"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow, then?" Draco asked me as he had me pressed up against a wall in the empty corridors.

"Of course," I replied, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Why would you ask a dumb question like that?"

He shrugged, smiling. "I just wanted to make sure you still wanted to keep me around."

"You know I'll always want you around, Draco." I began to kiss him on the lips. He bit my bottom lip, causing me to pull away. "Ow, Draco. You bit me."

"Oh, damn, I'm sorry. Are you alright?" He lifted a finger up to my lip.

I started laughing. "I'm fine, Draco. It's nothing to worry about."

He started laughing as well. "Okay. That's good to hear."

Then we went on with kissing again. I didn't care if anyone saw us. We were finally happy. We were finally together. "Can I tell you something?" I asked.

"Sure, what is it?"

I paused and then chuckled, shaking my head. "I just want to lock up my feelings for you and keep them somewhere safe. Somewhere for just you and me."

Draco smiled at me as he caressed my cheek. "Max, you have no idea how much you mean to me. I've been wanting you for a long time. I just can't believe it took me this long to finally win you over. You know, with our history and and Diggory and--"

I put my finger up to his lips in order for him to be quiet. "We have each other now and that's all that matters," I said.

He took my finger away. "It's okay to miss him, you know," he told me, talking about Cedric. "After all, he was your first love."

"I know, and I cherish what he and I had, but now I'm going to do the same with you." I paused, grinning. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

He nodded, stealing one last peck on the lips. "Bye, Max."

"Bye," I said before we went our separate ways. As soon as I turned at the first corner, Harry was standing there.

"I should've known you would end up with him."

"What do you mean?"

He paused again. "I dunno. I guess there was something there, even with all of that hatred. I'm happy for you. I really am, even though I want to hex him just as much as Ron does."

I laughed. "Thanks, Harry." I paused for a moment, then thought about Slughorn. "You know, I wish we had some luck with Slughorn."

"Yeah, we really need to work on getting that memory from him," he said.

I gasped out loud, hitting Harry on the arm. "That's it! All we need is a little bit of luck!"

Harry looked confused. "What are you going on about?"

"Felix Felicis! The stuff we won in class that day! We can use it to get that memory out of Slughorn!"

"Oh, yeah! I think I still have it on my dresser. Let's go tell Ron and Hermione!"

With that, Harry and I raced back to the Gryffindor Tower, getting ready to form a plan. A plan that was going to work for sure.

*******

"Ready, Max?" Harry asked me as he held up the vial in his hand.

I nodded in response. "Yeah, I'm ready."

He nodded back and took a sip of the potion. I grabbed the vial from him and gulped down what was left of the potion. After a second or two, I felt different. It was a good feeling, though. A smile came across my face as I looked at Harry.

"Well, how do you two feel?" Hermione questioned.

"Excellent," we replied at the same time, standing up from the couch.

"Okay, well, Slughorn usually eats early, takes a walk, and then returns to his office," Hermione told us.

"Right. Max and I are going down to Hagrid's," Harry said.

"What? No, Harry, you and Max need to go talk to Slughorn!" the girl protested. "We have a plan!"

"We know, but we've got a really good feeling about Hagrid's. We feel like it's the place to be tonight. You know what I mean?" I spoke up.

"No," Ron and Hermione said in unison.

"Well, trust us, we know what we're doing," my brother informed them, walking out.

"Or Felix does, actually," I added, following my twin out of the Gryffindor Common Room. "Harry, do you feel brilliant, or is it just me?"

"Oh, believe me, Max. I feel the exact same way," Harry commented, planting a playful smirk on his face.

Now we really had a good feeling about Hagrid's tonight.

We spotted Slughorn as we headed out of the castle. We stood right behind him, causing him to jump. "Merlin's beard, you two!"

"Sorry, sir. We should've announced ourselves," Harry apologized. "You probably thought it was Professor Sprout."

"Yes, I did, actually. What makes you think that?"

"Well, just the general behavior, sir," I answered this time. "The sneaking around, the jumping when you saw us. Are those Tentacula leaves? They're very valuable, aren't they?"

"Ten Galleons a leaf to the right buyer," he muttered.

"Personally, these plants always kind of freaked me out," he admitted.

With that, we went back to going out of the castle.

But Slughorn stopped us. "How did you two get out of the castle?"

"Through the front door, sir," Harry told him. "We're off to visit Hagrid. He's an old friend of ours. So if you don't mind, we will be going now."

"Harry and Maxine Potter!" he hissed at us.

"Sir!" Harry and I whispered back.

"It's nearly nightfall! You two just can't go roaming the castle by yourselves!"

"Well, then, by all means, come along, sir!" I retorted, strutting out of the castle, with Harry and Slughorn behind me.

"Harry! Maxine! I insist that you two come back to the castle with me immediately!" Slughorn yelled from behind us.

"That would be counterproductive, sir!" Harry yelled back.

"And what makes you say that?"

"No idea!" I replied, making us snicker a little.

When all three of us made it to Hagrid's Hut, Hagrid was outside. He was looking at a dead spider as he began talking about Aragog.

I remembered that spider from second year. His spider family tried to kill not only me but Harry and Ron as well. Harry and I weren't paying any attention to what the adults were saying. We were feeling too happy to even think about anything at all. No stress, no worries.

*******

That night, the four of us stayed inside Hagrid's Hut. While the two adults were getting drunk, we couldn't help but watch them.

"You know, I once had a fish. Francis, I think was his name. He was very dear to me," Slughorn exclaimed in his drunken state. "One afternoon, I came downstairs, and he vanished. Poof. But that's life, I suppose. You go along and then suddenly, poof!"

"Poof!" Hagrid shouted.

