Ancient Magic by Takeda Lee

Rating: PG13
Genres: Romance, Action & Adventure
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 4
Published: 18/02/2003
Last Updated: 22/02/2003
Status: Paused

Harry's 5th year. What happens when he finds that he is the last of a great and long line,
and with this a new war comes, with a new threat, a threat that has been gone for hundreds of
years, but has finally been awakened, more powerful than ever? Read and find out!




1. Gold, Gryffindor and Gunshots
--------------------------------

“Sometimes the only things worth saying,

Can’t be said at all,

And sometimes the things that are the most urgent,

Are best to be drawn out.

One of these things,

Is love…”

I own nothing, I claim nothing. For now... Things in this story you don't recognize either I
came up with, or were inspired by other work and changed them to my imagination. For all I know, it
could be your work, so I thank all the people who helped me unknowingly write this. Anyway, on with
the story. And please read the A/N at the end. Thanks.

Chapter 1

Harry Potter fond himself staring down the barrel of an old “six-shooter” revolver. The dark
cavity in the long cylinder seemed to emulate the way his life had been, the way it had felt to him
growing up. Dark and empty. It also seemed to copy the deep shadows that danced on the walls at
night in that cabinet under the stairs which he had found as his home for eleven years.

Harry would have laughed had his life not been about to end. The two revelations he had at that
moment were odd. The first was the fact that, through it all, he had thought of that dark, dank
closet under the stairs as his home. Every time Dudley’s large mass would find its way down the
stairs, he would see the shadows before him contort into new images, images of his parents, his
friends, all before he knew about any of them.

Now Harry didn’t much believe in divination, or at least the crap Trelawney passed as
divination, but he knew what he saw and felt all those years ago.

The second thought Harry had was, “it sure is odd how everything smart you ever had to say only
comes to your mind right before you die.”

And as those words played themselves in his eyes, he muttered what he believed to be his last
words, and if Ron could have been there, he would have laughed his head off.

“Fucking Crazy Muggles.” And with that the revolver went off in an explosive blast and Harry’s
head whipped back from the blast. As his body fell, there was a faint golden glow from his scar
which burst out and lit up the area, then the room, and finally the house until the light was
pouring from every opening in the house until it was a beacon that people who saw it thought could
be seen from space.

The light was accompanied by a deafening silence that seemed to make it so that anyone that
actually tried to talk, their voice seemed to just stop.

The golden light surrounded Privet Drive for quite some time, about five minutes, and as the
light winked out of existence, Harry Potter was on the ground, blood pouring out of his forehead.
Harry Potter, by all appearances was dead, murdered by his uncle.

However, there were a few discrepancies in this fact. Had anyone paid any attention, they would
have found that the blood was coming from not a bullet wound, but from a jagged scar on his
forehead.

For had anyone paid any attention and been watching in the light, they would have found that the
bullet had halted as the golden light came out from the scar.

And had anyone been paying attention, they would have found the simple fact that, floating in
the blood that poured from his forehead was the small metal object looking as though it had been
smashed by a sledgehammer.

Vernon Dursley dusted his hands quickly and then observed the blood beginning to seep into his
expensive carpet, he called out to Harry from upstairs to clean it up. After several calls, he
looked to the boy, remembering what he had just done and sighed. And as he turned, he began to
wonder what he was going to do.

Miles and miles away, Albus Dumbledore set down his half moon spectacles and sighed. He rubbed
his eyes, and tried to block the looks of pure elation and unknowing from his face as the staff sat
or stood watching him.

“It had begun.”

Many more miles away from that location, Lord Voldemort fell to his knees, his wand clattering
to the ground cutting off the Cruciatus link he had used upon the innocent muggle. Even from there,
the pure gold glow from Privet Drive in Surrey was visible. He looked in pure agony, something that
Wormtail himself had never seen his master.

Doubt and fear crossed his eyes as he saw his master for the first time truly seem human. His
body began to shake and his eyes seemed to flash and suddenly his body seemed to sent out a bright
red glow. And as the sky became assaulted with the shining Gryffindor colors, Peter Pettigrew, AKA
Wormtail, felt something that he hadn’t felt in a long time. Regret. He knew no real Gryffindor
would have done what he did all those years ago. He vowed to make it right.

