Chapter 31:

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Thanks for all the reviews.

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"Harry, whatever happened to your study group?" asked Millie one day when they were on the mirrors. She remembered her study group fondly. She had had it all through her seven years.

"It fell apart sometime in our third year," Harry said, confused, wondering why. He didn't even remember it falling apart. It just did.

"Oh, do you know why that happened?" she asked, looking at him with the tilt of her head.

"No, we just kind of drifted apart," he said. He thinks it had something to do with the fact that they had a good DADA teacher that year.

"Oh, I was just wondering because Hermione had you pegged for trying to teach DADA this year," she said, a strong hinting in her tone.

"I wonder if we can try and get it back together," Harry said, getting the hint. His brow furrowed in thought.

"It couldn't hurt. Maybe Hermione would calm down again," she said, smiling at him getting the hint.

"There is a thought," Harry said, a bit sheepishly. "I'll run it by Hermione."

And with that, they discussed their normal nightly routine. And then Harry signed off and went to sleep. The next morning, he did discuss it with Hermione, and she thought it was an excellent idea. And during the morning workout, she went around to the people that had been in the study group before and asked them if they wanted to study again. Most of them did, and the study group was put back together again.

This should have the effect of calming Hermione down again. She now had something to do and someone to study with and didn't harass Harry into teaching DADA anymore. Though she did have him lead that subject in the study group. That was okay, though, it wasn't teaching the entire student body.

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It was coming up Christmas time and the Department of Mysteries had decided that they needed a parselmouth to do the spell that was needed to get rid of the Horcruxes. Which meant they needed Harry.

Sirius took Harry out of Hogwarts for the Winter Break. He was staying with Millie. They were sitting in Millie's living room, having a cup of cocoa, discussing what the Unspeakables needed.

"I don't understand. You need a parselmouth for what?" asked Harry, curled up into a chair, holding a cup of cocoa in his hands.

"You know, there's objects that they have that the Unspeakables are trying to get rid of. That is keeping Voldemort here on this plane of existence," explained Sirius, leaning forward, putting his elbows on his knees.

"Yeah, you explained that to me. But why do you need a parselmouth?" the teenage boy asked, frustrated that he wasn't getting his point across.

"There's a spell that they have that would be more powerful if a parselmouth spoke it," the dogman said, still leaning forward in a relaxed manner.

"Okay, but I'm not a powerful person," said Harry with a casual shrug of his shoulder. He didn't care what anybody said. He wasn't that powerful of a person.

"I think you're not giving yourself enough credit," said Sirius, He was on the other side of that spectrum and that Harry was quite powerful. What thirteen-year-old knew how to do the Patronus Charm?

"And I think you're giving me too much credit," said Harry, He had taught all his classmates how to do the Patronus charm. Sure, his was the only one that was corporeal, but they all knew how to do it.

"Here now, let's not quibble, yeah," said Millie, she just smiled at both of them. She knew Harry was powerful, but probably not quite as powerful as Sirius gave him credit for.

"I just don't want them to put all their eggs in one basket when it comes to me," said Harry, uncurling himself and putting his cup on the table in front of him. It was empty anyway.

Dobby popped in and took the cup and put it in the kitchen. He looked around, saw nothing else needed to be done and popped back out.

"We're not. We just want to give this a shot and see if it'll work," said Sirius, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands across his stomach.

"Alright," said Harry, rubbing his forehead. "I'll give it a go and we'll see what happens." He was more than willing to do anything that needed to be done to get rid of Voldemort. He just didn't want them to rely on just him.

With that settled, they settled down for a long, comfortable evening by the roaring fire as the snow drifted outside the windows. It was quite a peaceful scene in that flat with just them and Dobby.

The next morning, Sirius took Harry to the Department of Mysteries. Where they met up with the Head Unspeakable named Croaker. Croaker took him into the depths of the department. Where they met up with five other Unspeakables whose names they did not get. They were all standing in a blank room that was circular, that had a pedestal in the middle of the room.

On the pedestal sat a cup. It was a golden cup with a badger on it. It looked to be small with handles on it. And was very shiny. And very old.

Harry looked around the room, but other than the pedestal with the cup, there was nothing else to see. "Why am I here, Sirius?" he asked.

"Like I told you, we're going to try and get rid of Voldemort today," his godfather said, clapping a hand on his arm. "And we need a parselmouth, you're it," he added.

"Oh, okay uh, how are we going to do that with the cup?" he asked, looking at the cup queerly.

"That's one of his horcruxes," Sirius explained, waving grandly to the cup.

