Hello. And welcome. Welcome to the final chapter of The Lord and Lady Phoenix. It all will end here.
Here, it has been seven month since our tale began. Seven is the most magical number there is. After today, our story will be concluded. And now, let us begin.
Last time on The Lord and Lady Phoenix: The Stone…
A soft golden glow came from their hands. Harry poured as much of his energy as possible into the near dead being.
The two collapsed to the dirt, panting heavily.
"Harry! Ginny! Are you two alright?" Draco asked, helping them sit up.
"We're…okay. Just….exhausted." Ginny mumbled.
"But it looks like what ever you just did worked." Draco smiled, looking behind them.
They turned their heads and found the majestic creature alive. The wound was healed and there was no silver blood staining its coat. The unicorn looked at the three of them…and bowed.
They quickly bowed back in shock. Then, two more unicorn appeared behind the foal. They had to be its parents. The largest looked at them, bowed, and seemed to be giving its utter thanks.
The mother was rubbing her child with her head, making sure it was alright. Once it saw that the wound was healed completely, she bowed as well.
Then the father unicorn nodded to his child. The baby walked up to them. It nudged Ginny's bag. A few seconds later, a small vial dropped onto the soft grass. Ginny picked it up.
"What do you want me to do with this?" She asked. The unicorn used its head to nudge Harry and Ginny's hand together. It brought their hands grasping the vial to just below the once wounded spot.
Draco gasped. "It's not going to…"
The unicorn raised its horn proudly, and brought it down upon the skin. A golden light trickled out of the wound rather than the normal silver.
The vial filled completely and the wound sealed itself. The baby bowed to them once more and then disappeared into the night, joined with its parents.
"Do you two know what you're holding?" Draco asked, his mouth still dropped to the floor.
They nodded and together said, "Blood of a Unicorn, freely given."
The Lord and Lady Phoenix: The Stone
Chapter Twenty Six
The Finale
Neville and Hermione took an immediate liking to Draco after he explained himself. They had just met up with each other before dawn had arrived.
They found Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Hagrid trailing around soon afterwards. Harry, Ginny, and Draco explained what had happened to the unicorn.
They explained how the monster that had been attacking the previous unicorns had been attacked by a strange "horse" and then fled. It had been too late for the unicorn foal however and its parents took it away before they could do anything.
Hagrid sighed. "You probably saw one of the centaurs. They're extremely territorial but they do give me a nice chat every now and then. The beast probably wandered too close to the herd in the forest. You're lucky he didn't attack you. They do not trust humans that much these days. But…least the monster fled."
Hagrid told them to wait for Mr. Filch to come and escort them back to the castle. Then he headed back into his hut. When the wooden door shut, Ron exploded at his sister.
"You ditched me! Right in the middle of the Forbidden Forest!" He roared.
"Harry was calling me to help him and Draco heal the unicorn." Ginny explained.
"I didn't hear anything!" Ron objected,
"Well…if you weren't complaining about getting detention, yet again I might add, you would have."
"Why would Harry call for your help instead of mine?" Ron asked.
Harry spoke. "Maybe Harry would want someone to help him who has a clue about magic."
"I have a clue about magic!" Ron nearly shouted.
"Really? Could've fooled me." Harry said. He and his real friends walked away, leaving Ron and his gang behind.
Mr. Filch had been very surprised as well as disappointed when he found them all to be in one piece. They walked across the grounds in complete silence underneath the light of the rising sun.
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The final Quidditch match had arrived. It was Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor. Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor team, had apparently been training his team non stop since watching Ravenclaw's big victories.
"Alright men." Oliver said. He looked at Angelina. "And women." He quickly added. "This is our final chance. The Ravenclaw Team has led this entire season. But we are second place. We can pull this off. They have gotten too cocky and arrogant. We will destroy them here and now. And then we will bring the honor of the Quidditch Cup back to its rightful place of Gryffindor!"
The team cheered and prepared for their great battle. The twins sighed. They already knew what was going to happen today.
They took their positions on the field. Madame Hooch stepped onto the grassy plains. She threw the Quaffle into the air and the game began.
Harry, Ginny, and Paul soared through the skies. Once again, they amazed the crowd with their gracefulness and speed. Harry had fulfilled his promise to Paul. His father had been searched and found to have been stealing out of the Ministry's funds. He had been punished severely and sentence to wizarding jail for three years. Paul had become a lot more confident since. His brother Greg, did not comment on the news, but Harry could see the faintest of smiles tugging at the corner of the teen's lips when he looked at his brother.