"Poof," we repeated.

I suddenly felt like myself again.

"It was a student who gave me Francis," Slughorn told us as Hagrid fell asleep in his chair. "One spring afternoon, I discovered a bowl on my desk with just a few inches of clear water in it and floating on the surface was a flower petal. As I watched, it sank. Just before it reached the bottom, it transformed into a wee fish. It was beautiful magic. Wondrous to behold.

"The flower petal had come from a lily. Your mother. The day I came downstairs, the day the bowl was empty, was the day your mother..." He trailed off, changing the subject. "I know why you two are here, but I can't help you. It would ruin me."

Harry was at a loss for words. Since Harry wasn't going to say anything, I decided to open my mouth again. "Do you know why we survived, Professor? The night we got our scars? Because of her. Because she sacrificed herself. Because she refused to step aside. Her love was more powerful than Voldemort."

"Don't say that--"

"No, I'm not afraid to say his name and neither is Harry. I'm going to tell you something. Something that only others have guessed at. It's true. We are the Chosen Ones. We are the only ones who can destroy him, but in order to do so, we need to know what Tom Riddle asked you all those years ago and we need to know what you told him. Be brave, Professor. Be brave like our mother. Otherwise, you disgrace her. Otherwise, she died for nothing. Otherwise, the bowl will remain empty forever."

Slughorn hesitated. But he finally gave in, taking the memory and placing it in a vial. "Please, don't think badly of me when you see it. You have no idea what he was like, even then."

We nodded and headed back to the castle without him.

"Nice words back there," Harry told me. "You basically took them right out of my mouth."

"I tried my best," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"Well, you did good."

"Thanks."

Harry paused, clearing his throat. "You know, Mum didn't die for nothing. Same goes for Dad and Cedric."

"Sirius, too," I added. "We've lost so many people, Harry. We can't let that happen again."

"We won't," he assured me. "We won't, Max."

I was hoping he was right about that.

*******

"I was in the library the other night, in the Restricted Section, and I read something rather odd about a piece of rare magic, and I thought perhaps you could illuminate me. It's called, as I understand it, a Horcrux."

"I beg your pardon?" Slughorn asked.

"A Horcrux," Tom repeated. "I came across the term while reading, and I didn't fully understand it."

"I'm not sure what you were reading, Tom, but this is very dark stuff, very dark, indeed."

"Which is why I came to you."

Slughorn looked puzzled before answering. "A Horcrux is an object in which a person has concealed part of their soul."

"But I don't understand how that works, sir," Tom retorted.

"One splits one's soul and hides part of it in an object," he explained to the teenager. "By doing so, you're protected, should you be attacked and your body destroyed."

"Protected?"

"You cannot die, Tom. It lives on."

Tom looked into the fireplace in deep thought. "How does one split his soul, sir?"

"I think you already know the answer to that, my boy," Slughorn replied.

"Murder," he mumbled. "Can you only split the soul once? What about eight times?"

"Eight? Merlin's beard, Tom. Isn't it bad enough to consider killing one person? To rip the soul into eight pieces...This is all hypothetical, isn't it, Tom? All academic?"

Tom turned back around, facing Slughorn and placing a smirk on his devilish face. "Of course, sir. It'll be our little secret."

*******

"Well, did he succeed, sir, in making a Horcrux?" Harry asked Dumbledore after looking at the memory.

"Oh, yes, he did succeed, and not just one time," he replied.

"What are they?" I spoke up.

"Could be anything. Most commonplace of objects. A ring, a book..."

"Tom Riddle's Diary," we said.

"It's a Horcrux, yes. Four years ago, when you two saved Ginny Weasley's life in the Chamber of Secrets, you two brought me the diary. Then, there was Marvolo Gaunt's Ring. I knew this was a different kind of magic. I had no idea how powerful it was until now."

"What about the ring?" Harry asked.

"It belonged to Voldemort's grandfather," he stated. "Difficult to find. Even more difficult to destroy."

"But if you could find them all, if you did destroy each Horcrux--"

"--one destroys Voldemort," I finished for Harry. "But they could be anywhere. How would you find them?"

"Dark magic leaves traces," Dumbledore pointed out.

"It's where you've been going, isn't it, sir? When you leave the school?"

"Yes, Harry, and I think perhaps I may have found another Horcrux. But this time, I cannot hope to destroy it alone. Once again, I must ask too much of you two."

"What are you saying, Professor?" I looked at him funny.

"I want you two to come with me."

*******

"I can't believe the year is almost over," I told Harry on the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room later that night after meeting with Dumbledore.

"Same here." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Are you nervous about tomorrow?"

"Of course I am," I replied. "Anything can happen."

"I know. Max?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise me that we'll be safe tomorrow."

"We're going to be with Dumbledore. Of course we'll be fine."

He chuckled a little at my response. I sighed, getting up from the couch and heading up for bed. "I love you, Max," he told me.

I stopped and turned around. "I love you, too, Harry. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Max."

With that, I went up to my own bed.

Tomorrow was going to be fine. I just knew it. Nothing bad was going to happen to us. I just hoped that our luck wouldn't run out on us. After all, we were the lucky Potter twins. Well, we were for most of the night. But we had no more Felix Felicis to help us now. We just had to hope the odds would be in our favor.

After all, anything could happen.

~~~~~~~

A/N: YEAH! I UPDATED!

Sorry that I've been gone for like ever, lol, but I'm back! And this book is about to end soon! I just have a few more chapters to go and then I'll be working on the fifth book in the Double Trouble series: This Means War!

So, what did you think? What do you want to happen next? (Drax wise, lol)

Comment, vote, love me for coming back. Next chapter might be up soon! :)

-A