Special thanks to Anna Rose and Rolephant.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
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Chapter 4: NIGHT ACTIONS
Harry found Hermione sitting on a fence, the 'Partner At Hand' sign reflecting her angry face. Harry suppressed a new sigh and sat down beside her.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," said Hermione unconvincingly. "Ron's just being a prat about me staying with you and all."
Harry carefully laid an arm around her shoulder, and she turned around to face him, her eyes glittered with angry tears.
"It's not like I'm his girlfriend, you know. And even if I was, he still wouldn't have the right to keep me away from you! That's not fair!"
Harry noticed that he, too, was getting angry at Ron.
"He has no right to treat you like his property, Hermione," he said heavily, closing his eyes slightly in agitation. Hermione nodded, and a silent tear ran down her skin. Harry took it away with a touch of his hand without thinking, and Hermione involuntarily shuddered.
"I hate this!" she said a bit more softly, with her eyes tightly shut.
"Yeah," said Harry. "I hate it too. Life's too short for stupid, unimportant things like that."
Hermione opened her eyes at this, and Harry could see realization lighting her eyes like a fire, just like it did when someone asked a rather difficult question that she knew the answer to. She leant forward to give him a hug, and Harry hugged her back, holding on just as tight as she was, enjoying how warm she could make him feel. After a while Hermione let go a little so they were face to face, only some inches apart. Unexpectedly, Harry's stomach did a huge lurch, and his heartbeat raced up drastically. He couldn't move even if he wanted to, all he could do was study her; she was so cute, her skin was so soft, her eyes so deep...
The sign made her face turn red, blue, green...
Then, before Harry could collect himself, the space between them was gone. With a start Harry realized they were kissing each other, their lips pressing against each other softly. This is insane, this is insane, his mind told him, but it also told him: this is so right, so right... Harry was utterly confused, but he didn't let go or back away. His brain seemed to have gone on a vacation or something, and it didn't help him at all.
It was very different from kissing Cho. First of all, it wasn't nearly as wet. Second of all, it didn't feel the same. Harry couldn't tell why it felt different, it just did. Harry didn't know, nor did he care right now.
Hermione opened her mouth a little and Harry pulled deeper down into the kiss, lost in the sensation, their tongues touching slightly, exploring.
Suddenly Harry heard something that sounded very much like a stick being broken, and his brain abruptly returned to him. He broke off the kiss, and in the next moment he knew something was blinding him.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
"What's- oh!" said Hermione, holding a hand in front of her eyes, and she gasped.
In front of them there were at least ten reporters, holding their cameras and taking pictures as fast as they could.
"Oh no..." muttered Harry; this was the last thing they needed right now. He stood up, blocking Hermione from the reporters view.
"Harry! Hermione! You're missing the-" Tonks yelled from the entrance and halted. "What's going on?" Her eyes widened when she saw the reporters, but reacted fast. "LUMOS!" Brilliant light erupted from her wand, blinding the reporters so they couldn't take pictures. But something wasn't right... why did they scream?
Harry turned his eyes from Tonks to look behind them, and he froze with terror.
The whole area was lit with curses. Red and green curses were flying over their heads from every direction; some people ran, some Disapparated, and someone dropped to the ground -probably dead. Harry felt his insides turn to ice. This could only mean one thing - Death Eaters.
There was no way Tonks could have caused something like this.
Harry didn't even blink before he jumped in front of Hermione and pushed her to the ground, only a second before a green killing curse hit the fence they just had been sitting on.
"STUPEFY!" shouted Harry and threw the curse from where he imagined the green light had came from, but it was too dark for him to see if he had succeeded or not, nor did he try to look. Hermione had scrambled to her knees at this point and was frantically searching for her wand, but Harry grabbed her hand, pulled hard, and together they ran as fast as they could towards the entrance of 'Partner At Hand'.
"GET HELP! WARN THE OTHERS!" Tonks shouted at them as soon as they reached her, while she dodged a new spell. Hermione did as she said and continued in, but Harry stopped - his hand leaving Hermione's - and shouted back:
"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU! I'M FIGHTING!" How could he ever forgive himself if something happened to Tonks just because he tried to save his own butt when the Death Eaters might not even be able kill him? Unless Voldemort was among them somewhere... Either must die at the hand of the other...
