Les Miserables (need opinions)

[Ravenclaw]

OK, before I post, I want to introduce this because it's worthy of an introduction.

As a musical theater and literature fan, one of my all time favorites is Les Miserables. After much analyzing, I have discovered that many of the characters in that great piece of literature are quite similar to Harry Potter characters (surprise, surprise)...

Anyway, I want your advice if I should continue with this or not because I think it has excellent promise (Of course, it'll be an AU, but a fabulous one-- You don't need to know Les Miz to love the story!) So I'll post this and you tell me if you want more:


Les Miserables:
A melding of two worlds

Summary: An AU parallel to Victor Hugo’s masterpiece... The melding of two worlds. Learn of Sirius’s struggle to escape his past, Snape’s endless search for justice, Lily’s fear of the future, Ginny’s unrequited love, and many more interesting parallels this obsessed fan of both has discovered!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own JK Rowling’s characters, nor Victor Hugo’s. The story is original, however. But the lyrics and a few lines from the spoken dialogue (though it maybe doctored) is from the libretto of Les Miserables by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Shonberg (English lyrics by Cameron Mackintosh)

Prologue

Look down, look down
Don’t look ‘em in the eye
Look down, look down,
You’re here until you die

As the convicts of the Chain Gang toiled under the hot sun, a high ranking officer, flanked by two constables, entered the work yard. He looked around at the convicts and a look of disgust distorted his pale features. A prisoner looked up at him and mistakenly caught his eye. The prisoner looked away quickly, but it was too late. The officer kicked him hard. The man grunted, but continued with his labor.
“Disgusting...” the officer muttered to his constables, he nodded in agreement. “Filthy pigs.”
The officer sighed and pulled out a yellow piece of paper. He read the number at the top without realizing that it would be a number that would haunt him for years.
“Now bring me prisoner 24601!” he growled. The constables immediately walked over to a broad-shouldered man with long, tangled black hair and pulled him hostilely to his feet. They dragged the convict over to the officer.
“Your time is up and your parole’s begun,” the officer told the criminal, who nodded with a satisfied look on his face that bothered the officer. “You know what that means?”
“Yes, it means I’m free,” said the con.
“No! It means you get your yellow ticket-of-leave. You cannot use magic for six months. You are a thief!”
“I stole a loaf of bread!”
“You robbed a house!”
“I broke a window pane... My sister’s child was close to death! And we were starving!” the prisoner tried to defend himself.
“And you will starve again,” said the officer. “Unless you learn the meaning of the law!”
“I know the meaning of those nineteen years...” said the con, shaking his head remorsefully, “A slave of the law...”
“Five years for what you did,” said the officer. “The rest because you tried to run, yes 24601!”
“My name is Sirius Black!” shouted the convict in anger. The officer smiled.
“And I am Snape,” he said. “Do not forget me, 24601!”

Look down, look down
You’ll always be a slave
Look down, look down
You’re standing in your grave...

[Ravenclaw]

After thrown out of the confines of the jail that had been his home for so long, Sirius threw back his head of matted hair and inhaled the air around him sharply.
“Freedom is mine...” he uttered. “I feel the wind... I breathe again! The world is waking!” He looked behind him at his prison. “I will never forget the years, the waste. Nor forgive them, for what they have done. They are the guilty, everyone!” Sirius’s voice was a low growl, like a dog. He laughed to think of all the time he wasted in that prison, pacing his cell at night, toiling in the fields by day, haunted by those Dementors twenty-four hours a day. They had sucked all emotion out of him...
But now, free from their grasp, Sirius was anxious to see what this new, free world held for him.
Sirius approached a farmer, and asked for a job. The farmer took his yellow ticket and looked at him skeptically, and then out at his hard, honest workers in the field. Reluctantly, the farmer gave him a job.
“I’ve lost a hard worker recently,” he said. “Which is the only reason I’m hiring you.”
Sirius toiled endlessly in the field and, with his strong muscles, got a lot of work done. At the end of the day, however, he was angered by his earnings.
“You’ve given me half of what the other men get!” he snapped. “This handful of tin wouldn’t by my sweat!”
Furious, the farmer was tempted to take back what he had given the con. “You broke the law! It’s there for people to see! Why should you make the same as honest men?”
And Sirius quit his low paying job immediately and trudged on his way down the city streets. The sun was setting, and he had nowhere to sleep. He knocked on the door of an inn.
“My rooms are full,” said the inn keeper’s wife. “And I’ve no supper to spare. I’d like to help a stranger, all we want is to be fair.” The woman gave him an apologetic shrug and smile, but Sirius could see the fear in her eyes.
“I will pay in advance!” he pleaded, desperately. “I can sleep in the barn! You see how dark it is; I’m not some kind of dog!”
“No!” the woman shrieked, trying to close the door on him, but he wouldn’t let her. “No! You leave my house or feel the weight of my rod! We’re law-abiding people here, thanks be to God!” Sirius stopped trying to hold the door open and it slammed shut in his face.
“So this is how freedom feels,” he spat. “The jailer always at your heals, it is the law! Like a cur I walk the street... the dirt beneath their feet.”
Sirius passed a house with a pie sitting in the window. He smelled the sweet scent of freshly baked apples and felt the warm glow from the candle light from within. He licked his lips and contemplated stealing the pie, when the door opened. He froze. But the man who stood in the doorway looked kind and laughed at the terrified look on Sirius’s face. He looked at Sirius’s sallow complexion and noticed his sunken face. The bags under Sirius’s eyes were evident even in the alley where light was minimal.
“Come in, Sir, for you are weary,” said the kindly man. “And the night is cold. Though our lives are very humble, what we have we have to share.” The man ushered Sirius inside and Sirius noticed a cross around his neck.
“You are a Bishop?” he said, noting his unusual clothing. The man smiled and nodded as he took the ragged coat off of Sirius’s back.
“There is wine here to revive you,” said the Bishop. “There is bread to make you strong. There’s a bed to rest until morning. And we shall try and accommodate you in any other way you may need as best we can.” Sirius smiled and took a seat at the table next to the Bishop’s wife. Later that night, he lied in his feather bed and contemplated it all.
He let me eat my fill. I had the lion’s share. The silver in my hands cost twice what I had earned. In all those nineteen years– That lifetime of despair– And yet he trusted me...
As he thought about it, Sirius carefully got out of bed and sneaked into the dining room, late at night.
“The old fool trusted me!” he laughed to himself. “He had done his bit of good. I played the grateful serf, I thanked him like I should, I deserve this...”
The silver was still on the table. As he grabbed a candlestick, he heard a noise behind him and froze.
“My brother?” the Bishop muttered, groggily. “What are you doing up at this hour?” In a panic, Sirius swung around and hit the Bishop in the head with his candlestick and dropped it. And with that, he took his flight.
But by morning, he was returned to the scene of the crime in the hands of two constables. His heart sank to his stomach. He felt sure he would go back there, to Azkaban, to the labor and the Dementors and... Snape.
“Tell his Reverence your story, let us see if he’s impressed!” sneered one of the constables as he threw Sirius at the Bishop’s feet. Sirius couldn’t look him in the eye, but noticed he had a potion on his forehead, where he had hit him the night before.
“You were lodging here last night, you were the honest Bishop’s guest!” The second one laughed at the unbelievable story this convict had told him. “And then out of Christian goodness, when he learned about your plight...”
“You maintain he made a present of this silver?” demanded the first constable. Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.
“That is right,” said the Bishop suddenly. All three of them, the two constables and Sirius looked up at the Bishop in utter shock. But the Bishop was looking down at Sirius, who was on his hands and knees at his feet, with a kind, forgiving smile.
“But my friend, you left so early, surly something slipped your mind!” The Bishop turned to his wife, who handed him two silver candlesticks. “You forgot I gave these also, would you leave the best behind?” Thunderstruck, Sirius took the candlesticks, unsure of whether or not he was supposed to. He shot a worried look at the constables, but they were too busy watching the Bishop. Shrugging, he took them and put them in his pack.
The Bishop turned to the constables. “So sirs, you may release him, for this man has spoken true. I commend you for your duty, may God’s blessing go with you...” And the constables, still in shock, turned away and left Sirius and the Bishop alone. The Bishop bent down and offered his hand to Sirius, pulling him to his feet.
“But remember this my brother:” he said, looking Sirius in the eye now. “See in this some higher plan. You must use this precious silver to become an honest man. God has raised you out of darkness... I have bought your soul for God.” Straightening Sirius’s clothes out and handing him his jacket, which he had forgotten the night before, the Bishop closed the door.
This was worse than being sent to prison. Sirius felt the Bishop’s kindness like a blow to the head.
“What have I done?” he stuttered. “Become a thief in the night, become a dog on the run! And have I fallen so far, and is the hour so late that nothing remains but the cries of my hate? The cries in the dark that nobody hears... Here where I stand at the turning of the years?”
Sirius shook his head and took out his ticket-of-leave. He looked at it regretfully.
“If there’s another way to go, I missed it twenty long years ago,” he said, sadly. “My life was a war that could never be one... They gave me a number, murdered Sirius Black and they chained me and left me for dead! Just for stealing a mouthful of bread!” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, quelling the anger rising inside him.
“Yet why did I allow this man to touch my soul and teach me love? He treated me like any other! He gave me his trust, he called me... Brother! My life he claims for God above? Can such things be? For I have come to hate the world... this world that’s always hated me. One word from him and I’d be back beneath the lash, upon the rack. Instead, he offers me my freedom! I feel the shame inside me like a knife. He told me that I have a soul... how does he know? What spirit comes to move my life? Is there another way to go?”
Sirius looked at his ticket again and tore it in two. “I’ll escape now from that world, from the world of Sirius Black. Sirius Black is nothing now. Another story must begin...”
He tore the ticket up some more, took out his wand and burned the pieces to ash. Smiling, he took off for a new city and a new life.

--------------End of Prologue------------------

(Please, I need to know if I should go on with this... if it works or not!)

[Bellatrix_Lestrange]

I hadn't noticed how often Jean Valjean refers to himself as a dog, nor the other obvious parallels. This is brilliant. But who is the Bishop?

[Ravenclaw]

Yeah, I never noticed how many times he calls himself a dog either... But all those instances are actually from the libretto, the actual words of Valjean himself. I thought it was funny, so I had to include them!

Rereading it, I realized that the Bishop reminded me of Dumbledore, but I didn't write him thinking about it...

Are you ready for Lily as Fantine?

[Bellatrix_Lestrange]

Originally posted by Ravenclaw
Yeah, I never noticed how many times he calls himself a dog either... But all those instances are actually from the libretto, the actual words of Valjean himself. I thought it was funny, so I had to include them!

Yes, I recognized the lyrics; in fact, by rare coincidence I was playing the London cast soundtrack when I first saw the thread.

Are you ready for Lily as Fantine?

Well, they do share the themes of unpretentious birth and sacrifice for one's child. That sort of puts James in a bit of a bad light though, doesn't it? Still, if it works, go for it!

[Ravenclaw]

No, I put James in a better light than Fantine's husband.

But tell me...

This is my female (and some male) casts.

Sirius as Valjean
Lily as Fantine
Hermione as Cosette
Harry as Marius
Ron as Enjolras
and Ginny as Eponine.

BUT! what I could do is this instead:

Sirius as Valjean
MOLLY as Fantine
GINNY as Cosette
Harry as Marius (or maybe switch his and Ron's parts... what do you think? EDIT: I just realized if I switched Harry & Ron's parts, no matter how I cast Hermione or Ginny, there would be HP incest and that's kinda not good lol. So Marius is Harry still)
and HERMIONE as Eponine.

Which cast do you think is better? I need to know before I can post... different things can be done with each, you realize.

[Bellatrix_Lestrange]

Originally posted by Ravenclaw
Sirius as Valjean
MOLLY as Fantine
GINNY as Cosette
Harry as Marius
HERMIONE as Eponine


I prefer this one, even though Ginny would also make a good Eponine, and I'm not sure Hermione really fits the role.

Luna as Eponine, possibly?

[Ravenclaw]

Oh yes, that's a good idea... Luna...

I have an idea. I'll write two versions: One where the love triangle is Ginny loves Harry loves Hermione and the other where Luna loves Harry loves Ginny. Two different Fantines... where the female casts are switched. Heh. This will be fun.

[LuthienElentari]

I think that your story is amazing. I think any cast you would choose you will make the story brilliant.

[Ravenclaw]

Eep... Bella, you know Les Miz... This next scene is kinda, well, involves a Red Light District... It's pretty clean, you think it'll be alright? Mods: Tell me if I did something wrong and I'll change it-- I tried to make it subtle, but remember Victor Hugo did it first... then Boublil... then Mackintosh... then me...

Ten years later, a young woman toiled in a factory for a small but steady income in a small town far away from London. She had seen much in her few decades of life, and needed this job to support her fatherless child. But the other factory workers would have loved to have the money she made.
“Have you seen how the foreman is fuming today?” gossiped one worker to her friends. “With his terrible breath and his wandering hands?”
“It’s because little Molly won’t give him his way,” said another girl, nodding over to the red-haired worker.
“Take a look at his trousers, you see where he stands!” a third girl said, disgusted.
“And the boss he never knows that the foreman is always in heat. If Molly doesn’t look out– Watch how she goes...” the first girl commented.
“She’ll be out on the street,” the second said with a satisfied smirk.
Molly ignored the voices gossiping about her and pulled out the letter from her pocket. But I sent them ten galleons just last week! She thought to herself. How could they possibly need more money?
But she was being watched by a sassy worker named Sophie. Sophie smiled and snatched the letter out of Molly’s hand.
“And what have we here, little innocent sister? Come on, Molly, let’s have all the news!” Sophie opened the letter and looked around at the listening workers with a grin. “Ooh! ‘Dear Molly, you must send us more money... your child needs a doctor... there’s no time to lose...’” Sophie laughed as Molly tried to snatch the letter back.
“Give that letter to me, it is none of your business!” she said, desperately. “With a husband at home and a bit on the side! Is there anyone here who can swear before God she has nothing to fear, she has nothing to hide?” Molly made a gab for the letter again, but Sophie refused to let her have it. So Molly jumped on the woman and Sophie pulled at her hair. The other girls roared with excitement, but the noise ceased when a familiar kind face entered the factory.
“It’s the boss!” the girls cried and whispered to each other. “It’s the mayor!”
“Will someone tear these two apart– What is this fighting all about? This is a factory not a circus!” declared the man with cropped black hair and a strong body. His face spoke of a harsh past and the people knew that this man used to be one of them before he bought this factory and was elected mayor. He was a good man, it was common knowledge.
“Now come on ladies, settle down!” ordered the mayor, pulling Sophie to her feet as Molly stood. He turned to the foreman, who was by his side immediately. “I run a business of repute! I look to you to sort this out, be as patient as you can.”
“Can someone say how this began?” sneered the foreman, angrily. The mayor nodded and was on his way.
“She’s the one who began it,” Sophie declared, pointing at Molly who was straightening out her letter. “There’s a kid that she’s hiding in some little town! There’s a man she has to pay. You can guess how she picks up the extra... You can bet she’s earning her keep sleeping around...” Sophie glared at Molly, who cringed. “And the boss wouldn’t like it,” she finished.
Molly tried to gather her dignity. “Yes it’s true, there’s a child and the child is my daughter. And her father abandoned us leaving us flat! Now she lives with an innkeeper man and his wife and I pay for the child what’s the matter with that?”
“I might have known this dog could bite, I might have known the cat had claws, I might have guessed your little secret! Ah yes the virtuous Molly! Who keeps her self so pure and clean, you’d be the cause I had no doubt, of any trouble here about! You play a virgin in the light, but you need no urging in the night! Heh!” said the foreman, angrily.
“She’ll be nothing but trouble again and again,” Sophie said. “You must sack her today!”
“Right, my girl!” the foreman shouted and pointed to the exit. “On your way.”
With her head hanging low, the pale Molly left the factory and wandered the cold, cruel streets. She didn’t know where to go, so she just wandered and let her feet take her where they saw fit.
“I feel as though I’m in a dream... no where to go, no way to pay for my darling Ginny...” Molly sadly shook her head and took a seat on a nearby crate.

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted...