************************************************************************

Sirius lack approached number 4 Privet Drive calmly, but nervously adjusting the jacket to the
suit he wore. He sighed as he basked in the remaining sunlight, a thing he had missed for all of
those years in Azkaban. With those thoughts he smiled as he walked to the door to escort his godson
from his muggle home to his personal trial. They had not caught the traitor called Peter Pettigrew,
but instead found a way around it. Harry.

You see, it seemed that there was a new law passed just recently, and the use of a penseive and
therefore someone's memories as key witnesses is now allowed in Wizard Court. Because of this,
enough memories were taken from Harry at the end of the Third Task when he was asleep to clear
Sirius' name and the trial was just a formality.

Sirius approached the Dursley household and knocked on the door. The door opened on the bright
morning and he found the large whale of a man Vernon answering the door. Sirius did his best to
smile and sound polite despite knowing how this man had treated his Harry.

"Vernon Dursley, I presume."

"Yes. How may I help you?"

"I have come for Harry Potter." Slam. The door closed abruptly in Sirius' face.
His icy blue eyes turned cold and he muttered "to hell with muggles." and with that the
door exploded open.

"Where is he?" Sirius' angry voice asked. He was beyond polite, and was downright
frightening, which might have been a factor in why the large blob with blonde hair used its chubby
hands to cover its obese backside.

Sirius' eyes scanned the deep earth-toned room. Thr room was full of deep browns and tans
from all of the new wood furnishings, and was well decorated. However, one thing stood out. On the
floor in front of the stairs lay a bright purple bathroom rug. Sirius knew that they wouldn't
have it here unless for a good reason, and he went over to it. Fear flashed Vernon's eyes as
Sirius neared it, and this alarmed Sirius. Suddenly he smelled something. He knew the smell very
well and it bother him. He smelled blood. He rushed past the mat, but slipped on it to reveal a
patch of blood.

Sirius ran to the door to the cupboard that was under the stairs of the house and grabbed the
lock. he was in such a rage that he ripped the door full off the hinges and found a sight that
almost made him cry. Harry Potter, savior to the Wizarding world, and the greatest person he
himself had ever met, lay dead in a pool of his own blood.

Sirius turned, thoughts rushing through his mind as he fingered his wand and though of whether
they would put him on level two or three of Azkaban after he killed Vernon. However, he stopped
when he heard something.

"Sirius...Sirius, wha- what are you doing here. You'll be caught and kissed."
Harry's labored breathing cut off as was everything else he would have said. Dudley would have
laughed at the thought of a kiss being a bad thing, but he didn't dare with the hateful look in
the man's eyes before him.

With that Sirius turned back to the cupboard and lifted Harry up slowly and carried him out of
the house, not giving a back glance as he rushed to the outside of the apparation wards to get
Harry to Hogwarts.

************************************************************************

After a little while in the Hospital Wing, Harry awoke to immediately be brought to the
Headmaster's office.

“Harry, what happened last night was not a good thing. Your uncle attempted to murder you. I
have no idea what happened, but all I know is that it was powerful ancient magic, and it was so
powerful that Voldemort was put in great pain, and somehow the link your scar bore to him has been
cut off.”

“Okay…” Harry was confused by what was the importance of this except that now he could not tell
where Voldemort was going to attack, which was bad. However, the Headmaster had other things to
say.

“Also, the light side has found some odd information. It seems, that, just as you gained some of
Voldemort when he tried to kill you, when he took some of your blood, he also took some of
you.”

“Yeah, my mother’s protection on me.”

“Harry, not just that. It seems because of your blood, and coupled with whatever ancient magic
happened last night, he seems to have gotten, well, a conscience.”

Harry looked shocked. That was strange. Harry got Parseltongue and the possibility to be put in
Slytherin, while Voldemort got his mother’s protection and a conscience. Seemed fair enough, he
figured.

“But anyways Harry, I do not believe it is safe for you here, and I apologize for not moving you
sooner. I’m sorry, but the Burrow is not a possibility, it may put other Wizarding families in
danger.

