The Pale Rider

Chapter Twelve:

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” Oscar Wilde

Harry transfigured the bed back into the desk it had been and moved the chair to its rightful spot behind it. “Hermione, if you could, please go down and tell Ron and Luna the password.”

“I'm not your bloody secretary,” she growled at him.

“No, your not, but if I went down there now, I'd have to also face Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys that Ron couldn't get away from,” he said, glaring right back at her. “I'm sorry if I seem cold right now, but there are things that need to be attended to first. I told you we'd talk about us, but that is after tonight's meeting.” She glared at him some before letting out a sigh.

“Is this all I'm going to be good for?” She asked in less than a whisper. She turned her back to him.

“No,” he said. As she turned back to ask him the password, regaining some of her resolve, she felt his arms capture her. “I'll have you by my side with every battle I go into, if you can stand being around an old man like me.” She relaxed in his arms for bit before pulling back. “But there are things that I may ask of you, for your own protection, that I won't reveal right away.”

“Why?” Hermione asked, stepping back. She felt the anger fading at the look in his eyes.

“Because, if you don't know it, they can't torture it out of you,” he said with a serious look before turning and heading back to his desk. “The password is Frankenstein.” She raised her eyebrow at this, as Harry sat down with a smirk. “So I enjoy a little bit a literature.”

Hermione walked down the staircase to find that he was right, just about every Weasley was there, excluding Percy. “Ron, come with me. Luna he'll tell you the password later.” The blonde nodded and moved her way out of the crowd and started to walk down the hallway, a smile on her face. Ron mouthed a thank you to her, which she returned with a smile. She turned back up the staircase, only to pause at the amount of yelling.

“Hey what about us?” Fred said.

“Yeah, we want to talk to him too,” George said agreeing with his brother.

“Look, I told you guys to let me have a bit to talk to him first,” Ron said, turning back to face his family. “Why is it so damn important that you berate him a second time?” He turned and stared at his mother. “He did nothing wrong, except doing what we all were too scared to do. Find out who we are without any magic.” Ron pointed back up at the stairs. “Yes he may have ran off, but you know what, it took him more courage to admit he was wrong than I've seen any of us show over the last year.” He began to walk up the stairs.

“There are more important things to deal with right now, then a petty squabble between two ex-lovers.” Hermione said, as she shared a glare with Ginny. “He'll meet you when he wants.” Hermione went up to the office, to find Ron and Harry already talking about something. She shook her head and sat on the chair next to Harry.

“This war isn't going to be fought here, but for the most part, I'm leaving everyone here,” Harry said, looking between the two of them. “By here I mean we're slowly going to be taking back land from Voldemort, and more than that, we'll be taking his power.”

“What are we going to be doing during all this?” Ron asked. “Are we going to be waiting here while you go out and fight?”

“No, for the next several months we're going to be moving slowly, while Lupin, McGonagall and I train you two.” Harry said, leaning back into the chair. “There are far worse things out there right now than just Death Eaters.”

“You're going to train us?” Hermione asked. “On what? Why?”

“On what depends on what you want to learn,” Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Why? Well, you'll find out soon enough. What matters is that you two are prepared. Now that I'm back, this place will be a larger target than it was before. Voldemort has been holding off for quite some time to build his army, and he's done a much better job of it than we have.”

“Harry, there are more than soldiers in this castle,” Hermione reminded him. “We need to protect them as well.” He gave her a smile as he sat back.

“I know, that's why we're restarting the school.”

“What?” Hermione and Ron both stood from their chairs staring at him.

“How can you do that? We're at war,” Ron said.

“The same way I can say that no child shall be hurt by Voldemort here,” Harry said, staring directly at them. The light dimmed around him as he began to speak. The room grew dark and cold; Hermione felt a shiver of fear run through her as she stared at this new, more determined Harry. “The way I can say that if a child is even scratched, the Death Eater or demon that did such a deed shall be Crucio'd within an inch of his life, quartered and strung across the rode to four corners of England.” His stare grew dark as he looked down at them. “We are at war, and I shall not have someone bully around the people I care about.

“I am have Mad-Eye start the men on building their own barracks within the walls of Hogwarts,” Harry said, leaning back. “We're expanding the wards by several miles on each side. The forest shall not be cut down, rather we shall offer refuge to all those that seek it,” he said with a pause. Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off. “Even his deserters. I shall over see that they are kept comfortable, but they are secure. We are not murders like they are and well will never. From here on out this is my game.”

“Then why do you need us?” Ron said. “Sounds like you've got everything planned out.”

“Because I need the people I trust the most to watch my back as we search for the Horocruxes.” Harry said. “We will be searching for the remaining Horocruxes and taking out as many of the bigger supports as we can.”

“Are you sure we can handle this?” Hermione spoke up after a moment of silence.

“I wouldn't ask you if I didn't think you could,” Harry said. Hermione gave him a small smile at his words, happy to know that she had his support. “Now, I apologize for being so forward, but there will be a matter of secrecy that you will swear by. Not because I don't trust you, but because I don't trust anyone else.”