“That was a long time ago...” Molly sighed. “When he was here and we were together and everything was as it should be... He slept a summer by my side and filled my days with endless wonder... Heh, he took my childhood in his stride! But he was gone when autumn came... But still I dream he’ll come to me and we will live the years together... but there are dreams that cannot be! And there are storms we cannot weather...” Molly sighed and shook her head sadly. This was not how things were supposed to turn out at all. Arthur had had it all planned out. He was going to get a good job and everything was going to work so well... But he never returned from his search for good money. And Molly never knew why.
“I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I’m living!” Molly spat at the earth beneath her feet. “So different now from what it seemed... Now life has killed the dream I dreamed...”
“Come here, my dear,” drawled the voice of an old woman. Molly was startled and looked up to see the woman eying her necklace... The necklace Arthur had given her. “Let’s see this trinket you wear...” she said, as she fingered the silver. “This bagatelle!” she said with a laugh.
“Madam!” said Molly, an idea striking her suddenly, “Madam, I’ll sell it to you!”
“I’ll give you four galleons,” said the old woman. Molly looked appalled.
“That wouldn’t pay for the chain!” she cried.
“I’ll give you five. You’re far too eager to sell. It’s up to you,” said the woman.
“It’s all I have!” Molly protested, but the old woman had not pity.
“That’s not my fault!”
“Please make it ten!” Molly begged, grasping the woman’s hands in hers. The woman pulled away, as if Molly were some vile creature.
“No more than five, my dear we all must stay alive!” the woman said. Reluctantly, Molly handed the locket over to the old woman and the woman poured five galleons into Molly’s outstretched hand and ran off.
Molly sighed, but just when she thought she was safe, she felt a pair of skeleton hands on her shoulders and froze.
“What pretty hair!” crooned a voice, with fingers fiddling with Molly’s thick red hair. “What pretty locks you’ve got there!”
Molly was frozen in fear.
“What luck you’ve got!” exclaimed the old crone behind her, who had been watching Molly. “It’s worth quite a bit, my dear... I’ll take the lot!”
“Don’t touch me, leave me alone!” Molly protested, pulling away from the crone. A twisted smile distorted the crone’s features.
“Let’s make a price,” said the crone. “I’ll give you all of ten galleons! I know you want it! Just think of that!”
“It pays a debt...” thought Molly. She bit her lip as she looked at the eager old crone. “What can I do?” she finally decided. “Ten galleons may save my poor Ginny.”
And as the crone took out her scissors, Molly closed her eyes and felt her hair snipped from her head. When the woman had finished Molly slumped on the crate, feeling absolutely desperate.
From a far, Molly was being watched again.
“Give me the dirt, who’s that bit over there?” uttered a pandar to his friends.
“A bit of skirt,” one replied. “She’s the one sold her hair.”
“She’s got a kid, sends her all that she can,” another woman added. The pimp laughed.
“I might have known there is always some man!” he said. He then nodded at Molly. “Lovely lady, come along and join us!”
A kind heart, Genevieve, looked up at her pimp and rolled her eyes. She then rose from her spot on the crate and walked over to Molly, kindly taking her hand.
“Come on deary, why all the fuss?” she said with a smile. “You’re no grander than the rest of us.” Genevieve put an arm protectively around Molly’s shoulders, who was shivering under her arm. “Life has dropped you at the bottom of the heap... Join your sisters, make money in your sleep...” She smiled at Molly encouragingly as she brought her over to the other women. Molly looked around uncertainly.
“That’s right, deary, let ‘em have the lot!” Genevieve said kindly.
“That’s right deary,” urged another prostitute. “Show him what you’ve got...”
Genevieve pushed Molly into the arms of a waiting sailor. Reluctantly, Molly let him put his arm around her and they left together. Genevieve looked at her pimp.
“Well, Ricky? Let her be, she’ll do fine.”
“Nice work, Genevieve!” the pimp smiled at her. “Nice work indeed.”
Molly looked back at the other prostitutes, throwing themselves at the feet of desperate men and looked disgusted.
“Lovely ladies, going for a song,” she laughed to herself as her own sailor looked at her hungrily. “Got a lot of callers, but they never stay for long.” She looked up at her ‘customer.’ “Come on, Captain, you can wear your shoes. Don’t it make a change to have a girl who can’t refuse?”
Easy money, she repeated to herself over and over. Just lying on a bed. Just as well they never see the hate that’s in your head. Don’t they know they’re making love to one already dead?

[LuthienElentari]

Amazing Ravenclaw! :notworthy Bravo!:clap: three cheers for Ravenclaw:beer:

[Ravenclaw]

OK! More! BTW, LuthienElentari, I love Everwood! *Ahem* excuse me...



Stumbling out of the old building in a daze, Molly joined the others as a well-dressed noble man approached him. Molly hesitated. She’d seen him before. He smiled as he caught her eye, and she noticed his ebony cane with the silver head. He stamped his cane on the ground.
“Here’s something new...” he hissed. “I think I’ll give it a try.” He stamped his cane again and grabbed her arm. “Come closer, you! I like to see what I buy... The usual price for just one slice of your pie...”
“I don’t want you!” Molly protested, trying to push herself away from him. “No, no, Sir, let me go!” Molly knew this man. His cane, his long slick blonde hair and shadowy appearance. This was Lucius Malfoy.
“Is this a trick?” he demanded. “I won’t pay more!”
“No, not at all!” Molly tried to explain as he cut off the circulation to her wrist. With her free hand she reached for her tattered wand.
“You’ve got some nerve!” Malfoy declared. “It’s the same with a tart as it is with the grocer– the customer sees what he gets in advance! It’s not your place to say ‘yes sir’ or ‘no sir!’” Molly felt the threat grow larger as Malfoy threw his arm around her waist and she snatched her wand and pointed it under his chin. He backed away.
“I’ll kill you, you bastard, try any of that!” she shrieked, almost in hysterics. “Even a whore who has gone to the bad won’t be had by a rat!”
“That’s it!” Malfoy screamed as Molly slapped him. “This rat will make you bleed, you’ll see! I guarantee, I’ll make you suffer for this disturbance of the peace.”
“I beg you, don’t report me, sir, I’ll do whatever you may want...” Molly realized she shouldn’t have threatened him. Any officer would take his word over hers any day. She looked over at the others. Genevieve looked like she wanted to help, but her friends held her back.
“Make your excuses to the police!” Malfoy scowled, looking past Molly at the approaching officer.
“Oh no!” Molly cried as the others scattered.
“Tell me quickly what’s the story? Who saw what, and why, and where? Let him give a full description, let him answer to Snape!” called the officer, looking around menacingly. His eyes fell upon Malfoy and Molly in the center and he smiled. “In this nest of whores and vipers, let one speak who saw it all? Who laid hands on this good man here?”
“Why, Snape, would you believe it?” Malfoy said with an oily voice and an air of nobility. “I was crossing from the park when this prostitute attacked me, you can see she’s left her mark!” Malfoy pointed to the red hand mark across his cheek. The other women looked outraged by his lie, but said nothing to Snape.
“She will answer for her actions when you make a full report. You may rest assured, Mr. Malfoy, that she will answer to the court!” said Snape, scowling at Molly who was cowering at his feet.
“There’s a child who sorely needs me!” Molly begged, grabbing at Snape’s trousers. He kicked her away. “Please, Sir, she’s but that high!”– She made a gesture of about three feet– “Holy God, is there no mercy? If I go to jail she’ll die!”
“I have heard such protestations every day for twenty years! I’ll have no more explanations, save your breath and save your tears,” he said, spitting at Molly’s feet. Molly broke down into tears and coughs at Snape’s feet as she sweat and trembled from cold at the same time.

[Ravenclaw]

Sirius Black pushed his way through the crowd and saw the woman sobbing at Snape’s merciless feet.
“A moment of your time, Snape, I believe this woman’s tale!” Sirius said, stepping out from the crowd. Snape looked bewildered.
“But Mr. Mayor!” he protested. Sirius kneeled down to Molly and stroked her sweat-drenched hair. She was shivering.
“You’ve done your duty, let her be! She needs a doctor, not a jail! Can’t you see, Snape?” Sirius tilted Molly’s head so he could look into her sad eyes.
“Where will she end? This child without a friend?... I’ve seen your face before!” said Sirius, with a jolt of recognition. “Show me some way to help you. How have you come to grief in such a place as this?”
Molly gave a curt, morose laugh. “Mr. Mayor, don’t mock me now, I pray,” she said. “It’s hard enough I’ve lost my pride. You let your foreman send me away. Yes, you were there... And turned aside... I never did no wrong!”
“Is it true what I’ve done?” Sirius uttered, appalled by his own inconsiderateness. “To an innocent soul?”
“My daughter’s close to dying!” Molly sobbed.
“Had I only known then...” Sirius started and shook his head.
“If there’s a God above, he’d let me die instead!” Molly began to cry softly on Sirius’s shoulder. Sirius put a kind arm around her and comforted her as he stroked her hair. He looked up at Snape, who looked dumbstruck.
“In His name, my task has just begun. I will see it done.”
“But Mr. Mayor!” was all Snape could say.
“I will see it done!” Sirius said, resolutely.
Sirius draped his coat over the quivering Molly, who was coughing and spluttering. He helped her to her feet and led her down the street with a last backwards glance at Snape, who seemed to be shaking his head. They turned a corner and were already in a brighter neighborhood. However, it was still dark, and difficult to see...
“Look out!” someone shouted. “It’s a runaway cart!” Sirius stopped and quickly showed Molly to the side of a house where she sat on a crate in the shadows. Rolled past them and crashed into a house at the end of the street. Sirius could hear cries of horror, but through it he heard a loud, distinctive cry of pain. He rushed instantly to the cart to see a man trapped under it. Sirius looked around at the terrified pedestrians standing by.
“Is there anyone here who will rescue this man?” he said, looking at them all. “Who has magic enough to carry this cart? I have left my wand at home...” He looked around at them, examining them, but they all shook their heads. “Very well then... who will help me shoulder the weight of this cart?” No one said a word. They all seemed bewildered to think he was asking them to lift the cart manually, without any magic at all. Shaking his head, he drew closer to the cart. Suddenly, an onlooker called out to him.
“Don’t go near him, Mr. Mayor! That load is as heavy as hell!”
“The old man’s a gonner for sure!” said his wife, next to him.
“It’ll kill you as well!” shrieked someone else.
Sirius ignored their words and immediately put his hands under the wreckage of the cart. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Snape and his constables running down the street. Ignoring them as well and calling upon all the strength those nineteen years in prison had given him, Sirius pulled the cart up and a few men flew instantly to the scene to help the man under the cart out.
“Mr. Mayor... I have no words!” stuttered the old farmer as he was supported by his grateful friends. “You... you must come from God. You are a saint.”
“Can this be true?” Snape cried, incredulously as Sirius happily took water from a good natured woman. “I don’t believe what I see. A man your age to be as strong as you are... A memory stirs... You make me think of a man from years ago, a man who broke his parole...” Snape leaned closer to Sirius, his eyes scrutinizing every line in Sirius’s face. Sirius held himself high and proud. “He disappeared...” said Snape, looking at Sirius questioningly. Finally, he shook his he shook his head and drew away slightly. “Forgive me sir, I would not dare...” Snape reached his hand out to Sirius’s shoulder, but instantly withdrew.
“Say what you must,” said Sirius, who was unusually tense. “Don’t leave it there.”
“I have only known one other who could do what you have done,” said Snape, his brow beginning to furrow in a disgusted frown. “He’s a convict from the Chain Gang, he’s been ten years on the run. But he couldn’t run forever! We have found his hideaway and he’s just been rearrested and he comes to court today.” Snape looked satisfied. “Well, of course, no he denies it!” He laughed. “You’d expect that of a con. But he couldn’t run forever, no not even Sirius Black.” He smiled. Sirius knew that Snape didn’t really believe that the mayor of a factory town could possibly be the convict they’ve been searching for for ten years.
“You say this man denies it all and gives no sign of understanding or repentance?” said Sirius, curiously. Could this possibly be true? “You say he’s going to trial and that he’s sure to be returned to serve his sentence... Come to that, Mr. Snape, can you be sure that I am not your man?” Sirius chuckled, nervously.
Snape gave a deep guffaw. “I have known the thief for ages!” he explained. “I’ve tracked him down through thick and thin. And to make matters certain, there’s the brand upon his skin. He will bend and he will break. This time, there is no mistake.”
Sirius watched as Snape led his constables down the road. His conscience was playing tricks on him. What did Snape want him to do? Surely this must be some sort of trick to get him out of hiding. What was he expected to do?
“He thinks that man is me!” he muttered to himself, incredulously. “He knew him at a glance... This stranger he’s found, this man could be my chance. Why should I save his hide? Why should I right this wrong? When I have come so far and struggled for so long? I deserve freedom, I did nothing wrong. No one tried to help me.” Sirius stopped and looked up at the stars, glowing above him.
“If I speak, I am condemned,” he said to himself. “But if I stay silent...” He looked long and hard up into the sky and remembered that old Bishop from years ago. “I am damned...” he whispered.
“Who am I? Can I condemn the man to slavery? Pretend I do not see his agony? This innocent who bears my face who goes to judgement in my place... Who am I? Can I conceal myself forever more? Pretend I’m not the man I was before? And must my name until I die be no more than an alibi? Must I lie? How can I ever face my fellow men? How can I ever face myself again? My soul belongs to God, I know, I made that bargain long ago... He gave me hope when hope was gone. He gave me strength to journey on! Who am I? I’m Sirius Black!”
Sirius looked up to the heavens and screamed out the name.
“I’m Sirius Black!”
Instantly, he remembered Molly by the house. He ran to her now and helped her off the crate.
“Is everyone alright?” she asked him. “No one was hurt?” She was still trembling and her voice was fading.
“No, dear, everyone is fine,” Sirius said. “Tell me. What is your name?”
Molly coughed, and told him.
“Molly Weasley... Arthur’s Molly?” Sirius asked. The woman stopped walking and looked up at Sirius.
“You know my Arthur?” she wheezed. “Where... where is he?”
“I met him years ago,” Sirius said. “Right after he left you. He spoke of a wife and little girl... That was you he spoke of.”
“Where is he?” Molly repeated. Sirius looked down. He remembered Arthur quite well. He had sold himself to one who calls himself Lord Voldemort. Lord Voldemort had been gaining power and had been offering hundreds of galleons for small jobs in his service... The horrors Arthur saw at that job had driven him insane... And it eventually had claimed his life. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Molly.
“He is at rest now,” he told her, truthfully. Molly staggered and clutched at her heart. Sirius steadied her and was glad that he hadn’t told her the entire truth of Arthur’s death. He led her to the hospital and left her with a nurse.
“I will be back, Molly, but first I have to straighten out my past,” he told her. Immediately, he took a broomstick to Sheffield, getting there in the early morning in time to witness the beginning of the trial of an innocent man. It was supposed to be his trial. He ran into the court room and noticed Snape sitting in the front rows. Snaped seemed genuinely surprised to see him there.
“Stop!” Sirius cried. “You have the wrong man!”
“Who are you?” cried the judge, enraged. Snape stood up.
“He’s–” Snape started, but was interrupted.
“Who am I?” said Sirius, looking from the judge to Snape. “I’m Sirius Black! And so, Snape, you see, it’s true. This man bears no more guilt then you!” Sirius gestured to the innocent on trial. “Who am I?” Sirius ripped open his shirt to reveal five black numbers branded upon his chest. “24601!”
There was an uproar in the courtroom and Snape started climbing over people to get to Sirius. But he wasn’t quick enough.
“If you need me, I’ll be at the hospital,” Sirius announced, sweat materializing on his brow. And before they could blink, he Disapparated into thin air.

[LuthienElentari]

You should really consider writing a book:notworthy simply wonderful.....