There are magical ways of tracking people when they are in the magical world, and if you stay
out of it, then people will not be able to find you if they wish to harm you.” Harry nodded. It
made sense to him.

“So because of this, you will be staying with Hermione’ family. They have agreed to take care of
you for the rest of the holidays, and longer if you feel you'd like to stay or longer. I will
personally escort you there in about 5 minutes. I do suggest you gather your things from the
Hospital Wing.”

Harry was in such a state of shock about staying with Hermione that he was there before he
realized. Hid hand subconsciously rubbed the spot were she had kissed him at the end of that school
year.

As Harry went out of the office and came into the Hospital Wing, he passed by a mirror. He
stopped and walked back and looked at himself again. He remembered himself well from last year, and
the person he was now looking at looked like him, but oddly like someone else.

His hair lay flat, pressed against the bottom of his neck. Harry had never realized how long his
hair was because he always had the "struck-by-lightning" look when it came to hair.

His eyes shown brightly with a golden color, and as Harry looked closer, he saw something he was
sure hadn't been there before. The border to the coloring of his eyes, between the emerald
irises and the whites of the cornea, there was a distinct golden ring. Suddenly Harry realized
something. He had no glasses on. He wondered about this as he sat looking calmly at himself.

Harry straightened up and began to walk back to the hospital wing. As he got there, he found
that Dumbledore was sitting in a chair awaiting him.

"You seemed to be noticing some changes, so I decided to leave you. Your questions will be
answered, or will simply become clear to you. right now, however, we must go." And with that
said Harry reached for his trunk and Hedwig's empty cage with one hand, and then for the book
on the desk with the other, and with the tugging near his navel, he was gone in a spin of
coloring.

************************************************************************

As he stepped foot into Hermione’s house, she rushed him and hugged him. He smiled brightly to
her as she latched a hold of him, her smile lighting the room. As he stepped back from their oddly
long hug, he looked at her. Her hair was laying flat on her head, and her body was free of the
robes they had to wear all school year. he looked her up and down and saw that indeed Hermione had
changed from the little girl in their first year.

The low-rise jeans she wore clung to hips he was never aware she had, and the curves they showed
off made his mind began to think about his best friend in a way he wasn't sure he liked, but
was sure he didn't hate. One thing was sure. This would be an interesting summer.

Harry whistled long and slow as he looked at her from her sparkling cinnamon-colored eyes, to
her tight white T-shirt to those oh-so-tight jeans, and back up again, smirking at her as she
looked at him look at her.

"Damn 'Mione. Lookin' good." And with that he walked slowly by her into the
foyer of the house. Hermione looked back at him in shock, and Harry was wondering about this new
attitude of confidence he had never had.

'You've always had it, just been too afraid to show it. You wanted people to think of
you how they always had, as a hero, instead of just another kid, even if you were doing it without
knowing' a voice told him, which he figured was his conscience.

Hermione went and stood by Harry awaiting her parents arrival from the second floor of the
three-story house. As she looked to him, Hermione saw that she was looking up to him substantially.
She realized that although this wasn’t too big of a thing, considering she was about 5’ 2”, but by
the looks of it, he was bordering 5’ 8”, and she was sure when he had gotten off the train he was
about 5’ 5” at most.

Harry himself had caught this and figured that it was mostly because of the feelings from last
year and the mental weight on his shoulders, he had taken physical weight on his shoulders and had
been slumping down all that time.

As Mr. and Mrs. Granger descended the stairs, Hermione watched Harry. He was smiling and
immediately went over to meet them. Sure Harry was a nice boy and all, but he had never been this
forward, and had never seemed so, un-Harry. she liked it. Yes, she decided, she liked it very
much.

"So you two are the wonderful people responsible for creating this beautiful girl I have
had the pleasure of knowing." Hermione blushed deeply and she caught her mother giving her a
look. "Nice to meet you, Harry James Potter's the name." Harry stuck out his hand to
Mr. Granger.

"Nice to meet you as well Harry. Name's Jack Granger."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Granger, or is it Doctor-" Harry was cut off.

"Just call me Jack."

