And here's the final update for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord". Enjoy!

* Review response:
The Swordslinger, Skelo, nopparitari, FateBurn, raw666, Gruffard, ElementalMaster16, Slytherin Studios, tchizek, Slytherin66, Dragon and Sword Master, trispectrum, JPElles, Guest #2 & Guest #3, skywiseskychan, Jack, lou2003us, jonnyg, CMVreud, Lord of Death and Time, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Befread, Vukk, Penny is wise, this chapter should (finally) explain what had happened back there and why it looked like there was a missing scene (which there wasn't).
DarkLord98, Fritter, yeah, exactly like that.
U-233, Guest #1, Look at the very first line of the chapter. That should answer your question. ^^
plums, o-o-okay... Though in the defense of my way, Harry didn't exactly have a choice: he can hardly move at all - Dumbledore would have collected him whether he wants it or not.

Shattering, good luck, man!

* AN: This concludes the story. I might post a couple of extra chapters sometime in the future, but, for now, the story is complete. And there will be NO sequel. At least, there are no plans for one...

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form. Same with "Freezing" and "Naruto" anime/manga series or anything else I might mix in.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"powered speech / true prophecies by the seer"
"spells / parseltongue"
messages

chapter 75: The end and after

The dirty trick Dumbledore had player on her via his phoenix familiar had left Draconica very very angry: she had been treated like an annoying, immature child and totally not like a lady of an Ancient and Noble house she was. Instead of either accepting her as a tag-along on the mission to rescue her beloved Harry, or convincing her that staying at Hogwarts was for the best, the old bastard simply had his familiar teleport her to the other side of the castle.

But since sitting there on the cold and dust-covered floor of some unused classroom, fuming at Dumbledore's use of underhanded methods to solve his problems, would do her absolutely no good, the blond beauty did her best to push her anger aside. After taking a couple of deep breaths to calm down, she stood up and began walking towards the hospital wing: she could feel through her bond with Harry that while he was relatively unharmed, he was magically exhausted; and there was no doubt in the lady Slytherin's mind that he will be placed in madam Pomfrey's care as soon as he was recovered and brought back to Hogwarts.

And while it took the blonde beauty a couple minutes to recognize where in the castle she was – Fawkes had dropped her off quite far away from the commonly used pathways – and half a dozen more minutes to get to the hospital wing, she still arrived there before the Dumbledore's group returned from Little Hangleton... And with the school nurse all busy around the bed where Alastor Moody was lying, Draconica could only turn to Fleur for some company.

The Beauxbaton champion had withdrawn from the Third task after one of the more dangerous and venomous magical beasts within the maze had almost taken her left arm. Even now, after madam Pomfrey had patched her up, the would looked quite nasty. And with how mothering the Hogwarts matron was, it looked like Fleur will be spending at very least this night in the hospital wing...

The two girls had only started their idle chat when Fawkes, carrying professors Dumbledore and Flitwick as well as Harry and Cedric, appeared in a flash of fire. Almost immediately, Draconica was by her beloved's side, desiring to make sure that he indeed was alright. Well, physically at least – one needn't to have any sort of degree in medicine, either mundane or magical, to see that Harry was dead tired and just about to lose consciousness.

The blond beauty gave him a gentle smile, silently telling him that the nightmare he had without any doubts went through was over and that he was safe now. Harry weakly returned the smile, before finally letting the unconsciousness to claim him...

"Will he be fine?" Draconica asked.

"I think you should rather ask that question to our madam Pomfrey." Dumbledore answered. "Though, from what I myself can tell, with enough rest your lord should be as good as new." The lady Slytherin nodded and stepped aside to let the professors place Harry and Cedric on the beds. When that was done, the Hogwarts headmaster turned his attention to the Charms master. "Filius, I trust you can inform Poppy about the states we've found Mr. Diggory and lord Slytherin in?"