OFF TOPIC
~~~~~~~~~

And yes I love Everwood its funny but yet not as dramtic as 7th heaven I loooove Ephram

[Ravenclaw]

In the hospital, Molly was feeling faint. She felt as though she were in a garden with a wooden fence with ivy curling up the pickets. She saw her daughter, frolicking under the shade of a protective willow. Over the grassy horizon, she could see the flaming orange disk hanging low and the creeping velvet of night sliding its threadlike fingers towards the earth.
“Ginny, it’s turned so cold... Ginny, it’s past your bedtime. You’ve played the day away and soon it will be night. Come to me, Ginny, the light is fading. Don’t you see the evening star appearing? Come to me and rest against my shoulder. How fast the minutes fly away and every minute colder...”
Molly sat up, her face as pale white as the hospital linen she lay in. But for the first time in weeks, she was smiling. She reached out towards the fading sunlight, descending behind the darkening horizon. The light that lit Ginny’s face was fading and she wanted to see her so badly...
“Hurry near, another day is dying. Don’t you hear the winter wind is crying? There’s a darkness which comes without a warning, but I will sing you lullabies and wake you in the morning.”
As Molly swung her legs over the bed to run to her child, Sirius entered the room and saw her. He rushed to her as she fell to her knees on the cold wood floor. He took her in his arms and supported her as she got to her feet.
“Oh Molly, our time is running out. But Molly, I swear this on my life–”
“Look, Sir, where all the children play!” Molly interrupted, reaching out over his shoulder to some happiness and hope Sirius wished he, too could see. That delirious grin was plastered on her face.
“Be at peace,” he whispered into her hair as he laid her on her bed. “Be at peace evermore.”
“My Ginny...” said Molly, her smile fading as Sirius came into focus.
“Shall live in my protection,” Sirius assured her as he nodded deliberately. The smile returned.
“Take her now,” Molly said, falling back onto the bed.
“Your child will want for nothing.”
“Good Sir, you come from God in heaven!” Molly cried, grasping Sirius’s hands in her clammy ones.
“And none shall ever harm Ginny as long as I am living,” Sirius said. Molly sighed and leaned back on the bed. Her hands lay at her side as she watched the sun set with glazed eyes. She clenched the sheets in her fingers.
“Take my hand,” she whispered, groping for Sirius’s shoulder. “The night grows ever colder...” He clasped her hand in both of his and held it to his chest, so she may feel the warmth he felt for her in his heart.
“Then I shall keep you warm,” he told her, soothingly.
“Take my child, I give her to your keeping,” Molly begged. The sun was barely upon the horizon and a new night was about to begin.
Sirius nodded. “Of course,” he said. “Of course.”
“For God’s sake,” she begged, squeezing her eyes shut, “Please stay till I am sleeping. And tell Ginny I love her and I’ll see her when I wake...” Molly’s grip tightened momentarily, then went limp in Sirius’s hands as she drew her last breath and relaxed. Sirius tenderly put a strand of hair behind her ear and laid her gently folded on her chest. He gave Molly one last, sad smile and reminded himself that she was with Arthur now.
But the moment was ruined when the door banged open and Snape marched in, followed by an upset nurse. His wand was raised and the nurse looked from Sirius to Molly to Snape and hurried out of the room again.
“Black!” Snape roared, pointing his wand threateningly at Sirius. “At last, we see each other plane. Mr. Mayor, you’ll wear a different chain...”
“Before you say another word, Snape,” Sirius stated, calmly rising to his feet. “Before you chain me up like a slave again, listen to me, there is something I must do.” Sirius gestured to Molly’s body. “This woman leaves behind a suffering child. There is none but me who can intercede. In Mercy’s name, three days are all I need. Then I’ll return. I pledge my word, then I’ll return...”
“You must think me mad!” Snape spat, waving his wand and advancing on his prey. “I’ve hunted you across the years. Men like you can never change, a man such as you.”
“You know nothing of my life! All I did was steal some bread! You would sooner see me dead. But not before I see this justice done,” said Sirius, defiantly. They were nearly nose-to-nose now, their wands pointed at each other’s chests.
“Dare you talk to me of crime and the price you had to pay?” Snape scoffed. “Every man is born in sin, every man must choose his way.”
“I am warning you, Snape!” Sirius said, pushing Snape away. Snape stumbled backwards, but held his wand firmly and did not back down. “I’m a stronger man by far. There is power in my yet, my race is not yet run. There is nothing I won’t dare. If I have to kill you here, I will.”
“You know nothing of Snape!” Snape hissed at Sirius. “I was born inside a jail. I was born with scum like you! I am from the gutter too!”
Sirius had had enough. Before Snape could say another word, he fired a stunning spell at the officer and fled from the hospital.

[Ravenclaw]

At an inn at the edge of London, a little girl swept the dark floors with a broom that seemed twice her size. Her bright red hair was mostly covered in a musty shall, but poked out through the moth-eaten holes. Her skinny arms held the broom close to her as she looked out the window and dreamed of a better place.
“There is a castle on a cloud. I like to go there in my sleep. There aren’t any floors for me to sweep. Not in my castle on a cloud. There is a lady all in white who holds me and sings a lullaby. She’s nice to see and she’s soft to touch. She says, ‘Ginny, I love you very much.”
Ginny sighed to think of such a place. It gave her comfort in her tiny heart.
“Now look whose here!” drawled a voice from behind her. “The little Madam ‘erself!” Ginny immediately started sweeping the floors. The woman behind her snickered. “Pretending once again she’s been so awfully good! Better not let me catch you slacking, better not catch my eye! Ten rotten galleons your mother sends me, what is that gonna buy? Now take that pail, my little ‘princess,’ and go and get some water from the well!”
Horse-faced Petunia Dursley slinked forward and closed the window.
“We should never have taken you in, in the first place, how stupid the things that we do! Like mother, like daughter, the scum of the street.”
A little girl dressed in a simple, but nice blue and white dress came scurrying forward.
“Luna, come my dear Luna, let me see you: You look very well in that new little blue hat. There’s some little girls who know how to behave and they know what to wear and I’m saying thank heaven for that!” Petunia patted her daughter on the head and then looked over Luna’s shoulder at the ragamuffin who seemed hesitant to go out the door. Ginny’s eyes began to water...
“Still there, Ginny? Your tears will do you no good. I told you fetch some water from the well in the wood...”
“Please do not send me out alone. Not in the darkness on my own!” Ginny pleaded.
“Enough of that!” Petunia ordered. “Or I’ll forget to be nice. You heard me ask for something and I never ask twice!” Petunia pushed Ginny out the door and Ginny caught Luna’s eye. Luna had a satisfied smile on her rosy face.
Luna followed her mother to the kitchen where she began to mix wine with water. She looked puzzled. Her mother explained.
“We sell more this way, sweetie,” she said. “To those nasty witches and wizards. Such vile things, them.” Suddenly, Luna’s father burst into the kitchen.
“Petunia!” He cried. “The fish, the fish!”
“What fish?” Petunia said, putting her hands on her hips. “The last time you bought a fish, it gave ‘em all food poisoning.”
“You mean we don’t have any left?” Vernon Dursley looked appalled.
“It lasted six months, how much longer did you want me to keep it?” she retorted. “You gave the last of it away last week!”
“No fish...” Dursley grumbled. Petunia rolled her eyes. Dursley gave her one last glare before he marched out the door. The moment he was outside, he had a corny smile on his face.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” he said to a man sitting on a bench. “The trout haven’t been biting recently. Can I get you some wine?”
“Good fer nothin’ Muggle!” the customer laughed. “A wine would be excellent!” He was already half way drunk anyway. Dursley stopped paying him heed as he saw a new customer blow in the door.
“Enter, Sir!” he cried, rushing to the door. He offered the traveler a chair. “Sit yourself down, and meet the best innkeeper in town! As for the rest, all of them crooks, rooking the guests and cooking the books. Seldom do you see honest men like me! A gent of good intent whose content to be master of the house. Doling out the charm. Ready with a handshake and an open palm!” Dursely put a loaf of stale bread in front of the traveler. As the man bit into it, he held out his hand, asking a galleon for it.
“But it’s stale!” protested the man. Dursely laughed.
“You eat it, you buy it,” he said. Grumbling, the man reached into his pocket and handed Dursely a galleon, sure he was being swindled.
“Everybody loves the landlord!” Dursley shrieked, winking at a milkmaid who’d had one too many drinks. “Everybody’s bosom friend! I do whatever pleases Jesus,” he said, nodding to the lady who giggled. Won’t I bleed ‘em in the end! He thought to himself.
“Master of the house! Quick to catch your eye!” the milkmaid sang while falling off her chair.
“Servant to the poor,” Dursely said, offering his hand to help the lady up. He felt a gust of wind and turned to see another customer. He instantly let go and she fell down again as he rushed to welcome his new victim. “Butler to the great! Comforter, philosopher, and lifelong mate! Enter, Sir. Lay down your load! Unlace your boats and rest from the road.” He took the man’s bag and handed it to his wife, who struggled with the weight. “This weighs a ton. Travel’s a curse! But here we strive to lighten your purse...” As he guided the man to his seat, he looked over the transient’s shoulders at his wife and gestured at her to check his bag. She nodded and went off to the kitchen. He followed, saying a few last words to his crowd of drunkards.
“Here the goose is cooked. Here the fat is fried! And nothing overlooked ‘till I’m satisfied.” He flew into the kitchen and saw his wife taking out a gold watch from the man’s purse.
“This one’s mine!” she chimed, hugging it to her breast. “I never get to keep anything. And it’s so pretty.”
“Oh, whatever!” Dursley said, with a disgusted look on his face. “Magic folk. Everywhere out there. Dis-gusting!” He spat at the floor. “I hope Luna isn’t one of them. You got all that magic out of you with your sister, right?” Petunia nodded. “You better have!” Dursley snapped, helping himself to a piece of fresh bread. “What have we got for beef tonight?”
“Horse kidneys and cat liver,” said Petunia, looking through the cupboards. Dursely chuckled.
“Fill up the sausages with whatever’s lying around,” he ordered. He looked out the door at the witches and wizards making a mess of his mess hall.
“Dirty bunch of geezers, my God what a sorry little lot!” he laughed. Petunia agreed as she threw the innards into the mincer. “Get on with it, love!” Dursley snapped. “They tip better when they’re drunk and they get their food fast!”
“Relax, Vernon,” Petunia hissed as she lifted two plates in her hands and walked out the door. “You’ll get what’s yours!” She swept across the room, set down the plates and fell into a chair.
“I used to dream that I would meet a prince!” she said to herself. She noticed a few people were interested in what she had to say, so she continued with a smile. “But God Almighty, have you seen what’s happened since?” They laughed. She chuckled herself at how crazy her life was. “Master of the house isn’t worth my spit. Comforter, philosopher and life-long bunk. Cunning little brain, regular Voltaire!” she said, sarcastically. “Thinks he’s quite a lover–” she winced, “–But there’s not much there.” They laughed. She wasn’t laughing anymore. “What a cruel trick of nature landed me with such a louse! God knows how I’ve lasted living with this brute in the house!”
This monologue led the crowd to tumultuous amounts of noise as they danced and sang and drank. Petunia rolled her eyes, sighed, and returned to the kitchen where she remained until the crowd dissipated. She sighed as her husband entered the kitchen.
“What do you think you’re doing, Petunia?” he said. “We need to clean this up!”
“Get Ginny to do it, I’m too depressed!” Petunia dismissed him with an exhausted wave of her hand. Dursley was about to retort when they both heard the door to the street blow open. Petunia groaned.

[Ravenclaw]

“Not now, it’s time for bed!” she moaned.
“Sh!” Dursley ordered as he listened. He heard two pairs of footsteps, one in nice shoes. He grinned. “I think we have time enough to take this customer,” he said, leaving the kitchen. Petunia followed, reluctantly. She ran straight into her husband, who had stopped dead outside the kitchen door.
“What?” she whined. “What is it?” She looked over her husband’s shoulder and she, too, froze. There was, indeed, a wealthy man standing in their house. He held the hand of a red-haired little girl, who trembled from cold and trepidation.
“I found her wandering in the wood, this little child, I found her trembling in the shadows,” the rich man said to them, accusingly. “And I am here to help Ginny, and I will settle any debt you may think proper. I will pay what I must pay to take Ginny away.” Identical grins slowly spread across Vernon and Petunia Dursely’s faces. But he wasn’t finished. “Now her mother is with God. Molly’s suffering is over. I speak here with her voice and I stand here in her place from this day and evermore.”
“Let me have your coat, Sir,” Petunia offered, her voice as slick and sticky as newly-dried amber.
“You are very welcome here,” Dursley nodded with false kindness at him as he forced him into a seat.
“I will not forsake my vow,” said Sirius Black, firmly.
“Take a glass!” Petunia said, offering him wine. He refused it.
“Ginny shall have a father now!”
There was an awkward silence as the Dursleys looked at the floor. Finally, Dursely looked up with tears in his eyes. False tears, Sirius noted.
“What to do? What to say? Shall you carry our treasure away!” he said with a plastic grin and almost-sad eyes. “What a gem! What a pearl! Beyond rubies is our little girl! How can we speak of debt? Let’s not haggle for darling Jenny–”
“Ginny!” Petunia hissed.
“Ginny!” Dursley correct himself. “Dear Molly, gone to rest. Have we done for her child what is best? Shared our bread, shared each bone! Treated her like she’s one of our own. Like our own, Sir!” As Dursely broke into false tears and fell onto a bench and buried his face in his hands, Sirius glanced at Ginny, who was fearfully shaking her head. He smiled at her and after a moment, she smiled back.
Slowly, Sirius rose from his seat and patted Dursley on the back, harder than the sympathetic pat Dursley was expecting and he coughed.
“Your feelings do you credit, Sir,” said Sirius as he rolled his eyes. “And I shall ease the parting blow. Let us not talk of bargains or bones or greed!” He offered Dursley a heavy pouch of money. Petunia watched him intently. “Now, may I say we are agreed?”
Petunia snatched the money from Sirius and weighed it in her hand. “That would quite fit the bill, if she hadn’t so often been ill,” she said. She smiled broadly at Ginny, who could see the slime between her teeth. “Little dear cost us dear. Medicines are expensive, Sir. Not that we begrudged a knut! It’s no more than we Christians must do!”
By now, Dursley had lifted his head and Sirius saw, to no surprise, that his tears had evaporated.
“One thing more, one small doubt!” he said, shaking a finger accusingly at Sirius. “There are treacherous people about. No offense– please reflect! Your intentions may not be correct!” Sirius sighed and shook his head, sick of this charade.
“No more words, here’s your price!” he said, bitterly, handing them another pouch. “Fifteen hundred for your sacrifice!” he hissed the last word angrily. Dursley snatched the money instantly, his face bright with delight. Sirius took advantage of their preoccupation with the money and turned to his new daughter and softened. “Come, Ginny. Say goodbye. Let us seek out a friendlier sky!” and to the Dursleys once more, “Thank you both for Ginny. It won’t take you to long to forget!”
And with that, he whisked Ginny out the door and onto the streets of London.
“Come, Ginny, come, my dear. From now on I will always be here. Where I go, you will be.”
“Will there be children and castles to see?” Ginny asked, excitedly. Sirius laughed at her sweet innocence.
“Yes, Ginny, yes it’s true– There’s a castle just waiting for you!” He lifted the little girl up and spun her around. She laughed. It was the first time she had laughed in a long, long time. And Sirius was truly happy for the first time in thirty years, before he went to prison.

[LuthienElentari]

Excellenta! I love it! its exciting and very well written. :clap: and I like the fact that I don't fall :sleep: when I read your story. Keep writing!

[lithorose]

I'm not familiar with Les Miz, but this is very entertaining!! (and this from someone who also doesn't like musicals!):D:D

One small question though (and since I'm not familiar with Les Miz, this may be in complete ignorance): Wouldn't putting Harry in Ginny's current role make more sense? Then you could resurrect Lily and put her in Molly's current role. I'm thinking of the orphan situation that Harry grew up in. But I could be way off, since I don't know what happens next. BTW, what does happen next? Inquiring minds want to know

[Ravenclaw]

Actually, litherose, that wasn't an ignorant question at all. Actually, I'd considered that. But I figured that Harry better fit the character of Marius (you'll understand in LATER chapters-- He isn't always so love-struck... well, not ALWAYS!). If I'd made Harry Cosette, I would have had to switch a lot of things around.

Bella! Can you imagine? Having Hermione chasing after Harry and the Ron pining for his lost Hermione who goes off to war and then... Whoa, giving too much away. But lol! That would be good! Really, there's more parallels between Les Mis and HP than I can express in one fan fic.

Well, here's a WHOLE lot more!:

On the streets of London, Diagon Alley to be precise, ten years later, eager students of Hogwarts pass out pamphlets to the people that crowd its streets. It was sunset, and people were trying to get to whatever home they had left.
The leaflets read something like this:

FUDGE IS A TRAITOR!
Rise up and take a stand against the Dark Lord!
Join the students of Hogwarts at the Three Broomsticks
Together, we will defeat the Dark Lord and the government he has corrupted

Among the students ran a younger child, a boy of about eleven years of age, helping pass out the pamphlets. The students ruffled his hair playfully and shouted words of encouragement to him. He was an eager son of the Revolution.
“How do you do! My name’s Dennis!” chimed the mousy haired kid to a curious woman looking over the leaflet. He gestured to the students, trying to rile up the crowd. “These are my people and here’s my badge of the official DA! Dumbledore’s Army!” Dennis looked quite proud of himself as he grinned at the woman who chuckled, amused. “Anyway, It’s not much to look at, nothing posh, really. I’m just a Muggle-born after all, nothing you’d call up to scratch. Hogwarts is my school, you know. But look around you, ma’am, at all the beggars lingering around these streets, the slum that was once the prominent Diagon’s Alley! They live on crumbs of humble piety, tough on the teeth, but what the–”