"And I am Elizabeth Granger. You can call me Liz, or Liza, or whatever you want dear. We’ll
show you your room now."

Harry followed them up the stairs, lifting his truck easily. Hermione looked at him in confusion
as she had just seconds ago tried to drag it to the stairs and had almost pulled out her arm.

As they neared the top of the stairs, there was the sound of feet and suddenly a girl about 16
stood before Harry, flanked by a few other girls. The one in the front, the first girl Harry saw,
had curly brown hair and Harry saw some distinct features he recognized. Then the girl spoke.

"Daphne Marie Granger. And who are you?" She asked, her friends giggling lightly.

"I'm Harry Potter. Hermione never told me about you."

"I figured as much. Well, I am her sister. She doesn't talk about me much because we
don't have too much in common. Well, it'll be nice seein' you while you're here,
and I hope we get to hang out some if my little baby sister doesn't hog all the fun." The
girl walked by as she said the last sentence, dragging her finger across Harry's chest and
lightly growling seductively, and then winking to Hermione as she passed her, her friends behind
her still giggling.

"This is gonna be a looooong summer," both Hermione and Harry said together as they
entered their rooms, which were right across from each other, closed the doors together and sank to
their beds to rest, both thinking of the other as they drifted off to sleep.

******************************************************************

(A/N: Alright, there's the first chapter. The story will pick up a lot, I promise, and the
second we get into the school year, it gets a lot better.

The rating may go up as the language and fight scenes do, but for now we'll stick to what it
is. Review please, I need suggestions. Just state anything you wanna say. Thanks and sorry for the
long disclaimer and A/N, they'll get short.)



2. Birthdays suck
-----------------

I own nothing, I claim nothing. For now... Things in this story you don't recognize either I
came up with, or were inspired by other work and changed them to my imagination. For all I know, it
could be your work, so I thank all the people who helped me unknowingly write this.

*******************************************************************************

Hermione sat in the chair calmly listening to what Sirius was telling her. He was telling her
softly about what he had collected about Harry's life, about what he had seen in the penseive,
memories he hadn't meant to look at, but was glad he had. Across from him, Hermione looked
between rage and tears as she spoke softly.

"So they kept him locked in that tiny cabinet?" Sirius nodded. "And they
didn't feed him? Tell him about his parents? Tell him anything?" Sirius looked on the
verge of tears as well, as he shook his head softly.

Sirius proceeded to fill Hermione in on the most recent events, the girl eventually breaking
down and crying softly. However, this went unnoticed as Sirius stood up quickly. His eyes darted
around the room, and he seemed to be listening for something.

"Harry." And with this both of them bolted from Hermione's room to the room
directly across from it, Harry's room.

Sirius flung the door open and Hermione saw it. Harry was laying across his bed, his body
looking as if it was being shocked by the paddles in the hospital, his chest rising off the bed and
his back arching, his mouth open in a silent scream. However, this wasn't what was the most
shocking thing, or the thing that had lead Sirius here. It was the blood falling down Harry's
face, and his eyes open in complete horror. The only thing wrong here was the fact that the eyes
that looked to them as they came in the room weren't Harry's, or at least they weren't
the eyes they knew.

For Harry Potter lay on the bed, his eyes and the rest of his body glowing golden.

******************************************************************************

(A/N: No, don't worry, his eyes will not stay gold, but this factor will be important in the
near future.)

******************************************************************************

Moments before this, Albus Dumbledore was seated in the living room giving the Grangers some
background information on Harry, and basically filling them in on the most recent details with
added explanation. However, Albus stopped as words were about to leave his mouth as he felt
something, a pang in the pit of his stomach. He rose quickly and suddenly there was a bright light
coming down the stairs like elegant smoke. It filled everything around it with the soft glow and
everything it touched it fixed.

The broken stair, fixed. The chipped antique table, fixed. Crookshanks' sprained paw, fixed.
And as the light finally filled the room, it flashed in bright color just as the clocks in the
house beeped at the time, twelve in the morning on a new day. The day of July 31.

Albus Dumbledore sighed heavily and sat back down on the couch. His eyes twinkled brightly
suddenly and he reached into his robes and pulled out a small bag filled with red and white disks.
"peppermint?" holding the bag out and offering some to the shocked and stunned
Grangers.