"Of course." Professor Flitwick's replied with a small nod. Dumbledore returned this nod as he continued:

"Very well then, I shall go and inform the aurors still at the castle that madam Bones wants them all in Little Hangleton..." A very short pause later he added: "And I shall contact the Unspeakables. Not to mention, Amos would be delighted to hear that his son is alive and is recovering from the ordeal." With those words the aged warlock turned around and walked out of the hospital wing. His phoenix familiar, Fawkes, though, remained in the room, choosing to sit on the head of Harry's bed. Draconica herself, having picked one of the chairs scattered around, too sat at the head of her husband's bed.

Once professor Flitwick finished briefing madam Pomfrey on what he knew about the states the two champions were in and disappeared from the hospital wing as he had his duties to attend to in the castle, the school matron headed straight to Cedric's bed – he was one whose condition was worse, thanks to his close brush with Death. And the mediwitch had spent quite a lot of time casting various diagnostic spells at the teen and had forced a few vials of potions into him, before she finally decided that he would be alright for the moment, so that she could go and see for herself, what state Harry was in.

Even though she had spent quite a lot of time around her beloved, Draconica never really tried to process the texts on medicine he was studying, thus, after the few basic diagnostic, the blond teen-witch was no longer able to even comprehend the results madam Pomfrey was getting. At least the matron's frown wasn't that deep, which meant that the things weren't very awful...

Before long, even if to the lady Slytherin it felt like an eternity, madam Pomfrey was done with casting her spells over Harry. And unlike the many potions she had fed to Cedric, she gave Harry only two. The dreamless sleeping potion and another one Draconica couldn't recognize – most probably it was some potion to help one recover his magic after a severe exhaustion.

"So... How's he?" The blond beauty asked carefully.

"Physically, he is mostly fine. Some scratches and a couple of really minor wound, but that's it." The matron of Hogwarts replied. "Now, his magical core, on the other hand... I don't know how Mr. Potter had accomplished it, but he had somehow emptied it completely dry and then he still kept going for a little bit by tapping into his own life force. And while doing that probably did save his life back there, the price he had paid is quite hefty." Madam Pomfrey said, her last words causing a spark of fear to ignite within Draconica.

"W-Will... Will he become a squib?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"No." The Hogwarts nurse replied, causing the younger witch to let out a sigh of relief. "But he still will lose a portion of his magical power. Until today, Harry was the second most powerful wizard in your year,.. From now on he will have to be content with being somewhere just around average." She made a short pause, before continuing: "Now, there are some practices that allow one to naturally gain magical power. These might help somewhat, but it will take years and yet he will be able to regain only a portion of what he had lost today."

"I see..." Draconica replied. What else could she say here?.. There was a long long pause, before madam Pomfrey spoke again, asking whether the younger witch wanted to spend the night in here. And after receiving a positive answer from the lady Slytherin, the Hogwarts matron headed towards Alastor's bed: the ex-auror had regained his consciousness and was trying to pretend that his condition was much better than it actually was...

Draconica remained sitting at the head of Harry's bed, holding his hand in her own and lost in her thoughts. Or at least she had been until she heard some light footsteps behind her and, a few seconds later, felt a soft, slightly-shaking hand being cautiously placed on her shoulder. Looking up, the lady Slytherin saw Fleur.

"This... This all... It shouldn't have happened." The Beauxbaton champion said. "Not to Harry, not to anyone else..." A pause later, she continued: "I know... we all have had not exactly a nice start, thanks to that... mishap on Halloween... But... The four of us became friends in the end... I will try my best to help Harry and Cedric." The French beauty promised. "And, I'm sure, Victor is of the same mind."

"T-Thanks you." Draconica replied softly, only now noticing that the hand Fleur had placed on her shoulder was the very one she had been bitten on. Doing what she was doing ought to be painful even with all of the painkiller potions madam Pomfrey had dosed the older girl with. And it did show just how strongly the Beauxbaton beauty felt with the lady Slytherin.

"Don't mention it." The part-veela witch replied, before silently hurrying back to her bed, before the Hogwarts matron caught her doing the things she wasn't supposed to...

~/ *** \~

Even though he had stayed up late the previous night, dealing with aftermath of lord Voldemort's brief return to world of living, the next morning Dumbledore was still up early. The breakfast just started when the aged warlock made his way down from his office towards the Great hall. However, he just as he stepped off the grand staircase and onto the floor of the Entrance hall, he was greeted by the sight of one Narcissa Malfoy entering the castle. And there actually was more than one reason for her to be there, given what had happened the previous night...