"He used something as beautiful as that as a horcrux?" Harry asked, completely flabbergasted That somebody would use something so treasured.

"Yes, that's Helga Hufflepuff's Cup," Sirius said with a disgusted tone, as if he too couldn't believe something so treasured was used for a horcrux.

"That belonged to Helga Hufflepuff!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yes, that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff," Sirius said with a chuckle.

"Wow."

"It took me a bit of talking to get it away from the goblins, let me tell you," his godfather said, still chuckling over the way he had to go through just to get that cup away from those greedy bastards. It had not been easy. He had had to go through his lordship to get it away from Bellatrix's vault. There had been a lot of money exchanged to get it out of there. Goblins were greedy little buggers.

"Wow," Harry said again.

"Well, let's get on with this," said one of the Unspeakables.

And with that, they put Harry in the middle and fanned out around him, three on each side, with Sirius being in the back with his hand on Harry's back, for moral support. He would not be in the spellcasting.

"What we're going to do is, we're going to be casting a magic boosting spell, and while we cast that, you're going to cast the soul calling spell. When you cast the soul calling spell, we want you to do it in parseltongue," Croaker said, looking at him to see if he was following along.

"Alright," said Harry, nodding along.

"Once you've cast that spell, you should be able to call all the horcruxes and the main soul to this cup. After that, we should be able to take the horcrux from this cup and put it into something else. And when we've done that, we should be able to take that something else and cast it through the Veil of Death," the Head of the Unspeakables explained.

"That sounds pretty complicated," said Harry, going a little cross-eyed in his head. He understood what he had to do, but he didn't understand what the Unspeakables had to do.

"Well, all you have to worry about is casting the spell. Do you remember it?" Croaker asked, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Yes, I remember it," the teenager said, nodding, remembering the spell he had been taught just that morning. There was a small tattoo of a snake drawn on his hand so he would be able to speak parseltongue. He wasn't sure if he needed it, but it was there just to be safe.

With that, everybody got ready and the six Unspeakables started casting the magic boosting spell. Once they had that spell ready and Sirius placed his hand on Harry's back as support, Harry cast the soul calling spell in parseltongue.

At that very moment, while they were doing that, Voldemort was trying to break into Azkaban. His Death Eaters were also casting a magic boosting spell as he was trying to break down the wards of the prison. Just as he was about to break the wards, was when Harry cast the soul calling spell. He felt his soul being called and fought it with every fiber of his being.

Nagini, at his side, started thrashing as her horcrux was being called. However, he had no time for her. His very soul was being called. His Death Eaters started protesting as their magic was being drained as he was trying to fight to keep his soul in his alchemical body.

Eventually, the soul gave out because Harry's magic was just too strong, and his soul wasn't anchored in well. His body crumbled into pieces, and then it puddled into goo.

The Death Eaters that were there trying to break into Azkaban were left as squibs. Left without their magic, they couldn't fight the Dementors that were slowly coming across the sea to come and get them. Many of them use emergency portkeys to get out of there.

Others succumb to their fate because they had no other choice, or because they wanted to commit suicide because they were left without their magic.

Either way, it was a bad day to be a Death Eater.

Back in the Department of Mysteries, Harry was fighting very hard to bring the soul of Voldemort and the other two horcruxes to the cup. The one that was incased in Hogwarts was also fighting him to get through the wards. He finally got all three of the soul pieces to the cup.

The one in his scar had come quite quickly. As soon as he cast the spell, his scar burst open, and it flew to the cup without any resistance.

Within a matter of five minutes, all of Tom Riddle's missing soul was in the cup.

Harry slumped to the ground, depleted.

"Harry!" cried Sirius, rushing to the boy's side.

"I'm alright," said Harry, breathing heavily.

"You don't look alright," said Sirius, looking at his pale face.

"I'm just tired," said Harry.

"Well, you've done your part. You can go home now. We'll do the rest," said Croaker, picking up the cup with a pair of tongs that he had gotten from somewhere.

"So, he's gone for good now, then?" asked Harry, getting up off the ground with the help of his godfather.

"He will be as soon as we get him into a bit of amber and throw him into the Veil of Death," confirmed the Head Unspeakable.

"I think I'd like to stick around to see that happen, if you don't mind," said Harry, wanting to watch to see the demise of the Dark Lord. That way he could make good and sure that he was gone. Call him morbid if you wanted to.

"I think I understand why you might want to do that," said Croaker, nodding his head in understanding.