******************************************************************************

Harry's room was left and he was allowed to sleep, but later through the night Hermione
snuck in softly and began to clean the blood from Harry's head and face. The warm cloth in her
hand pressed lightly and withdrew from his head, and soon Hermione found herself singing to no one
in particular. She didn't know what song it was, but she strongly suspected that it was an old
lullaby her mother had sang to her as a child.

As she finished, she looked down at her friend, the one who had saved her life on more than one
occasion, the one she respected beyond anything else that she knew of. The one she cared for more
than she should have.

"Get a hold of yourself Granger, damn. He's your best friend for God's sake."
She said to herself and then looked down to his sleeping form again. She leaned down a kissed his
scar lightly, brushing his hair away from his face. As she did, her hand came across the jagged
scar and she sighed, thinking how something so simple could be so complicated.

And with that though she stood and walked out of the room. Had she stayed a bit longer, she
would have seen his eyes open slightly and a small smile creep across his face before they closed
once more.

******************************************************************************

The next morning Harry awoke to find that Dumbledore and Sirius had had to go while he slept, so
now it was just him, Hermione, Daphne, and the parents. he sighed as he sat up and trudged down the
stairs. Despite the fact that he had just remembered all of these facts, and had been told about
his godfather and headmaster's leave in a note by his bed, he forgot to remember he wasn't
at Privet drive anymore. Which might have been why him walking downstairs in a pair of basketball
shorts that were much too large and nothing else caused quite a stir.

Hermione had been reading the Prophet and sipping tea while Daphne had been putting on lip
gloss, using her spoon as a mirror. As Harry walked down the stairs yawning softly, his black hair
hanging just above his shoulders and his eyes partially closed, Hermione's tea ended up the
front page news as it came out of her mouth as she looked at Harry in shock.

Daphne had since made a solid line of lip gloss straight across her face and the sparkling pink
trail wasn't ending there as it curved down and began a descent to her neck as her hand kept
moving as she watched him.

Harry seemed not in the least bit embarrasses as he walked into the kitchen and began to cook
the food he had found in the refrigerator. Because of how the kitchen was set up, there was a gap
that opened up right before the stove so you could look out of the kitchen, and right at the table
where the two girls were sitting.

Hermione was watching him, wondering why he hadn't seemed like this just the year before. He
had some muscle, and his abs were well defined. His facial features were sharp, and his eyes seemed
to slant just a little to give you the sense that someone in Harry's family wasn't
originally from England, or even Europe. Probably from Asia. Daphne however was giving him an
appraising look as she tried to get the lip gloss off of her skin and still not look away from
him.

Hermione was so caught up in this that she had forgotten to stop Harry, and he soon came out of
the kitchen with two plates, each holding 2 slices of French toast and some eggs, along with 2
pieces of bacon each. He set the plates down in front of the girls and was going in to retrieve the
orange juices when Hermione snapped out of it. She followed him into the kitchen and stopped
him.

"Harry, you shouldn't have done that." Harry's smiling face suddenly looked
solemn and grim.

"I know. I'll be sure to pay your parents back for the things I used. I'm
sorry-" Hermione looked in complete shock. So the Dursley' obviously made him feel as
though everything was his fault.

"It's not that its just that, well, we should have been cooking for you seeing as how
its your birthday and all..." Harry's face looked suddenly in shock.

"Really? I didn't realize. I couldn't make my calendar this year because of
everything that happened. Wow, I didn't know..." Hermione looked shocked and then grabbed
his arm and physically drug him from the kitchen. She pushed him down in the chair she had been
sitting in and pointed to the food he had brought her.

"Eat."

"But it's yours. I made it for-"

"No Harry, eat. And once you're done we are out fo here. Daphne agreed to take up to
the mall so I can give you your gift. So hurry up." Harry was going to protest more and then
he saw the I-Will-Not-Lose-This-Argument look she got with Ron every time they argued and he sighed
and began to eat. All this time, unbeknownst to either of them Daphne stood at the door, smirking
to herself and she turned and walked out.