Harry started throwing spells at random. He guessed that there weren't many innocents left. Kingsley, Moody, Lupin and Mr. Weasley came quickly to help them, hiding behind the doors and throwing spells like Harry.
"Get IN, Harry!" hissed Moody as he threw a new curse.
"NO!" shouted Harry. Why couldn't they just accept the fact that he wanted to help? Moody scowled; there was no time to argue.
"FINE THEN! USE THE MEMORY CHARM! MEMORY CHARM, HARRY! IT'S-"
"OBLIVIATE!" shouted Harry, remembering the spell Lockhart had tried to use on him and Ron during his second year.
"-that one," ended Moody, and his eyes widened in relief. "Dumbledore!"
Harry spun around and faced Dumbledore, who looked just as powerful as he had in Ministry of Magic. They were saved!
But then, at the same moment, three jets of killing curses were thrown at them.
There was no time to think; everyone cast himself or herself on the floor, but one of them wasn't quick enough.
Two of the killing curses hit Kingsley, who had been standing behind Moody at the time, in the chest. Kingsley hadn't seen the killing curses in time.
"NO!" roared Harry, but it was too late. Kingsley Shacklebolt's dead body hit the floor with a soft thump.
No... Not another one! Harry thought desperately, and he turned his head so he couldn't see Kingsley's surprised dead eyes staring blankly at him. Death seemed to be following him everywhere...
Dumbledore didn't cast a second glance at Kingsley or anyone else. He flicked his wand in a very complex way, and something large and blue covered them all like a shield. The shield grew larger and faster until it reached the fence - it was like time and sounds were kept outside - then, suddenly, the whole thing exploded inside-out with a loud bang.
The Death Eaters disappeared with several pops, leaving nothing but a few Stunned, dead or injured bodies behind.
Harry got to his feet, panting, carefully avoiding the crawled body on the floor. His body was shaking uncontrollably, his head was buzzing.
"Harry?" said Dumbledore, looking gently down at him. "Are you all right?"
"Huh? Oh, yes Headmaster, I'm doing fine, I- I think I- I think I'll- just go inside or something... Yes, I could do that..." stuttered Harry, not really aware of what he was saying.
"Yes, do that. I will see you soon," said Dumbledore quietly, his eyes missing the usual spark, as he turned to talk to Tonks, who was sobbing hysterically.
"He was my trainer! He helped me - I wouldn't have been an Auror if it hadn't been for him, oh Dumbledore, why did he have to die? He was like a father to me! WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE?"
Harry turned away from the scene and walked inside, not really noticing where he was going.
He almost walked straight into Hermione, Ron and Ginny.
"Harry!" cried Hermione as she threw herself around Harry's neck and squeezed him so tight that he couldn't breath.
"He's dead! Kingsley's dead!" mumbled Harry, not really eager to talk about it, but he knew he couldn't hide something like that from them anyway.
"What?" gasped Ginny, her hand covering her mouth in shock. Ron just stared dumbly, and Hermione started to sob on Harry's shoulder.
"Oh Harry! I'm so sorry," said Hermione between her sobs. "I shouldn't ha - have gone in, I thought you w-were just behind me, honestly, if I knew I would of course-"
"Then you too could've been killed, and I wouldn't be able to handle that," interrupted Harry, and he continued: "Not if any of you..."
"I don't know what I would've done without you, Harry!" Hermione wept.
"No, mate, if you died-" started Ron, but stopped abruptly. Harry had torn himself from Hermione, and a look mixed of anger, sadness, and something else flickered behind Harry's emerald eyes, making his eyes to seem much darker than usual.
"Then what?" said Harry bitterly. "When I die-"
"If," corrected Hermione, and she tried to brush off her tears with her hand.
"No, when I die," said Harry and gave Hermione a warned look. "You have to continue without me. You must take care of each other, and not, ever, give up! Do you understand? You - can't - give - up! Use the life you have left and-" Harry suddenly realized he had said way too much, and he had also, if that wasn't enough, yelled the last bit. He felt his face turn red, and it started to sting behind his eyes.
"I've got to go..." Harry choked out, walking as quickly as he dared from the stunned faces, who were staring at him with opened mouths and big eyes.
-
Harry didn't know where to go exactly, but he escaped into the men's room and locked himself in. At least here nobody could come and ask him questions. At least there he could be alone and collect himself...