"Good morning, Narcissa." The Hogwarts headmaster greeted. "Can I be of any help to you this morning?" The said witch nodded in response.

"As a matter of fact, yes, you can, professor. Do you have an idea where I can find my daughter at this hour?" The news about the attack on Draconica yesterday evening had reached her, and lady Malfoy came to see, whether her lovely daughter was alright – that was what Dumbledore could 'read' in the woman's eyes: unlike her husband, Narcissa still considered young lady Slytherin to be her flesh and blood.

"I'm not sure,.." The Hogwarts headmaster began. A small pause later he continued: "You know where the married quarters she and her lord occupy are?" Upon Narcissa's nod, he continued. "I'd say that she's either there, or at the hospital wing... Actually, I think, you should check madam Pomfrey's abode first."

"Thank you, professor." The lady Malfoy replied with a nod, before turning on her heels and heading towards the Hogwarts' hospital wing. And even though it had been years since she had been there – not that she had been there often during her own schooldays – Narcissa reached her destination in a matter of minutes.

And, indeed, much like professor Dumbledore had predicted, her little Draconica was there. And it looked like the girl had fall asleep like that, with her head resting on her folded hands. A few beds away from there, the lady Malfoy could spy the Beauxbaton champion, who was already up this early in the morning, and, apparently, found the scene to be extremely cute too. Still, even though the lady Slytherin wasn't strapped to a bed by madam Pomfrey and looked totally fine, Narcissa wasn't really convinced that her beloved daughter indeed was alright.

Hence, a wake-up call for Draconica... And despite how gentle her mother was, the young blonde still ended up off her chair with a rather unladylike squeak: she totally didn't expect to see her mum at the time.

"Mother? What brings you here?" The girl asked once she was back to sitting on the chair instead of floor. She was a bit embarrassed about her rather extreme reaction a few moments earlier, and Fleur's giggles weren't helping her any.

"I came here as soon as I could, after I heard that there had been an attack on you." Narcissa replied as she level a light glare at her daughter. But that glare lasted but a few moment as the woman's expression quickly softened. "Now then, are you alright? Hurt anywhere?.." The lady Malfoy asked as she stepped closer to Draconica while also trying to see if the girl had any signs of injuries left on her... As far as she could see, there were none though.

"I'm fine, mother!" The young blonde replied somewhat forcefully while trying to keep some distance between herself and her mother: her attempt to mother her was, while endearing, also rather annoying, especially since she was more or less in public right now. "Seriously, mom, I'm alright!" The young lady Slytherin continued. "Yes, I've been attacked, but I'm totally fine now. I'm not a china doll!" That seemed to have finally stopped Narcissa's attempts to tackle her daughter and personally inspect every inch of her body for any injuries.

"Alright." The older witch said with a small sigh. Dealing with her daughter's bout of teenage rebelliousness was tiring. But since she indeed couldn't see anything really wrong with her little Draconica... "Anyway..." She continued after a few long seconds of silence. "I also wanted to have a few words with your 'hubby', but.." Here she cast a glance at Harry, who was deep asleep in the bed. "But he seems to be quite unavailable at the moment, so, please, inform me when he wakes up."

"O-Okay." The lady Slytherin replied.

"Now then, maybe you can tell me about?.." Narcissa began. Just because she had achieved most of what she had planned for this visit of hers, it absolutely didn't mean that she shouldn't spend some more time with her little Draconica.

~/ *** \~

Harry finally woke up after about thirty six hours of unconsciousness. And, of course, he was not happy to learn about what had happened to his magical power. But as unhappy about that as he was, he was not really surprised by this: he had learned magical medicine theory pretty well, after all... Plus, when you have to choose between a fraction of you power or your whole life, the choice is quite obvious. And the young lord Slytherin wasn't about to start regretting choosing to live.

