A/N: Guys, this is gonna sound funny, but, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to my Mom, who allowed me to install the HTML cleaner so that this would work. I love you Mom! CHAPTER ONE: MYSTERY OF THE SWORDS
Harry concealed the fact that he possessed that sword very well. Then again, it wasn't that hard to do so, as the Dursleys entered his room as little as possible. Soon enough, it was time to buy his school supplies, as term began on September 1st as usual. The only problem for him would be how to get to Diagon Alley.
He approached Uncle Vernon the morning of August 3rd. Today was when Ron and Hermione said they would be at Diagon Alley, and Harry was going to see whether he could just stay at the Burrow the rest of the summer.
"Er, Uncle Vernon?"
Vernon grunted, but grudgingly looked up. "What is it now, boy?"
"Er, I was just wondering, if I could go into London today. I have to, er…buy supplies. You know." He delicately avoided the actual reason for the necessity of those supplies, as the Dursleys would most likely refuse if he mentioned Hogwarts.
Vernon glared at him in what appeared to be a shrewd manner. Finally, he gave a great sigh. "Oh, very well. Need to get some things for Dudley, anyways. I'll take you."
Harry grabbed his trunk and lugged it down.
"Going somewhere, are you?" asked Vernon nastily.
"As a matter of fact, I was planning on staying with one of my friends the rest of the summer. If that's alright with you." He knew it would be. The Dursleys would do anything to get him out of the house and away from them.
"Fine, then. Let's get you going."
The drive into London was made in complete silence. Vernon had even turned off the radio, and Harry dared not even breath loudly. Harry was dropped off a block away from where he had specified, he was certain on purpose. No doubt Vernon didn't want to be seen anywhere near where some of Harry's kind might be hanging about.
Harry pushed open the door to the Leaky Cauldron. He was widely ignored, being a rather unobtrusive-looking boy, but Tom, the owner of the establishment, recognized him straight away.
He strode up Harry. "Morning, there, Mr. Potter," he said, lowering his voice so not to attract attention. "You be wanting anything?"
"No, thank you Tom," Harry said politely, "just need to buy some things in Diagon Alley."
Harry left through the back door. He tapped the bricks on the wall accordingly, and they magically re-arranged themselves to reveal the entrance to Diagon Alley. Dozens of wizards strode about into various rather ramshackle looking stores. Harry knew he first needed to go to Gringotts, the wizard bank, where he could get money and meet up with Hermione and Ron.
He entered the massive marble building. There were as always dozens of goblins striding about, doing various things. Harry spotted a tall red-head chatting with a shorter girl with curly brown hair streaked with blonde. He recognized them both instantly. "Hey, Ron, Hermione!" he called to them. They abruptly turned. They, too recognized him and jogged over. Hermione flung herself into Harry's arms with a great big hug, causing him to drop his trunk and almost fall to the floor. She looked a bit embarrassed as she pulled away. Ron pursed his lips for a moment, then a grin reappeared and he clapped Harry on the shoulder grandly.
"How are you, Harry? The Muggles treating you alright?" asked Ron. Ron seemed even taller than when Harry has seen him last, which didn't seem possible with Ron's already towering height.
"Not bad. They've agreed to let me stay with you the rest of the summer." Harry couldn't help but feel happy. He truly never felt at home at Privet Drive. His friends were more like his family than anything else.
"It's so wonderful to see you, Harry," said Hermione with a smile on her face, "I was, erm, really starting to miss you." She broke off her words, her face a bit pink.
Harry wasn't exactly sure what to make of her current behavior. He was certainly glad to see her, too, and Hermione was given to random acts of great affection every now and again, but never seemed embarrassed by them.
"My parents also agreed to allow me to stay with Ron until the start of term. It'll be great, won't it? The three of us?" she continued.