Harry sat down on the toilet seat and rubbed his forehead between his hands. His scar was throbbing painfully, and Harry could tell that Voldemort was both pleased and disappointed. Harry wasn't surprised. After all, Voldemort had one less Auror to worry about, but he still hadn't managed to get his hands on Harry.
"Oh, just stop it already!" cried Harry to no one in particular.
He tried very hard not to think about what had just happened, but his mind was constantly turning towards Kingsley's dead body and everybody else Harry had seen die. Harry could have prevented them all... Why did he have to let Wormtail go that night two years ago? If he hadn't, if he hadn't been such a coward, Wormtail would never have had the chance to rejoin his master, and then Voldemort probably wouldn't have returned for a long, long time. That time could have been what Harry needed to learn more magic, and he would have had a much, much better chance against Voldemort...
Harry groaned angrily. He could practically feel an angry, red ball growing inside his stomach. Yes, he should and he could have managed to save them, but he had failed. He had failed in so many things that he couldn't even count them anymore, and he had yet the largest failure to do. The Magical world was doomed! So doomed! Harry would die, no matter what he did, no matter how much he learned. Why should he even try? Why should he torture himself with that? He was only sixteen for Merlin's sake, not even a legal adult! He was only a teenager.
Yes, Voldemort had screwed things up when Harry was a baby, but Voldemort was hardly one who made the same mistake twice.
Harry looked down at his wand; it was still warm from the battle. Could he even cast the Killing spell? Could he... cast it on himself?
Harry waited for the feeling of dread that a thought like that should bring, but no such feeling came to him - instead he felt strangely calm. Why was that? It couldn't be right.
Suddenly Harry heard Dumbledore's voice down the hall. "Where is Harry? I need to talk to him right away!"
Harry gaped at Dumbledore's urgent voice. He had never heard Dumbledore talk like that before, not even to Voldemort. Had somebody else died? Alarmed, Harry opened the door and went out in the hall.
"I'm here," said Harry, and Dumbledore immediately looked relieved.
"What's going on?" asked Harry, more worried than ever.
"Harry," said Dumbledore and grabbed Harry's shoulder. Harry swallowed hard and tried to ignore the feeling of hatred that no doubt came from Voldemort. "I know this is hard," Dumbledore continued, and it took a minute before Harry realized that Dumbledore was talking about Kingsley and not the strange hatred Harry felt, "And that it is hard to be patient and not to blame yourself, but you have to promise me, that you will never, ever, try to do something on your own. Not without telling anybody where you are going, or what you are going to do," Dumbledore paused a moment and looked intently at Harry, "And you must promise me; that you will stop blaming yourself for things that happens that you have no control over. It is not your fault that Cedric, Sirius, and Kingsley for that matter, died - yes," Dumbledore said when Harry opened his mouth to protest, "-it could have been prevented, however, in war people are bound to die. You did not want them to die - you would not have let them either if you could - so stop blaming yourself! If you want to blame someone, then blame Voldemort, or even myself," Dumbledore paused for a moment again and a sad expression appeared in his eyes, "Believe it or not, I know what you are going through, I have gone through the same things myself."
"What happened?" asked Harry without thinking, his curiosity acting first. He had never heard Dumbledore talk like that.
"Just do what I told you, Harry. Life is too short to use it to drown yourself in guilt."
Harry frowned. Of course he knew that life is short! He had even used the same words himself an hour earlier, before he and Hermione ... oh God...
Dumbledore looked at Harry over his half-moon-glasses, nodded, and left Harry very confused.
-
-
What a birthday, Harry thought to himself with a sigh, as he laid himself to sleep on his bed, back in number four Privet Drive. He had expected to fall asleep right away since it had happened so much, and he was so tired, but for one or another reason the adrenaline was still flowing through Harry's body, making his heart beat much faster than normal sleeping modus.
Harry had been to his first birthday-party ever, he and Hermione had kissed - oh, how was he ever going to face her again now? - the reporters, the fight, Kingsley dying, Dumbledore's advice... taking a portkey home, scaring the Dursleys' out of their own skin... Harry chuckled slightly at the memory, but the chuckle died in his throat almost instantly.
