**This was one of my very first HP one-shots I had written over one summer. I'm glad to say I wrote it. :)**

The Luck of the Irish

            We Death Eaters moved as one black sea across the viaduct, following the Dark Lord’s lead. Harry Potter had just surrendered to us, and the Dark Lord had defeated him easily. Potter had been pathetic; he hadn’t put up a fight at all. With the victory won, we figured it was time to show all the Hogwartians that their great hero had fallen.  

            I was perhaps the shortest Death Eater possible, walking amongst older Death Eaters with much more experience. I felt honored to have taken part in this fight. I was proud to be marked with the Dark Mark on my left forearm.

My dark red hair was in a side braid, caked with tiny bits of debris. My black robes were covered in dust and rubble. My ice blue eyes were full of gloating over the death of the Boy Who Lived. I couldn’t wait to see the looks on the Hogwartians faces once they’d soon see that their hero had been defeated.

            Our black sea finally reached what was left of the school’s courtyard. It was nearly obliterated. Their dead had been removed from the battlefield; our allies were left where they fell. They didn’t matter, their lives being lost was for a good purpose. We had won, they had died nobly, but I doubted they would be remembered. We had quite a bit of our numbers still intact.

            We Death Eaters spread out, forming a blockade, facing off against Hogwartians who managed to survive the fighting. The oaf we had captured carried Potter in his arms, his limp body a sight for all those who stood by him. This was a sign of our victory.

This was a sign of an ending era, and a new one being born.

            “Harry Potter…is dead!” called the Dark Lord. He stood out in front of us all, so everyone could see him.

            “No! NO!” screamed a red-headed girl.

            “Silence!” the Dark Lord shouted, shooting a spell into the air to silence her. A man stood by her, wand out at the Dark Lord. He had the same red hair, so I assumed that maybe he was her father or a relative in general. “Stupid girl. Harry Potter is dead. From this day forth, you put your faith in me.” He turned to us all. “Harry Potter is dead!” We all snickered. He turned back to face the enemy. “And now is the time to declare yourself. Come forward and join us. Or die.”

            Nobody from the other side moved at all. They all stood with stone faces, some even retreated a few steps. There had to be one coward who’d rather serve the Dark Lord than die.

            “Draco,” called a voice from our side. I looked around to see Lucius Malfoy with his wife, calling for their son. I had thought Draco was with us here in the crowd. Apparently, I had thought wrong.

            “Draco…come,” his mother crooned. I scanned the crowd to find Draco.

When my eyes finally spotted the pale blonde hair, I could see how uncomfortable he felt. However, he did make his way through the Hogwartians, all of them looking at him with scornful expressions.

            “Ah, well done, Draco,” the Dark Lord said. He did something that probably shocked us all. The Dark Lord hugged Draco.

If it wasn’t awkward for Draco, it was definitely awkward for the rest of us. Once the Dark Lord released him, Draco hustled over to join his parents.

            One student, who looked pretty well beat-up with a limp and blood on the side of his head, wobbled forward. He looked to be in his last year at the school. This one wanted to become one of us? Surely he wouldn’t last long in the condition he looked to be in.

            “Well, I must say I’d hoped for better,” the Dark Lord snickered. We Death Eaters chuckled. “And who might you be?”

            “Neville Longbottom,” he mumbled. We all laughed again. What kind of a name was that?

            “Well, Neville, I’m sure we can find a place for you in our ranks.”

            “I’d like to say something,” Longbottom said boldly.

            The Dark Lord hesitated. What could this boy have to possibly say? He had some guts; I had to admit, doing what he was.

            “Well, Neville, I’m sure we’d all be fascinated to hear what you have to say,” the Dark Lord said softly.

            “It doesn’t matter Harry’s gone,” the boy started.

            “Stand down, Neville,” said another. My eyes stuck to the boy’s face.

He was shorter than Neville, probably the same age, too, with very dark hair. He had more of an Irish accent than the others, and those green eyes…I swore they were looking right back at me. I had seen him before, somewhere, but I couldn’t quite remember where…

            “People die every day,” Neville ranted. “Friends, family. Yeah. We lost Harry tonight, but he’s still with us in here.” He put a hand over his heart. “So is Fred, Remus…Tonks. All of them. They didn’t die in vain. But you will!” His voice became a shout. “Because you’re wrong! Harry’s heart did beat for us, for all of us!”