Once her diagnostic spells had shown that he was in a good enough condition, madam Pomfrey had allowed the Hogwarts headmaster to have a few words with Harry. And Dumbledore had quite a few question he wanted to ask the green-eyed teen... But, of course, someone like him rarely would go straight to business if he had some time on his hands...

"It's nice to see you awake, Harry." The aged warlock spoke. "How are you this fine morning?"

"I'm ...alright, thank you, professor." The young lord Slytherin answered after a short pause. What else was he supposed to say just maybe half an hour after he had learned that he lost forty percent of his magical power? He then quickly glanced at his beautiful mate, who was still sitting there, holding his hand in her own. Even if Harry was absolutely sure that whatever discussion he was going to have with Dumbledore will be a very serious one, the old wizard so far hadn't asked for his mate to leave.

"Good, good." Albus replied. "Now then, I hope you won't mind answering some of my questions, Harry?" Upon receiving the dark-haired youth's nod, the Hogwarts headmaster added: "Would you mind if I ask for your lady to leave? I don't think she should hear our discussion. And I will, of course, raise a small ward to block other eavesdroppers." Harry shared a look with his lovely wife.

"I'm sorry, professor, but I'll have to somewhat disagree. Draconica will stay here." He said forcefully. The two wizards glared at each other for a few long seconds, before, surprisingly, the lady Slytherin spoke up:

"I'm happy that you put so much trust in me, Harry." She said. "But I'm not sure I actually want to know what the two of you are going to discuss. I'll sit this one out." The green-eyed teen let out a sigh but let his lady walk away from his bed – and head to Fleur's, to gossip or whatever with her fellow blonde... Once she was far enough from them, Albus waved his around, raising a quick but quite powerful ward around Harry's bed that was meant to prevent anyone outside from being able to hear or even lip-read what they were going to discuss.

"Now then,.." Dumbledore said: "Last night, the Unspeakables had officially confirmed that the adult-sized homunculus body found at the Little Hangleton cemetery belonged to the man we all know as lord Voldemort. Furthermore, they had also confirmed that it was created on the night of the third task." The aged wizard then made a small pause, before continuing with some mirth in his voice: "Our esteemed Minister for Magic tried to argue that the results can't possibly be the truth, but as you know, when Unspeakables do present some facts, those facts are absolutely and completely indisputable."

"I see..." Harry breathed out after a second or two. I was nice to know that the Unspeakables could back him up when the news about the Dark Lord's short return to the world of living reached the general population, but he wasn't sure why Dumbledore needed such secrecy to inform him about it.

"That said,.." The Hogwarts headmaster continued: "I will not say anything about you killing Voldemort as it falls under self-defense – it was either your life or his. However, I would like to point it out that since he was able to return once, what says he will not do that again? Furthermore, the next time he may not even announce his revival like he did this time. And since you seem to be his primary target..." Before the aged warlock could say anything else, Harry interrupted him.

"This time he will not be returning."

"How can you say that?" Dumbledore asked after a few seconds of silence.

"Because right now he should be somewhere in between conquering Great Britain and ruling over the whole world. In his dreams... I didn't kill him. Instead, I used a powerful artifact to seal his soul away into an endless, unbreakable illusion of his dream-world. I don't know, but it is likely that he didn't even notice the moment when his mind and soul were separated from his body. To him it probably looked like my attack had totally failed, when in reality it had effectively ended him."

"And, what is that artifact you've used?" Dumbledore asked with definite interest. However, his voice carried some notes worry too. "It should be hidden away so that those with ill intentions will not be able find and use it."

"Don't worry about that." Harry replied. "The artifact to its rightful place this summer. Its rightful owner is the Shinto God who still has presence in our world; and if he doesn't want you find it, you never will." The Hogwarts headmaster nodded: as powerful as wizards were, they couldn't quite match up against divine beings. Not in the times of Merlin and especially not nowadays. "...And even if by some chance one does find it, without a blessing from, one will be drained to death before the sword can even manifest into our world. It is just not meant to be wielded by mortals. I did have a blessing, and yet here I am..."

"Very well..." Albus said. "However I still have my concerns about the methods Voldemort had used to achieve his form of immortality. Or, at very least, revivability."