He turned around in his bed, and looked at the empty bed beside him, where Hermione had slept. It felt empty without her... However, having her there with him now would be awkward.
Hermione hadn't come back with him because she felt she should spend a little more time with her parents while she could. Harry didn't blame her, but he doubted that was the only reason.
Harry knew he ought to say sorry for what had happened, and he didn't know how Hermione would react to that... What if he hurt her feelings? And what about Ron? Merlin, Ron was the one who liked Hermione, not Harry! Right?
Everybody had been grieving the rest of the evening. Harry couldn't get Tonks hysterically sobbing out of his head... she had said that Kingsley had been like a father to her... now, he too, was gone.
Harry turned over again, and he finally felt sleep start to reach him. However, Harry didn't want to wake up to nightmares again, he was sick of them.
Desperately, he tried to empty his mind, to only imagine a black wall ... Hedwig hooted softly in the distance...
-
-
Harry woke up after a (nearly) dreamless night when an owl from the Daily Prophet soared through his window. Harry put on his glasses, paid the owl, and gasped:
He and Hermione were on the front page: he was laying on top of Hermione and throwing the Stunning curse somewhere in the dark.
THE-BOY-WHO-LIVED IN A FIGHT WITH DEATH EATERS TO PROTECT HIS GIRLFRIEND, page 2-4,
The front letters and the pictures took almost all of the space, but in a corner of the paper, almost not visible, Harry saw what he was looking for:
ONE AUROR KILLED, page 7,
Harry quickly turned to the right page.
KINGSLEY SHACKLEBOLT KILLED
Last night, The-Boy-Who-Lived, Dumbledore and several other people were attacked by at least six Death Eaters. Some of our reporters were already there, because of a tip from someone who had seen Harry Potter and his girlfriend, Hermione Granger, on the Knight Bus earlier that night. However, most of our reporters were surprised by the attack and fled, except one who remained hidden and saw what happened. 'They fought well, but Kingsley Shacklebolt was unlucky,' Adam Sanders says to the Daily Prophet.
Kingsley Shacklebolt, a faithful and highly respected Auror of the Ministry Of Magic for the last forty years, died when two killing curses hit him. 'The next second Dumbledore did something amazing with his wand and created some kind of shield that exploded, and four of the six Death Eaters escaped. The reminding two has been taken care of,' explains Arthur Weasley, one of the ones who fought against the Death Eaters, also employed in the Ministry of Magic.
Nymphadora Tonks, Remus John Lupin, and Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody were also fighting against You-Know-Who's supporters, all of them are still alive and are without any serious injures.
Harry sighed heavily, and turned to page two, where two large pictures, one of him and Hermione sitting very close while holding hands, and the other picture was the same as the one that was on the front page. Harry looked at it for about two seconds before he threw the newspaper away. He didn't want to read it. Things were getting too much complicated.
-
Harry used the next two hours reading, but after a while he started to wonder why he hadn't gotten an owl or something since he had used magic last night. Did that mean he was allowed to use it, or was it only because it had been in mortal peril? He didn't know, but he wasn't eager to press his luck any more than he already had done, no matter how much he longed to try some of the spells in the books.
After a while of just laying in his bed, without doing anything particular but to think about the present, past and future situation, he got dressed and went downstairs. The Dursleys sat around the breakfast-table; Vernon reading the newspaper, Dudley trying to put as much as he could into his mouth at once, and Petunia sipping her coffee. Not one of them bothered to look up when Harry entered the room, and Harry ignored them and sat down by the table, quickly grabbing some food.
Harry ate the food as fast as he could. He was eager to get away. He almost gave Dudley a run for his money.
Harry looked carefully up at Vernon. He had expected Vernon to give him a piece of his mind somehow, after what had happened yesterday when Harry had entered the living room, `out of thin air,' but none of the Dursleys said a thing. Grateful, Harry cleared his plate and went down to the basement, where he started to punch the punching bag with more force than ever.
-
-
After two hours Harry heard with a start, someone - sounding very much like Petunia - cry out from upstairs. Harry quickly took off the punching gloves and went upstairs, where he met some very frightened looking Dursleys' and a very friendly-looking Dumbledore.
"Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed and closed the basement door, receiving another nasty look from Vernon and one from Dudley.
"We have some important matters to discuss," Dumbledore announced, making it deadly quiet in the room.
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