The three chasers of Gryffindor had put up a bit of a fight. They did manage to throw them off guard for a few goals even. The Weasley Twins half heartedly swung their bats at the bludgers. The two were so experienced, that they made it seem like it Bludger was about to strike, but it would veer to the side slightly, causing a visual near miss.
They both knew who was going to win today. They were two of the few Gryffindors that actually did.
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Dumbledore paced around in his office in a fury. The Ravenclaws had won the final Quidditch match easily! He had been forced to hand over the Quidditch Cup to a grinning Mark DeGani. Gryffindor had lost the quid ditch cup! AGAIN! How could this have happened? It had all been so simple back then.
Leave Harry at Dursley's. Have the Dursleys hate him for ten years. Send Hagrid to fetch him and reintroduce Harry to the wizarding world as it was. Where he was superior and young Harry's guide.
It had all been planned out years ago. Everything had been so carefully planned.
Why had his master plan taken such a altered course? What had happened?
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The exams had crept up upon everyone the entire year. But no one was ready when they hit.
Well…almost no one.
Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Neville, Tonks, and Draco had all formed a study group for the exams weeks ago. They had offered for Fred and George to join them, but they replied that their futures did not lie in the academic arts.
Ron had forced his way past everyone standing in front of him, demanding to know why Harry was reading a schoolbook. Unlike you, I give a damn about my future." He returned to chapter sixteen, Plucking Pixiepods.
"But the tests are weeks away!" Ron moaned. Harry did not take one eye off the book. The boy was not worth the effort.
"Ron, the first test is next week." He slowly explained to the youngest male of the Weasleys. Very…very…slowly.
"But that's like," Ron paused to think about how long a week was.
"Take your time Ron." Neville said with a smirk.
"We wont rush you while you help us figure out this complicated equation." Hermione giggled.
Ron scrunched his face hard for thirteen long seconds. His face was red and turning purple, then, he smirked.
"It's a week." He told them, like he had realized this before anyone else did.
"Very good big brother!" Ginny praised him. They packed up their bags.
"It's time for class." Hermione said.
They left Ron alone in the Library.
He looked around and shuddered. 'Books…bloody disgusting things.'
He bolted out of that place as fast a idiotically possible.
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The exams crawled closer and closer. Our heroes continued to study for their tests while everyone else in the castle was enjoying the sunny days outside, not a care in the world about the dreaded exams in just two short days.
Dumbledore called the youngest male of the Weasleys into his office.
"You wanted to see me sir?" He asked arrogantly. The great Dumbledore had summoned him and him alone into his office. That alone was a great honor.
"Yes. I did Ronald." The aged wizard said. His eyes began to twinkle. "Are you prepared for the final exams?"
"The…exams?" Ron asked.
"The ones starting just two days from now." The bearded man said simply.
"TWO DAYS?" Ron screeched. A silence followed. "Oh…er…um…yeah…I'm ready."
"Very good." Albus smiled. "Now then, let me explain to you what events will be occurring in the next few days.
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Just two short days later, the exams had arrived. The classrooms were hot and humid. Everyone was sweating, not only because of the weather, but also because of nervousness.
They had all been given Anti-Cheating Quills and a blank sheet of Parchment for the exams.
In the practical exams, they each went in one by one into a classroom and performed a task asked by a teacher.
McGonagall had them turn a mouse into a snuffbox. Professor Flitwick had them charm a pineapple to tap-dance across the desk. Snape had apparently been breathing down certain students necks while they were trying to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion.
Harry remembered as much as he could as he put ink onto the parchment. He yawned. He had not had a restful sleep for the past few nights. Those dreams about that hooded figure. The one they called an evil Lord. The wizard called…Voldemort.
The very last final exam was History of Magic. A whole hour of answering questions about old wizards who invented automatic cauldrons and wars between the wizards and goblins. Just that final hour, and they'd be finished.
Finally, the ancient ghost named Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their papers. The class cheered and ran out the door.
Harry simply decided to walk around the school and enjoy the fact that his first year was almost complete. He would receive his grades later on so there was no reason to worry about it now.
He heard someone talking. The voice was very familiar.
"Yes my master. It will be done tonight."
Harry stood still. He mentally cast a disillusion charm upon himself. Not a second later, the bumbling Professor Quirrel came stuttering out of his office.
Harry watched with an invisible eye as Quirrel began mumbling something random about needing more garlic for the vampires.
'Harry," Merlin said. 'It is time.'
