A/N: Thanks to getting 2 reviews and the new expansion of WoW, I have found the inspiration to finish this fic. Woo! As such this chapter is a touch longer than some in the past, but not long enough to split in two.

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Chapter the LAST

oOoOoOoOo////

The idea won't leave me alone. It keeps coming back right when I've figured out something else to think about or do. It is really very distracting, and not a little annoying.

"Hey, do you think I could turn into a plant?"

"As in, a photosynthetic organism?" Snape asks, looking cranky that my comment had made him jump a bit where he is sitting.

"No, I mean an alien that powers intergalactic space ships." I drawl. He looks at me with a look of complete disgust that handily obviates the need for him to tell me I am being an idiot. Again. I sigh. "I'm thinking moss." There was that look again. Well, no time like the present, I suppose. What in the world does moss think about? How would one manage it? I try to make my sense of self dissolve and spread over the rocks behind me, thinking thoughts of loam and granite and green frills.

"Wait… that…" Snape stares down at the spot where I had been and only barely resists the urge to set the somewhat bedraggled patch of foliage on fire. "Merlin's hairy balls." He growls. His stomach matches the noise in sympathy. A contemplative look crosses his face. "Some kinds of moss are edible…"

oOoOoOoOo

"Ok. So we've got all the lines set up to reinforce the Founder's wards. That should give us a little more time before the whole mess tumbles down and the Dementors take over and turn us into soulless zombie minions." Deritine rubs his hands together happily. The others give him a look of disbelief.

"You couldn't have tried to make that more cheery, could you?" Harry asks, running his hand absently over the coils of the Reling snake.

"What do you mean?" The dog-turned-human asks in puzzlement.

"Never mind that, we still have one more to do…" Pirhanis looks at the diagram that he, Dumbledore, and the best minds in the castle had come up with. "The last one is outside the current wards, though, so it is possible that we'll get attacked when we try to install it."

"Well, fine. But we don't need to do that one right now." Deritine sulks.

"No, we are prepared." Pirhanis says. A gleam suddenly comes to his eye and the group in front of him, which is most of the remaining people from Hogwarts, shy away a bit. Pirhanis' voice raises as he begins to get into speech mode. "Aye, the task is large, but we are here, together! We shall go forth and face our foes with the great will in our hearts that blossoms from this, our fountain in the springtime of youth!"

"Oh boy."

Pirhanis ignores the comments. "My friends, this day will be remembered! For tonight- we RAID!"

OOoOoOoOo

Snape paces the room restlessly. Now that he is entirely alone he finds himself wishing for some company. As annoying as the girl had been, he is not entirely used to being alone anymore. Now there is no one to snap at, or curse, or… even talk or glare at. He walks to the door and grabs the knob, twisting it in desperation.

With a click and a bit of a groan, the door swings easily open.

Snape stares at it for a good thirty seconds before cursing as loudly and as imaginatively as he ever has before in his life. When the red haze fades from his vision he looks down the corridor nervously, but it seems that no one was around to hear his outburst. He straightens his robes and looks back at the moss growing in the corner of the cell. For a moment he contemplates trying to rouse the annoyance and get them out of here… but he quickly discards the idea. He doesn't need to end up being ass-raped or killing his mentor again, thank you.

Snape concentrates on his appearance and runs his hands over his face when he feels it shift. A quick trip to the nearest bathroom shows him a face that looks nothing like anyone he has ever met- rather average brown hair and grey eyes with an average nose, a sprinkle of facial hair and a somewhat full mouth. Satisfied he creeps out of the castle. It must be some sort of vacation as there seems to be no one around. Once past the apparation wards Snape concentrates and is gone.

OOoOoOoOo

"They're coming! Run!" Pirhanis pivots on his back foot, bringing his staff to bear on the Dementors chasing them. "I need something to slow these fools down so everyone can escape." He mutters to himself. "Dammit! Why don't I have any AoE slows or roots or anything. Argh!" The screams are loud in his ears when he darts forward, meeting the monsters before they could attack anyone else. They round on him and he lets out a rattling breath. They are all in front of him and he raises his hands. "Too bad I don't have a giant ball or something that I could roll over them." He growls as they almost overtake him. "Freeze!" He cries, not really expecting anything of it, more just wanting to say the phrase in context. But to his surprise a cone of cold air bursts from his hands and hits all of the Dementors. They take on a curious blue tint and begin to float very very slowly towards him. "Huh?"

"Look out! Behind you!"

