange so quickly? Then they arrived outside the office.
“I remember so many things about this spot,” Hermione said. “In the second year Harry . . . and Ron and I stole ingredients to brew Polyjuice Potion. It didn’t turn out so well for me . . . I’ve already told you this story, haven’t I? Anyway . . . also in the sixth year Luna and I waited here the night of . . . the night of Dumbledore’s death, for Snape. We were supposed to be watching him. We let him through. We didn’t know . . .” she trailed off.
“You don’t still feel guilty about that, do you?” Ginny asked “There was no way for you to know what Snape was going to do. You were never a Seer.” Ginny and Hermione both giggled, thinking about the one class Hermione was bad at.
“Yeah, I guess, I just wish we had stopped him, but we didn’t. We could have saved a life. Who knows, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out like this . . . taken this turn for the worst . . .”
“You can’t blame yourself. There was nothing you could have done. You could have died. Think of how that would have changed what happened. You helped fill so many of the cells in Azkaban . . . you and Ron. You guys are, like the dream team, the dream team of Aurors.”
“I don’t know . . .”
“Honestly I can’t believe you’re not married yet . . .” Ginny continued. “You’ve been working together for the longest time and you’ve known each other since, like, your first day at Hogwarts. I mean really!”
Hermione didn’t respond to that. She took out her wand and without muttering a word opened the locked door. The girls walked in, quickly beginning their search.
“Aha! Here it is! There’s not much left, but I think it’ll be enough,” Hermione said.
With that they left. They went up the stairs and the coast was clear. Then when they rounded the corner and jumped about a mile in the air when they saw Filch there. He looked much older than when they had been at Hogwarts. Hermione was surprised he was still alive.
“What’re you doing out here?” he growled. “Yer supposed to be in the Great Hall.”
“We’re just headed to the bathroom . . .” Ginny explained truthfully.
“There seems to be some problem in the Ladies Room. There’s a blonde girl standing out there saying that a hippogriff broke in. Things just keep getting weirder and weirder in this school . . . weirder and weirder . . .” With that he walked away.
“Uh-oh,” Hermione said. “Maybe we should have told Luna not to make up too crazy of a story!”
They ran (to the best of their ability, considering they were wearing heels) the rest of the way to the restroom. When they got there they saw that, luckily, Luna hadn’t created a huge scene. Filch had been the only person who had passed by since they were gone.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Luna said.
“Shouldn’t someone watch the door?” Neville asked when the three of them came in.
“I think everyone should be here,’ Ginny said resentfully. “Then if anything goes wrong…”
“I agree,” Hermione stated.
With that they started with their plan. First they poured every last drop of the truth potion into Harry’s mouth. Then, carefully Luna lifted the curse.
“What was that for?” Harry asked.
“Listen carefully; I’m only going to ask you this once: DID YOU TRY TO KILL MY SISTER?”
“No. Why would I do that? Where am I?”
“Don’t try that with me, I’m not stupid, I’m an Auror!” Ron yelled.
“No really! The last thing I remember is that I was at Godric's Hollow . . . Voldemort was there. It was, I thought it was the Final Battle. I’ve destroyed all the Horcruxes, did I tell you that? Yeah . . . he was there, I was there, and I was ready to kill him, once and for all. Spells were shot back and forth. I kept missing him! Then I remember hearing ‘Imperio!’ and feeling forced, not knowing what I was doing. I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t. That’s the last thing I remember. And now I’m here. What’s going on?” Harry asked.
I don’t know Neville thought. . What is going on? From the looks on everyone else’s faces Neville guessed they were wondering the exact same thing.
“So . . . you were being controlled by V-Voldemort the whole time? How do we know that you’re telling the truth?” Ron shot at Harry.
“He’s on a truth potion, remember?” Hermione reminded. Ron was usually better at interrogating people; it’s just that when he let his emotions get he better of him he tended to forget things, and go a little crazy.
“Oh, so that’s that foul taste in my mouth!’ Harry said.
“What do we do now?’ Neville asked.
“So does that mean . . . everything you said before . . . you didn’t say it… he did?” Ginny wondered aloud.
“What’d I say?” Harry asked.
Hermione spoke up. “We’ll explain later . . . right now you . . . you have to go kill Voldemort.”
Neville's Triumph by hufflepuffgal
Chapter Notes: I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter onto the site! I hope you enjoy! Please review!