"And probably you indeed should have those concerns." Harry replied. "Voldemort had used some of the most foul magics imaginable to achieve that. Too bad for him, those vile things he had created to keep himself in this world didn't work like he had intended them to, in the end." A pause. "And while most of his anchors are already destroyed, two are still active. And, given what had happened two years ago, we know that such an anchor can actually possess a living person and will try to incarnate itself into a physical body."

"That is most troubling..." Dumbledore said, referring both to the fact that Voldemort had created his horcruxes and the fact that Harry apparently knew about them. Still, the old wizard decided that right now was probably not the right time to do something about the green-eyed teen's knowledge about those things.

"Well, not really. Only one of those anchors is missing. The other one, the Hufflepuff's goblet, had been given to Bellatrix LeStrange and currently resides in her vault in Gringotts. Goblins have been informed about that and while they refuse to rummage through the said vault, the moment the goblet is taken out of it, they will confiscate and destroy it."

"That's actually some good news..." Dumbledore said. There was a long pause then.

"Is there anything else that you'd like to ask me?" Harry asked.

"Actually, there are quite a few things I'd like to ask." Albus replied. "But I'm sure Amelia will be asking the same questions as well. And since she had been notified that you've woken up, she should be there soon. Let's just wait for her to arrive." Upon Harry's nod, the Hogwarts headmaster dispelled the wards around the teen's bed – they would need to be re-cast anyway, once madam Bones joined them.

"Should I summon my barrister?" Harry asked as the aged warlock unwoven the wards that had prevented people in the hospital wing form eavesdropping onto their conversation.

"You're not being accused of any crime here, so I don't think there is an actual reason for that." Dumbledore replied. "But if you will feel better with Miss L Bridget there to support you,.. I don't see any reason why she can't attend this – let's say – interview."

"I think I'll request for her presence. Just in case." Harry said.

"Alright then." The Hogwarts headmaster said with a nod. "Let me invite her here then." He said as he stood up and headed towards madam Pomfrey's office and the floo there. After all, at the moment Harry was still more or less bedridden and couldn't make that call himself.

Despite the suddenness of the summon, Violet somehow still managed to arrive to Hogwarts a few minutes before madam Bones and whichever aurors would be accompanying her. Truth to be said, Harry wasn't sure why the director of the DMLE – one of the most important people in the Ministry for Magic – would do something a lowly as interviewing him, even if he had participated in a very major event. But when he had asked the witch herself, she just smiled in response while saying something about it being a way to get away from doing useless paperwork.

Anyway, much like Dumbledore had said, madam Bones was mostly interested in the events that happened during the Third task itself, and immediately afterwards, when the portkey with the Goblet of Fire had spirited Harry and Cedric to the cemetery in Little Hangleton. She had asked a few questions about in the curse the young lord Slytherin had used to save his fellow champion's life and commented that were his intentions different, he'd be in serious troubles with her for using such a Dark Arts' spell. But since Harry had used it to save Cedric's life, she only had him swear an oath not to use it again and to never teach it to anyone.

Madam Bones was also, obviously, interested in Voldemort's revival and the subsequent reassembly of the Death Eaters. But she never asked Harry for the list of the names: after all, all of them, even the sneaky bastard Pettigrew, were in the Ministry's holding cells, still petrified and unable to do anything to escape justice.

Finally, the director of the DMLE asked Harry to give her a brief description of his battle against the revived Dark Lord. But she seemed to already know quite a bit about it, probably from the Unspeakables' investigation, so she hadn't asked for any specific details about how exactly Harry had won that fight, beyond the reassurance that the feat of sealing Voldemort's spirit away was nigh-impossible to replicate.

Thus, it indeed looked like madam Bones was conducting this 'interview' mostly in order to complete the image of what exactly had happened on the night of the tournament's final task. She hadn't asked any really uneasy for Harry questions – especially about the way he had ended Voldemort or about how all of the Death Eaters had ended up as stone statues – and the green-eyed teen was quietly thankful for that.