Pirhanis whips around and sees that a second group of Dementors is moving to surround him. "AH!" He screams, flinging his hands out. His mouth drops open when they all become incased in blocks of ice. "Wha…?"

"Run you idiot!" Pirhanis looks up to see that everyone has made it safely inside the barrier and are hurriedly moving to set up the final steps so that it will expand and push the Dementors away from him. But he can see already that it will be too late. Even with the ones behind him moving so slowly they will still be able to catch him. And more of them are moving to block his escape.

"Crap." Pirhanis moves to teleport just as a bony hand grabs onto him. He panics and tries to twist away. If he teleports now, bringing the Dementor with him, it could pop the shields around the entire castle. He blinks to try to clear the tears of desperation gathering in the corners of his eyes and lashes out when another arm grabs him.

"Whoah! Relax. You made it all the way back in." Pirhanis opens his eyes and looks at Deritine.

"What?"

"You teleported over here, it's fine."

"But… I didn't… the Dementor had me grabbed…" He turns around and looks behind him. He seems to have gone a good twenty yards. And now he feels so drained of mana.

"Those spells were quite interesting that you just used, my boy. You've been holding out on us." Dumbledore says with a relieved twinkle. "They should come in useful in the future when we need to fight those things."

"It only slowed them down, though." Harry huffs, looking put out that he hadn't been the one in the thick of things.

"Which is more than most of our magics can do, is it not?" Dumbledore counters gleefully.

"I suppose."

"But… I don't know that spell. I certainly don't have it memed." Pirhanis holds up his hand in front of his face in bewilderment. "What was that?" The skin of his index finger sloughs off and falls to the ground. "Ah!" Pirhanis screams.

"Whoah. You are a zombie!" Deritine enthuses.

Pirhanis feels the eyes roll up into his head and then everything is darkness.

OOoOoOoOo

"Oh and did you hear about that tragic story with Severus Snape?" The buxom woman gushes, slopping beer down Snape's front. He isn't sure which to be more annoyed about- the waste of perfectly good beer, or the fact that the woman had brought up his double's ignominious death scene and confession of love. For Lily Potter of all people! The witch had been idiot enough to fall for Potter and Severus had wiped his hands of her then and there. As if he needs some pathetic unrequited love to keep him chaste and turn him to the side of 'Good'! He can get laid and realize the Dark Lord is a total ass all on his own, thanks very much. Fortunately, he is past being drunk enough to spout this out and on to the stage of drunk where his words aren't making much sense at all.

"Hmm." He says instead, relieving the woman of the beer for its safety before chugging what is left of it and placing it just to the left of the bar. No one notices it crash to the ground, although fortunately it is charmed to be unbreakable. He snakes a hand around the woman's waist and leans into her.

"Do you want to role-play? I'll illusion you to be Severus." The woman says, her voice husky.

Snape half collapses on her and lets out a large guffaw. Oh, the irony. He finds himself very close to the woman's ear, so he decides to set one thing straight. "I would much prefer that you stay as yourself. You're much more attractive."

After that he is practically dragged out of the bar by one thoroughly flattered witch. He waves at the hoots coming from some of the wizards who had been pouring the beer into him for the better part of the night after declaring him 'too serious'.

"Way to go, mate!" One of them calls as he disappears up the stairs.

OOoOoOoOo

"I don't know it I can teach it to you all… I have no idea how I did that cone of… cold thing." Pirhanis protests.

"Cone of cold." Fickle starts. "A mage spell gained in the 26th level at Rank 1. Subsequent ranks are gained at 34, 42, 50, 58, 65, 72, and 79, A cone in front of the caster damages enemies and slows them for 8 seconds by 50%."

"Say what? That's not an Everquest spell." Pirhanis rubs his face with his hands, eeping when another chunk of flesh sloughs off from his wrist just under the bandages around his hands.

"No. It is from World of Warcraft."

"Like the real time strategy?" Pirhanis looks to Deritine in confusion.

"No. It is a MMO."

"Fascinating. But we need to know how to cast the spell, not its history." Draco drawls. Hermione lays a hand on his arm and he settles with a huff.

"No, we need to know why my skin is falling off!" Pirhanis snaps. "Those things could have done something to me." He slips down further in the hospital bed.

"You are undead." Fickle states.

"WHAT!?! I am NOT!"

"Your race is undead, class mage. Your highest character is Twiddly."

"What kind of name is that?" Harry asks. "Some sort of candy?"

"Oh… this is maybe sounding familiar." Pirhanis says, his eyes crossing as he thinks. "I'm getting flashes of Chuck Norris jokes…"

"Who is Chuck Norris?" Dumbledore asks, looking eager. "A wizard?"

"Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried." Deritine says, face stoic for a few seconds before he cracks up.

"While in your REM sleep mode you have been requesting access to the new MMO." Fickle continues. "So far you have logged 82 days 17 hours and 47 minutes of play time."

"In my dreams?" Pirhanis murmurs. "Yes… I AM undead…" He cringes. "Why didn't I pick a troll?" He pulls at a rotting scrap of skin forlornly. "By the Lich King's frozen cock!"

"Which king?" Dumbledore asks, an odd gleam in his eye.

"The king of the undead." Pirhanis mopes.

"Indeed…" Dumbledore murmurs, stroking his beard.

oOoOoOoOo

Severus sneaks out of the room and closed the door behind him as quietly as he can manage. Much of the night was a blur, but he remembers enough that the headache he has is not entirely due to the hangover. He rummages in his pockets to try to find the hangover cure he always stashes there, but it seems that his double was more concerned with being poisoned than suffering the aftereffects of a good time. Which, despite the embarrassment of being thought a hopeless romantic, last night had certainly had been.

"Oh hey! You going to the ceremony?" His friend from last night asks. He looks entirely too chipper. Severus considers forgiving him when he holds out the familiar orange-yellow potion.

Severus snatches it up and takes a sniff. It is Hue's formula, brewed a little over a month ago. He would much prefer his own, but beggars with massive head aches can't be choosers. He downs the potion and sighs with relief as the inferior brew takes away most of the pain.

"So, you up for the ceremony?"

"What ceremony?" Snape asks, handing back the bottle.

"The 'Dark Lord is dead' ceremony, of course."

"For the Potter brat, I suppose." Snape sneers.

"Don't give the kid a hard time, Sam." Severus winces at the fake name. "He did save us all, after all." The wizard claps him on the back and Snape glares at him. "There will be food." The wizard coaxes.

Severus' stomach rumbles. "Hm."

"That's the spirit!" He crows. "Does your friend want to join us?" He asks with a leer.

"Er… probably best we leave before she recovers her senses."

He throws back his head and laughs. "That's the spirit. We'll see if we can both get lucky again tonight, eh? I hear there might be free beer at this celebration as well."

"Hm."

oOoOoOoOo

"So, you picked a mage while playing this new game." Deritine says from the side of Pirhanis' bed, watching as the now undead dark elf, Dumbledore and a few other Rune masters pore over a very complex diagram.

"Yes." Pirhanis says absently, running a cloth-wrapped hand over a particular rune and causing it to morph into one that is slightly different.

"And an WoW mage is basically the same thing as an EQ wizard." Deritine continues.

"Yes…" Pirhanis says, nodding as Dumbledore adds another bracket at the edges of the North pinnacle.

"So basically you switched games but are playing the exact same thing. That's pretty lame."

Pirhanis whips his head around to Deritine, his eyes glowing a disturbing ice blue. "No, that would be dedication to class." He hisses.

"I call it lame. More than that, it's boring." Deritine sighs and transforms into a dog and slips under the bed when Pirhanis growls at him and tries to cast something (probably explosive) on him.

"I think we've just about figured this out, my boy." Dumbledore says cheerfully. "With this new ability of yours to summon people, and your new religion… with these modifications I think we will be able to reverse it and set off a chain reaction."

Pirhanis rubs his head and glares at the strip of skin on his hand before replying. "That is if we get the main one. If we get the lesser It may be able to cut off the link between them before they all get sucked in."

oOoOoOoOo

Severus creeps into Hogwarts' deepest parts. Luckily for him, the celebration had been on the grounds. He had had to sit through a nauseating speech about Harry bloody Potter, though fortunately the brat had seemed like he wanted to leave as much as Snape had. But now, he is in a perfect position to get back to the cell room where he had last seen a particular batch of moss. "There you are." He mutters.

"Hey. What are you doing in here?" Severus turned around and almost groans before he realizes that Neville Longbottom is actually exactly the person he wants to see.

"Do you happen to know how to speak to plants?" Severus asks.

"What?" Neville frowns at the non sequitur.

"Do you know a spell, boy!" Snape growls. But his current form is much less intimidating or Neville has grown a bit from leading a rebel army, because he merely looks at the older wizard with a quizzical look on his face. "For plants that are more than merely magical and may, in fact, be senescent." Severus explains more calmly.

"Well, sure."

"I believe that this moss is one such plant."

Neville looks at it dubiously. "I don't know about that. It looks pretty ordinary to me."