“Language!” the woman warned. Dennis nodded and removed his hat as he bowed to her.
“My apologies, ma’am!” he said. “I get carried away. Anyway, look around you ma’am, and tell me if our government hasn’t sold out to the evil Lord Voldemort– That’s right, I said it, I’m not ascared of anything!” The woman seemed impressed.
“I don’t like the way things have been running,” she said bitterly. “I may join you when the barricades arise.”
“Excellent!” Dennis cried, excitedly as the woman hurried away, looking like she was really considering helping them out. “Don’t forget to spread the word!” As the woman faded out of sight, Dennis sighed and slumped. She was the first in hours to even partially commit to joining the students at the barricade, at least from what he’d seen. Still, Dennis was certain they were going to win. He would not be deterred.
“Where are the leaders of the land now?” a student from behind Dennis called. Dennis spun around excitedly and looked eagerly up into the student’s face. He knew that voice. It was his voice, the voice of their great leader. Ron Weasley. He saw him talking to his best friend. “Where are the swells who run this show, Harry? See how they let these people suffer on Diagon Alley! It’s worse than Knockturn Alley! What does Fudge think he’s doing?”
“You’re right,” Harry Potter replied to his friend. “Only one man speaks for the people anymore.” Harry and Ron looked at each other and nodded.
“Dumbledore,” they said together. But Harry looked worried.
“Dumbledore’s ill and fading fast,” he said. “Won’t last the week out, so they say.”
“With all the anger in the land...” Ron thought aloud, surveying the people on the streets. “How long before the judgement day? Before we cut the fat ones down to size! Before the barricades arise!”
“Patience, Ron,” Harry said with an amused smile. “You’re far too eager to fight.”
“To win,” Ron corrected, with a glint of triumph already in his eye. “I am eager to win, Harry!” Harry sighed as Ron left him to hand out more leaflets. He wasn’t too eager about this war. He’d fought many battles against Lord Voldemort in the past, and none of them had been as glorious as Ron was convinced this revolution was going to be. Harry felt a tugging on his jacket and looked down at Dennis, who was nodding at the corner of Knockturn Alley, where a group of thugs were coming out.
“Watch out for old Dursley,” Dennis warned. “All of his family’s on the make. Once ran a hash-house down the way. Bit of a swine, make no mistake. He’s a Muggle, that one is. Makes a living ‘moung us wizards. Thinks he’s better than the lot of us, thinks he’s pure and clean. But he’s the one mooching off of us not the other way around. He’s got a gang, the bleeding layabout! Even his daughter does her share. That’s–” But Dennis was cut off as Harry called out to the girl he had been describing.
“Luna!” Harry cried over the heads of the people in the crowd. He tried to make his way through. Dennis put his hands on his hips, frustrated.
“Never listen...” he said, shaking his head.
“Who’s that?” Ron was back and pointed at Dursley and his gang... In particular, his daughter, whom Harry seemed intent to converse with.
“That’s Luna,” Dennis said, happy someone thought to ask. “She knows her way about. Only a kid but hard to scare. Do we care? Not a cuss! Long live us, eh Ron? Long live us!”
“Right, Dennis, right...” Ron muttered as he turned away.
“Everyone here, you know your place!” Dursley was saying to his gang. “Petunia, you’re with me. Jerry, watch for the law with Luna. Take care, Luna, you turn on the tears. No mistakes, my dears.” Dursley looked around at them all, menacingly.
“These bloody students on our streets!” Petunia snapped, looking around at them, disgusted. “Here they come slumming once again. Our Luna would kiss their feet. She never had a scrap of brain.” Petunia shoved Luna out and she stumbled and saw Harry. She smiled sweetly at him.
“Hey, Luna, what’s up today?” Harry said, conversationally. “I haven’t seen you much about.
“Here you can always catch me in!” she said shrugging.
“Mind the police don’t catch you out!” Harry warned with a laugh. Luna reached out and took one of Harry’s books. He tried to get it back, but she held it out of his reach. She opened it up and flipped through it.
“What do you do with all these books?” she laughed, handing it back to him finally. “I coulda been a student too! Don’t judge a girl on how she looks. I know a lot of things I do.” She moved closer to him and brushed his shoulder. Harry smiled and shook his head, reorganizing his books.
“Poor Luna, the things you know you wouldn’t find in books like these,” he said.
“I like the way you grow your hair...” Luna reached out to play with her hair and knocked all the books from his hands to the ground. Harry sighed, slightly irritated as he picked up the books. Luna bit her lip.
“I like the way you always tease,” he said, sarcastically. Luna looked away from him, sadly. Little he knows, she thought. Little he sees...
“Here’s the old boy!” Petunia was saying, shaking Luna’s shoulder. She was pointing to a rich man, who was helping the poor, handing out food and money with a young red-haired girl. “Stay on the job and watch out for the law!” Luna was suddenly alert.
“Stay out of this!” she ordered Harry sternly.
“But Luna!” Harry protested.
“You’ll be in trouble here! It’s not your concern, you’ll be in the clear!” she said, pushing him away from the scene and turning her back on him, walking towards the man.
“Who is that man?” Harry asked, pointing at the affluent. Luna shrugged his hand off her shoulder and pulled away.
“Leave me alone!” she said. It almost sounded like a sob. Confused, Harry pressed.
“Why is he here? Hey Luna--” But as he backed away, he felt he bumped into someone. Turning instantly, he found himself face-to-face with a fair red-haired young woman, who seemed shocked. “I didn’t see you there...” Harry said, in a daze. He took her hand. “Forgive me.” She smiled at him.
“Please, Sir!” Dursley’s voice crooned like an unoiled hinge. He grabbed the wealthy man’s arm. “Come this way!” He led the man to his wife, who was covered with a shall and cradling a loaf of bread, disguised as a baby. “Here’s a child that ain’t eaten today. Save a life, spare a knut– God rewards all the good that you do... Wait a bit...” Dursley studied the man’s face as he tossed a knut to Petunia. “Know that face...” Sudenly, Dursley broke into a smile. “Ain’t the world a remarkable place? Men like me don’t forget. You’re the bastard who borrowed Ginny!” Dursley snatched the man’s collar, who was caught unawares.
“What is this?” he cried. “Are you mad? No, Sir, you don’t know what you do!”
“You know me, you know me!” shrieked Dursley, menacingly. “I’m a con just like you!”
“It’s the police! Disappear! Run for it, it’s Snape!” Luna screamed. As the crowd scattered, Snape cornered Dursley and his gang with a spell, as well as Sirius Black and his daughter. Harry looked at them, uncertainly.

[Ravenclaw]

“Another brawl in the square, another stink in the air! Was there a witness to this? Well let him speak to Snape.” Snape turned to Sirius, who looked quite unnerved. “Sir, the streets are nor safe, but let these vermin beware. We’ll see that justice is done!” Snape turned back to Dursley, who was snarling up at him from the ground, next to his wife. His gang cowered behind him while Luna hid in the shadows, watching Harry intently.
“Look upon this fine collection crawled from underneath a stone!” Snape mocked. “This swarm of worms and maggots could have picked you to the bone! I know this man over here, I know his name and his trade. And on your witness, Sir, we’ll see him suitably paid–” But when Snape turned, Sirius and the girl had gone. Harry looked just as bewildered.
“But where’s the gentleman gone? And why on earth did he run?” Snape thought aloud, confused. At this, Dursley stepped forward with that plastic smile he had mastered.
“You will have a job to catch him, he’s the one you should arrest. No more bourgeois when you scratch him than the brand upon his chest!” Dursley snickered. Snape frowned in thought.
“Could it be he’s some old jailbird that the tide now washes in? Heard my name and started running, had the brand upon his skin... And the girl who stood beside him, when I turned they both had gone. Could it be the man I’ve hunted? Could it be he’s Sirius Black?” Dursley was still smiling.
“In the absence of a victim, good Inspector, may I go? And remember when you’ve nicked him it was me who told you so!” Snape waved at Dursley and his gang, hardly listening. He walked a little ways away from them, looking resolute.
“Let the old man keep on running, I will run him off his feet...” Snape turned around to see Dursley and his gang still there. He glared at them. “Everyone about your business, clear this garbage off the street!” And with a snap of his fingers, Dursley led his gang through the twists and turns of Knockturn Alley. All except Luna, who led Harry away from Snape.
Looking out into the dark night, Snape could almost see his target, just within his grasp. The man he’d been searching for for over twenty years.

There, out in the darkness...
A fugitive running,
Fallen from God,
Fallen from grace.

“God be my witness,” Snape whispered, his hands clutched in a fist of determination. “I never shall yield till we come face to face... He knows his way in the dark but mine is the way of the Lord. And those who follow the path of the righteous shall have their reward. And if they fall as Lucifer fell... The flame, the sword!”
Snape took a deep breath and gazed up at the stars, the burning night-lights that were billions of years old. He smiled up at them, respectfully. “Stars, in your multitudes... Scarce to be counted, filling the darkness with order and light... You are the sentinels. Silent and sure, keeping watch in the night... You know your place in the sky. You hold your corse and your aim. And each in your season returns and returns and is always the same. And if you fall as Lucifer fell, you fall in flame!”

And so it has been and so it is written
On the doorway to paradise
That those who falter
And those who fall
Must pay the price

“Lord, let me find him!” Snape preyed. “That I may see him safe behind bars. I will never rest till then! This I swear! This I swear by the stars!”
As Snape made his exit, little Dennis grinned as he sat on the roof of a building.
“That inspector thinks he’s something, but it’s me who runs this town,” he sang to himself on the roof. “And my theater never closes and my curtains never down. Trust Dennis, have no fear. Don’t you worry, Auntie dear. You can always find me here...”
Under the roof where Dennis was dancing, Luna sat in the shadow, watching Harry look after Snape, uncertainly.
“Ginny, now I remember...” she said to herself, recalling the crime her father had accused the wealthy man of. “Ginny! How can it be? We were children together... Look what’s become of me...” Luna looked at her rags, disgusted. Her long, wispy blonde hair was tangled under a brown flat hat on her head. Her sky-blue eyes were clouded with storms of difficult pasts and unrequited love. But all of this had made her tough, and Luna felt she could handle anything, even Harry Potter. But not this. Not Ginny.
Luna got to her feet and jogged over to Harry, who seemed to be in a dream.
“Good God, oh what a rumpus!” she laughed, referring to the brawl. But Harry wasn’t thinking of that as he looked wistfully at the horizon.
“That girl, who can she be?” he muttered. Luna attempted once more to pull Harry’s mind away from Ginny. She grabbed his shoulder and forced him to face her. He blinked as his eyes focused.
“That cop, he’d like to jump us!” she said, smiling proudly. “But he ain’t smart, not he.” Suddenly, Harry grabbed Luna’s shoulders.
“Luna, who was that girl?” Luna wrenched away and folded her arms as she walked a step away from him.
“That bourgeois two-a-penny thing?” she said, with a pout.
“Luna, find her for me!” Harry begged, putting a hand on her shoulder from behind. She spun around and looked sweet.
“What’ll you give me?” she asked, innocently.
“Anything!” Harry sighed. Luna was slightly disappointed as she started wandering off again.
“Got you all excited now, but God knows what you see in her! Ain’t you all delighted now–” Luna started to turn back to him and noticed he was offering her a sack of galleons, but she shook her head and pushed it away, silently hurt. “No, I don’t want your money, Sir...”
“Luna, do this for me... Discover where she lives. Be careful how you go. Don’t let your father know. Luna! I’m lost until she’s found...” Harry had a dreamy smile on his face that was more characteristic of Luna than Harry. Luna sighed.
“You see, I told you so,” she said. “There’s lots of things I know... Luna, she knows her way around...”

[Ravenclaw]

In the warm glow of candlelight, the students of Hogwarts drank butterbeer and discussed plans for the Revolution in the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.
“At the Ministry the sanctions are prepared!” shouted Lee Jordan.
“At Diagon Alley, they’re straining at the leash!” Dean Thomas laughed.
“Students, workers, everyone! There’s a river on the run: Like the flowing of a tide, England carving to our side!” screamed George Weasley, Ron’s brother.
“The time is near. So near, it’s stirring the blood in their veins!” Ron cried, jumping on a table. “And yet, beware! Don’t let the wine go to your brains! For the army we fight is a dangerous foe. With the men and the arms that we never can match. We need a sign! To rally the people; to call them to arms; to bring them in line!” At that moment, the door swung open and the wind blew in Harry Potter, looking pale.
“Harry, your late,” Ron said, annoyed.
“What’s wrong today? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost,” said George, patting him on the back.
“Some butterbeer, and say what’s going on!” said George’s twin, Fred. Harry looked at them blankly and then smiled.
“A ghost you say, a ghost maybe... She was just like a ghost to me. One minute there then she was gone!” he said.
Fred laughed. “I am agog, I am aghast!” he declared. “Is Harry Potter in love at last? I have never heard him ‘ooh’ and ‘aah.’” Fred gestured to Ron and mocked them both. “You talk of battles to be won, and here he comes like Don Juan! It’s better than an opera!” Fred and George nearly fell out of their seats from fits of laughter. Ron glared at them and stomped his foot to get their attention.
“It is time for us all–” he said the last word harshly, to silence the still-laughing Fred and George. “–to decide who we are. Do we fight for the right to a night at the Quidditch Pitch now?” Ron looked around and heard mutters of agreement from his comrades. “Have you asked of yourselves what’s the price you might pay? Is it simply a game for rich young boys to play? The color of the world is changing day by day...” Ron hoisted a crimson flag. “Red! The blood of angry men!”
“What happened to our black flag?” George complained. “I don’t much like red.”
“Yeah,” Fred agreed. “Black was a cool color. The dark of ages past, remember?”
“Why’d you change the color without talking to us?” Neville Longbottom asked from the corner, feeling out of place. He wasn’t the fighting type. He was here to support his friends. But he was willing to fight for them.
Ron rolled his eyes. “I like red, I think it gets the point across better. Red, the blood of angry men!” he roared again.
“Black, the dark of ages past!” screamed Dean from the back. Ron smiled at him.
“Red, a world about to dawn!” he cried. Dean stood up, also smiling.
“Black, the night that ends at last!” The students laughed and drank. Harry stepped up on the table beside Ron.
“Had you been there tonight you might know how it feels to be struck to the bone in a moment of breathless delight! Had you been there tonight you might also have known how the world may be changed in just one burst of light. And what was right seems wrong and what was wrong seems right...”
Some students were still laughing about Ron and Lee’s chant.
“Red!” one screamed.
“I feel my soul on fire!” Harry cried.
“Black!” said the other student.
“My world if she’s not there...” Harry said, listening to the argument though they paid him no heed.
“Red!” the first student shouted again.
“The color of desire!” Harry screamed.
“Black!”
“The color of despair!” Harry let out a deep breath and relaxed. Ron put a hand on his shoulder.
“Harry, you’re no longer a child. I do not doubt you mean it well. But now there is a higher call... Who cares about your lonely soul? We strive towards a larger goal– Our little lives don’t count at all!”
With that, Ron jumped down from the table. He approached Neville, who was keeping track of supplies.
“Well, Neville, do we have all the guns?” He turned to look at Dean and Lee. “Dean, Lee, our time is running short. Fred, put that bottle down!” he shouted, as Fred downed the last drop. “Do we have the ammunition we need?”
“Give me brandy on my breath and I’ll breathe them all to death!” Fred answered. He and George laughed.
“In Hogsmeade they’re with us to a man!” Neville replied, becoming inspired by Ron’s enthusiasm. As he said so, Dennis Creevey ran in through the door and tried to get their attention.
“Listen!” he screamed.
“At the Ministry they’re tearing up the stones!” Lee reported happily.
“Twenty battle wands, good as new!” Dean called.
“Listen to me!” cried Dennis again.
“And the healers are rounding up supplies!” George added. “Hermione’s the head of it all!”
Ron smiled. “Good, Hermione will do well there.”
“Listen, everybody!” Dennis shrieked.
“We’re getting great Aurors to support us!” Oliver Wood reported from his seat near Fred and George.
“Professor Dumbledore is dead!” Dennis screamed at the top of his lungs. Everyone stopped. Ron looked at him, somberly. Harry had to sit down. Ron took a deep breath and looked at the crowd.
“Dumbledore is dead,” he said, gravely. “His death is the our of hate. The people’s man... His death is the sign we await! On his funeral day, they will honor his name. It’s a rallying cry that will reach every ear! In the death of Dumbledore we will kindle the flame– They will see that the day of salvation is near. The time is here! Let us welcome it gladly with courage and cheer. Let us take to the streets with no doubt in our hearts, but a jubilant shout! They will come one and all, when we call!”

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the song of angry men
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echos the beating of the drums,
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!

“Will you join in our crusade?” Oliver cried, jumping on the table as Ron had done. “Who will be strong and stand with me? Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?”
“Then join in the fight that will give you the right to be free!” Lee screamed.
“Will you give all you can give so that our banner may advance?” Dean sang. “Some will fall and some will live, will you come up and take your chance? The blood of the martyrs will water the meadows of England!”

There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!

[LuthienElentari]

Like I said again! amazing! I love it...............
Your writing is simply divine!

[Ravenclaw]

At that moment, Luna ran into the Three Broomsticks and tugged at Harry’s arm.
“I’ve found her,” she uttered. “She lives in Godric’s Hollow!” Grinning, Harry followed her out the door.

Ginny sat on the bench in her garden home in Godric’s Hollow, wondering about the boy she bumped into on the street and why she couldn’t stop smiling.