~/ *** \~

The next day right after the dinner the Hogwarts' professors held an extraordinary meeting. The order of the day was the situation around Harry Potter. Unlike Cedric, who was kind of protected by the Tournament rules and would get full marks for all of his NEWTs regardless of been conscious or not, the young lord Slytherin was allowed to have a free pass just in one of his subjects.

Even worse for the green-eyed teen, that subject also had be dealing with something that had been a part of one of the tournament's tasks. And with how madam Pomfrey kept him confined to the hospital wing – and, thus, unable to take the examinations – this left a small but dangerous possibility of him failing the fourth year and being forced to retake it. Sure, once the Hogwarts' matron declared him to be healthy enough to leave her care, he would be able to take the tests, but... It had all the chances of happening after the academic year was over.

"Alright, colleagues. We meet here today to discuss the situation young Harry..." Here Dumbledore sent a glare at the Hogwarts' Potions master, telling him that starting another tirade about Potter and the preferential treatment he was supposedly getting was not the best idea. "...Found himself in. As you all know, he is currently under madam Pomfrey's care and isn't likely to be released soon enough to take the exams with his peers. Furthermore, Poppy had informed me that he shouldn't be actively using his magic for at least a month, lest there are further complications to his condition."

"So, we are here to decide what to do with him." Professor Flitwick finished his boss' though. "Particularly, me, Minerva and Alastor, since we teach subjects that require casting active magic to pass the normal exams." The headmaster nodded.

"Quite so, Filius." He agreed. "Though, it would good if we can decide on the ways Mr. Potter will pass the rest of his examinations as well."

"Well." The retired auror began. "In my book, anyone who can match his wand against the Dark Lord and live to tell the tale deserves a pass for the measly school exam." A short pause later, Moody added: "I might have not taught anything to the lad, but according to the reports my... substitute had filled, Potter was one of the better students in the class. If a Death Eater scum admits that, there is no way the boy would have failed the exam."

"Alright, what about you, Filius, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked next.

"Well, I agree with Alastor." The Charms professor said. "What Mr. Potter had shown us during the tournament should have been more than enough to let him pass the exams this year. And, likely, OWLs as well. I'll give him the pass for Charms."

"And since the rest of the subjects he needs to be examined in don't require active casting,.." Professor McGonagall caught up. "I think I can give him a pass in Transfiguration as well. Though I'll be taking that free pass the organizers of this blasted tournament had given to him – Mr. Potter should be able to pass the rest of his exams on his own."

"Alright." Dumbledore continued. "Now that this is settled, we need to agree on when Mr. Potter will sit through his exams – I highly doubt that Poppy will let him out of her care till the end of the next week."

"Like I care what that brat thinks he is!" The Hogwarts' Potions master exploded. "If he wants to pass Potions, he will sit the exams along with the rest of the dunderhead in his year."

"Severus!" Albus said with dangerous notes in his voice.

"What?" The greasy-haired man asked. However, his boss glare continued, causing him to change his mind. "Fine. I'll let Potter sit the exam at a later date. But don't think that I will go any easier on him than I would otherwise!"

The rest of the assembled professors had nothing against Harry and were understanding of the situation the teen had found himself in. Thus they all had agreed to set up some extraordinary exams for the young lord Slytherin, should madam Pomfrey release him from her care. Actually, professors Vector and Bubbling went even further than that and decided to just give him the tasks he could solve while still confined to the hospital wing. Should he complete those, they'll give him a pass.

Once the agreement was reached, the Hogwarts headmaster concluded this meeting.

~/ *** \~

Just like she had promised, Narcissa paid her daughter and son-in-law another visit, once Draconica had informed her that Harry was now awake and available. The lady Malfoy wanted to know a few things about their plans for the summer. Or, to be more precise, she wanted to know, whether they will have a proper wedding or not.

Harry had honestly replied that while had some things he needed to do as soon as the academic year was over – he, of course, didn't mention that it was returning Worochi no Aramasa sword to its proper resting place – but afterwards, he and Draconica had indeed planned to play a proper wedding. And have a proper honeymoon after that too.