"I saw a woman rise out of it just before you came- she spoke to me." Severus lies smoothly.

"I think you're drunk." Neville says shortly. Snape curses his clothing- he had tried to clean it via Scourgify and to change it entirely as Aimry had shown him, but it still seemed to retain the stink of beer his bed partner had spilled on him the night before.

"What harm could it do to check?" Severus said, trying to sound reasonable and sober. Which he figured was not an impossible task, as he was, in fact, quite sober.

Neville turns back around with a sigh. "I suppose. If it means you will go back out to the party."

"Absolutely." Severus lies again.

"Fine." Neville twirls his wand expertly and closes his eyes.

"Tell her to come get some sunlight." Severus says, looking from recent graduate to plant eagerly.

"She is a conscious plant!" Neville exclaims with some surprise. "She's asking why she should come out."

"Tell her it's boring here and so sickeningly sweet she's sure to gag, so we need to make good our escape."

"Alright, I told her, but what is that supposed to… holy!"

I step off the wall and look between the two wizards. "Hi." I look over at Snape. "Er… are you…"

"I'm dead, don't say the name." Severus hisses.

"Ok." I acknowledge.

"You… but… plant!" Neville sputters.

"You've never seen a plant Animagus?" I ask him haughtily.

"No! I haven't" He shakes his head. "There is no such thing! It's ani-magus. As in animal."

"Shows what you know." I say, sweeping by him. I barely remember to actually walk instead of simply floating along. "So. How'd you get out?"

"The door was unlocked." Snape drawls.

"Are you serious?"

"Absolutely."

I laugh. "That's too easy, I'll let it slide for now."

Snape narrows his eyes, then they widen and he glares as he runs back over the conversation.

"Wait! I want to become a plant animagus. Will you teach me?" Neville asks, following after me eagerly.

"You would." Severus snorts, following after us.

"Ah. It is simply a matter of thinking how a plant would think, rather than how an animal would. Besides that, just follow the animagus instructions." I say to him, hoping that he will leave us alone. Unfortunately he continues to pester us until we come blinking into the sunlight. I look around, amazed at the number of people here. "What's going on?"

"Potter defeated the Dark Lord." Snape says, his face twisted into a wry grin. "What else?"

"He had help." Neville says, looking like he is eager for one of us to ask who. I have no intention of giving him the opening and neither does Severus. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people around to oblige him.

"Oh, who helped?" A Ravenclaw asks, moving closer to Neville and blushing.

Severus and I roll our eyes.

"Why, our dear Professor Snape."

I blink. I had been expecting him to start on his own victories. I look over at Snape and see him turning an interesting mix between green and white.

"Why, yes. He was desperately in love with Harry's mum, you see- tried to save her from the Dark Lord. But he was betrayed and Lilly was killed." Severus lets his face fall into his palm and groans. "It is a tragic story of unrequited love- he gave his memories to Harry just before he died of the poison coursing through his veins from Voldemort's pet serpent."

"Oh?" I ask, my lips quirking.

"Oh, yes." Neville continues, warming as the Ravenclaw tries to wrap herself around him and at the prospect of a fresh audience. "At the end he was just looking up into Harry's eyes, wanting to see that part of Lilly one last time before he died."

I am almost able to keep it inside, but Severus' groan of horror sends me off the edge and I fall to the ground, rolling around in laughter. Even the nausea I feel coming from Snape is not enough to dampen my mirth.

"I know! Isn't it ridiculous! I can't believe that slimy git had me shaking in my shoes for so many years of potions classes." Neville looks positively smug.

Severus picks me up off the ground and carries me over his shoulder to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, shooting a glare at Neville to keep him from following. "It is not as humorous as you seem to think it is."

I slide off his shoulder and wipe my eyes. "Are you kidding? That's possibly the lamest way to die I have ever heard of." I eye him contemplatively. "You aren't…"

"No." He snarls. "I started working for Dumbledore because Voldemort was an atrocious leader and I could see he was rapidly losing his mind."

"Alright." I say, holding my hands up placatingly.

"I want to get back to my world, now. This place is starting to make me lose teeth."

"Too happy for you?" I ask sarcastically.

"Yes."

"Oy! Sam! There you are. What happened to the 'get drunk and get lucky again' plan? You need to catch up!"

Severus closes his eyes and rubs his forehead.

"Who is that?" I ask, puzzled. "And what does he mean by 'again'" I ask, more suspicious.

oOoOoOoOo

"I don't know that I like this idea." Deritine says, looking about as anxious at the look the unicorns are giving him as the solid mass of blackness swarming at the edge of the temporary wards.

