A/N: Well, here's the revelation of the Giggs mystery! I hope you like it! Also, expect chapters from here on out to be shorter and more to the point, with a helluva lot less fluff and much more action!
*****
Chapter 40
At Hermione's words, Katrina gave a small smile and nodded. Harry scrunched his brows in thought, wondering what was going on. Giggs wasn't there, Harry would have seen him by now! Unless…
Harry's eyes flew open as a flurry of memories returned to him…
Katrina was laying in the bed next to him when he awoke, his body still aching in pain. When he asked later, she said Malfoy had pushed her down a flight of stairs…
*
A flicker of confusion flashed through Malfoy's eyes, before he replaced it with a smirk. "Wouldn't you like to know Potter."
*
"Harry!" Hermione squealed, waving at him from over where she was sitting with Katrina on the Gryffindor common room couch. "Katrina is showing signs of being a metamorphagi! Isn't that great!?"
*
Katrina dueled as well as her father…
*
Cloud didn't hate her as much as they thought…
*
"It's been a long time Kris," Serge said, smiling from ear to ear.
"Has it?" Cloud said mysteriously.
*
The truth hit Harry so hard that he had to take a step back to keep his balance from the dizziness that had invaded his head.
"No," He murmured. "Impossible…"
"No Harry," Kris Giggs said, now standing in the spot that his 'daughter' had once occupied. "Nothing's impossible."
Harry couldn't believe it, all that time…of course Katrina…or Kris…or whoever he was didn't want to join the Victor's, the charmed parchment would've given him away.
"You-You're the same person…" He muttered, still trying to comprehend it all. "How - who? Who are you?"
Kris smiled sadly, shrugging his shoulders. "I am who I am. Raised as a muggle, didn't discover my magical talents until I was two years into my SeeD training. There I trained myself, night and day, in all seasons, upwards of eighteen hours a day,"
Harry nodded shortly, a question that had been plaguing him for months burning him up inside. "Why did you try to kill me?"
His question elicited a small gasp from the Granger's and a nod of agreement from Hermione.
Kris had the decency to blush. "Pride, nothing but pride, Harry," The man shook his head in disbelief of himself. "I wanted to know if I could defeat you as, behind Voldemort and Dumbledore, you seem to be one of the most worthy opponents. But then I got to know you, masquerading as Katrina - this is my true form, by the way, there never was a Katrina - I realized how foolish I was being, blinded by my ambition."
He let out a long sigh, as if a huge weight had just been lifted off his shoulders. "That's a mistake I won't allow to continue. We'll see each other again Harry, I promise you this. I'll help you, we'll make sure that you are ready for Voldemort when the time arrives for you to destroy him. Until then, good luck, Harry…"
With a soft 'pop' Giggs dissapparated and left a rather shaken Harry and Hermione behind,
"Great start to the holidays, huh?" Harry asked rhetorically, laughing nervously.
"Yeah," Hermione responded, before shaking her head, as if to thro the thoughts off of her. "Well com on then, let's go!" And with a soft peck on the cheek for Harry, Hermione took his hand and followed the Granger's to the family car.
*****
"So, er, Mr. Granger, how's Manchester United been doing this season?" They were all piled in the car, and had been for quite some time now. Harry, trying to distract himself from the musty temperature of the car as well as the smell of spilt soda stained into the carpet.
"Oh, we're doing just fine," Hermione's father replied joyfully. "That Ruud Von Nistelrooy is tearing up the charts, no one can keep up with him in goals. Our defense has been solid, so naturally, we're leading the league by seven points."
Harry nodded slowly, unable to think of anything else to say. Instead he resolved to laying his head on his fiancée's shoulder and trying to get some sleep.
Hermione smiled softly when she felt Harry's head come into contact with her shoulder. She just loved being close to him, and sighing contently, she took his hand, intertwining her fingers with his, before laying her own head on Harry's black mop of hair.
Within minutes, they had both fallen into a deep sleep.
*****
Christmas at the Granger's was quite the affair for Harry, he couldn't for the life of him, now a week into the vacation, of a dull moment he had had. Christmas had been grand, Harry awoke on that morning to a pile of presents under the tree, though to him the best part of it all was seeing Hermione in her pink, fluffy bathrobe that she liked to use as sleepwear while she was home. She looked absolutely adorable in it.
Harry had received the usual rock cakes from Hagrid, which were immediately disposed of, a bag of tricks from Fred and George, a new foe-glass from Moody, a book on powerful spells from Kingsley, a traditional Weasley sweater, and, from Hermione's parents, a full wardrobe of Manchester United clothing, as well as a special permission pass to leave the Hogwarts premises on every game day for Man U, so that he and Hermione could portkey to Diagon Alley and watch the game in The Muggle's Pub.