That, of course, prompted the question from Narcissa, whether or not she'll be invited. It wasn't asked in really-serious way though, as the older witch was quite sure what their answer would be. And she was quite right in her assumption as neither Lord nor Lady Slytherin saw any reason to deny her an invitation. Afterwards, the three of them had some further discussion on the topic of the wedding as well as other related topics...

Passing his end-of-the-year exams – even if in the very unusual way, thanks to the aftermath of his little skirmish with revived Dark Lord – wasn't all that hard for Harry. The only subject where he could have had any real problems were Potions, but since both headmaster Dumbledore and professor McGonagall decided to observe, professor Snape had no choice but to be more or less fair in evaluating the green-eyed teen's work. Thus, the young lord Slytherin got a respectable 'Exceeding Expectations' for his Potions exam.

It was also the last exam he needed to pass this year, and it was in the morning of the day when Beauxbaton and Durmstrang delegations were leaving. Thus, once he was finally done with the exam, Harry picked up Draconica and the two of them headed out of the castle to spend some time with Fleur and Victor, before the those two had to leave... And as he and his beautiful wife were walking towards the meeting point, the green-eyed teen couldn't help but notice with a bit of a surprise that barely any friendships had formed among the students from different schools.

Actually, it seemed almost like the only group to actually become friends were the champions themselves and their immediate entourage: the rest of the students seemed to be always sticking together with their schoolmates and not seeking new contacts outside of that group... It was kind of sad really, as the tournament, among other things, was meant to promote the relations between the schools and it had failed at this task. At least, this time.

That failure of the tournament aside, the group did their best to enjoy their time together. But with Cedric still unconscious – both madam Pomfrey and the healers form St. Mungo's, though, said that he should be waking up in a week or so – it just wasn't the same. It just felt awkward... Still, this get-together was nice, and near its end Harry decided to make an announcement:

"Guys!.." He said, while gently pulling his Draconica into his embrace. "I'm sure you all know that the two of us are already married, but... This summer we will be playing a proper, public wedding. We haven't decided on the date yet, but we will be happy if you'll attend this event." The lady Slytherin nodded, before continuing:

"Our public wedding will most likely be sometime in the late July. And like Harry had said, we will be very happy to see you among the guests. We will be sending the invitations to Diggories as well, when Cedric gets better."

"I will be honored to be your guest." Victor said, showing one of his rare smiles. Fleur next to him nodded in agreement. The two of them, despite being each others' partners for the Yule Ball, never went beyond being friends slash rivals. Though, they definitely were more than just mere associates.

"Thank you for this invitation, I too will be happy to attend." The Beauxbaton champion herself said, before adding: "And I'll make sure to get you two the most wonderful gift I can find." From this point onwards the conversation shifted towards the Slytherin couple's public wedding and the plans for it. And it was such a spinning out topic that it left them all losing a track of time. If it wasn't for the bell rung on the Durmstrang's ship,..

While madam Maxime wasn't recalling her students yet, Fleur too decided that she probably should head back to the Beauxbaton carriage if she didn't want to be late for her flight back home. So, after thanking Harry and Draconica again for the invitation to their public wedding and giving them both a goodbye hug, the French beauty disappeared towards her school's carriage.

The departure of the Beauxbaton and Durmstrang delegations later that evening was a major event, for which Dumbledore had all of his students fall into rank in front of the castle. But since everyone got used to the abraxan-pulled flying carriage or the ghost-ship-like frigate over the last few months, the departures of the foreign guests didn't evoke the same awe their arrival did back in October.

The fact that the Durmstrang ship failed to set sails without a hitch – apparently the now-runaway headmaster Karkarov actually had been doing something beyond issuing orders while inboard – also didn't help the situation any.

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The remaining few days of the school year flew by very quickly: even the professors themselves seemed to be living in the summer already. That didn't prevent them from assigning large amounts of homework for the said summer, though. Much to the various students' discontent.

As always, in the evening of the last school day there was the end of the year feast, but this year it was quite different from what the students and even the professors themselves were used to: this year the Great hall was decorated with black-and-yellow flags and the emblems of the Hufflepuff house. The victory of the house of Badgers had surprised quite a few people. Though, once they recalled that Cedric Diggory, the winner of the Triwizard Tournament was from this house, everything fell into place.