He nodded. He reached into his bag and pulled out the small communicator Flitwick had charmed. On it was a singe red button. Harry checked the surroundings with his magic. No one was watching. Even Dumbledore was not listening in.
He silently pushed the red button. Into it he whispered one single sentence. "It happens tonight."
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At nine o' clock sharp, Harry, Ginny, Neville, Draco, and Hermione gathered around the third floor corridor.
"This is it." Draco whispered.
"We've got to stop Snape." Neville said, his acting skills were pretty good.
"We can't let him give the stone to You Know Who!" Hermione spoke.
"Let's go." Ginny said.
Harry unlocked the door and swung it open. There sat the giant three heads of Fluffy. The right head was chewing on a slime covered red rubber ball.
"Hey Fluffy." Harry greeted the dog like it was an old friend, which it was.
The six years turned towards him and three pink tongues panted happily. The trunk sized tail shook the castle as it pounded against the wall. Over in the corner, a small harp was suspended in midair, playing a lullaby.
Harry patted the three snouts and asked if the Cerberus if they could go down the trapdoor. The giant dog barked in agreement. They undid the latch and hopped into the abyss of darkness.
Harry had seen the plants from his little trip through the hidden walkways, but having them crawl around your legs was a completely different experience. But they had to keep to the plan.
"Stop." Hermione told them all.
"It's Devil's Snare." Neville fake recognized.
"We need to relax. If you keep struggling, it'll only kill you faster." Hermione recalled the passage from a book.
They did as she instructed and they slowly fell through the vines until they hit the stone floor below. They dusted themselves off and walked through the wooden doorway onto the next challenge.
"Do you hear something?" Hermione asked.
"Sounds like wings." Harry guessed.
They entered the next room where the sounds of rustling and clinking filled the air. High above, thousands of jewel-bright birds flapped their tiny wings. On the other side of the room, was a heavy door with a giant rusty lock attached.
They walked underneath the birds and tried the door, already knowing what it was going to be.
Locked.
Hermione half heartedly tried an Alohamora spell. The lock did not budge an inch.
"They're keys!" Neville called out. He looked around and found a broomstick hovering in midair. "We've got to catch the right key to the door."
"It sounds way too easy. There's got to be some sort of gimmick." Hermione proposed.
"I've got an easier idea." Ginny said. She pointed her wand at the cloud of keys above and yelled, "Accio right key to this door. Right on queue, a small and rusty key shot straight through the key storm and landed into Ginny's awaiting palm. She placed the key in the lock and gave it a quick turn. The broken lock fell the cold floor with a thud.
"That's two down." Harry said. They walked down yet another crooked passage way into a darkened room. Only the square center was lit. It had a pattern to it. Black square. White square. Black square. Giant statues of medieval men and women stood, one per tile.
In other words, they were standing on a giant chessboard.
The white stone pieces stood ready on the other side of the board. They had no faces at all.
"We've got to play our way across the room to go on." Hermione realized.
Neville stared at the board. Then, he looked at the room's floor.
"We don't have to actually." He claimed.
"What?" The others said.
"Look at your feet. You're not standing on the chessboard. As long as we stay clear of it, we don't have to play.
"So what you're saying is…go around the chessboard?" Draco asked. "Neville, you are brilliant!"
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Ron stood outside the door to the third floor corridor. Harry was going to be down there soon. He was going to join him and share the glory of defeating He Who Must Not Be Named. Albus Dumbldore himself had given him this important mission.
He sat down on his butt and waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
He yawned. Boy was he tired.
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They simply passed the unresponsive chess pieces, since they did not recognize any opponents to fight.
They walked through another arch and nearly passed out at the smell. Their eyes watered.
A troll even larger than the one before was knocked out on the floor. A bloody lump on the side of its head.
"Looks like we don't have to fight that one." Harry said the obvious.
They walked past the lump of a troll and entered the next room.
There, standing in front of them, was the table with the seven bottles and the roll of paper. They stepped over the threshold and purple fire flared behind them. In the front stood black flames.
They pretended to read the paper.
"Well…looks like this is just a logic puzzle." Hermione said.
"Couldn't we just use a flame-freezing charm?" Draco suggested. They all agreed and cast the spell. Easily, they walked through the fire as if it wasn't even there.
They entered the final chamber. Someone was already there. Someone had beaten them to the stone.
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It was Quirrel.
"Hello Harry Potter. I have been expecting you." He smiled. His face was devoid of twitching.
"And so have we." Harry said calmly. Quirrel held a look of surprise but quickly shook it away.