            We all snickered.

However, Longbottom’s speech sparked something that changed the game completely.

            Longbottom yanked out a gleaming sword from the hat he just held. The Dark Lord’s snake hissed. Not a split second later did Harry Potter spring alive, rolling out of the oaf’s arms. We all stood there in shock as Potter ran to the other side. But he’s supposed to be dead!

            “Confringo!” he barked. His spell missed the Dark Lord’s snake, hitting a bunch of Death Eaters behind her.

 Everything went into chaos: Death Eaters Disapparated, flying into the Great Hall and around the castle, the Hogwartians all herded themselves into the Great Hall.

            I ran into the Hall, diving into the battle. I gave a battle cry and shot the Killing Curse at every Hogwartian I saw. I would show no mercy. I didn’t think about killing Potter since the Dark Lord wanted to take on that task himself.

            A Stunning Spell nicked me. I whipped my head around to see a Hogwartian flee out to the courtyard. My brows knitted together. You’re mine, I thought venomously.

I Disapparated into black smoke, keeping tabs on the boy. I landed in front of him, menacing smile across my lips.

            “You’re finished,” I hissed.

            It was the boy who had spoken other than Longbottom not a minute ago. He stared, his eyes wide in surprise. His eyes locked with mine, and we couldn’t tear our gazes apart. I could feel my fierceness start to fade. I shook my head. No, finish him! Show no mercy!

            “Well, what are you waiting for?” cried a voice behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Alecto, the Carrow sister, egging me on. She came to stand by my side. “Finish him!”

            “Lydia,” the boy spoke. My eyes widened. How did he know my name? “Lydia, it’s me.”

            “I don’t know who you are,” I spat. I felt like I had seen him before, but I didn’t really know who he was. He was my enemy as far as I was concerned at the moment.

            “Finish him,” Alecto crooned.

            “You know me, Lyd,” the boy went on. He advanced one step.

            “Back up!” Alecto hissed. “Lydia, if you won’t finish him off, I will!”

            “You have to remember me,” the boy pleaded. “You went to Hogwarts, Lyd, you must remember!”

            “Enough!” Alecto roared. She looked to me. “Lydia, we’re finishing him off. Together.” Our wands were raised. “One—two—three.”

            The boy stood there bravely, his eyes shut, waiting to take the Killing Curse.

Suddenly, I felt emotionally vulnerable. I couldn’t kill him. I knew him, I know I did! How else would he know my name?

If I was going to figure out how I knew him, I was going to have to save his life and betray Alecto.

            My heart switched sides. If the Dark Lord lived through this battle, he’d probably punish me. At the moment, though, I didn’t care what he would do. All my focus was on was saving this boy’s life.

 I leapt away from Alecto, lips curled into a sneer. She glared at me in shock.

            “What are you do—?”

She never got the chance to finish her question.

            “Avada Kedavra!” I barked, blasting a stunned Alecto on her back. Her body didn’t twitch nor did her breast heave to show that she was breathing. Alecto Carrow was dead.

            I looked to the boy who had opened his eyes. He stood there, eyes wide, staring at the Carrow sister. I looked down on her, feeling rather satisfied. Never once did I think I would feel pride in murdering an ally.

            “Why did you do it?” he whispered. I looked at him, my wand lowered at my side. “I thought for sure you would kill me.”

            “I spared you because I know you,” I murmured. “I don’t know how I do, but I know I do. I’ve seen you before somewhere.” I better hope I don’t regret sparing his life.

            “That’s right, you have.” He moved in on me. I was still a little flighty, so I stuck my wand out as a threat. “I won’t hurt you, I promise.” He tossed his wand to the ground to prove his point. One of my eyebrows arched in suspicion.

After a few moments contemplation, I dropped my wand at my feet. I saw his stance relax a little bit. He must’ve been ready to fight me if I had thought he was really going to attack me.