******************************************************************************

As they entered the mall, Harry looked around in awe. The Dursleys had never let him go to
anyplace remotely this large outside of the zoo that one time, and all of the shops and interesting
this were captivating him. Suddenly he looked in though a window and gasped as he saw all the
wonderful things within the electronics store. Hermione eventually grabbed him and forcefully drug
him to a clothing store at the end of the 1st section of the mall.

Harry looked around in confusion but eventually smiled as she lead him to the men's section.
However, she made a turn to the register and spoke to a woman. Soon they were taking measurements
of him, and he was loaded with piles of clothing and sent into a small room. Had it nor been for
the cupboard under the stairs all those years, he might have been claustrophobic, but he was soon
fine as he dressed. However as he heard her order for him to come out, he was nervous.

However, that changed as he saw the look on Hermione's, Daphne's and the register girl,
Kamille's face. They all looked shocked and Daphne had a smirk on her face that was making
Harry uneasy. She was smiling a bit seductively, or was that just his eyes?

Harry was shown a mirror and he blinked a few times as he looked at himself. He was wearing nice
fitting black jeans, not too tight and not too baggy, with a white long-sleeved t-shirt on under a
black short-sleeved t-shirt with a logo of some sorts on the front. The black and white made his
eyes stand out a lot more, and they seemed to glow, and Harry thought it was funny how something so
simple seemed to change so much.

After more time of him trying on clothes he liked, Harry eventually got Hermione to try some on,
more so he could rest than for her.

She came out first in casual clothes, but seemed to greatly favor the low-rising jeans that
seemed to mold to her hips. This was good enough for Harry, but when she tried on the formalwear,
or more specifically a certain black dress, it was too much for him.

She came out in a black dress. It had thin straps holding it to her shoulders and it had almost
no back to it, the material eventually coming together right at the small of her back. There were
rounded gaps on the sides showing the sides of her waist and the beginning of her hips. The dress
ended midway down her calves and the sparkles on the dress shone in the light of the store.

Harry stared. He was speechless and began to hyperventilate. He looked to her, his mouth hanging
open and his head falling to the side lightly. Hermione watched him as he tried to regain composure
and a bit of his pride and not look at her, as every time he did, he stared again. However,
eventually he got his voice just as she was heading back into the room. He obviously though he
hadn't heard him, but she had as he finally spoke.

"God-damn. If she doesn't want to get the thing, I'll pay for it, I don't care
how much it costs, give her the damn dress." And with that and a bright smile to herself,
Hermione went to change.

******************************************************************************

Hermione ended up buying several things for herself and him, and found that the dress had
"mysteriously" been paid for, and she wondered where Harry got the money for it. At least
the muggle money.

As they walked from the store, Harry had to make a turn down a corridor to get to the bathrooms.
Hermione stood in the narrow passageway, Daphne going into a store devoted entirely to make-up.

As Hermione waited, a group of guys walked by, eyeing her. It made her shift uncomfortably, and
she became worried as they stopped and approached her. The large guy that looked to be the leader
smiled and walked right up to her, invading her personal space and spoke to her with breath that
smelled nastily of cheap beer and garlic.

"Hey baby. A girl like you shouldn't be here all alone. Why don't you come with us.
we'll have a little...fun." Hermione wanted to scream, and as she thought about it, the
other guys stood in a casual way, blocking off the entrance to the corridor they were in from the
sight of onlookers.

Hermione pushed against him as he ran his finger over her stomach. She ran down the corridor,
hoping for the exit at the end of the corridor just past the boy's bathroom. She neared it but
the guy that had been after her grabbed her shirt and pulled her back. Her shirt tore and she let
out a screech. She was too far back in the corridor for it to alarm anyone passing by, and she
began to cry.

Her vision blurred as she wondered who would save her. Suddenly her answer came as the bathroom
door swung open and Harry walked out. He took one look at her and the man before her and she could
feel the anger coming off of him.

"Let. Her. Go." Harry said softly, anger ripping through him. The man holding Hermione
tried not to laugh and stood to his full height. The man was about 6 feet tall, while Harry was
only about 5' 8", but Hermione never saw Harry look so tall. His eyes glared through the
man and then it was over very quickly.