“We understand, Harry,” Hermione said, shooting a look at Ron, who just nodded.

“Good,” Harry said, summoning some papers from a shelf that Hermione did not realize was there before. “Now, I've got some more things to go over, but I really don't need you here to help me with it.” He looked up at Ron. “We'll talk some more on this tomorrow. Tell Luna that we will need her input on certain areas for this search.” Ron nodded as he left in silence, mulling over a great deal of things that Harry had talked about. “Hermione, please stay.” Harry said as she stood up. He dropped the papers he was looking at on his desk.

“Why, you've told me everything right?” Hermione asked. She was still angry with him for the earlier comments.

“Everything that I can without getting you killed.” Harry said. He stood from his chair and moved around the desk. He leaned against the front, staring at her for a moment. “Now, comes to be part where you can yell and scream at me all you want.” Hermione glared at him for a moment, reading exactly what she had wanted to do.

“I just want to know if I have any chance with you,” Hermione said. She let out a defeated sigh and slumped in her chair. “You don't know how horrible I feel for last year; I felt like I lost my best friends, Harry.”

“I think we did,” he said. “And that was maybe what pushed me so far. As long as I had my friends with me, I think I Was able to accept that things could get pretty crappy and tough, but hey, we'd get through it. Right, we're the Trio. But hey, last year, it was just me. Just me. The same person I depended upon for eleven years without anyone else. He helped me through then, and he helped me through last year.” He looked away from her. “I don't like him, Hermione. I truly, with-every-fiber-in-my-body hate him. And you and Ron almost forced me to become him again. Well, I lost my hope for a better life as I lost my best friends.”

In a sudden rush, Harry found that Hermione's arms surrounded him, hugging him tighter than he had ever felt before. He put his arms around her, holding her gently as she held onto him. “I'm sorry.” She repeated as a mantra to not only him, but also it seemed to be for her as well. Harry held onto her, surprised that she opened up to him so easily. He had closed off his soul to the rest of the world a long time ago, and here she opened it back up in a matter of days.

“What we are going to become is up to you,” Harry whispered into her ear. “We need to take this slow, because I have changed, and you have to find out if the man you see before you it what you want to love.” Hermione nodded, but did nothing to remove her from his arms. “Come on, let me show you where you're going to stay.” At this, she broke away from him, but did not let go of his hand as he guided her toward the room in the back.

There was not much to the room, beyond the window that allowed the moonlight to bleed into the room from between the curtains. The room almost spoke intimacy as Hermione took in how much effort had been put into making the room. What surprised her more though, was how safe she felt just walking into the room.

“I hope its to your liking,” Harry said with a small smile. She nodded and he left her to the room as he stepped out of the room. She remained there, spinning in awe at the room that the torches now lit up.

Wall to wall, the room had been filled with books of every nature and kind. Hermione went to the nearest one and removed it from the shelf. “The English Patient?” Hermione said aloud. She moved the cover; surprised that Dumbledore would have such a book. Even more to her surprise was that Harry owned the book. Turning to look at the rest of them, she was surprised at them already organized and alphabetized by the subject and title. With a small sigh, she replaced the book on the shelf.

“Harry? We still need to talk,” Hermione said, exiting her room. Again, she was taken back at his power.

Already the room had been altered for Harry to sleep. While it was not as extravagant as hers was, she understood the effort it took to make the lasting changes such at this. He did not transfigure the objects, he had conjured them, and from the look of him on the bed that he slept upon, a small cot, he was not worried at the length of time.

“They'll last a few years,” Harry said, walking out of another door. “I moved some of Dumbledore's artifacts into there for safety reasons. There are some things that I don't want anyone to see quite yet. Plus, my bed can be moved into there.”

“You're going to sleep on that?” Hermione asked, incredulous at his nod. “But, you can barely fit on there, and you made that bedroom for me.” He shrugged his shoulders. She glared at him, making him relent in giving an answer.

“I've dealt with worse in my time, Hermione. Besides, I'm only planning on sleeping for an hour or so, I've got to check the wards of the castle,” Harry said, moving toward the door.

“No you're not,” she said, grabbing his arm. She felt the muscles flex underneath her grip, and was surprised he did not pull away.

“Are you going to stop me?” Harry raise him eyebrow in question. He waited for her to respond, as she stared back into his eyes.

“You need to sleep and rebuild your magic,” Hermione said in a calm voice. “You can go tomorrow and check the castle. I'll go with you then too, and show you the orphanage/school we have built so far.” He gave her a small smile before nodding.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Harry pulled her into a hug, kissing her lightly on the forehead. “I'll see you in the morning then?” He said as he pulled back.

“Yeah,” Hermione said. She felt the dizziness clear her from the closeness that she did not expect from Harry. “Good night.”

“Good night,” Harry said, helping her to her door. With one last hug, he pushed inside, where she proceeded to stare at the door for a few moments, in shock of the man she found herself falling for all over again.