            A bright light from my peripheral made my head snap to my left. It was the Dark Lord and Potter, engaging in a final battle. It looked to be that Potter was winning easily, because the green light from the Dark Lord’s wand was going back on him. It consumed him, and his wand flew from his hand and seemed to hang there for all eternity, until Potter caught it. A gasp left my lips as I saw the Dark Lord defeated.

            He flaked apart, and the little flakes of him disappeared into the morning light. I watched in awe as the Dark Lord disappeared from the world. I checked my left forearm; the Dark Mark was faded already. I hoped it would soon be gone.

            Not a moment later, few Death Eaters who knew that the Dark Lord was dead had Disapparated; I could see their black figures retreating in the sky. I didn’t feel any anger that the Dark Lord was dead. In fact, I felt…joyful. There were a lot of emotions swimming within me that I couldn’t tell why I was feeling so much.

            “Looks like things are going to be changing now,” said the boy.

            “Yeah,” I murmured, turning my attention back on him. “I guess so.”

            “You don’t remember me at all?”

            “No, it’s maddening,” I growled. “I know I’ve seen you before!” The anger still lived within me, but not against the boy. How could I have seen him before if I didn’t know where? He hadn’t been a Death Eater once; otherwise I would’ve known his name.

            “Lydia, you went to Hogwarts.”

            “I did?” My head tilted to the side. I had no recollection of going to the school, I would’ve remembered easily if I had. I would’ve most likely been in Slytherin.

            “Yes, you did.” He towered over me. “You are in my year, but a Hufflepuff. You were taken away from your home a few years ago by the Death Eaters. Don’t you remember that?”

            “Not in the slightest,” I admitted. “Wait…are you making this up?” If this was some kind of trick, my mind could always change back to murdering him.

            “No!” he said immediately. “I’m not making it up. Please.” He gingerly took my hands in his. I didn’t rip my hands out of his despite my brain telling me to do so. “You’ve got to remember me. It’s me Seamus, remember?”

            “I don’t know anybody of that name, I’m sorry.”

            “Yes, you do!” he complained. “How can you not remem—” In his eyes, I saw that he just had a revelation. “Someone wiped your memory…” It wasn’t a question. Seamus was stating it as fact.

            Had my memory been wiped? I probably wouldn’t have known since I wouldn’t remember if I had. I couldn’t have had my memory wiped. All I did remember was being under the care of the Death Eaters for my entire life practically.

            “How would you know?” I asked.

            Seamus didn’t say anything at all. His arms slinked around my waist, and before I knew it, he kissed me. My eyes bulged. What the hell? I tried to shove Seamus off me, but it was proving difficult. Even though he didn’t look it, he was pretty strong.

            Suddenly, I felt myself open up. Things started coming back to me, all at once. It was like memories had been locked away in a vault at the very back of my mind, never to be brought up again. But they were. Whoever did the Memory Charm certainly hadn’t done it well enough if one kiss could make memories of mine come back to me.

            All memories came back to me: my family, when I had gotten my acceptance letter to Hogwarts, being Sorted into Hufflepuff, meeting my friends in that House and in others like Seamus, all the events that happened at Hogwarts over the years I was there.

There was one that stood out from all the rest, however: the Yule Ball three years ago in my fourth year at Hogwarts.

                                                                        ~*~

            The last song of the Yule Ball was playing; it was very, very slow. It was so slow that I almost dozed off had it not been for Mary, a fellow Hufflepuff, who nudged me in the ribs. Like me, she was a redhead, but her eyes were green, mine were blue. I picked my head up.

            “What?” I mumbled.

            “Look who’s coming this way,” she giggled, looking past me.

            I looked over my shoulder to see Seamus Finnigan strutting over to the table Mary and I were sitting at. He probably wanted to ask her to dance, not me. He stopped in front of our table.

            “Ladies,” he said politely. His gaze shifted to me. “May I have this last dance?” He held out his hand for me.

            My heart sprinted. I didn’t see this coming at all. Seamus Finnigan wanted to dance with me? What had knocked him in the head during the ball? Still, I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

            “Can you keep me awake long enough?” I teased.

I put my hand in his, and he helped me to my feet. Quickly while he wasn’t looking, I flattened out my dark green, knee length dress. I quickly patted the bun atop my head. There didn’t seem to be a hair out of place. Good, I didn’t want to embarrass us both with my appearance.