Ron and Harry invited Hermione down on the cart ride into the depths of Gringotts, as she had never gone before, but she refused. Harry felt it was just as well. He didn't want anyone to know about the immense wealth that he had inherited. It made him fell bad enough that the Weasleys were so poor, he didn't want Hermione to know that he had so much money either. He of course suspected that money was no problem for her family, as her parents were both dentists, but just the same, all that money which he had never lifted a finger of work for made him feel uncomfortable.
Harry had always found the rides into the vaults exhilarating, so he felt in an even better mood when he arrived. Their first stop after they had their money was Madame Malkin's Robes. Harry knew he hadn't actually grown too much, but his robes were from fourth year, and they were beginning to get stretched. He was actually in far better physical shape than he had ever been, as his morning runs that he frequently took were doing wonders for him. He was a far sight away from what the twins or Oliver Wood had looked like, though, which he had no problem with. If a girl was shallow enough to only notice physique, he didn't especially care for them.
The next stop would be Flourish and Blotts. Hermione, as always, wanted to blow most of her money on books, but Harry and Ron managed to restrain her. To help placate her, Harry bought her one of the books she wanted as an early birthday present, which, much to Ron's apparent disgust, elicited another hug from her. Though from lightly skimming through some of the books, Harry could see their course load would get no easier, he didn't really mind. He had resolved to learn as much as he could about everything. Though he didn't really want to, he knew that it seemed his destiny to have to fight Voldemort in the end, and he wanted to be ready…or at least die on his feet.
Eventually, they came back to the Leaky Cauldron, where Mr. And Mrs. Weasley, along with their daughter Ginny, were waiting. Ginny gave Harry the smile she always kept for him, and he gratefully returned it. Though she admitted her crush on his had been rather silly, that hadn't stopped them from becoming close friends. Harry could never get over how innocent of a kid she was, even though she was fifteen.
Harry took another look at Mr. Weasley's drawn face, and knew instantly that something was amiss.
"Mr. Weasley? What's happened?"
Wordlessly, Mr. Weasley pushed over the latest issue of the Daily Prophet. The headline read that a Muggle boy had been found dead in Northern England, and it was believed that he had been killed by the Killing Curse.
"But, why? Why would they do this? There seems to have been no motive." Harry didn't understand. Voldemort and his followers were evil, but why go that far out of their way to kill one person?
Mr. Weasley shook his head. "No one's really sure why. Fudge of course denies that You-Know-Who had anything to do with this. And when I tried to explain to Percy…" His voice trailed off. One of Ron's older brothers, Percy, did not believe that Voldemort had returned. He remained loyal to Fudge. A rift had been steadily building between him and the rest of the family for some months now, ever since Percy discovered his father was working for Dumbledore spying on the Ministry. That Percy hadn't reported him yet was amazing, as far as Harry was concerned.
Hermione was examining the article now. "It says here that they found nothing in the area, that there was no sign anyone else had ever been there." She stamped her foot. "There has to be some reason why they would do this!"
Ron just stood there somberly. "They like to kill. It's fun for them." His voice was soft, yet it was hard as granite. Ron had seen more danger by Harry's side than anyone had a right to see in a lifetime. He was no longer the continual joker he had been. He had seen Justin Finch-Fletchley killed before their eyes last year, and had been powerless to do anything about it. The fact that the three of them had inadvertently killed a Death Eater in that episode of horror did nothing to help soften the blow. Hermione had cried for hours after they returned to the castle.
Mr. Weasley stood. "Well, come on, kids, let's get going. We'll talk more back at the Burrow." They all went to the fireplace and grabbed a bit of Floo Powder. Hermione still seemed a bit apprehensive about this mode of travel. Harry couldn't blame her. He remembered distinctly his first experience with Floo Powder, accidentally going into Knockturn Alley.
He threw his Powder into the fire and yelled, "The Burrow!" He stepped into the fire and vanished.
The Burrow seemed about as ramshackle as ever, Harry noted when he came out at the Weasley fireplace. He loved it. This was certainly the best house he had ever been in, and wouldn't trade a large manor-house, which he suspected the Malfoys owned, for this.