The man had reached to punch Harry and Harry had grabbed his arm. He spun 180 degrees and into
the man, his back to the man's front, and there was an evident CRACK! as the man's arm
broke. Then Harry elbowed him in the middle and stepped forward and away from the man. Then he
kicked back with his leg perfectly straight and he kicked the man back about 5 feet through the air
and he slid down the corridor some. His friends rushed to him and gathered him up, and then looked
to Harry, but seemed to think twice and ran from the area.

Harry knelt down to Hermione and wiped the tears from her face, smiling some and whispering
softly to her. She looked into his eyes and found that they were once again gold. But before her
eyes the gold seemed to become electricity over his eyes and seemed to play in reverse of striking
his pupils and receded to the light ring around his irises.

High-heel clicking was heard an Daphne was back, fear playing on her face. By all appearances,
this scene did not look good, and she helped her sister up. Suddenly Harry pulled his baggy hockey
jersey off and handed it to Hermione to put on over her ruined shirt. She looked to him as he
smiled at her, readjusting his white t-shirt. Suddenly Hermione became aware of something black in
his hand. She pointed and he smiled.

“There was a reason for me using that move. I picked his pocket." Harry said and opened the
wallet to find a great deal of money and no ID. Harry had no qualms about keeping the money for
himself and Hermione, and for once Hermione didn't lecture him, instead she smiled and hugged
him, and with his arm around her shoulders and Daphne smiling behind them, they left the mall.

******************************************************************************

Upon opening the door to the Granger's house, there was a shout of SURPRISE! and all of his
friends jumped out at him. He smiled brightly and laughed lightly as they all ran over to him. Upon
seeing Hermione still close to him, wearing his shirt, and the remains of her shirt in her hand,
everyone began asking questions, from a Death Eater attack to a naughty tryst on the way back,
ideas began to fly. However, these died down as everyone tried to get Harry to open their
gifts.

After gift-time died down and the cake was served and eaten, the party began to die down, but
all the while several people noticed that Hermione hadn't left Harry's side for the entire
time, and Harry didn't seem to mind at all. It also seemed that Hermione wasn't in the mood
for talking too much, and she only spoke and had a full conversation with Harry. Because of this, a
few people in the party were getting suspicious, while others jealous. One of the jealous ones
happened to be Ron. He approached them as Harry went to take everything he got up to his room,
Hermione following, running in, changing shirts and then sitting on his bed while he found places
for things.

Harry had just sat down when Hermione fell into his arms and cried to him, telling him
everything that had happened before he had saved her. Then how she felt.

Harry hugged her and tried to comfort her, and rubbed her back. Slowly her head pulled back from
his and they looked into each other's eyes and soon they were kissing, and in between the
kisses explaining how long they had felt for each other, Hermione and Harry both describing the
time they knew was in 3rd year with Buckbeak, and it had grown strong when Harry and Ron had their
falling out last year.

Soon Harry decided the crying was too much and soon began to tickle her, and she was soon laying
back, begging for him to stop. It was at that moment that Ron walked over to the door, and caught
sight of Harry lightly straddling Hermione's stomach, lowering her face to her's, her eyes
closed and her muttering "stop" with what Ron thought was a pained expression on her
face, but was really restrained laughter as he continued to tickle her.

As his lips met hers, Harry soon met the floor and his jaw soon met Ron's fist, and despite
him now being physically able to take it, he watched as Ron picked up one of the Beater's clubs
from Harry's birthday set of Quidditch balls and he thought to himself as Ron swung the hard
club at his head,

"You know, birthdays really suck..."

******************************************************************************

(A/N: Stay tuned for the next chapter. Look, know I know that the "coming together"
thing was kind of sorry for Harry and Hermione, but I swear, the story and the action picks up a
lot. Please review and thanks to everyone who reviewed

I swear on my life Daphne is no Mary Sue, nor will she be. It try to steer clear of making
those, because they tend to complicate the story later on, I mean, who can't love a perfect
girl? No one. So she's not perfect if not just for the fact of keeping Harry the hell away from
her.)