“How strange... This feeling that my life’s begun at last. This change... Can people really fall in love so fast?” Ginny laughed at herself and shook her head. “What’s the matter with you, Ginny? Have you been too much on your own? So many things unclear, so many things unknown...” She sighed, happily.
“In my life there are so many questions and answers that somehow seem wrong. Does he know I’m alive? Do I know if he’s real? Did he see what I saw, does he feel what I feel? In my life, I’m no longer alone now that love in my life is so near...” Ginny gazed off at the stars. “Find me now, find me here...”
Sirius watched his adopted daughter from afar and felt his heart swell with pride. He had done well in fulfilling Molly’s dying wish and loved Ginny as his own daughter. But she did not know the truth. She could not know the truth. That brawl in Diagon Alley today nearly had him caught by Snape! Sirius couldn’t let that happen, for Ginny’s sake. And she could never know...
He approached her now and took her hand in his as he sat down next to her on the stone bench.
“Dear Ginny, you’re such a lonely child. How pensive, how sad you seem to me. Believe me, were it within my power, I’d fill each passing hour... How quiet it must be, I can see, with only me for company.”
Ginny looked at him pleadingly and grasped his hands tightly. “There’s so little I know that I’m longing to know of the child that I was in a time long ago. There’s so little you say of the life you have known, why you keep to yourself, why we’re always alone... So dark! So dark and deep... These secrets that you keep.” Ginny smiled at him, reassuringly. “In my life I have all that I want– you are loving and gentle and good...” As she smiled gratefully, she shook her head and laughed. “But Papa, in your eyes, I am just like a child who is lost in a wood!”
“No more words,” said Sirius, silencing her with a gesture. “No more words, it’s a time that is dead! There are words that are better unheard, better unsaid...”
Ginny was frustrated. “I’m no longer a child and I yearn for the truth that you know of the years... years ago...”
“You will learn,” Sirius told her, placing a loving hand on her shoulder. “Truth is given by God to us all in our time... in our turn.”
Harry and Luna arrived at the gate to Sirius Black’s home and Harry caught a glimpse of Ginny in the garden. He could feel his heart lighten.
“She has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun!” Harry sang into the air. Luna giggled to see him so happy. “And my life seems to stop as if something is over and something has scarcely begun...” Harry grabbed Luna by the shoulders. Luna stopped giggling. “Luna, you’re the friend who has brought me here! Thanks to you, I am one with the gods and heaven is near!” He turned back to the gate. “And I soar through a world that is new that is free.”
Every word that he says is a dagger in me! Luna thought to herself, clutching at her heart.
“In my life, there’s been no one like him anywhere... If he asked... I’d be his....” Luna whispered to herself, longingly.
Meanwhile, Harry was climbing the fence. As he jumped into the yard, the red-haired girl turned on her bench to face him, surprised.
“A heart full of love,” Harry whispered, approaching her with a tentative hand. “A heart full of song...” She seemed coy as she turned away. Harry shook his head and began to retreat towards the gate again. “I’m doing everything all wrong! Oh God, for shame, I don’t even know your name... Dear lady, won’t you say, will you tell?” Harry turned back to her with a hopeful gaze. Ginny, who had been grinning to herself, turned to him
“A heart full of love,” she mimicked, laughing. “No fear, no regret...” she got to her feet and Harry seized her hands in his.
“My name is Harry Potter,” he told her.
“And mine’s Ginny,” she whispered.
“Ginny, I don’t know what to say...” Harry started. Ginny put a finger to his lips.
“Then make no sound.”
“I am lost...” Harry shook his head.
“I am found,” Ginny smiled at him.
“You must never go away. Ginny!” Harry sighed. Ginny tightened her grip on Harry’s hands.
“This is a chain we’ll never break.”
“Do I dream?” Harry gasped.
“I’m awake,” Ginny reassured him.
“A single look and then I knew...” Harry shook his head, amazed.
“I knew it too!” Ginny laughed.
“For it isn’t a dream,” said Harry.
“Not a dream after all.” Ginny smiled.
As Harry and Ginny spoke with each other, Luna watched regretfully from behind the gate. She clutched at the bars and reassured herself.
“He was never mine to lose. Why regret what cannot be? These are words he’ll never say. At least, not to me. His heart full of love. He will never feel this way for me...” Luna heard something behind her and spun around to see one of her father’s cronies.
“Jerry, what are you doing so far out of our patch?” she said, suspiciously. Jerry was grinning at her as he looked over his shoulder.
“This house, we’re going to do it. Rich man, plenty of scratch. You remember he’s the one who got away the other day. Got a number on his chest, perhaps a fortune put away!” Jerry replied excitedly. Luna’s eyes widened.
“Oh Lord, somebody help me! Dear God, what will I do? He’ll think this is an ambush! He’ll think I’m in it too!” Luna groaned to herself. “What’ll I do? What’ll I say? I’ve got to warn them here, I gotta find a way!”
That’s when Dursley showed up and Luna ran and hid in the shadows. He was talking to his gang.
“This is his lair, I’ve seen the old fox around. He keeps himself to himself, he’s staying close to the ground. I smell profit here! Ten years ago, he came and paid for Ginny. I let her go for a song– It’s time we settled the debt. This’ll cost him dear!”
“What do I care who you should rob?” snapped Lewis. “Give me my share. Finish the job!”
“You shut your mouth, give me a hand,” said Dursley as he made to pick the lock on the gate. But Lewis noticed something and grabbed Luna out of the shadows.
“What have we here?” he snickered.
“Who is this hussy?” Dursley demanded before he could see her face. He gasped when Lewis spun her around.
“It’s your brat Luna! Don’t you know your own kid? Why’s she hanging about you?” Eric hissed angrily.
“Luna, get on home, you’re not needed in this, we’re enough here without you!” Dursley ordered his daughter. But Luna shook her head defiantly.
“I know this house, I tell you! There’s nothing here for you! Just the old man and the girl. They live ordinary lives,” she explained. Dursley was not happy. He grabbed her wrist and shoved her away from the gate.
“Don’t interfere. You’ve got some gall. Take care, young miss, you’ve got a lot to say!” he yelled.
“She’s going soft,” said Lewis.
“Happens to all,” Eric added.
“Go home, Luna, go home, you’re in the way!” Jerry ordered. Luna looked from one gang member to the next, utterly terrified.
“I’m gonna scream, I’m gonna warn them here!” she told them. Dursley grabbed her wrist again and his grip was deadly tight.
“One little scream and you’ll regret it for a year...” he hissed in her ear. Lewis, however, was grinning.
“What a palaver, what an absolute treat! To watch a cat and its father pick a bone in the street!” Lewis laughed. Dursley turned from his daughter and waved a finger at Lewis, threateningly.
“Not a sound out of you!” he scolded. Luna took her chance.
“Well, I told you I’d do it!” she said before she let out a shrill shriek. Dursley threw his hand over her mouth, but it was too late.
“You wait my girl, you’ll rue this night! I’ll make you scream. You’ll scream alright.” He turned to his gang. “Leave her to me, don’t wait around. Make for the sewers. Go underground!” And with that, they scattered. Dursley threatened Luna one last time before disappearing. Harry jumped the fence and saw Luna.
“It was your cry sent them away– Once more Luna saving the day!” Harry ruffled her hair and she looked at her feet. He turned back to Ginny on the other side of the fence. “Dearest Ginny, my friend Luna brought me to you, showed me the way.” Harry heard a sound in the bushes and bit his lip. “Someone is near. Let’s not be seen. Somebody’s here!” And with that, Harry grabbed Luna and disappeared.
Sirius ran out of the house and saw his daughter looking longingly through the gate.


(NOTE! THIS WAS EDITTED! THE POST WAS CUT OFF IN MID-SENTENCE AND I'VE BEEN TOO LAZY TO EDIT IT!)

[Xazinon]

Wow, excellent Ravenclaw! :)

*sigh* Yknow, I really think I should get around to seeing Les Miserables one of these days! Sure it'd make me appreciate your piece more!

[Ravenclaw]

“My God, Ginny! I heard a cry in the dark! I heard the shout of angry voices in the street.” He took Ginny by the shoulders. Ginny nodded and appeared rather calm.
“That was my cry you heard, Papa. I was afraid of what they’d do. They ran away when they heard my cry...”
“Ginny, my child, what will become of you?” Sirius whispered, looking up at the stars.
“Four men I saw beyond the wall,” Ginny explained. “Four men in shadow moving fast.”
“This is a warning to us all,” Sirius muttered, terrified. “These are the shadows of the past...”
Sirius looked to the side. Must be Snape! he thought. He’s found my cover at last! I’ve got to get Ginny away before they return...
He turned back to Ginny. “We must get away from shadows that will never let us be,” he told her, urgently. “Tomorrow to Dover, and then a ship across the sea! Hurry, Ginny, prepare to leave and say no more. Tomorrow we’ll away! Hurry, Ginny, it’s time to close another door and live another day.”
Ginny looked terrified.
“No, Papa, you cannot make me leave!”
“Not another word, my child,” he whispered, obviously pained. “This must be done, for both our sakes...” And with that, he disappeared into the house. He leaned against the closed door and heard Ginny’s sorrows drift through the window. He sadly shook his head. He knew she did not want to go.
“One day more,” he whispered to himself. “Another day, another destiny. This never ending road to Calvary. These men who seem to know my crime will surely come a second time. Just one day more...”
Ginny took a seat on the bench and looked longingly over the gate where she had seen her beloved flee. Simultaneously, Harry wandered down the streets of Hogsmeade, where he and Luna had Apparated, to meet with his friends and fight in the revolution. But everything seemed wrong without Ginny.
“I did not live until today...” he sighed to himself. “How can I live when we are parted?”
Ginny echoed his thoughts.
“Tomorrow you’ll be worlds away!” she sobbed. “And yet, with you, my world has started...”
“Will we ever meet again?” Harry wondered allowed.
“I was born to be with you...” Ginny uttered. “And I swear, I will be true!”
“I will be true to you, dear Ginny,” Harry vowed.
Luna followed sorrowfully in Harry’s footsteps.
“One more day all on my own,” she whispered, wandering in Harry’s shadow. “One more day with him not caring.” She smiled to herself as she daydreamed. “What a life I might have known...” Her smile disappeared. “But he never saw me there...”
In the Three Broomsticks, Ron watched Harry open the door. Ron nodded at him and they flooded the streets.
“One more day before the storm at the barricades of freedom!” Ron chanted as the students fell in line behind him. Some were already building the barricade. Harry, however, was looking wistfully down the street.
“Do I follow where she goes?” he asked himself, confused at where his place was. He looked back at Ron, waving his red flag. “Or do I join my brothers here?”
“When our ranks begin to form!” Ron yelled. Some people looked out of their houses, others joined them.
“Do I stay and do I dare...?” Harry wondered. Ron smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Will you take your place with me?” he said.
“The time is now, the day is here!” Fred and George roared. Snape was watching the display with distaste.
“Unruly children...” he muttered. He smiled. “One more day until revolution, we will nip it in the bud! We’ll be ready for these school boys. They will wet themselves with blood!”
The Dursleys watched the students rile everyone up with great pleasure.
“Watch ‘em run amuck!” Petunia snickered.
“Catch ‘em as they fall!” laughed Dursley. “Never know your luck when it’s a free-for-all!”
“Here a little dip,” Petunia smirked. “There a little touch. Most of them are gonners, so they won’t miss much!”
Harry looked at Ron, who was watching him hopefully. Finally, Harry smiled. He’d made his decision. He’d been fighting dark forces since he was eleven. And Ron was his best friend...
“My place is here,” he said, finally, joining Ron and his ranks. “I fight with you!”
“Tomorrow we’ll be far away,” Sirius said, throwing things quickly in his trunk as the ruckus from Hogsmeade reached his ear. “Tomorrow is the judgement day...”
“Tomorrow we’ll discover what our God in heaven has in store!” The scream from the students reached out all over England. “One more dawn. One more day. One day more!”

[Ravenclaw]

We're gonna go out with a bang! Two standing ovations last night and the night before! We never get standing o's the first night!

Anyway, more Mis!

In the streets, Ron addressed all the students, gesturing at the barricade they were building of old furniture and basically whatever they would get their hands on.
“You-Know-Who will come with an army, men, you know that. He will come with Dementors. But we shall be waiting. Here upon these stones where we build our barricade! Each man to his duty, and don’t be afraid!” As he said this, the men began to disperse. “Wait!” Ron cried, just remembering something. “I shall need a report on the strength of the foe!”
Snape stepped out from the shadows, the colors of England tied around his upper arm.
“I can find out the truth! I know their ways. Fought their wars, served my time, in the days of my youth,” he called out to them.
“Now the Death Eaters will come!” Neville voiced his fears, slightly frightened.
“And so they might!” Fred laughed. “Dogs will bark, flees will bight.”
“We will do what is right,” said George, patting Neville on the shoulder. “They have no chance against us.”
Harry noticed a young boy climbing over the barricade and frowned. He ran over to him and saw bits of blonde hair poking out from underneath his hat like straw. He frowned. This kid was too young to be here. But he smiled kindly at him. After all, Dennis was there and he refused to leave. And this kid wasn’t as young as Dennis. He glanced over his shoulder at Dennis now, who was trying to move a large barrel onto the barricade. Hermione laughed and helped him out. She was wearing a medic’s cross. But Harry turned back to the blonde boy.
“Hey little boy, what’s this I see?” he said, helping him down from the barricade. The boy looked up and Harry saw– and recognized– his face. Harry rolled his eyes and sighed, letting go of him.
“My God, Luna, the things you do!” he exclaimed. Luna dusted herself off and looked up at Harry through her disguise.
“I know this is no place for me,” she said, looking around. “Still, I would rather be with you.”
“Get out before the trouble starts!” Harry cried, worriedly. “Get out, Luna, you might get shot!”
“I’ve got you worried now, I have!” Luna said, grinning. She batted her eyelashes at him and leaned in close, mocking him. “That shows you like me quite a lot!” Harry laughed and rolled his eyes as Luna jostled him as she always did. Suddenly, an idea struck him.
“Wait, there is a way that you can help! You are the answer to a prayer!” Harry fumbled inside his robes. Luna watched him curiously. Harry pulled out a letter. “Please take this letter to Ginny and pray to God that she’s still there!” Luna took the letter, reluctantly.
“Little you know, little you care...” she muttered to herself as she climbed back over the barricade.
Hermione watched Luna sympathetically as she collected her books of healing spells. She knew how Luna felt for Harry. And she also knew that Harry was oblivious. He didn’t want to know. Sighing, Hermione approached her friend.
“Harry,” she said. “Ron needs your help to teach the students some attack spells. You know, they all respect you, the original leader of the DA.” Harry smiled at Hermione. He had originally intended not to be a part of this revolution and had given the charge to Ron, who accepted it quite willingly. But he’d soon realized that his destiny was to be a part of this revolution. Nonetheless, he did not want to lead it.
“Right,” he said. Hermione embraced him, without warning, and caught him by surprise. “Hermione, what was that for?”
“Just be careful, Harry,” Hermione said. “For me... For Ron... And especially for Ginny.” Harry smiled at his friend.
“Of course, Hermione,” he said. “Of course.”

Luna, still disguised as a boy, Apparated and made her way down Godric’s Hollow. She came to Ginny’s house and slid through the bars in the gate. Sirius caught her when she jumped down to the ground. She explained why she was there.
“I have a letter, Sir, it’s addressed to your daughter, Ginny,” she said to Sirius, who nodded. "It's from a boy at the barricade, Sir."
“Give that letter here, my boy,” Sirius said, offering his hand to Luna. Luna seemed hesitant as she pulled away.
“He said to give it to Ginny...” Luna said, slowly.
“You have my word that my daughter will know what this letter contains. Tell the young man she will read it tomorrow and here’s for your pains...” Sirius handed Luna a coin. She bit her lip, but accepted it. “Be careful now,” he told her, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Stay out of sight.” He looked over her shoulder at the dark street beyond. “There’s danger in the streets tonight...” Luna nodded and slipped through the bars again.
Sirius frowned and opened the letter.
“Dearest Ginny, you have entered my soul and soon you will be gone. Can it be only a day since we met and the world was reborn? If I should fall in the battle to come, let this be my Goodbye... Now that I know that you love me as well it is harder to die... I pray that God will bring me home to be with you. Pray for your Harry. He prays for you!”

Luna thought about Apparating straight to the barricade, but she looked around at the quiet street around her and decided against it. A few lights shone from quiet windows, blinking at her like glowing eyes. She smiled, pulled her trench coat tighter around her, and began talking to herself.
“And now I’m all alone again, nowhere to turn, no one to go to... Without a home without a friend, without a face to say hello to. But now the night has arrived, and I can make believe he’s here...”
Luna did a little spin and felt the cobblestones beneath her feet. She looked up at the sky and the diamond stars and continued with her fantasy.
“Sometimes I walk alone at night when everybody else is sleeping,” she said. “I think of him and then I’m happy with the company I’m keeping. The city goes to bed and I can live inside my head...”
Luna walked slowly down the street, looking at the slumbering houses.
“On my own, pretending he’s beside me... All alone, I walk with him till morning. Without him, I feel his arms around me...” Luna folded her arms and closed her eyes. “And when I lose my way, I close my eyes and he has found me.” Luna opened her eyes and noticed it had begun to drizzle. She laughed to herself as she continued wandering.
“In the rain, the pavement shines like silver.” She passed a puddle and noticed water dribbling into the gutter. She noticed the houselights twinkling in the stream’s reflection. “All the lights are misty in the river.” She looked up at the green-leafed shadows. “In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight... And all I see is him and me forever and forever...” Luna sighed, happily. But then, her vision faded away, and she was back in the dark streets, cold and all alone. Luna sighed again, but this time remorsefully.