He helped Hermione stand up as she came crashing in after him. She seemed a bit bewildered. "If I ever have to do that again, it'll be too soon," she said vehemently, dusting her clothes off. Harry glanced about. The house seemed rather empty.
"Er, where's Percy? Is he still at work?"
"Oh, he almost never leaves now, it seems. Only comes home on the weekends," answered Mr. Weasley. "I, er, suspect he wants some time to himself."
Harry decided not to pursue that subject any further. Ron stepped forward. "Here, Harry, let's get that stuff up to my room, so you can get settled in." Ron grabbed one end of the heavy trunk and they lugged it up the stairs. Hermione and Ginny followed, having somewhat more difficulty heaving Hermione's trunk up. Harry and Ron went to help them.
"Thanks," puffed Hermione, her slight frame not used to such work, despite the twenty or so books she always seemed to be carrying. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'm going to change out of these dirty clothes." She closed Ginny's door.
Harry stepped into Ron's room. It was just as he had remembered it, the Chudley Cannons posters, the strange knick-knacks hanging all about. It was a great room.
"So," said Ron, flopping himself onto the bed, "what do you figure we'll do this time?"
Harry grinned. "Well, it'll be hard to pull off as many pranks this time, what with Hermione here and all. You know she won't allow such nonsense." He thought for a moment. "Well, there's always Quidditch. Speaking of which, I'm going to be Captain this year, the team already decided. It makes sense, I mean, I'll be the only one with more than a year of experience."
Ron nodded. "Yeah, listen, Harry, the Cannons are going to be playing in a match pretty close to here in about a week. Mum and Dad'll probably let us go if we ask them." Ron's eyes widened at the prospect. The Chudley Cannons were his favorite team. They were also, unfortunately, one of the worst teams in the league. Make that the worst team. They were on a record-shattering losing streak, and hadn't won in five years. They also were the record holder for the biggest margin of loss in history, in a match against Stonehenge United. Harry recalled the utter pain on Ron's face while he reported the results of that match.
Harry was excited, though, about the prospects of seeing another professional Quidditch match. So far, all he had seen was the World Cup finale in fourth year, but that had only left him a hungering for more. "That would be excellent…though I'm not sure Hermione would enjoy a Quidditch game after, well, you know."
Harry referred to her first boyfriend, Bulgarian star player Viktor Krum. Although he had been a pretty good guy, and seemed to generally care about Hermione, she had thought things were moving too fast, and then when she had met his parents in Bulgaria, after months of negotiating with her parents, she had written the most vindictive letter Harry had ever seen her write. They had been incredibly rude to her, and she told Viktor before she left that she couldn't continue their relationship anymore. Viktor, perhaps feeling a bit snubbed, had been spotted with several attractive young ladies since then, leaving Hermione feeling even more angry.
"Hmm, you do have a point," mused Ron. "Well, she'll be with us, so I'm sure it'll be fine. And if not, well, she'll have Ginny to hang out with."
Harry considered this. It was true enough, Ginny was the only real close friend Hermione had who was a girl. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, her roommates, were just too, well, girlish for Hermione. Ginny was actually fairly studious herself, so it gave Hermione someone to turn to for girl problems.
"I guess so. Well, we'd better ask you parents first before anything else."
With that they headed downstairs to seek permission from Mr. And Mrs. Weasley. Sure enough, they gave permission, so now all Harry and Ron had to do was speak to Hermione. They waited in the hallway for her to come out from Ginny's room.
"How long has she been in there now?" asked Ron for the umpteenth time.
Harry gave him a sidelong glance. "Just be patient. These things take time. You know how it is with girls."
"And how is that, Harry Potter?" He turned with a start. Ginny stood there with her hands on her hips.
"Oh, er, that is, well, they tend to, you know, take their time changing their clothes?" He really did not want to have this conversation.
