This chapter is the end of a continuing story. Start from Chapter 1 here.
Harry and his friends returned to the school, which was still in the rain, making things seem a lot calmer. The Great Hall, which Harry and Draco usually attended for breakfast and lunch, was already packed to the brim with students, students who had to have been in school for quite some time since they were in seventh year. Harry glanced at Ron who seemed lost and confused, while Hermione seemed to have taken over Ron’s mind.
She seemed to be waiting for something, “Ron, I think we should find out why all the doors are locked and what happened to the school library.”
Draco and Harry looked around at where there was so much crowd. Harry wasn’t sure if they were supposed to look at the crowd like everyone else was, but they didn’t see a single person who wasn’t in this crowd already. They were standing under one big banner. The banner read: “I Have To Go Now!”
Harry glanced at Draco, who looked confused as he tried to come to terms with how this all went down, but Ron seemed to be trying his best to put the pieces together and find the solution.
Harry frowned. “So where are the others?” he asked. “There’s nothing but crowds here, and nobody else.”
Then everyone began to cheer them on from across the aisle. They cheered loudly and cheered more enthusiastically. The school began to move around them as everyone cheered in unison. The banner was slowly lowering down, and before Harry could think clearly, the Great Hall slowly moved, as if someone had decided to step on a piece of metal or something. It opened up to reveal a small stage in the middle, where several speakers would be seated. A giant man with a bull’s head wearing glasses stood on the stage, smiling. The bull was smiling at Harry. It was the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Draco grabbed Harry’s arm and started walking towards the bull, saying, “Now now, I know we are all going to be all right.”
The Headmaster spoke, “Well, I hope that all of you are here to celebrate our victory!” The bull’s expression darkened slightly. His head was tilted to one side, and his mouth was hanging open like someone was sucking on a small balloon, “You four did pretty well, Draco!” The bull began to raise itself and start dancing around the stage. Then a voice came from one side of the stage. It was the headmaster’s voice. “But before we start celebrating!” It said, “It is my pleasure to introduce Draco Malfoy, the Great Malfoy. He is the head of Slytherin House and I am proud to call myself the Great Slytherin. Well done, Malfoy, well done! And all of your friends, well done! I’m awarding Slytherin four times the number of points as I did with the other houses.”
Malfoy was silent for a moment, and he eventually let out a heavy sigh. “Thanks, Mr. Headmaster. I’ll tell you a joke soon, and then all of you will be free to leave.” Draco grinned at him. Then he was silent for a second. “That was… that was fun.” Then the Great Malfoy laughed loudly and swept Harry off his feet, causing a chain of four large lights to flash across the large area that had just been covered by Harry’s shadow, causing everyone in the room to look around at their surroundings. “Actually, how about we let Weasley tell some of the jokes, Potter?” The boy’s grin brightened, “My mouth will be busy tonight… and the next few hours as well.”
Harry just laughed and pointed at the ceiling. “There’s lots of jokes to be told.”
Ron’s eyes lit up, “All right, then, let’s do that!” He pulled his cloak back up around him, causing his robes to quickly become a dark blue as they flew across the room.
Harry smiled, relieved and grateful that it was his turn to get the jokes he always loved to hear, before returning his attention to the table that had just appeared before them. He and Draco sat down next to each other, while Hermione and her invisible owl watched over Harry, watching every word he said, almost as if he had to speak through them. Harry didn’t mind, he just rested his head on Draco’s shoulder and watched as Ron stood next to the Headmaster and made a very funny remark.
As usual, the crowd did not really like Ron’s jokes.