“And I know it’s only in my mind– That I’m talking to myself and not to him. And although I know that he is blind...” a determined look crossed her face. “Still, I say... there’s a way for us! I love him, but when the night is over he is gone, the river’s just a river...” Luna glanced at the small trickle of rainwater in the gutter. “Without him, the world around me changes! The trees are bare and everywhere the streets are full of strangers...”
Luna wiped a tear from her eye.
“I love him, but everyday I’m learning. All my life, I’ve only been pretending! Without me, his world would go on turning... A world that’s full of happiness that I have never known!” Luna let out a cry of frustration as she fell to her knees. She could feel her coat getting wet, but she didn’t care.
“I love him...” she sobbed. “I love him...” She sighed and wiped away her tears and looked up at the sky. She shook her head and smiled weakly. “I love him! But only on my own...”

[Xazinon]

Congrats on the standing ovations! Best of luck for closing night!! :)

[Ravenclaw]

Closing night was fabulous! Our Valjean, Marius and Cosette were all crying and had a "family hug." (Those three ppl are equivalent to Harry, Sirius and Ginny in my story). It's a fantastic play and we did do it justice, especially for a high school production. We have some real talent. You should have seen our Eponine (or in this story, Luna.) She was magnificent! Anyway, I cried writing this next part. I've written a lot of the story and am a bit behind on posting.

Lee, Dean and Oliver stood on the barricade and looked out over the streets where they saw a group of soldiers trudging down the street. It was early morning and the sky was clouded with gray clouds. It was still raining slightly.
“Now we pledge ourselves to hold this barricade!” they shouted.
“Let them come in their legions and they will be met!” shouted Oliver angrily.
“Have faith in yourselves and don’t be afraid!” Ron yelled, joining them atop the barricade.
“Let’s give them a screwing they’ll never forget!” Fred roared.
“Fred!” Hermione scolded, looking up from her books. Fred looked at his twin and rolled his eyes.
“This is where it begins!” Dean cried.
“And if I should die in the fight to be free...” Neville muttered, trying to make his way to the top of the barricade.
“Where the fighting is hardest– there will I be!” Harry pledged.
“Let them come if they dare!” Lee screamed. “We’ll be there!”
Suddenly, a booming voice broke through the silence. Someone was using the Sonerous charm.
“You at the barricade listen to this!” shouted the voice of a Ministry official. “No one is coming to help you to fight! You’re on your own! You have no friends! Give up your guns or die!”
Ron looked around at his men, who were looking at him for what to do. Ron bit his lip. This unnerved him. But he mustn’t show it.
“Damn their warnings, damn their lies!” he shouted, raising his wand high. “They will see the people rise!”
There was the sound of clambering and Lee looked over the barricade. “He’s back!” he cried. Ron grabbed Snape by the hand and helped him over.
“Listen my friends, I have done as I said. I have been to their lines. I have counted each man, I will tell what I can. Better be warned, they have armies to spare and the danger is real. We will need all our cunning to bring them to heel.” Snape reported.
“Have faith,” said Ron, putting a hand on Snape’s shoulder. “If you know what their movements are, we’ll spoil the game. There are ways that a people can fight– We shall overcome their power!”
“I have overheard their plan,” said Snape. “There will be no attack tonight. They intend to starve us out before they start a proper fight. Concentrate their force and hit us from the right–”
“Liar!” It was young Dennis. He was denouncing Snape. George tried to tell him to go away, but he walked right up to Snape, who was watching him inscrutably. “Good evening, dear Professor lovely evening, my dear! I know this man my friends, his name’s Severus Snape! He works for them! So don’t believe a word he says, ‘cause none of it’s true! This only goes to show what little people can do!” Dennis smiled, proud of himself as he plucked at his coat. Ron and Oliver seized Snape and threw him into a chair.
“And little people know,” said Dennis. “When little people fight. We may look easy pickings but we’ve got some bite! So never kick a dog because he’s just a pup! We’ll fight like twenty armies and we won’t give up! So you better run for cover when the pup grows up!” And with that, Dennis poked Snape in the chest and made a face.
“Bravo, little Dennis! You’re the top of the class!” George laughed, ruffling Dennis’s hair.
“So what’re we gonna do with this snake in the grass?” Dean demanded.
“Shoot him!” yelled Fred. But Ron shook his head.
“Tie this man and take him to the tavern in there,” Ron gestured to an old building. “The people will decide your fate, Snape!”
“Take the snake and shoot him!” Fred protested.
“Let us watch the devil dance!” Lee agreed.
“You’d have done the same, Snape, if we’d let you have the chance!” Oliver said, angrily.
“Shoot me now, or shoot me later,” Snape hissed, looking at them disgustedly. “Every schoolboy to his sport! Death to each and every traitor! I renounce your people’s court!”
“Though we may not all survive here, there are things that never die,” said Harry, coolly.
“What’s the difference, die a schoolboy, die a policemen, die a spy?” Fred said.
“Take this man, bring him through. There is work we have to do!” Ron ordered. The others grudgingly obeyed. Lee and Dean took him into the tavern and tied him up. When they came out, they heard Neville’s shout.
“There’s a boy climbing the barricade!” At that, Harry knew who it was. There was a bright flash of red light and a loud noise like a gunshot. Luna became visible at the top of the barricade, slowly making her way over. Harry sprinted to the barricade and helped her climb down.
“Good God, what are you doing? Luna, have you no fear?” he cried as they reached the ground. “Have you seen my beloved? Why have you come back here?” Luna looked dizzy. Her eyes kept looking at the ground.
“Took the letter like you said...” she breathed. “I met her father at the door. He said he would give it... I don’t think I can stand anymore...” Luna stumbled and Harry caught her in his arms and lowered her to the ground. He played her pillow as he put his hand behind her head.
“Luna, what’s wrong?” he asked, terrified at her sudden weakness. “I feel there’s something wet upon your hair...” He pulled his hand away from under her head and noticed it was red. His eyes grew wide. “Luna, you’re hurt! You need some help!” Harry opened Luna’s trench coat to see her white blouse stained with blood. She had been hit. “Oh God... It’s everywhere...” Harry looked up at his fellow students, who were rooted to the spot. Each had a horrified expression on his face. Harry looked at them desperately.
“Don’t just stand there!” he told them as Luna’s breath became heavier. “Get help! Get Hermione! Get anyone! Just...”
“Don’t you fret, Mr. Potter...” Luna whispered with a dopey smile, putting a trembling hand up to touch Harry’s cheek as she rested in his arms. “I don’t feel any pain... A little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now. You’re here... That’s all I need to know.” Harry smiled and squeezed her. She continued with her delirious rambling. “And you will keep me safe. And you will keep me close. And rain will make the flowers grow...”
“But you will live, Luna, dear God above!” Harry panted, his heart heaving. “If I could close your wounds with words of love...”
“Just hold me now, and let it be...” Luna said, grasping his hand and pulling it tighter around her. “Shelter me... Comfort me...”
“You would live a hundred years if I could show you how,” Harry said with a desperate smile, trying to hold her closer without putting her in pain. “I won’t desert you now...”
“This rain can’t hurt me now...” said Luna with a glazed look to her eyes and a strange smile. “This rain will wash away what’s past... And you will keep me safe. And you will keep me close. I’ll sleep in your embrace at last!” Luna smiled and looked up at Harry. The gray sky was blurred behind him, but she could see the clouds parting. “The rain that brings you here is heaven blessed!” She reached out towards the sky. “The sky begins to clear, and I’m at rest. A breath away from where you are... I’ve come home from so far.” And Harry pulled her into a tight embrace as her head lolled on his shoulder and he trembled as he held her then. She played with his hair with bloody fingers.
“So don’t you fret, Mr. Potter, I don’t feel any pain...”
“Hush-a-bye, dear Luna...” Harry whispered, his eyes screwed tight. “You won’t feel any pain. A little fall of rain can hardly hurt you know. I’m here...”
“That’s all I need to know!” Luna laughed. Harry laid her down on his lap once more and took her hand tightly in both of his.
“And I will stay with you till you are sleeping...”
“And rain...” Luna breathed, barely getting the words out.
“And rain...” Harry repeated, a tear threatening to break lose from his eyes.
“Will make the flowers...” Luna’s breath shook.
“Will make the flowers...” Harry nodded. Luna took in a sharp breath and went rigid and then limp in Harry’s arms. Harry trembled. “Grow...”
The students stood in silence as they watched Harry gently kiss Luna’s forehead. The tears were tumbling down his cheeks now and stained her trench coat. At that moment, Hermione rushed in and stopped at the sight before her. She shook her head, sadly. Ron finally broke the tableau of students as he stepped forward towards Harry and put his hand on his shoulder. Harry looked up at him.
“She is the first to fall...” he whispered. “The first of us to fall upon this barricade.”
“Her name was Luna,” Harry said, standing up. “Her life was cold and dark, yet she was unafraid.”
“We fight here in her name,” said Oliver, slowly.
“She will not die in vain,” said Lee.
“She will not be betrayed,” the twins said together.
Harry watched as Hermione, along with two nurses, Lavender and Parvati, lifted Luna’s body and carried her away...

[Ravenclaw]

The assembled were silent for a moment, and a few women looked at the ground with tears in their eyes. Luna... that could have happened to any one of them...
But their thoughts were interrupted.
“Here comes a man in uniform!” George declared as a man climbed the barricade. “What brings you to this place?” All were on his guard, but the man held up his hands.
“I come here as a volunteer!” he informed them, slowly.
“Approach and show your face,” said Fred, standing by his brother’s side. The man did so slowly, and Harry vaguely recognized him as the man from the street... Ginny’s father.
“You wear an army uniform,” said Dean, tentatively.
“That’s why they let me through,” said Sirius.
“You’ve got some years behind you, sir...” George said, lowering his wand slowly.
“There’s much that I can do,” was all Sirius said. George hesitated, but pointed his gun at the open door of the tavern where Snape was visibly bound.
“You see that prisoner over there? A volunteer like you!” he said.
“A spy who calls himself Snape,” said Lee, angrily. “He’s going to get it too!”
“They’re getting ready to attack!” Neville screamed from the barricade. Ron shoved a battle wand into Sirius’s hands.
“Take this, and use it well,” he said. “But if you shoot us in the back, you’ll never live to tell!”
“Platoon of Death Eaters advancing towards the barricade! Troops behind them, fifty men or more!” shouted Oliver. The marching of boots could be heard over the barricade. Ron directed his troops.
“Fire!” he screamed. Curses flew everywhere. Suddenly, Dean fell back. A curse had hit him in the arm and he paralyzed with pain.
“Snipers!” Lee screamed, seeing his comrade stumbling backwards. Ron jumped down and went to the fallen student. The sniper shot at Ron, barely missing him. Ron looked around for the sniper, who he could hear was readying his wand to fire a killing curse.
“Avada Kedavera!” But the shout was from Sirius. Sirius had found the sniper, and the flash of green light streamed out of his wand and hit him, saving Ron’s life.
Hermione ran to Dean and healed his arm, but put it in a splint for the night.
The men were retreating. “See how they run away!” Oliver cried, delightedly.
“By God, we’ve won the day!” Fred declared, his voice strangely high pitched as he fell into a nearby chair.
“They will be back again, make an attack again...” Ron warned. Ron then turned to Sirius, who was panting hard. “For your presence of mind, for the deed you have done, I will thank you, Sir, when the battle is won.”
“Give me no thanks, my friend, there’s something you can do,” said Sirius, slowly.
“If it is in my power...” Ron answered, cautiously.
“Give me the spy, Snape. Let me take care of him!” Ron thought about Sirius’s proposal.
“Do what you have to do, the man belongs to you.” Ron then turned back to his students. “The enemy may be regrouping! Hold yourself in readiness. The night is falling fast!”
Sirius walked into the tavern. Snape recognized him instantly. Sirius pulled out a knife.
“We meet again...” whispered Sirius.
“You’ve hungered for this all your life,” said Snape. “Take your revenge. How right you should kill with a knife.”
Sirius walked deliberately over to Snape, who closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Sirius reached over him and cut his bonds.
“You talk too much,” Sirius said, simply, standing up. “Your life is safe in my hands.”
“I don’t understand...” said Snape, eying him warily.
“Get out of here.” Sirius said the words quietly.
“Black, take care, I’m warning you...” said Snape, getting to his feet and shaking his wand at him.
“Clear out of here,” Sirius repeated.
“Once a thief, forever a thief,” said Snape, circling Sirius, who was standing stalk still with his head held high. “What you want you always steal... You would trade your life for mine. Yes, Black, you want a deal! Kill me now, for all I care! If you let me go, beware! You’ll still answer to Snape!”
Beads of sweat began to form on Sirius’s brow as Snape spat in his face, but he did not falter. His lips trembled.
“You are wrong,” he said, strongly. “And always have been wrong. I’m a man, no worse than any man.” Sirius pushed Snape away from him towards the back door of the tavern. Snape’s brow was furrowed in slight confusion. “You are free, and there are no conditions. No bargains, or petitions. There’s nothing that I blame you for. You’ve done your duty, nothing more.” Sirius took a deep breath. “If I come out of this alive, you’ll find me at number fifty-five Godric’s Hollow. No doubt our paths will cross again. Go...” Snape hesitated, but Sirius glared at him and he made his way out the back door. Sirius blasted a vase with a blast of green light. When he came out of the tavern, Ron was watching him. Sirius nodded and Ron nodded back.
Ron approached Neville and patted him on the shoulder. Neville was trembling and looked at Ron was the frightened eyes of a schoolboy. Ron smiled at him, reassuringly. By now, light was falling again.
“Neville, you take the watch. They won’t attack until it’s light.” Ron looked around at everyone. Fred and George were helping Hermione fold bandages and stack her spell books. Harry was atop the barricade, looking around, wand at the ready.“Everybody stay awake, we must be ready for the fight. For the final fight. Let no one sleep tonight...” Ron looked up at Harry. He had been working so hard... “Harry, rest!”

[Ravenclaw]

Upon hearing Harry’s name, Sirius looked up at the boy. He recognized the name from the letter. He watched Harry climb down from the barricade and lean against it. Sirius smiled.
George grabbed a glass and Lavender poured him some butterbeer. He looked around at his fellow students.
“Drink with me to days gone by,” he said with a dwindling smile. “Sing with me the songs we knew.” He put his arm around Alicia Spinnet, another of Hermione’s team. “Here’s to pretty girls who went to our heads.” Alicia laughed. George looked around and rose his glass at Angelina Johnson. “Here’s to witty girls who went to our beds.” Angelina scowled, but the others laughed. “Here’s to them... and here’s to you!”
Fred took up another glass and joined in the song.
“Drink with me to days gone by!” he said, passionately. “Can it be you fear to die? Will the world remember you when you fall? Can if be your death means nothing at all? Is your life just one more lie...”
“Drink with me to days gone by,” sang the students, echoed by the nurses. “To the life that used to be.”
“At the shrine of friendship, never say die!” Hermione called, Ron putting his arm lovingly around her.
“Let the wine of friendship never run dry,” Parvati added.
“Here’s to you,” Fred said. “And here’s to me.”
As the others made their beds and Hermione embraced Ron, Harry moved away from the group and looked up at the moon, unknowingly watched by Sirius Black.
“Do I care if I should die now she goes across the sea?” Harry whispered to himself. “Life without Ginny means nothing at all! Would you weep, Ginny, should Harry fall? Will you weep, Ginny, for me?” Harry sighed and sat down in a chair and fell asleep.
Sirius made his way over to Harry and placed a hand lovingly on his shoulder as he watched him sleep. His chest moved up and down with deep, heavy breaths of slumber.
“God on high, hear my prayer... In my need, you have always been there.” Sirius looked down at Harry’s peaceful face. “He is young, he’s afraid. Let him rest heaven blessed. Bring him home...” Sirius sighed and looked up at the sky, dreaming of his past and all the mistakes he has made. “He’s like the son I might have known if God had granted me a son. The summers die one by one. How soon they fly on and on... And I am old, and will be gone...” Sirius looked down at Harry again and stroked his head. He felt a strange, fatherly love for the child. He was not quite sure why. He remembered the boy’s father, who had fought in a previous war against Lord Voldemort.
“Bring him peace, bring him joy,” Sirius prayed, smiling down at Harry. “He is young, he’s only a boy. And yet...” Sirius sighed and shook his head. At the same time, Harry was so much more than just a boy...
“You can take, you can give,” Sirius said. “Let him be, let him live. If I die, let me die... But let him live. Bring him home. Please, God... Just bring him home...”
Sirius made his bed at the foot of Harry’s chair and slept the rest of the night.
They were awoken by Ron’s monotonous voice in the bloody light of dawn.
“The people have not stirred...” Ron said. His eyes had a strange, distant look to them as he held his wand. Harry knew he was incredibly disappointed. “We are abandoned by those who still live in fear.” Things weren’t supposed to turn out this way. Harry had tried to tell him from the start, there was nothing glorious about war at all.
“The people have not heard,” Ron said, looking around at the awakening students. “But we shall not abandon those who cannot hear. Let us not waste lives. Let all the women and fathers of children go from here...” Hermione looked horrified at the thought of leaving, but Ron gave her a very painful look of dismissal. Hermione nodded and hugged Harry, and then Ron. She kissed Ron goodbye and was on her way. Ron smiled. She hadn’t kissed him like that for a long time...
“Drink with me to days gone by. Sing with me the songs we knew,” George sang with a sad smile. The song seemed heavier than it had been the night before. But the others joined in.
“At the shrine of friendship, raise your glass high,” they sang. “Let the wine of friendship never run dry.”
They looked at each other.
“If I die, I die with you...”
Dennis sneaked in and kneeled behind the supply barrel and snickered. Ron ran down off the barricade over to Neville, who was looking through the supplies.