Ron swooped in to rescue him. "Look, Gin, it's just a little light-hearted banter. You girls talk about guys the same way, right?" he said with a winning smile. Harry thought for a wild moment that Ron had a career as a used car salesman.
Ginny's scowl turned upside down slowly. "Well, yes, but…Oh, alright, you win again, big brother." She punched him lightly on the arm. "So, what is this all about, anyways? There any particular reason you'd like to tell me why you're standing outside my room while Hermione's in there?"
Harry grinned mischievously. "Isn't it obvious? We're spying on her, get a glimpse of Hermione in her knickers."
Ginny's eyes widened, and she looked scandalized. "No…you wouldn't…"
Ron rolled his eyes and burst with laughter. "Of course not, Ginny, Harry's just playing with you."
Harry distinctly heard Ginny mutter under her breath, "Bloody boys, never know when they're screwing off…"
Just then, Hermione exited, wearing jeans, a white shirt and a denim jacket. She glanced about the hallway for a moment. "Is there a reason you're all out here?"
"Well, yes, actually," said Harry, "You see, Ron and I were…"
"Harry!" shrieked Ginny, "If you tell her what you told me, I'll-"
Ron clapped a hand over her mouth. "Please continue, mate."
Harry smiled, and turned back to Hermione. "Well, we were wondering if you'd like to go to a Quidditch game with us next week. Cannons versus Bath."
Hermione sighed. "I suppose, though I don't see the point. The Cannons haven't won since we were first years, right? And that game against Stonehenge-"
"Don't remind me," grimaced Ron. He changed the subject. "Well, that's settled then. There is just one more thing I'd like to show you two." He looked pointedly at Ginny, who scowled and stomped into her room.
They followed Ron into his room, where he grabbed a long, thing package wrapped in a sheet. He carried it down behind the house.
Hermione broke in. "Just what was Ginny referring to, when she mentioned what you told her?"
Harry's face got warm. "Oh, well…"
Ron grinned. "According to Harry, we were trying to get a glimpse of you in your knickers." Harry stared daggers at Ron. Hermione simply laughed.
"Did she really believe that? You two can be rude, but you'd never do something like that…would you?" she said, peering at the both of them.
"Of course not, Hermione, we were just playing around with Ginny."
Ron cut in. "Anyhow, what I wanted to show you was…"
"Oh, right," said Harry. "What?"
Ron unwrapped the package. Inside it was a sheath, exactly like the one that Harry's sword was in. A look of disbelief ensnared his face.
Ron misinterpreted his look. "Amazing, isn't it?" He pulled the blade out. It was a meter long, and the blade looked exactly like Harry's, smooth, unblemished, razor-sharp, with the same mottled pattern.
"Bill found it last week in Egypt. Sent it to me as a birthday present; he's missed a few over the years. Not that I minded, but, this, this is an amazing piece of work." He gave it a bit of a twirl, and Harry could see he'd handled a sword before.
"Er, could I see it for a moment?" asked Harry. Ron handed it to him. Harry inspected the hilt, as Hermione looked over his shoulder. Surprisingly, she seemed to be examining the hilt as well. It depicted a sword high over a wall.
He handed it back to Ron, as he and Hermione straightened. "I'll be right back," they said at the same instant. They peered at each other a moment, then tore as one back to the house. Harry grabbed his sword from his trunk and headed back. Hermione arrived a moment later, carrying an identical sheath.
"Wait a second," said Ron, "those look exactly like mine!"
Harry nodded. "Not only that, the blades look the same, too." He drew his, with its hammer symbol. Hermione drew a perfect replica of a sword. Hers had an arrow pointing to the blade.
"But what do these all mean? Who would make three duplicate swords with different symbols?" asked Hermione. That was the question, thought Harry. The mystery of the swords began.
A/N: For all those who are wondering about the R-Rating…Well it's gonna get violent later. So it you don't like that stuff, don't read. Oh, and thanks to Nappa for suggesting the HTML cleaner. And again to Max LoneWolf for beta-reading this chapter.