Sorry this took so long. Again, I know. I had to re-write this entire chapter, and I continue to be distracted by literally EVERYTHING. It's ridiculous and sad.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the final chapter of Harry Potter and the Animorphs, Book #1.

Chapter Thirteen

The next day, results for the previous week's exams were handed out. To the surprise of no one, Hermione had top marks in our year with over a hundred percent in each subject. Malfoy trailed behind her in second-place, to his annoyance, while Neville's outstanding Herbology scores made up for his abysmal Potions exams. As for me, I was just relieved that I hadn't completely failed—though my marks were hardly anything to write home about, even if I had someone to write home to. I couldn't bring myself to care very much about exams, though. I was just glad I'd done well enough to be admitted back to Hogwarts next year.

On the last day of term, everyone busily packed their things and prepared to leave. But I still had one last good-bye to make before I went to the train. Hagrid was seated on the front porch of his hut reading the Daily Prophet, which he closed and set aside when he saw me.

"Harry!" he said, greeting me with a smile. "Wait here, I'll get that present I told yeh about."

"Really, you don't have to—"

"No, no, it's no trouble," Hagrid insisted. He got up and entered his hut. I could hear him moving things around inside. I glanced down at the newspaper Hagrid had been reading before I arrived. There were pictures of several men and women on the front page. I recognized some of them from our attack on the Yeerk Pool—they were the hosts I'd freed during the fire. I quickly picked up the newspaper and began to read.

FOURTEEN MINISTRY EMPLOYEES DECLARED MISSING

Several distraught families contacted the Department of Magical Law Enforcement yesterday to report that their loved ones had not returned home from work the night before. A total of fourteen people are said to have disappeared in the same evening, without any explanation. The only connection between them is that they work for the Ministry of Magic, albeit for several different departments.

Andy Cartwright, the Auror in charge of the investigation, had an interesting theory. "Fourteen missing, right? That's seven a-side—just enough for a Quidditch game," Auror Cartwright told one of our reporters this morning. "I figure they had an inter-office league and met up to play a game on the night of the incident. Lots of people have disappeared during a good game of Quidditch, after all. They'll probably turn up again in about a month."

However, an investigation by this reporter into the recreational Quidditch habits of the missing witches and wizards has yielded few results. Aurors are still considering other possible causes for the disappearance.

The missing persons are: Mrs. Kerri Adcock of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Ms. Regina Rush of the Broom Regulatory Control Office, Mr. Joseph Philips of the Centaur Liaison Office, Mr. Karl Abbracciabeni of the Committee on Experimental Charms, Mr. Theodore Gutermuth and Mrs. Lenore Heimans of the Department of Standards and Practices, Mrs. Evelyn Messana of the Magical Maintenance Department, Mr. Hadley Park of the Magical Landscaping and Agriculture Department, Madam Karina Edgecombe of the Floo Network Authority, Mr. Rosendo Whittle of the Ludicrous Patents Office, Mr. John Doe of the Office of Misinformation, Mr. Buzz Gully of the Pest Advisory Board, and Mr. Rudolf Aiello and Ms. Laverne Lobo of the Werewolf Registry Office.

Any readers with helpful information regarding the location of these and other missing persons are encouraged to contact the Auror department, or the offices of the Daily Prophet.

As I set the newspaper back down, I hoped that the freed hosts would be smart enough to stay hidden. I felt even worse for their families. They had no idea why their loved ones were gone—and if they did know why, then that meant they were hosts, too.

How many families were the Yeerks tearing apart every day? Elfangor's, Ron's, countless others… It made me feel sick and angry. It made me want to burn the Yeerk Pool again, and again, as many times as it took to make them stop.

Hagrid emerged from his hut, distracting me from the dark turn my thoughts had taken. "Here it is," he said. "I've been puttin' it together over the last few weeks."

He gave me a large, leather-bound book. I looked curiously up at him. "What's this?"

"Go on, open it up," he said excitedly.

I opened the book and turned the first few pages. It was a photo album, but these weren't normal photographs. They were wizarding photographs, which meant the subjects could move like they were in a short film clip. As I watched the witches and wizards smiling, laughing, and waving out at me, I felt completely frozen by comparison.

They were all pictures of my parents.

"Sent owls off ter all yer parents' old school friends, askin' fer photos… knew you didn't have any… d'yeh like it?" Hagrid asked, sounding uncertain. I probably looked devastated.

I nodded and tried to say something, but it felt like my throat was closing up. It was just as well. Words hadn't been invented that could explain what those three-by-four inch glimpses into my parents' lives meant to me. Hagrid seemed to understand, though.

After I said my goodbyes, I rejoined the other students at Hogsmeade Station, loaded my luggage onto the Hogwarts Express, and began looking for a seat. I hoped I could find an empty compartment so Hermione, Neville, Malfoy and I could discuss our plans for the summer.