"We all need to be there in order to do the reverse-summon spell." Pirhanis hisses back at him. "And besides, only with the three of us together will Harry seem like he is actually Aimry."

"Indeed. Without all of us together, the prospects of this mission approach 0%." Fickle adds.

Harry, with a illusion cast on him to look like me, steps to the front of the other three and addresses the largest Dementor with the healthiest looking complexion. "We have come to surrender. If you have us, you have promised to leave the rest alone." Harry says in my voice.

"That is correct." It rattles. Harry makes a good show of fighting with himself as to whether he believes It.

"Ok. We're coming out then." The four walk to the very edge of the barrier, Pirhanis touching his toe to the lines of salt laid out behind them and muttering under his breath. Deritine and Fickle watch him avidly. Just as they pass the border Pirhanis finishes the last word of the invocation and touches Harry's back. The ring on the boy's hand glows white-blue and starts to pulse. Deritine and Fickle quickly touch it and Harry slams his hand into the open maw It was lowering to suck on their souls.

With a screech It falls back, but the blue-white pulses around him, now, flickers of it jumping from one to the other of the Dementors until the entire vast army of them are enveloped in bright light and vanish.

Pirhanis, Deritine and Fickle fall forward as if someone had just stopped leaning on them.

"Whoah. It worked!" Deritine says. "I didn't even realize I was feeling them until… poof!"

"What about in WoW?" Pirhanis asks the goat-computer anxiously.

"They were successfully uploaded into the lore of Warcraft." Fickle confirms.

"Yes!" Harry says, pumping his fist in the air.

oOoOoOoOo

The legion of dark robed creatures look around themselves in confusion. They are on a wide plane covered in ice. In front of them, a throne sits with a figure in intricate armor frozen to the seat.

It comes forward but stops when the eyes begin to glow. "Why have you come?" A voice that echoes with human and godly elements asks.

The Dementors sway at the power and It rattles in a breath. "We have come to serve you, my Lord."

The figure steps up from the throne, ice shattering as it releases its grip. "The Lich King has risen, and the Scourge will sweep through the world once again." The voice says.

"Yes…." It isn't sure how to steal the power from the being in front of It, but what is there far exceeds what the human female had been able to give. The human vessel containing the god's powers was weak and corrupted. It would take some doing, but not an impossible amount of work, to become Lich King.

"Now that you have awoken me, we may begin the conquest anew!" The odd dual voice of Arthas rumbles over the valley. Arthas and It looks down as a dragon made of bones and glowing blue magic flies overhead and the undead army roars with renewed power.

oOoOoOoOo

"You got a little drunk and slept with some random woman who wanted to role play as Lilly Potter?" I am completely incredulous. What in the world?

"Can we just go?" Snape sighs. The other man had left after almost being hexed by both myself and Snape for his vulgar comments.

"You are one sick and twisted pup, you know that?" I seethe. Honestly- if he wanted Lilly Potter *I* could have done that, too. I wince at the thought. Maybe not. I grab his cloak in my hand and twist.

…

"Oh, Aimry!" a familiar voice calls.

I open my eyes. "Hah! I did it!"

Snape rips himself from my grip and stalks off as my cousin, subconscious and laptop all clamor to get closer and greet me. "Welcome back!"

"So… sorry I got sort of lost, there, but now I'm back. We can take care of…" I shudder.

"Oh. We already got rid of It." Pirhanis says offhandedly.

I blink. "Really?"

"Sure. Sent It off to a MMO where It can kill as many people as It wants and no hurt anyone but maybe some people's RAM." Deritine grins.

"Oh." I stand in shock. "How long ago was that?"

"Eh, last night I guess."

"When I was freaking moss." I mutter. Snape, apparently, is right. I am worse than useless- things only happen when I'm not here at all and enjoying the benefits of photosynthesis. "That's it. I'm going into the Forbidden Forrest and living the rest of my days as an elm."

"What? Why?" Pirhanis trails after me.

"Can I get back in your head before you do that?" Deritine asks, skipping over and knocking his head into mine.

I growl and slog forward, dragging them laughing behind. "Maybe a shrub instead. Something with thorns."

"Hey, it all ended up ok in the end, right?" Deritine laughs.

"I suppose if you consider wiping out most of the population of Britain you could say that." Pirhanis replies dryly, peeling off a part of his ear.

"Pfft." Deritine says, waving his hand nonchalantly. "Details, details."