“How do we stand, Neville? Make your report!” said Ron, anxiously. Sweat was making strands of his red hair stick to his forehead. Neville bit his lip and shook his head.
“We’ve wands enough but ammunition short!” Neville replied. Harry looked up from preparing his wand. Battle wands are powerful weapons, but they can be touchy. They need energy to draw their magic from. They need fuel.
Suddenly, Harry was struck with an idea. “I will go into the streets! There are bodies all around. Ammunition to be had, lots of energy to be found,” he explained. Ron had terror etched deep in his eyes when Harry proposed this. When he spoke, he was nearly out of breath. Harry had almost forgotten how stressful it was to lead an army of students.
“I won’t let you go! It’s too much of a chance!” Ron breathed, grabbing Harry’s shoulder.
“The same is true for any man here!” Harry retorted, gesturing at all the others, who were pointing their wands valiantly out at the streets. But Sirius stepped forward, his face determined and grave.
“Let me go,” he said. “He’s no more than a boy! I am old, I have nothing to fear.” Ron opened his mouth to reply, but there was a shout from behind them– on the barricade.
“You need someone quicker!” yelled Dennis’s young voice. “I volunteer!” Dennis was already at the top of the barricade and threatening to climb over. There was a flash of light, but the curse missed Dennis. Dennis made a face over the barricade.
“Come back, Dennis, don’t you dare!” Oliver shouted, jumping over barrels and boxes to get to the barricade.
“Someone pull him down at once!” Lee yelled, also too far from the barricade to do anything. “Look at me, I’m almost there!” Dennis declared, proudly. He grinned at them and disappeared over the side of the barricade. Dean scrambled to the top and looked down to watch the kid.
Dennis was humming to himself. There was another flash of light. Dennis seemed unharmed.
“And little people know when little people fight...” Dennis tossed up a vial of energy potion from a dead ministry soldier and Dean caught it, not taking his eyes away from Dennis. “We may look easy pickings but we’ve got some bite!” There was a loud popping noise and a flash of purple light. Dennis fell and grabbed his shoulder. Dean gasped. But Dennis was up on his feet again, clutching his shoulder. Dean sighed with relief.
“So never kick a dog because he’s just a pup!” There was another pop, another flash of purple light. Dennis stumbled and his right leg gave way from beneath him. He was down again. Dean held his breath... But Dennis got right on up, limping. He was breathing hard now...
“We’ll... Fight like... twenty armies... and we won’t... give... up!” Dennis grabbed his knees and panted a little. He tossed up a few more energy vials. “So you better... run for cover... when the pup... grows...” A loud bang echoed through the air, a stream of bright green light and Dennis fell one last time, his arms flailed and he lay spread-eagled across the barricade. Dean waited for him to jump back up again, like he always did when... But Dennis was still.
Dean felt a stinging behind his eyelids. That boy... he was just a kid. Younger than they were.
Dean pulled himself on the safe side of the barricade and looked at Ron, Harry and Sirius and sadly shook his head. The men froze. The silence was interrupted by the Sonerous Charm enhanced voice.
“You at the barricade, listen to this! The people of London sleep in their beds. You have no chance, no chance at all! Why throw your lives away?”
Ron looked at all the students, who seemed incredibly disheartened. Whether it was by the death of Dennis, the discouraging announcement, or other previously unconscious doubts, Ron didn’t know. Perhaps it was everything. But morale seemed low.
Ron took a deep breath, clutched his wand firmly, and took a stand.
“Let us die facing our foes!” he cried. “Let’s make them bleed while we can!”
“Make them pay through the nose!” George yelled.
“Make them pay for every man!” Fred growled. Ron nodded and smiled at them, almost insanely.
“Let others rise to take our place until the earth is free!” he declared. And with that, he raised his wand up high and let out a battle cry. The students followed suit and took down as many soldiers and Death Eaters as their ammunition would allow. Harry was hit first. He stumbled backwards, away from the barricade. Ron and Fred crossed to Harry’s unconscious body. Ron immediately regretted sending the nurses home. Impassioned by Harry’s wounding, Ron let out a growl of vengeful anger and crossed to the summit of the barricade. He grabbed the red flag that was their sign of liberty and justice and waved it boldly at the top of the barricade.
But there was a blast of light. Fudge had cast a mass demolition curse! That spell takes at least two days to prepare!
Fire. Fire, everywhere. The barricade crumbled beneath them. Ron died instantly. Sirius was blown clear away from the barricade. Men were wounded everywhere. Slowly, they all fell to their knees, and one by one, the men found themselves joining the stars...
Fred was the last to die at the top of the barricade.
Ron’s body had toppled over onto the other side of the barricade. His eyes open, he lay on the tattered flag that had symbolized everything he had been fighting for.
Luna was right. The sky was clearing. A new day was beginning.

[Flockman The Wise]

Whoa. This may just be coincidence, but my school is currently doing the play "Les Miserables" (sp?) and yeah... weird.

[Ravenclaw]

Wow, really? That's cool! We just performed ours two weeks ago!

Well, I'm posting more. Might as well, I've finished the thing. Sigh...

Sirius awoke to find himself next to Harry, who was bleeding profusely. He panicked and looked around at the massacre surrounding him... How could Fudge do this? How could he league himself with Voldemort? After all Dumbledore said and did for him...
Sirius shook his head, depressed at the thought of how wicked their “Minister of Magic” had become. They were all just children...
He looked back at Harry, whose mouth was hanging open, black hair matted with blood that was not his own. He checked a heartbeat and then searched through the burned books to find some sort of spell that would heal his wounds... but he knew that healing Harry’s wounds would take a lot more work than a simple spell. Besides, he realized, as he dug into his pockets, My wand’s been snapped in half! He needed to get Harry help fast. But how?
Sirius looked around and noticed a manhole. He glanced from Harry, to the entrance to the pipes beneath them and made his decision. Sirius pushed the cover of the manhole aside and gently lowered Harry into the sewer.

When he disappeared underground, Snape turned a corner and stopped to see all the dead bodies. Something twinged in his icy heartstrings. A memory of Dumbledore, and his school days... many of those kids had been his student at one point in time... After he had served as an officer, but before he had left Hogwarts to rejoin his brethren.
Snape rushed to the barricade and dug through the bodies, searching for one in particular, maybe he was... But no! Sirius Black was not there! He must have escaped somewhere, anywhere... But the Ministry and Voldemort had all exiting alleys and winding pathways covered by guards to catch any retreating traitors...
Snape’s eyes fell upon the manhole, whose cover wasn’t put back on properly and smiled to himself.

Meanwhile, Sirius trekked through the sewers with Harry on his back, or in his arms, or any other way he could carry the boy. But it was a long, and winding path and Sirius was exhausted from the battle already... He couldn’t take Harry much farther. Finally, he collapsed under Harry’s wait into the muddy water...

A few hours later, Dursley made his way whistling ‘round the bend. He was carrying a dead body and he slammed it on the ground.
“Here’s a hint of gold stuck into a tooth...” he grinned wickedly to himself. He then put on his fake plastic smile with extra exaggeration. “Pardon me, Sir, you won’t be needing it no more!” He yanked the tooth out and examined it. “Shouldn’t be too hard to sell... Add it to the pile, add it to the stock!” he laughed. “Here among the sewer rats, a breath away from hell– you get accustomed to the smell...”
Dursley pretended someone was watching him and turned with mock innocence to them, containing his glee in order to do his little act. “Well, someone’s got to clean them up, my friends! Bodies on the highway, law and order up side down!” Dursley looked above him as he heard the boots of running soldiers echoing from the ground above him. He laughed to himself and shrugged at his invisible audience. “Someone’s got to collect their little knickknacks as a service to the town.” Dursley jumped as he noticed a ring on the finger of an unconscious student with messy black hair. Grinning, he yanked it off of the body.
“Here’s a tasty ring! Pretty little thing... Wouldn’t want to waste it, that would really be a crime. Thank you, Sir, I’m in your debt!” he bowed at the student. “Here’s another toy...” he said, fingering a gold watch. He yanked it off its chain. “Take it off the boy! His heart’s no longer going and he’s lived his little time. But his watch is ticking yet!”
Dursley snickered and turned back to his non-existent accusers. “Well, someone’s got to do it! Before the little harvest disappears into the mud. Someone’s got collect their odds and ends... when the gutters run with blood...” Dursley snickered again. “It’s a world where the dogs eat the dogs,” he hissed. “And they kill for the bones in the street! And God in his heaven, he don’t interfere cause he’s dead as the stiffs at my feet!” Dursley kicked the two bodies. He looked up at the sewer ceiling and saw moonlight drifting through a grate. “I raise my eyes to see the heavens and only the moon looks down!”
Dursley kneeled to rob the second body, but as he turned him over to see his vest pockets, he recognized the face...
“Black!” he cries, his joy disappearing. Surprised and slightly wary, Dursley slowly backed away, then turned and sprinted down the sewers.
As the echoes of the splashes of Dursley’s retreating feet diminished, Sirius stirred. Shaking away his tense muscles, he shouldered Harry again and continued through the sewer. Finally, he finds the manhole outside of Godric’s Hollow and sets Harry down in order to remove the cover. But Snape stepped out of the shadows and into the moonlight. Sirius countenance became darker as he took a step backward, away from Snape.
“It’s you, Snape. I knew you wouldn’t wait too long.” Sirius smiled, sardonically. “The faithful servant at his post once more.” He gestured to Harry. “This man has done no wrong and he needs a doctor’s care.”
Snape glanced at Harry and was reminded once more of how often he had tormented the boy in class. He missed those days, when he was a Professor. Life was simpler. Thoughts of his father also crossed his mind... And he was, after all, just a boy. Nonetheless, he responded to Sirius quite coldly, but sounded as though he was also trying to convince himself.
“I warned you I would not give in!” he hissed. “I won’t be swayed.”
“Another hour yet!” Sirius begged, his eyes honest. “And then I’m yours, and all our debts are paid.”
Snape frowned at Sirius, bewildered. He couldn’t understand it. Wasn’t Black a criminal? He remembered all those years ago when he begged to save the life of a little girl... How did this man’s mind work?
“The man of mercy comes again,” he said, sounding almost disgusted. “And talks of justice!” He spat out the word as if Sirius barely even knew what it meant. Sirius was paying no heed as he was kneeling by Harry’s side, checking up on him. But Sirius looked up at Snape, anxiously.
“Come, time is running short. Look down, Snape! He’s standing in his grave! Give way, Snape! There is a life to save!”
“Take him, Black!” Snape growled, turning away from the con. “Before I change my mind... I will be waiting... 24601!”
Sirius nodded at Snape’s back, lifted Harry in his arms, and climbed out of the sewer.
Snape waited a moment as he contemplated the situation. He then followed Sirius’s path up the ladder to the world above. Looking around in the starlight, he noted that Sirius and his student companion were nowhere to be seen.
Snape was deep in thought as he walked through the streets of London, making his way slowly to the Thames.
“Who is this man?” he wondered, aloud, angry and terrified at the same time. “What sort of devil is he? To have me caught in a trap and choose to let me go free! It was his hour at last to put a seal on my fate... Wipe out the past and watch me clean off the slate. All it would take was a flick of his wand... Vengeance as his, yet he gave me back my life.” Snape frowned, and shook his head, frustrated. He saw a bridge of the Thames and started walking towards it. His hands were clenched in passionate fists.
“Damned if I’ll live in the debt of a thief! Damned if I’ll yield at the end of the chase! I am the law and the law is not mocked! I’ll spit his pity right back in his face! There is nothing on earth that we share. It is either Black or Snape!”
He was bewildered as he crossed to the center of the bridge over the great river running through London. He looked up at the sky, and then down at the swirling black waters beneath him.
“Yet why did I allow this man to hold dominion over me?” Snape asked himself, quietly. “This desperate man whom I have hunted! He gave me my life... He gave me freedom! I should have perished by his hand! It was his right... It was my right to die as well. Instead, I live... but live in hell... And my thoughts fly apart! Can this man be believed? Shall his sins be forgiven? Shall his crimes be reprieved?” Snape demanded this of the heavens above him and found no answer. Instead, he frowned again, and wondered to himself.
“And must I now begin to doubt, who never doubted all those years? My heart is stone, and still, it trembles... The world I have known is lost in shadow. Is he from heaven or from hell? And does he know that by granting me my life today, this man has killed me even so...” Snape let out a deep breath. His eyes were glazed with madness as he stared up at the stars. He climbed over the railing so he was standing on the very edge of the bridge.
“I am reaching, but I fall...” he said, reaching out towards the sky with one hand, his other clutching the railing behind him. “And the stars are black and cold. As I stare into the void of a world that cannot hold.” Again, Snape looked from the blinking stars to the churning river. He leaned out, over the river, clutching the railing with both hands now. “I’ll escape now from the world... From the world of Sirius Black. There is nowhere I can go. There is no way to go on!” Snape screamed as he let go of the railing and let himself topple forward into the black whirlpool ready to envelope him...

[Xazinon]

Hehehe, noticed your avatar and location Ravenclaw, very nice! Maybe I need to get my Link one back again! :)

Great writing, too!

[Ravenclaw]

Haha, yes! I just beat Ocarina of Time... again... lol. Haha, I've been in the Zelda mood recently...

More story... I think I'll finish it now.

A few days later, women were watching as brooms swept their doorsteps on their own, supervising the cleaning of their house by magic. It gave them much time to gossip.
“Did you see them going off to fight?” asked Lavender to Cho Chang, who nodded, sadly.
“Children of the barricades,” Cho said. “They didn’t last the night.”
Hermione sighed as she perched herself on Cho’s porch. She was staring straight ahead of her, pining for her lost friends.
“Did you see them lying where they died...” she uttered, surprised that she had seen them fight and had once been among them. She had once shared in Ron’s dream of a brighter world. And now, that dream was shattered. She thought of Ron’s mother, and could hardly bare it. “Someone used to cradle them and kiss them when they cried...” Hermione looked up at her friends, tears in her eyes. “Did you see them lying side by side?”
“Who will wake them...” Katie Bell whispered, from her doorway.
“No one ever will!” Angelina said, disgusted almost. “No one ever told them that a summer day can kill.”
“They were school boys...” Hermione thought aloud. She was frowning. She just couldn’t understand it. With all her logic, war eluded her. She shook her head and rested it upon her palms. “They’d never held a battle wand before in their lives. They were fighting for a new world that would rise up like the sun...”
There was a pause. Hermione looked up at her grieving friends and asked the question they were all thinking about. “Where’s that new world now the fighting’s done?”
“Nothing changes, nothing ever will,” said Alicia Spinnet. Hermione looked up at her, the tears beginning to stream down her cheeks now.
“That’s not true...” she whispered. “That can’t be true...”
“Same old story,” Parvati agreed with Alicia, miserably. “What’s the use of tears?” she asked Hermione, seeing the wet streaks down her face. “What’s the use of praying if there’s nobody who hears?”
“We’re just turning,” Cho sighed. “Turning through the years.”
“No, there’s got to be something...” Hermione tried to grasp at something good that could have come from all this. But she could think of nothing.

It was late November. Harry found himself inside the empty Three Broomsticks, remembering his fallen comrades. It was dark, but the tables were still covered with crimson table cloths. The blood of angry men... Harry smiled to himself.
“There’s a grief that can’t be spoken,” he whispered, taking a seat slowly. “There’s a pain goes on and on. Empty chairs at empty tables... Now my friends are dead and gone...” The words tasted funny on his tongue, but he knew they were true. And yet, he could feel them with him, as he sat at the very same table Ron had jumped up on and waved his red flag for the first time.
“Here they talked of revolution. Here it was they lit the flame. Here they sang about ‘tomorrow...’ and tomorrow never came.”
Harry rose to his feet with a desperate smile on his lips.
“From the table in the corner, they could see a whole world reborn! And they rose with voices ringing...” Harry paused and closed his eyes. His smile widened, but it was a painful one. The room seemed to light up for a moment with the ghosts of song and laughter. The faint smell of butterbeer reached Harry’s nostrils. “And I can hear them now! The very words that they had sung became their last communion. On the lonely barricades at dawn...”
Harry took his seat and shuddered as he shook his head. His smile was gone as he looked at the red table cloth. The light and echoes disappeared. Harry wondered if they’d been there in the first place.
“Oh my friends, my friends, forgive me that I live and you are gone.” A cool breeze ruffled his black hair, but no windows were open and the door was closed. And suddenly, the room was full of students again, laughing and drinking... But as quickly as they had come, they disappeared and the room was cold again. Still, Harry could feel their presence, in the very fibers of his being.
“Phantom faces at the window...” he whispered as frost began to collect on the window frame. He was on his feet again. Moonlight from outside cast the shadowed outline of a person through the window and onto the dusty wooden floor of the building, but there was no one standing there. “Phantom shadows on the floor,” Harry smiled to himself.
“Empty chairs at empty tables where my friends will meet no more. Oh my friends, don’t ask me what your sacrifice was for. Empty chairs at empty tables where you shall sing no more...”
Sighing, Harry collapsed into his chair and let silence spread across the room like an eery morning mist...