"You have know that it was me. Quite interesting. You are much wiser than I had previously thought."
He snapped his fingers and ropes tied themselves tightly around our heroes. They could not move. The ropes wove themselves around their mouths, preventing speech.
"Now be quiet children. I must examine this mirror." He gazed into the smooth glass of the Mirror of Erised. "I see myself holding the stone. I see myself presenting it to my master. But how do I get it?"
An ice cold voice spoke. "Use the boy." Quirrel turned to Harry. He levitated him towards the mirror.
"Tell me what you see inside that mirror."
Harry gazed inside. What he wanted was a way to stop Voldemort. He saw himself standing in fornt of a fallen Quirrel. He saw a cloud of smoke and-
"Well, what is it?" Quirrel demanded. The image inside the glass faded.
"I...I see myself. I just see me standing there."
"You are lying."
"No." the icy voice shrilled. "He tells the truth. Let me speak to him."
"Master, you are not strong enough." Quirrel pleaded.
"I have strength enough…for this."
Quirrel reached for his purple turban and began unwrapping it. His head looked so much smaller without it on.
Harry looked away from Quirrel. He had an idea of where the voice might be coming from.
"Harry Potter. We meet...again." The voice spoke. Harry could feel the two red eyes stabbing him with a glare."
"Voldemort."
"Yes. Do you see what I have become? Do you see what I must do to survive? Live off another as a mere parasite. The unicorn blood has sustained me. But it cannot give me a body of my own. But there is something that can. I know that you can find the stone. I know that it is hidden right inside this very mirror. Give the stone to me…and you will be rewarded handsomely."
"Never!" Harry shouted.
The Dark Lord laughed. "Hah! Courage. Your parents had it too. Tell me Harry…would you like to see your mother and father again? Together…we can bring them back. There is no good and evil. Only power and those too weak to seek it."
"You liar!" Harry yelled.
"KILL HIM!" the Lord screamed.
All at once, spells shot everywhere. A few cutting hexes freed Ginny, Draco, Neville, and Hermione. Another pushed Harry away from Quirrel's grasp. Two seconds later, Master and servant were surrounded.
"I see." The face of Voldemort seared itself into Harry's brain. Ginny's subconscious was forced out of his mind. There was only darkness.
'Harry,' the voice said. 'Remember, You are always welcome to join us and have your revenge against the world.'
"Give up now. You're completely surrounded." McGonagall shouted.
Voldemort stared at his situation. He was still and silent.
Then, Quirrel's body went rigid. It started shaking violently. The once stuttering professor began screaming.
"WHY MASTER? WHY?" His body lit up and a strange force appeared to come out of him. Something seemed to be ripped from his very body. He flailed around as
The body fell to the floor with a thud, unmoving.
Harry sighed. It was over…for now. Voldemort was still alive. A shadow, a mere vapor. So close and yet he could not die. He would not die.
Then, something closed in on his scar. It felt life someone had brought a sword down upon it, splitting his head clean open. No one could have ever experienced this amount of pain. Nothing could compare to this.
It was pure torture. He felt like his head was about to explode. The room started to spin. Faster and faster it twirled.
He fell.
The last thing he saw was the face of a crying Ginny.
"HARRY!"
The world went dark.
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And that is the end of the Lord and Lady Phoenix: The Stone! Thank you to everyone who has supported, reviewed, and read this tale. The end of this great tale has come. But could there be more? Could a sequel come in the near future?
Harry's world has gone dark. What could have happened? Could I be that evil to leave it right there? Could I? Would I? Dare I?
Thanks To…
Mdauben kanakmp buddygirl1004
..86 pantherfan16 SeanHicks4
Comet Moon JourneyRocks13 MissMillie
Nightwing 509 milarqui Danstheman
Kiwifan13 Professor Chris Luiz4200
MagicalNinjaUnicorn Lord Jawblinneron MRS YAYA
NUDGELOVER The Spiked Dragon harryandginnyforever
Azphxbrd mei fa-chan DanielWhite
Bragging Rights go to…
Buddygirl1004-Trapdoor sequence
Milarqui-Ron
Danstheman-Harry, Neville, Hermione, and Ginny go down the trapdoor.
NUDGELOVER-go through the trapdoor.
Harryandginnyforever-meet Voldemort on the back of Quirrel's head.
Azphxbrd-Trapdoor sequence, Ron being told by Dumbledore
This is the end of The Lord and Lady Phoenix: The Stone
Thank you to all that have read this magical journey.
SuperXBrother