I spotted Ron in one of the cars. He was chatting with Dean and Seamus, smiling at a joke one of them had made. Things had become even more awkward between us. I didn't know what to say to Ron now. Hermione was right, Malfoy had no reason to lie. I couldn't deny it anymore.

Ron was a Controller.

Anyone looking in from the outside would assume our friendship was just falling apart. The truth was a lot more complicated. How could I spend time with my best friend now that I knew a Yeerk, the enemy, was watching through his eyes, speaking with his mouth, controlling his every action?

"It's awful, isn't it?" Hermione said. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I hadn't noticed her approach, having been so fixated on Ron. Perhaps sensing our attention, Ron looked up and caught us watching him. His brow furrowed slightly before he turned away and entered a compartment with Dean and Seamus. I sighed and followed Hermione into an empty compartment she'd found. "It's horrible," she continued once we were alone. "Knowing what he's going through, knowing that Yeerk is doing to him, while everyone else is completely oblivious."

Locking Ron up somewhere until the Yeerk in his head died of Kandrona starvation, though satisfying, would be impractical. Hermione and I had already agreed on that. There were too many ways it could go wrong, and the Yeerks would surely look for their lost host. Then they'd know everything about us and we'd be their next targets. The only way to save Ron for good would be to make the Yeerks leave Earth.

"I just wish there was some way to… I don't know. Let him know that we know," I said with a shrug. "That we're fighting for him."

"How?" Hermione asked. "Anything Ron knows, the Yeerk will know, too. They'll come after us."

"I know it's stupid," I said. "It was just an idea."

"Oh, Harry, it's not stupid," Hermione said with a sigh. She looked very tired. "I wish we could tell him, too."

We immediately shut up when the compartment door opened, but it was only Neville. He was frowning miserably. "Have either of you seen Trevor anywhere?"

"Oh no," Hermione exclaimed. "Have you lost him again?"

"Yes," Neville replied.

"Come on, we'll help you find him," Hermione suggested.

"No, it's too late," Neville said. "The train's about to leave and I haven't even seen him at all the last few days. I just thought you might have seen him. Great-Uncle Algie's going to be really disappointed."

To be honest, Neville's pet toad tried to run away so much, I think it would actually be happier if it stayed lost. I didn't say that out loud, though.

"We should talk about what we're going to do this summer," I said.

"I'll go get Malfoy," Hermione said. "He's been so busy with his housemates that I haven't had a chance to talk to him in days."

Slytherin had won the house cup. I didn't really care about house points anymore, but Malfoy and his housemates had been celebrating ever since.

"No, I'll get him," I said. "Besides, I suppose I've got some things to say to Malfoy."

Hermione gave me a stern look. "You're not going to start another fight, are you?"

"It'll be fine," I said. I left the compartment and began searching for Malfoy.

He was sitting with a large group of Slytherin boys, who seemed to still be in high spirits after their victory. I had to knock loudly on the door to be heard over their talking and laughter.

"What do you want?" one of the older boys asked once he finally noticed my presence. He couldn't seem to decide what he wanted to sneer at more: my Gryffindor badge or the scar on my forehead.

"I need to talk to Draco Malfoy," I said.

After a moment, the boy turned towards Malfoy. "Oi, Malfoy, one of your Gryffindor mates are here!"

This inspired a lot of groans and jeers from the Slytherin boys. Malfoy's grin faded into a scowl when he saw me. "Tell him to go away," he said.

"I can hear you," I said angrily. "It's important."

Still frowning, Malfoy got up and left the compartment with me nevertheless, followed by the taunts of his housemates.

"We're not doing your popularity a lot of favors, are we?" I asked as we walked.

"You're not a Slytherin, you wouldn't understand," Malfoy said. "Now are you going to tell me what you need to tell me, or what? Because I do actually have better things to do than listen to you yell at me some again."

I sighed. "I'm sorry."

Malfoy's eyes widened almost comically. "Er… you're what?"

"Sorry," I said angrily. "You know, that feeling normal people have when they do something wrong."

"Sounds annoying," Malfoy said. "Maybe there's a potion you can take for that."

"You're a prat, Malfoy," I said. I sighed again. "But you weren't lying. You were right about Ron all along. They're the bad guys, not you."

Malfoy looked surprised, but pleased.

"Maybe we can… start over?" I asked. I stopped walking and held out my hand.

Though he looked suspicious, as if expecting some kind of prank, Malfoy hesitantly took my offered hand and shook it. A smile spread across his face—not a smirk, not a mocking grin. An actual, genuine smile. It was kind of weird, actually.

It seemed that Malfoy thought it was weird, too, because he quickly let go of my hand and stepped back. "Well, now what? Do you have any plans for the summer?"