So, Harry and Sirius stuck around the Department of Mysteries to make sure that Voldemort was chucked through the Veil of Death. It only took the Unspeakables another ten minutes to put all eight pieces of Voldemort's soul into a piece of amber, and then he was thrown through the Veil. It was kind of anticlimactic.

Sirius had given Harry a piece of cloth, that had some soap and water on it, and had him clean off his forehead.

"Well, that's done with," said Harry, throwing the bloody cloth away. "Now what am I to do?"

"What do you mean? Your entire life hasn't revolved around Voldemort?" said Sirius, sometimes teenagers can be so dramatic.

"That's true. I do still have quidditch and homework and girls," said Harry, getting a dreamy look on his face.

"Very much true. Speaking of girls. Who are you looking at now?" his godfather asked with a leer.

"I'm still looking at Luna," said Harry.

"Luna, huh? I didn't know you were looking at her. I thought you were still stuck on Hermione," Sirius stated, tilting his head a bit in confusion.

"Hermione, no. She's like a sister to me," Harry said, waving his hands in a negative fashion.

"Oh, I did not know that," the other man stated, nodding his head a little bit. He could understand the emotion. He used to feel the same way about Lily, and he felt the same way about Millie now.

"Yes, Hermione's always been like an annoying sister to me," Harry said.

"Like Millie?" Sirius asked.

"No, Millie's never been annoying," Harry said cheekily.

"I'll never understand the dynamics between you three," the dogman stated, shaking his head.

"It's alright, I understand it," said Harry, a commiserating hand on his shoulder.

And with that, the two of them went home feeling much better than they had in a long time. The Dark Lord was now gone, and they didn't have to worry about him anymore. They didn't know about the Death Eaters being squibbed, but they would find out about that later in the Daily Prophet.

It would rock the entire wizarding world to find out that many of the elite wizards were now squibbed. Nobody would give a reason as to why, they would just know that they were squibbed. It would be written off as a strange disease that swept through the land that only targeted pureblood elites. Not all the Death Eaters were affected, only those that were at Azkaban that day.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who was asked, that included Snape, who was Kissed. Which negated the whole 'pureblood disease' thing, because he was a half-blood. But that didn't matter to the illogical magicals.

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"Millie, do you think that after this year I can be homeschooled?" asked Harry, a few nights later on the mirror.

"Why do you want to be homeschooled now the Voldemort and Snape are gone?" asked Millie, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"I just don't particularly like Hogwarts," said Harry with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

"You don't?" she questioned.

"It doesn't hold very good memories for me," he said still shrugging his shoulders.

"I can see that, yeah," said Millie, though she can think of many good memories there.

"Oh well, I met you here, and I have Hermione and I do have my friends. But there's a lot of bad memories here for me, too," said Harry, looking around the dorm room, trying to think of anything good he could think of. And seeing a lot of good memories but there were some bad ones too. "It seems like everywhere I go there's been a place where something's happened to me."

"I can see that," said Millie.

"That, and I don't think that the headmaster believes us that Voldemort is gone," said Harry, sighing a sigh of frustration.

"He doesn't," said Millie, also sighing a sigh of frustration. "I just talked to him the other day and he's still going on that there's no way we could have killed Voldemort."

"Even with the Unspeakables backing us?" the teenager asked, running his hands through his hair.

"Even with the Unspeakables backing us, yeah," said Millie.

"I don't think he understands what I went through to get rid of that man," the young man said. "Not that it was a great hardship, but it was a piece of really strong magic."

"He feels that it should have been a great battle, that you had some great power that Voldemort knew not, and that it couldn't have been just some simple spell done in parseltongue," she explained, knowing the headmaster's thoughts on the subject.

"I don't trust the headmaster and I want to be homeschooled after this year," Harry said even more firm in his resolve than he was five minutes ago.

"And you can be, and you will be," Millie said, giving him a wonderful smile.

"Thanks, Millie."

"Not a problem, yeah."

And with that, the two of them talked about more things for a little while and then they signed off.

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The rest of the fifth year went by unobtrusively. They went about their business, did their homework, and played quidditch and just generally were teenagers. Though the headmaster did keep a tight eye on Harry, a lot.

Harry and Luna did start dating and they had a great time being boyfriend and girlfriend. Everybody thought they made a spectacular couple. Except Hermione. It wasn't that she didn't think they made a good couple. It's just that she didn't particularly get along well with Luna. Their personalities just clashed.

Still, life went on and the OWLs came, and Hermione practically had a breakdown. But they were able to catch it in time and they got her through the tests without her having an emotional breakdown. And she made it through without a problem. Everybody did well on their OWLs, except perhaps Ron, but he wasn't their friend anymore, so nobody particularly cared.

