In The Dark [Book Four]

Chapter Eleven:

Chapter Eleven: 

The exams I'd been preparing for came and went, proving harder than I originally imagined but I was sure I'd at least passed them all with an 'Acceptable' though it was unlikely that I made a single Outstanding.  I'd be surprised if I had scored even two Exceeds Expectations.

After exams, most of the professors became much more lenient and only two still bothered to have students do homework at all, most work was done in-class and usually just fun things to learn or try out.  Potions in particular had been made quite enjoyable by Professor Inigo, who gave out prizes to the first and second pairs to complete a potion that was assigned.  These prizes weren't quite the Felix Felicis that Slughorn had once handed out but they were interesting nonetheless, and not always potion-related.  

Once, he gave away a pair of Pgymy puffs to the couple he came in first, and sometimes he'd give away rare ingredients for other potions, and told us we could sell them back to him for five galleons if we preferred money over the ingredients (I was the only one who kept the ingredients given to us as a prize).  

He was perhaps the second youngest professor at Hogwarts, surpassed only by Neville, and he couldn't have been any older than twenty five and really knew how to get his students to work without harping on them constantly.  I wouldn't be surprised if he was everyone's favorite professor.  

Now, being the eighth of June, I knew my seventh and last year at Hogwarts was coming to a close and if I honestly planned on returning next year to be a professor for Care of Magical Creatures, I had a lot of things to study up on.  Granted, I was half convinced I didn't want to be a professor; I didn't have the patience for the students and I was sure that sooner or later I'd get myself into trouble for being too rude to the students but I'd already given my word.  

I would finish this year off and then I'd go with Neville for the summer; we would find out whether or not my spell to cure his parents would work (I was sure it would) and then I'd return to Hogwarts as Professor Potter.  

"You look deep in thought," Draco muttered, his eyes focused on his supper just as mine was on my own.  

"Just thinking about the future.  I've been offered a place here at Hogwarts for Care of Magical Creatures."  

"Taking over for the bumbling oaf, are you?  I'm sure you'll be a much better teacher than he will ever be," my brother replied, his tone showing his distaste for the current professor.  

"Aye, I will be because if I have a student like you, I wont just let him go do whatever he'd  like.  If I have a student that's like you, I'll feed him to the Hippogriff's so I don't have to deal with him anymore."  

With a smile on his face, he finished off the last bite of his food and turned his full attention to me.  His grey eyes, which once made my heart hurt with how beautiful they were, now did nothing for me.  His hair, which I once wished to run my fingers through, I now watched lay flat on his head and caused not an ounce of want from me.  The boy I once wanted to love me with all his heart I saw as nothing more than a brother.  

It stunned me, sometimes, how much I had changed since I began Hogwarts seven years ago.  How much everyone had changed just over the last two years, in fact.  Draco, for example, had been spoiled and bratty.  He had always known his father would get everything he ever wanted, that his father would always be there to protect him but now his father was a laughing stock and there was nobody to protect Draco from those who spoke ill of him.  He was learning to be a strong person all on his own without his father's interference, he was learning to become his own man rather than his father's monkey.  

"I'm proud of you, big brother." 

* 

It felt as though the weight of the world was in my right hand.  It was just a small rock yet it had the power to change the world; to be used not for good but rather for immoral, sinful acts of Godliness.  If I used the stone, I was acting as a God and deciding who should live and who should die however if I destroyed the stone there was a chance I would regret it.  What if Harry or Draco were to die tomorrow?  Would it be right to bring them back to life simply because they'd died so young?  

No.  It wouldn't be all right, they would constantly feel as I did in regards to a place to belong.  They'd always feel as if a part of them was missing and calling to them from beyond the grave.  I couldn't do that to them, I couldn't do that to anyone in fact.  I didn't want even Umbridge herself to feel as I did. 

That was a lie.  I would love for Umbridge to feel that way.  I would find so much enjoyment in watching her crumble just as I was.. it was a fate worse than death, by far.  

Smiling, I pocketed the stone that held all the worlds weight and knew what had to be done so that I could feel accomplished, so that my  vendetta would be taken care of and there was no chance of my being caught.  I wouldn't have to truly kill someone, I wouldn't have to choose between right and wrong because this stone was the line between the two.  

It was my saving grace.  

"You look happy, it's been a while since I've seen you smile." 

I jumped at the familiar voice, recognizing it immediately as Neville Longbottom and I thanked Merlin that I'd put away the Resurrection Stone before he had approached.  His hair was becoming longer, a bit shaggy much like it was in his sixth year.  His face, which last year had been hardened by cruelty, was now soft as he smiled down at my face.  

It was nice to see him looking as though he physically felt safe, it was nicer still that in a mere three months I'd be waking up next to his face every morning and falling asleep beside it every night.  With this boundary set for me by the stone between good and evil I no longer felt that I had to distance myself from him lest I choose the latter and hurt him.  

"I'm excited for this school year to be over.  Hermione has plans to be a worker at the Ministry of Magic, for the Magical Law Enforcement division and Ginny has already been called upon by the Holyhead Harpies to be their new Chaser.  You and I will be working here, together.  What's not to be excited about?"  

"One more week, that's all the both of us have to go through.  You'll miss it though, being the student rather than the professor."  

"I highly doubt that Nevs, now.. are you going to walk me to supper or not?"

[[A/N: about 200 words shorter than normal but i felt like I could get away with that considering the last couple of chapters have been longer than usual.  all this mushy stuff is irritating me, I miss the old amy ;_;  So i'm thinking maybe 2-3 more chapters and an epilogue?  what are you all hoping will happen between now and then???]]