Remus was the one that wowed him to no end. Harry curiously the package from the werewolf, and was astounded to find a ten-way mirror set. These mirrors were the same as the one Sirius had given him the year before, only this time there were ten of them linked together, all on one frequency, and all for the marauder's. Harry and Hermione hurriedly inscribed the names of all the Victors into the backs of the mirrors and pocketed their own.
Finally Harry got around to giving Hermione the gift that he had been waiting to give her since the night all the Victors had exchanged presents. Hermione stared at him in anticipation, having waited for this moment for the better part of a full week now.
When she got the box, Hermione lost all sense of maturity and ripped the paper away and opened the box hurriedly, unable to constrain her excitement. She pulled out a small, gold and scarlet locket, and when she opened it, her eyes pooled with tears of happiness and love.
There, on one side of the locket, was a picture of herself, standing out on the quid ditch pitch with Emerald perched on her left shoulder. On the other side was a widely grinning Harry, Hedwig perched on his shoulder, nibbling at Harry's right ear.
The writing on the front - gold side - of the locket was simple and sweet, however corny it may have been.
"Owl Love you Forever."
And on the back, inside of a heart with an arrow shot through it, read,
"H+Hr"
Harry was regarding her nervously, praying to Merlin that she liked it. "I know the inscription's a little stupid, but-"
"Oh shut up Harry! I love it! I love you so much!" And apparently either forgetting or not caring that her parents were in the room, she leapt on top of him and kissed him fiercely, though at least conscious enough to keep her hands away from inappropriate places.
The kiss was broken after a few short moments, and Harry wrapped the chain around Hermione's neck, while she beamed, face glowing like that of a lumos spell in a darkened doorway. Her parents shared a smile with one another, recognizing the pure love that radiated from the couple, no doubts in either of their minds that their daughter had truly found the love of her life.
*****
Hermione was playing with her new necklace cheerfully as she walked through the tunnel of Anfield Stadium, dressed in a heavy warm-up West Ham jacket and tight-fitting jeans. Harry was dressed in similar attire on her left, only preferring baggy jeans rather than tight-fitting ones.
The rest of the Victors were there as well, and Harry had taken the opportunity to hand out all of the mirrors, which everyone was elated to receive.
Dean of course was on the field warming up, and Harry thought privately - though he may have been biased - that Dean looked like the best of the bunch. He was elated for Dean along with the others when he was told by the coach that he was in the starting line-up for the day.
All nine of the other Victor's sat on the bench, which they were grateful had heaters underneath them. Hermione sat in Harry's lap, content with her position, while Lavender sat on Seamus' with Parvati right next to them, and on her right, Neville and Ginny, who were comfortable sitting next to one another, even if their relationship plans had not worked out.
Apparently her and Neville had tried a date, and afterwards, they held no doubt that they would never be more than just great friends.
The last two, Ron and Luna, sat on the furthest right, simply holding hands and leaning into one another.
Soon enough, the game began!
West Ham, as good as they were, and as well as Dean played, were just no match for the power offense of Liverpool, who were armed with the prodigy Michael Owen and young star Steven Gerrard, as well as many others.
It was already two to nothing thirty-four minutes into the first half, when Dean got his first chance.
"Rickman with the ball now, he takes it up the sideline, and drops it for Harris. Harris takes a quick glance up field and lets fly a lob for Griffiths…he plays it off the head, into the path of Dean Thomas! The youngster jukes a defender, he's twenty yards from goal, takes a shot! No! A brilliant save by English international goalkeeper David Seaman, that's why he's one of the best in the business lads. But still a good attempt from the youngster."
The game got a little ugly for Dean and his buddies after halftime, it was obvious that they did not have the stamina to trade blows with Liverpool. Dean played well, in Harry's opinion, creating a few chances and getting off another decent shot, but he was finally subbed for in the seventy-ninth minute, after a stellar performance.
West Ham went on to lose horrendously, 5-0, but everyone at least had fun, and the coach congratulated Dean on his performance after the game, telling him that he couldn't wait to get him to full-time duty.
The rest of the holidays went without action, at least none that was of importance to anyone other than Harry and Hermione, excluding an excited owl that Dean had sent them after New Years, telling them that he spoke with Dumbledore and the West Ham coach, and they agreed to let him portkey out for all of the games, though he could not attend practices.
Harry and Hermione were happy for him, as was everyone else. It was nice to have good things happen to good people during a time where innocents were dying without cause.
*****
Okay, so who saw the Giggs thing coming? Anyone? Anyone? …Bueller…Bueller…lol. Just to clarify Owl love you for ever = I'll love you forever, you know, owl=I'll, stupid I know, but I thought it was sort of funny. Dunno when the next update will be, but my other fic is taking precedence right now, so it could be a while…
Cheers!