After the OWLs, there was a week where the tests were graded, and everybody had free time to do what they will.

"So how do you think you did on the test, Harry?" asked Luna. She didn't have OWLs this year, but she did want to know how everyone else did on them.

"I think I did okay," said Harry as he leaned back on a tree with her between his legs leaning on his chest. "The study group helped a lot. I'm really glad we got that going again. I don't understand why we let it fall to the wayside the way we did. I think it had something to do with Millie not being in school anymore."

"I think it did too," said Hermione, leaning against another tree, with a book on her lap. "And I'm really sad that we did let it fall to the wayside the way we did. But I am glad you remembered it. And then we got it going again just in time."

"How do you think you did on the OWLs, Hermione?" Luna asked, putting the subject back on the tests.

"Oh, I'm so nervous. I'm just sure I did something wrong," The bushy-haired girl said, her hands just aflutter.

"I'm sure you did perfectly fine, Hermione," said Neville, reaching over from his resting spot near her and putting his hand on her knee. "After all, you are the smartest witch of our age."

"Too right," said Dean, nodding his head in agreement.

"There's not much else we can say about you, but there is that," said Seamus.

Hermione looked at him as if she wasn't sure that was a compliment or not. "Thank you, I think," she said.

"So what are you going to do for this summer?" asked Harry, looking around at all his friends, wondering what they were going to do.

"We're going back to France," said Hermione, in her prim and proper voice.

"What is in France that you find so fascinating?" asked Neville, looking at her perplexed. He had been to France, and he never found anything interesting about it.

"Well, for one, they have topless beaches."

"Topless beaches? As in you don't wear any tops?" asked Harry.

"That's right. Just bottoms."

"And you find this okay?" inquired Dean.

"Yes, I find it very freeing," said Hermione.

The boys all stared at her as if she were a completely different species. Well, they found it something very intriguing. They would never have suspected it from Hermione. Luna just looked at her in her dreamy way.

"And you don't find it distracting?" asked Harry, a frown on his brow.

"No. Why would I?" asked Hermione, narrowing her eyes at him. "I've been going there since I was five years old."

"Oh, I could see where you get used to it then," said Harry, nodding sagely.

The other boys nodded along as well.

"Still, I would think with hormones popping up you would start noticing more… attributes," hedged Neville, making an abortive gesture towards his chest.

"I did start getting a little shy when my… attributes started showing, but then my mom talked to me about it, and I felt it quite freeing. Thank you very much," she said with a sniff.

All the boys got dreamy looks on their faces at the thought of Hermione showing her… attributes. Luna smacked Harry on the arm for thinking about that.

"Hey, I'm just a teenage boy," said Harry, chuckling a bit.

"I'll thank you very much to not be thinking about my personal parts," said Hermione.

"Let's talk about something else," said Harry, still with a chuckle, "before I get into too much trouble. What are you blokes going to be doing for summer?"

With that, the topic turned to something much safer for Harry's arms. They talked about many things that were going to go on during the summer, such as quidditch, football and other summer activities. Harry did not tell them that he was not coming back next year. He would do that over the summer.

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OWL scores came out in the second week of summer. Harry got Os on many things, especially DADA and Runes, he got special notes on those two, and Es on everything else.

"These are very good scores, Harry. Are you sure you don't want to stay at Hogwarts? Because this is your last chance to back out," asked Millie. They were sitting in her living room with Sirius going over the last-minute discussions of Harry pulling out of Hogwarts.

"I'm very serious. I want out of Hogwarts," said Harry. He thought about it hard since he talked to Millie about it the first time. He really wanted to get out of Hogwarts. He didn't trust the headmaster at all. And especially since the man didn't believe that Voldemort was dead. He still had the Order of Phoenix going, for Merlin sakes.

"Alright, I'm writing the letter now, yeah," Millie said, getting up and going to the desk to write the letter. She'd actually already written the letter. All she needed to do was sign it and date it. Which she did just now.

Hedwig was waiting to take the letter to Hogwarts. She didn't get much use lately and was more than happy to take the letter out there. Dobby popped in with some sandwiches and cold drinks. He put them around the table and then popped back out.

Then it was just the three of them.

"You know this is going to put a cramp on your love life, don't you?" said Sirius, giving him a wink.

"Nah, Luna knows where I live," said Harry, winking at him right back.

"Yeah, but you're not going to be able to see her every day like you're used to," said Sirius.