[Ravenclaw]

Months past. Harry was limping in the garden of number 55 Godric’s Hollow, aided along by a smiling Ginny. He walked with a cane, but seemed to be getting stronger.
“Every day you walk with longer, stronger step,” Ginny commented, happily. “The worst is over!” Harry looked up at her smiling face and though he loved her, he knew she would never understand the horrors he had witnessed on the barricade. The loss of so many friends.. Except there was one mysterious companion he was longing to meet again.
“Every day, I wonder who was it who brought me here from the barricade,” Harry said. But Ginny took him by the shoulders.
“Don’t think about it, Harry, with all the years ahead of us! I will never go away and we will be together every day. Every day, we’ll remember that night and the song that we sang... A heart full of love, a night full of you. The words are old but always true. Oh, God for shame, you didn’t even know my name!”
“Dear lady,” Harry said, smiling, remembering. “I was lost in your spell.”
Sirius watched Ginny and Harry in the garden through a window and sighed. He knew he couldn’t hold onto them forever.
“A heart full of love,” Ginny laughed. “No fear, no regret.”
“She was never mine to keep,” he sighed. “She is youthful, she is free.”
Ginny put on an exaggerated love-struck face and mimicked Harry when she’d first met him. “‘My name is Harry Potter!’” she laughed and Harry shook his head, smiling. He loved her jokes. He loved her laugh.
“Ginny, oh Ginny...” he said and he kissed her.
Sirius smiled to himself as he exited to the front stoop. “Love is the garden of the young,” he said to himself.
“I saw you waiting and I knew,” said Ginny, grinning and remembering the beat her heart had skipped. Harry clasped her hands in his.
“Waiting for you,” he whispered. “At your feet,” he said, kneeling down at her feet, and taking her left hand.
“At your call,” Ginny said, smiling. She didn’t realize fully what he was doing.
“Let it be,” Sirius thought aloud, as he walked over to them. “Let it be...”
“And it wasn’t a dream,” said Harry as he pulled out a ring. Ginny gasped, but Harry looked up to Sirius for his blessing. Sirius smiled at him and took both of their hands in his own.
“This I give you this day,” he agreed. Ginny giggled happily.
“Not a dream after all,” she said. “Oh, I must send owls! I will always remember this! Oh thank you, Papa!” Ginny threw her arms around Sirius, who laughed sadly and hugged her tightly back. Ginny rushed into the house and Harry and Sirius were alone in the garden. Sirius sighed and took a seat on a bench. The very same bench Ginny had been sitting on a year ago when Harry had jumped the fence to meet her.
“Sir, this is a day I never can forget!” Harry cried excitedly as he stood by Sirius’s side. “Is gratitude enough for giving me Ginny? Your home shall be with us and not a sad day shall pass! But we will prove are love to you, whom we shall call a father to us both, a father to us all!”
But Sirius held up his hand and shook his head. “Not another word, my son. There’s something now that must be done.” Harry frowned at Sirius, confused. He could hear the remorse in his voice, almost as though he were apologizing for what he was about to say.
“You’ve spoken from the heart and I must do the same,” Sirius said, looking up at Harry from his spot on the bench. Harry took a seat next to Sirius on the bench, confused. “There is a story of slavery and shame that you alone must know.” Sirius looked away from Harry’s face. “I never told Ginny. She’s had enough of tears. She’s never known the truth– The story you must hear of years ago...”
Harry still didn’t understand. Sirius quickly explained, but he could not look Harry in the eye. Instead, he stared straight ahead at a blooming flower. “There lived a man whose name was Sirius Black. He stole some bread to save his sister’s son. For nineteen winters, served his time. He washed away his crime in sweat. Years ago, he broke parole and lived a life apart...” Now, Sirius looked up at Harry’s inscrutable expression. “How could he tell Ginny and break her heart? It’s for Ginny this must be faced. If he is caught, she is disgraced. The time has come to journey on and from this day he must be gone...”
Comprehension was dawning on Harry’s face and Sirius couldn’t watch it. He looked away again.
“Who am I?” he uttered, quietly. “Who am I?”
“You’re Sirius Black,” Harry said, calmly and frankly. Sirius turned to Harry, who was looking at him understandingly, but he was still confused. “What can I do that will turn you from this? Sir, you cannot leave!” Harry leapt to his feet and Sirius watched him, calmly. “Whatever I tell my beloved Ginny, she will never believe...” Harry began to pace. Sirius thought a moment then reached out to him, as though he’d just had a thought.
“Make her believe I have gone on a journey a long way away. Tell her my heart was too full of farewells– It is better this way. Promise me, my boy, that she will never know...” Sirius was standing now, and his hand was pleadingly upon Harry’s shoulder. Harry pushed it away and turned, reluctantly.
“I give my word...” he promised in a whisper.
“...What I have spoken, why I must go...” Sirius said, quickly. Harry turned to him again and nodded.
“For the sake of Ginny, it must be so.”
Sirius did not know of Snape’s drowning in the river. He knew that Snape would come for him sometime soon, now that he knew Harry was recovering. He wondered why Snape hadn’t come for him already. But he knew that Snape could not capture him at his own home, in front of his family. What would Ginny think?

The wedding arrived and Ginny was excited, though there was one thing that would make it perfect. Her father. After the day Harry had proposed to her in the garden, he had fallen ill and was now in his room, in bed. She worried about him, although Harry reassured her.
“He’s alright,” Harry told her, as they danced. “He’d want you to be happy.”
“You’re right,” Ginny said, smiling. “And I am.” She leaned her head against his chest as they continued to dance.
An abominable couple dressed in exaggerated formal wear leaned in to the butler, who announced them.
“The Baron and the Baroness of Dursewood wish to pay their respects to the groom.”
Harry and Ginny stopped dancing as Harry eyed the couple suspiciously. The man approached with a false grin that Harry knew all too well.
“I forget where we met! Was it not at the Chateau Lafarge?” the man crooned. “Where that Duke did that puke down the Duchess’s decolletage?” As he spoke, the man eyed Ginny and grinned. Ginny, appalled, hid behind her husband. Angrily, Harry defended her.
“No, Baron of Dursewood!” Harry snapped, angrily. “The circles I move in are humbler by far. Go away, Dursley! Do you think I don’t know who you are?”
The woman pulled the man aside and hissed in his ear quite loudly.
“He’s not fooled,” she said, smugly. “Told you so. Show this kid what you’ve come here to show, tell the boy what you know!”
Harry was only mildly intrigued as the couple approached him once more. But he was also quite angry with them. He’d never liked them, but after the barricade, after Luna... He sighed and shook his head, sadly.
“When I look at you, I remember Luna. She was more than you deserved, who gave her birth. But now, she is with God and happier, I hope, than here on earth!” he told them.
“So it goes!” Dursley nodded, exaggerating his pain at the mention of his daughter. “Heaven knows, life has dealt me some terrible blows!” Dursley clutched at his heart and Petunia pretended to sympathize. She took her husband from behind by the shoulders and looked up at Harry, hopefully.
“You’ve got cash and a heart,” said Petunia. “You could give us a bit of a start! We can prove, plain as ink that your bride’s father is not what you think.” She eyed Ginny nastily and Ginny glared back over Harry’s shoulder.
“There’s a tale I could tell...” Dursley said with a mischievous smile and a mysterious air, thoughts of his daughter obviously evaporating into the thin air from whence they came.
“Information we’re willing to sell,” added Petunia with a grin.
“There’s a man that he slew!” Dursley blurted out, unable to contain his enthusiasm. “I saw the corpse as clear as I’m seeing you! What I tell you is true!”
“Pity to disturb you at a feast like this...” Petunia said, gesturing at all their dancing guests. “But five hundred galleons surely wouldn’t come amiss.”
“In God’s name, say what you have to say!” Harry exclaimed, exasperated.
“But first you pay!” Dursley ordered, his hand outstretched. Rolling his eyes, Harry tossed a sack of galleons into Dursley’s hand, reluctantly. Dursley nodded his thanks and smiled.
“What I saw, clear as light, Sirius Black in the sewers that night,” Dursley explained. “Had a corpse on his back, hanging there like a bloody great sack. I was there, never fear! Even found me this fine souvenir...” Dursley held up the ring he had stolen from the body in the sewers. Harry frowned, and then snatched it from his fingers to examine it.

[Ravenclaw]

“I know this...” he muttered. “This was mine! This is surely some heavenly sign!”
“One thing more,” Dursley said, snatching back the ring. Harry glared at him angrily, but Dursley pretended not to notice. “Mark this well! It was the night that the barricades fell!”
“Then it’s true...” Harry said, turning away from the Dursleys to Ginny, who seemed confused. “Then I’m right. Sirius Black was my savior that night!” Ginny gasped.
Taking advantage of Harry and Ginny’s preoccupation, Petunia turned to the long table adorned with silver and began stealthily sweeping the cutlery into a sack. Dursley gave her a hand.
“Come my love, come Ginny!” Harry said, snatching Ginny’s hand. “This day’s blessings are not over yet!”
As the couple ran out of the room, Dursley and Petunia got in a fight over the silver. As they each pulled at the bag, the thing tore and the silver fell everywhere all over the floor. Everyone stopped dancing to stare at them. Even the conductor of the band had stopped the music. Dursley looked around at all the surprised, confused and angry faces. He noticed Hermione glaring at him. Quickly, he turned to the conductor and made a gesture for him to continue the music.
“Go on, get on with it! What, you’ve forgotten how to conduct music?” Shrugging, the conductor continued the music and everyone slowly went back to dancing. Dursley leaned in towards his wife.
“Ain’t it a laugh, ain’t it a treat!” he exclaimed. “Hobnobbing here, amongst the elite!” He snickered. “Paris at my feet. Paris in the dust! And here’s me breaking bread with the upper crust... Beggar at the feast. Master of the dance! Life is easy pickings if you grab your chance. Everywhere you go, law-abiding folk. Doing what is decent, but they’re mostly broke! Singing to the Lord on Sundays... Praying for the gifts he’ll send.”
“But we’re the ones who take it,” Petunia laughed. “We’re the ones who make it in the end! Watch the buggers dance. Watch ‘em till they drop! Keep your wits about you and you stand on top! Masters of the land always get their share. Clear away the barricades and we’re still there!” Petunia laughed.
“We know where the wind is blowing,” Dursley sang. “Money is the stuff we smell. And when we’re rich as Croesus... Jesus! Won’t we see you all in hell!” And with that, they made their escape.

Sirius was writing by dim candlelight in his dark room. A blanket was draped over his shoulders, and he was weak, but he knew he had to finish this letter. Snape wouldn’t come for him now. Sirius was on his last ounce of strength.
“Alone, I wait in the shadows. I count the hours till I can sleep. I dreamed a dream Ginny stood by. It made her weep to know I die.” Sirius sighed as he looked at the moon through an open window, the only source of light other than the flickering flame of his melting candle.
“Alone, at the end of the day... Upon this wedding night, I pray... Take these children, my Lord, to thy embrace and show them grace...” Sirius clasped his hands together for one final prayer.
“God on high, here my prayer. Take me now to thy care. Where you are, let me be. Take me now, take me there... Bring me home...”
Sirius felt a gentle wind slowly caressing his skin. The wind turned into a hand with soft skin and a gentle touch.
“Sir, I bless your name,” said a musical voice behind him. Sirius stood up. He knew whose hand was on his arm.
“I am ready, Molly,” he said, staring out the window. Molly made her way in front of him and stood before him, eye to eye.
“Sir, lay down your burden,” she whispered.
“At the end of my days...” Sirius uttered.
“You raised my child with love,” Molly said, with a kind smile.
“She’s the best of my life,” said Sirius, with loving eyes.
“And soon you’ll be with God...” Molly faded away into the shadows of a darkened corner, just out of sight, just out of reach. Sirius heard the door fly open and light flooded the room from the hall. He turned to see Ginny running in, still in her wedding robes, followed closely by Harry. Ginny clasped Sirius’s hands and led him to his chair by his dying candle and his letter. She made him sit down and she then kneeled by his side.
“Papa, Papa, I do not understand... Are you alright? Harry said you’d gone away...” Ginny looked up at Sirius, imploringly. Sirius smiled at his children.
“Ginny, my child, am I forgiven now?” he laughed to himself. “Thank God, thank God I lived to see this day.”
Harry stood behind Ginny and put his hands on her shoulders. “It’s you who must forgive a thoughtless fool!” he exclaimed. “It’s you who must forgive a thankless man. It’s thanks to you that I am living...” Harry moved slowly to Sirius’s other side and kneeled next to him, much like his wife. “And again, I lay down my life at your feet.”
Harry looked across Sirius’s lap to Ginny. “Ginny, your father is a saint. When they wounded me, he took me from the barricade, carried like a babe, and brought me home... to you...”
Sirius looked down from Harry to Ginny and felt his heart feel lighter and his soul feel brighter. He was happier now than he had been at any other moment in his life. He’d waited his whole, long life for this moment. He laughed to himself, he was so content.
“Now you are here,” he whispered. “Again beside me.” But he was not looking at his children. He was looking over their heads at Molly’s face, which he could see through the shadows of the corner, it was so bright. He looked down again at his children, one on either side of him and his smile broadened, if possible. “Now I can die in peace for now my life is blessed...”
But Ginny wouldn’t have it. She squeezed her father’s hands in hers. “You will live!” she proclaimed. “Papa, you’re going to live! It’s too soon, too soon to say goodbye...”
Sirius threw back his head and laughed a loud bark-like laugh. He then smiled kindly down at Ginny and stroked her hair, lovingly.
“Yes, Ginny, forbid me now to die...” he said. “I’ll obey, I will try.” He reached over onto the table and handed Ginny the letter he’d been writing. Ginny took it, confused. Harry rose to his feet and crossed to his wife, and looked at it over her shoulder.
“On this page I write my last confession,” Sirius said. Ginny looked up at her father, begging for an explanation, a justification... anything! “Read it well when I at last am sleeping,” was all he said. “It’s a story of those who always loved you. Your mother gave her life for you and gave you to my keeping...”
Ginny also rose to her feet and let Harry take her in his arms as they both read the letter.
Meanwhile, Sirius could see Molly walking towards him.
“Come with me where chains will never bind you,” she said, her voice ringing like bells. “All your grief is at last behind you. Lord in heaven, look down on him in mercy.”
“Forgive me all my trespasses and take me to your glory...” Sirius said, gazing up at the ceiling.
Molly was soon joined by a young blonde girl, gazing lovingly and happily at Harry while he read the letter. She looked to Molly, who nodded at her. Then, clutching Molly’s hand, she reached out to Sirius, who took it and rose from his chair.
“Take my hand,” Molly and Luna sang, their voices ringing in harmony. “I’ll lead you to salvation.” Sirius joined them.
“Take my love for love is everlasting.” Luna looked back to Harry and Ginny. “And remember the truth that once was spoken... To love another person is to see the face of God...”
Though they did not know it, at that moment, Harry and Ginny were surrounded by their fallen friends and comrades, including Ron and Dennis and Fred and George... They were all there, watching the couple, who was oblivious to their presence, and yet, they were always there. Always watching, in the shadows, always just out of sight, but never out of mind.

Do you hear the people sing
Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people
Who are climbing to the light.
For the wretched of the earth
There is a flame that never dies.
Even the darkest night will end
And the sun will rise.
They will live again in freedom
In the garden of the Lord.
They will walk behind the plowshare,
They will put away the sword.
The chain will be broken
And all men will have their reward.
Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
Somewhere beyond the barricade
Is there a world you long to see?
Do you hear the people sing?
Say do you hear the distant drums?
It is the future that they bring
When tomorrow comes...
Tomorrow comes!

[Xazinon]

Bravo, bravo! *round of applause* :notworthy ;)

Very well done.. makes me want to see the play for sure now! :)

Beat Ocarina of Time again eh? I haven't finished it once yet, (*sigh*) but I'm getting there! I just have to figure out how to beat up that Ganondorf guy, heh! Congratulations to you though! :)

[Ravenclaw]

Ganon giving you trouble, eh? Darn that Evil King!

No worries, I only just beat it for the first time last month.

Thank you, by the way! And Les Mis really is a great play on stage.

[katzpotter]

Oh, bravo, bravo! Très magnifique! Très aimable! C'est beau et bon et très, très "fabbity-fab-fab!" Je s'adore très beaucoup!

French praise... can't do better than that. I seriously cried during the very last bit... and when I read "the truth that once was spoken," I got the weirdest little shiver down my spine...

It gets more emotional if you listen to the soundtrack while reading it.





.... but it seems weird, giving Sirius Colm Wilkinson's voice... I dunno.... :D It's 3:45 AM... I must be tired...

[Ravenclaw]

oh, that is kind of funny! The Colm Wilkinson= Sirius Black thing. WHat's even funnier? Leah Solonga as a blonde!

Ah, merci! La piece est magnifique et je l'adore beaucoup! Et c'etait "inevitable" que j'allais faire une petite histoire avec Harry Potter.

[katzpotter]

Eh.... translate that list bit for me, please. I'm only in French 2!

Here's what I got: Ah, thank you! The piece is magnificent and I adore it a lot! And it was inevitable" that I allais faire I little history with Harry Potter.

I've seen it on stage... amazing... Fox Theatre in St. Louis... ahh... I cried, of course.

I plan on reading the book this summer.

I love it muchly! If only... hey... LotR style Les Miz! Brilliance has struck again! Eowyn as Eponine, Arwen as Cossete, and Aragorn as Marius... oooh...

[Ravenclaw]

Haha, "It was inevitable that I would make a small story with Harry Potter"

Yes, I adore that play.

Ah! Aw, I don't think I could write that! But maybe you could give it a whirl. ;-)

[katzpotter]

Hmm...

Problem is...

Who would play Valjean? Here's what I've got for the cast:

Aragorn as Marius
Eowyn as Eponine
Arwen as Cossette
Gimli as Enjolras
Celebrian as Fantine
The Hobbits as Students

I just thought of Gandalf to be Valjean, but I don't know... I'll ask them over at CoE...