"That's the real reason I came to get you," I said. I led him back to my compartment, where we joined Hermione and Neville.

"Hello, Malfoy," Hermione said. "How was the Slytherin victory party?"

"Just get to the point, Granger," Malfoy said.

"Alright," Hermione said, but she was frowning at Malfoy's rudeness. "My parents have agreed to take us to the zoo this summer, though they haven't decided on an exact date. I thought we'd get a look at all of the possible morphs during the day, decide on what we want, and then come back that night to sneak in and quickly acquire them. Harry, your invisibility cloak will be useful for that."

I smiled at her. "You're suggesting that we break the law? Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at me. Neville and Malfoy laughed. They've probably never heard that joke before, having been raised in a world without television. I couldn't imagine Malfoy's family watching a sitcom during dinner, like the Dursleys.

"Anyway," Hermione said pointedly, "once my parents have told me when we're going to go, I'll call you, Harry, and he'll let you two know by owl."

"But why are we even bothering with Muggle animals?" Malfoy asked. "I'm certain my father could get us into a dragon preserve."

"Because that would be subtle," I said. "Four dragons popping up at every Yeerk pool in Britain. Not to mention all of the Muggles that would see them. Would four dragons even fit in a Yeerk pool at once?"

Malfoy sighed. "What do you have against fun? Did the Dark Lord kill your sense of fun when he—"

"Watch it," I snarled. If Malfoy thought he could get away with joking about my parents' murders just because we were trying to be friends—

"…Gave you that scar, Potter," Malfoy finished, looking unimpressed.

"Oh." My anger seeped away, leaving me feeling a bit like a deflated balloon.

"Not that your assumption was… unfair, considering how I've acted in the past," Malfoy admitted reluctantly.

The four of us were silent for a long, awkward moment.

"Well, we have a plan to acquire new morphs," Hermione said at last. "Should we plan anything else?"

"It'll take a while for them to fix up the pool beneath Hogwarts," I said. "Elfangor said that there are other Yeerk pools, so we can find and attack those, just like the last one."

Hermione sighed. "I can't help but worry that what we did will only delay them for a while. And now they must know that someone is fighting them. Someone must have seen owls in the Yeerk Pool."

"So they know," Malfoy said. He shrugged. "Good. Let them know that witches and wizards aren't going to let them take this planet without a fight. And if they give us trouble, we'll just have another Yeerk fry-up."

"And even if we can't fly in as owls or use Ashwinder eggs again, we're going to the zoo for a reason," I said. "We'll be able to fight the Yeerks directly as soon as we acquire the most powerful animals we can find."

"Except dragons, apparently," Malfoy muttered. I ignored him.

Hermione smiled, though it was obvious that her heart wasn't really in it. "I'm just worried. What if it never ends? What if we just keep fighting and fighting and the Yeerks never leave?"

I suddenly remembered what Dumbledore told me in the infirmary about fighting Voldemort. It seemed even more appropriate now. "We just have to delay them. Elfangor told us that the other Andalites are coming to help us, remember? If we fight the Yeerks long enough, if we hit them hard enough, if we keep them distracted enough, then the Yeerks will never win."

"Elfangor believed in us," Neville added. "He thought we could hold them off long enough for the Andalites to get here."

"He was right," I said. "Even if it seems impossible now, we can do this. The Yeerks won't win."

"Hoorah," Malfoy deadpanned, raising a fist. "Go team."

The train whistle blew suddenly, accompanied by the rumble of the engine starting up. I looked remorsefully up at the castle, just barely visible above the treetops, knowing that several weeks would pass until I saw it again. It probably sounds silly to be so fond of a school. No doubt most kids my age would be glad to be away from lessons and class-work. But I couldn't help feeling disappointed that I had to leave the place I thought of as my true home.

Reminding myself that the summer holiday wouldn't last forever, I felt my mood brighten. Besides, it wasn't as though I would just be sitting around at the Dursleys' house all that time.

The Yeerks wouldn't be having an easy summer if I had anything to say about it.

The End

Wow. So here we are. The first "Harry and the Animorphs" book is finally done!

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who left a comment, favorite'ed this story, followed the story, followed me, and/or let me ramble incoherently at you in responses to your comments. The fact that there are people in this world who even read my stuff continues to amaze me. That so many of you have also taken the time to tell me that you like it blows my mind. So really, I cannot say this emphatically enough: thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

As one of you suggested, when I finish the second book, I'm going to add another 'chapter' here to let everyone who's following the story know when I've started posting the next one. However, I'm going to take a break to work on other stuff (and to get a new job because I am broke), so I wouldn't expect any HP/Animorphs updates for a while. But I welcome you to read anything else I post in the meantime.

Anyway, I think that's all I have to say for now. Please let me know what you think, and what you're excited to see in the next ones. Thank you again for reading and have a great day!