"I'll still be able to see her enough that it'll keep our relationship going," said Harry, though he did sigh. "That, and she has my mirror," he said.

"You're not going to talk to her all night long, yeah," said Millie, using her 'mum voice'.

"Oh, come on, Millie. We can talk, like you and I used to every night," pleaded Harry, giving her puppy dog eyes.

"No, this is different. This is a boy and girl thing, not a brother and sister thing," she teased him. She wasn't going to keep him from his lady love, but she wasn't going to let him stay up past midnight either.

"But Millie," whinged Harry.

"I'm just teasing, Harry, but I really do want you off it by 10:00 at night," said Millie, giving him a wink.

"I can do that," said Harry, giving her a megawatt smile.

And with that, some boundaries were set, and some rules were laid down. Schedules were made up for Harry's homeschooling. He wasn't going to be getting off easy just because he was going to be staying at home. He was going to be working just as hard as he was as if he had been at Hogwarts. Tutors were going to be brought in and schedules were going to be made.

Sirius was going to be the one who's going to be getting the tutors and they were going to be using his house instead of Millie's flat. That way they wouldn't be disturbed by Millie's classes.

All in all, it was going to be a rather tedious, yet adventurous event for Harry. He knew Hermione was going to be jealous because he was going to be getting one-on-one tutoring that she was not going to be getting. He was dreading the phone call he was going to have to make to let her know that he was not going back to Hogwarts. Luna already knew, she was the first he told.

So, he picked up the phone and he called Hermione.

"Hello Hermione," he said when she picked up the phone. "I have some news I have to tell you," he said, thinking she wasn't going to take this well.

"Oh," she said. "What do you have to tell me?" she asked, in a voice that said she knew she wasn't going to like what he had to say.

"I'm not going back to Hogwarts," he said, putting it out there bluntly.

"What do you mean you're not going back to Hogwarts? Don't you know that education is very important?" she said very quickly.

"I'm still getting my education. I'm just not getting it at Hogwarts," he said just as quickly.

"How are you going to get your education then?" was her next question.

"I'll be getting tutors," he said, cringing at what he thought she was going to say next.

"Oh," she said, a bit confused and slightly jealous. She didn't yell though, which shocked Harry.

"Yes, as long as Dumbledore is in charge of Hogwarts, I'll not be going back there," he said, still holding the phone a bit away from his ears because he thought she was going to start yelling.

"Dumbledore is a great man," said Hermione, though she hadn't started yelling yet.

"He just seems to have a bit of a fascination with me that I'm not comfortable with," said Harry, tentatively bringing the phone back to his ear.

"Oh, Harry, I'm sure that's all your imagination," she said with a sigh.

"Be it my imagination or not, it makes me uncomfortable. And as long as I'm uncomfortable, I'm not going back to Hogwarts," he said with a sigh.

"That is your prerogative, I guess," said Hermione, resignedly. "Um, you sure this is what you want?" she asked, as if she could change his mind.

"Yes, Millie is already taking me out, and the tutors have already been hired," said Harry, firmly.

"Well, I'm going to miss you very much. When will I be able to see you?" she said, in resignation.

"I'm still going to be living with Millie in Hogsmeade, and you'll be able to come see me anytime during Hogsmeade weekend," he said, wondering if he could get her a mirror too.

"There is that, I suppose. I'll still miss you in the common room and all that. And you know the quidditch team is going to hate you because you're leaving them without their star seeker," she tried one last desperate attempt.

"I'm sure Ginny Weasley will do just as well," he said, knowing Ginny was good. Not him good, but well enough to win.

"Not as well as you," she said, echoing his thoughts.

"Well, bugger them. That's all they ever liked me for anyway," he said, not caring one iota for the team. Well, that wasn't true, but not enough to stay where Dumbledore was.

"Language, Harry."

And with that, the two of them talked a bit more about what was going to happen, with him not at Hogwarts. But Hermione accepted it in the end, whether she agreed with it or not. But it was his decision and that was that.

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Years later. Harry concluded that leaving Hogwarts was the best thing he ever did. He married Luna in the end. He and Hermione stayed best friends. He wasn't sure that would have happened if he had stayed at Hogwarts, because he felt Dumbledore would have done something to eradicate those relationships. But in the end, it all worked out. And all because he befriended a woman named Millie in his first year.

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Well, this is the end of this fic. Remember this was supposed to be a lighthearted fic with a shot of angst. I wasn't even going to complete it after the first year, but after many people asked me to continue it on, I decided to carry it on to at least fifth year. This is it. This is the end. It's going no further. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.