            There were few people left on the dance floor, practically squished against each other. It was probably because they were all dating. It wasn’t like that with Seamus and me, we were friends.

            He led me to a roomy area of the floor and coiled an arm around my waist, and took one of my hands in his free one. My free hand rested lightly on his shoulder. We danced slowly. Rather than just moving in a tight circle, Seamus spun me slowly a few times. I giggled, going bright red in the face. On the last spin, I ended up pressed against him with my back against him. We were still swaying, his arms locked around my waist. My arms lay atop his.

            “Lydia?” Seamus whispered.

            “Yes?” I turned my head to look into his eyes.

            “You look really beautiful, you know that?”

            “Really?”

            “Of course, anybody who can’t see that is a git.”

            “Aw, Seamus,” I murmured. “Thanks. That’s so sweet.”

            A shiver escaped me once I felt his lips press against my shoulder. They moved to my ear.

            “W-what are you doing?” I gasped, breathless. This feeling was foreign to me, but I kind of liked it.

            “I really like you, Lyd,” he whispered. “You’re everything I could ever ask for: caring, beautiful, and funny. Will you be mine?”

            This night was just full of surprises. Seamus Finnigan was asking me out? This had to be a dream, because in reality, I always thought of us as friends, nothing more, and nothing less. Yet…my heart had recently skipped a beat every time he called my name, or when I’d stare into those eyes of his. I guess I had been ignoring all the obvious signs that I was falling for my friend.

            “Yes.” I smiled. He pressed his head into mine.

Until the song ended, we remained that way, dancing in a tight circle, intimately.

                                                                        ~*~

            I kissed Seamus a little harder, now hugging him instead of trying to push him away. Now it all made sense to me. I was brainwashed into being a Death Eater, taught to hate the classmates and teachers I once talked with on a daily basis. The Death Eaters had turned me, an innocent Hufflepuff, into a monster, capable of showing no mercy to her enemies.

Well, that monster was now gone, because Seamus reminded me of who I really was.

            I pulled away to catch my breath. Seamus was panting a bit; my head was in a whirl. His eyes searched mine.

            “I remember,” I whispered, stroking his face. “I remember everything now.”

            “You do?” His eyebrows rose.

            “Yes.” I laughed.

            “Blimey, I didn’t think that would work. It was quite a long shot.”

            “It paid off,” I crooned as I kissed him deeply.

            “I say it was luck.”

            “Luck of the Irish, perhaps?” I teased.

            “Maybe so.” He grinned. “Now, what say we go back into the Great Hall and join the others?”

            “I’d love that more than anything in the world,” I murmured. “Maybe I’ll get to see everybody again!” That would top this day. First my memories were brought back to me by Seamus, I found myself again, and now I would be reuniting with my friends who I had known for so long. Could anything top that? “But I bet everybody will attack me when they see me.”

            “Why?”

            “Seamus, I’ve been a Death Eater for so long that people will assume I chose to become one when really, I didn’t. Trying to convince them that I had my memory altered won’t be an easy thing to do.”

            “Lydia, I’m sure they’d listen to you. Everybody always listened to you when here at the school. Remember?”

            “I think my memory’s still a little fuzzy on some things.” I blushed.

“They’ll all be glad to see you, trust me. I know I am.” He rested his forehead on mine. “I love you so much, Lydia.”

            I grinned. Yup, I was so glad Seamus reminded me of who I really was now. Otherwise, I would be missing this. And I wouldn’t want to miss this for the world.

            “I love you too, Shay,” I whispered. He groaned.

            “Here we go with that pet name again,” he grumbled. I giggled.

            “I guess I forgot how much you hate it,” I mused. “Don’t worry; I won’t embarrass you in front of everyone when we go back to the Great Hall, okay?”

            “Promise?”

            “Promise,” I murmured, kissing him again. “Let’s go.”

            Seamus took my hand, and I squeezed his. Taking our precious time, we headed back to the Great Hall, where I was sure to shock everybody. A Death Eater and Hogwarts student together may frighten a few people when they’d see us, but I bet once they would see that it was me, Lydia, seventh year Hufflepuff from Hogwarts, they’d understand.