And the next morning, right after the breakfast, the time to head home finally came. Harry and Draconica, having packaged their things the previous night, had no troubles finding themselves a carriage. Soon they were joined there by Tracey and Greengrass sisters. And just when their carriage was about to depart towards the Hogsmeade railway station, Hermione and Neville showed up.

However, not wishing to separate from each other – there was just one seat left – the Gryffindor couple was about to go and look for another carriage for themselves. Daphne, however, resolved the problem in a different way: she pulled her sister into her lap, much to the younger girl's playful protests, thus freeing the spot for their friends to join them.

As the carriage drove towards Hogsmeade, the seven teens inside discussed – yet again – their summer plans. Hermione had expressed her desire to visit the Longbottom manor and her boyfriend sometime this summer. Meanwhile, the Greengrass sisters were going to spend their holiday at their manor with Tracey visiting them pretty much every other day.

And, of course, they all had expressed their to be there at Harry's and Draconica's public wedding.

That, and everyone was also understandably curious about the trip to the distant lands the Slytherin couple would be leaving on in just a couple of days. But try as they might, neither of the said two teens were telling them about where they were going to, or why.

Once the group arrived to the Hogsmeade, the bushy-haired Gryffindor had excused herself, before dragging Neville away, citing that she wanted to spend some quality time with him before their summer separation. This behavior was quite unlike Hermione they all were used to: the one they were used to was way too proper to do anything this one had implied she and heir Longbottom would engage in. Harry had even commented on it, making the four Slytherin girl giggle.

The growing crowd of students on the platform quickly reminded the group that their friend's sudden quirk aside, they too needed to board the Hogwarts Express. And so they did just that, claiming one of the still many empty compartments for themselves.

As the Greengrass sisters and Tracey engaged in some idle chatter, Draconica simply rested against her Harry's side. She couldn't help but think about the many events that had happened this past school year. The most important of those, of course, was her apparently not-so-secret marriage. Even now, she sometimes could hardly believe that she was the lady of the Ancient and Noble house of Slytherin.

Suddenly, a thought that had been forgotten in the past few weeks, no thanks to aftermath of that damn tournament's last task, resurfaced in her mind... Raising her head off her hubby's shoulder, the blond vixen whispered into his ear:

"Can I have a word with you, Harry? In private." The green-eyed teen nodded and, after excusing themselves, the two of them slipped out of the compartment. Since the train was still not quite full yet, they had quickly found an empty compartment down the corridor.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" The young wizard asked once his lady had finished setting up a privacy ward.

"Say, Harry..." Draconica said quietly, almost in a whisper, as she stepped closer to him as he wrapped his hands around her. "...Have you though about who your lady Potter might be?" The young lord Slytherin couldn't help but be caught completely off guard by this question. Even if it wasn't the first time he had been asked it... Honestly, with everything that had been happening in the last, well, month, he hadn't given it even a single thought. Nor he really wanted to...

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he shook his head.

"It's alright." The blond beauty said softly after a couple of moments, while giving him a small smile – she was happy that she was his world; and, just like she had told him months ago, she was selfish and would rather not share him with anyone. But, at the same time, that smile was a tiny little bit strained as she couldn't help but feel bad about the fact that she might be the reason for the death of house Potter... "It's alright." She repeated in a whisper as she pulled her Harry into an embrace. "Still,.." Draconica said after a few long moments of silence. "...promise me to at least give it a thought, okay?"

"O-okay..." The green-eyed teen replied unsurely. His lady gave him an eye-smile in response, somehow making all of the tension disappear in an instant.

"Alright then." She said. "Let's head back to our compartment – girls must be missing us already." And upon his nod, she reached for her wand to dismantle the privacy wards. But, as a sudden thought passed through her head, she pulled Harry into a surprise kiss instead. "What? You were too serious." 'Nica explained herself once they finally broke apart... A smile split his face as he decided to play her game.

"Oh? Is that so?" He replied, before pushing his beautiful lover onto the seats while pulling her into another kiss.

Needless to say, it was quite a bit of time before they finally rejoined their friends...

That's all, folks!
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