A/N: Sorry it's taken so long to post this. RL is really eating into my writing time, plus I had a bit of a block on this chapter. R & R Please! Hope you like it.
Chapter Ten - Hogwarts
The next morning after breakfast, since Harry and Ron had their trunks already packed, they snuck off to the library for a game of Wizard Chess. Hermione came in a little while later, and Harry could see her out of the corner of his eye going through the books on the shelves. The bond was relaying contentment and interest, so he concentrated on his game.
"Harry?" said Hermione, as he was contemplating a move.
"Yes, love?" he said absently.
"I could use your help here!" she said.
Harry looked up at her. "With what?"
"There are a bunch of books here that I want to take with me. Quite a few of them aren't in the Hogwarts library."
Harry looked at the stack of books that she had sitting in front of her and groaned.
"What do you need those for?" asked Ron.
"Well," she said, "A couple of them are about betrothal bonds, these two are potions references I haven't seen before, and the rest are various references about the subjects I'll be taking."
"Can't they wait until Ron and I've finished this game?"
"No, they can't," she said with a tone that Harry had come to recognize meant danger.
"Yes, dear," he sighed. He looked at Ron apologetically, and then got up to help Hermione with the books.
Ron just shook his head, but wisely said nothing.
Harry picked up a large stack of books, and followed Hermione, who was carrying a smaller stack, down the hall to their room. She set the books down on the floor next to her trunk, which was lying open with various bits of stuff scattered about.
"Didn't you just pack this thing yesterday?" he asked, as he set his own stack down next to the stack she'd placed on the floor.
"I had to make room for the books," she said. She started layering them neatly in the bottom of the trunk. After a moment, Harry began to help her, and they soon had all of the books placed in the trunk.
He started handing her the rest of her stuff, but paused when he came to her underwear.
She looked up to see why he'd stopped handing her stuff, and groaned in exasperation, "Honestly, Harry, it's just underwear."
He blushed and handed it to her. She looked at him with a naughty twinkle in her eyes, and added, "If you have that much problem with my underwear when I'm not wearing it, what are you going to do when that's ALL I'm wearing?"
He blushed even harder, reached out, grabbed her, and started tickling her ribs.
"Harry!" she laughed, "Stop that!"
He said nothing, gave her a wicked grin, and continued tickling her until she was gasping with laughter. She suddenly lost her balance and fell back on the floor, pulling Harry down on top of her. The tickling stopped, and she was confronted with an amazingly green pair of eyes staring into her own brown ones.
"Shall we find out what I'll do with your underwear?" he asked, with a look in his eye that made her heart race.
"Umm," she said, lifting her head up to give him a kiss. "I don't think now would be the best time, Harry, especially since Ginny's standing in the doorway, but maybe later."
He looked up, and Ginny was indeed standing in the doorway, obviously trying very hard to hold back giggles, and also blushing somewhat. Harry gave Hermione one more kiss before climbing off of her, and then offering her his hand to pull her off the floor. She pulled herself to her feet and brushed off her robes.
"I came up to tell you that Mum says you'd better be ready to go soon. I've got my trunk packed already," said Ginny.
Harry glanced at Hermione. "We've almost got her trunk done."
Ginny laughed, "I can see that."
They finished packing Hermione's trunk (there really wasn't much left to pack), closed it up, and dragged it downstairs to the kitchen, where they placed it next to the rest of the trunks.
Mrs. Weasley, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, and Remus Lupin were standing in the kitchen waiting for them. Mrs. Weasley fussed over Ginny and Ron, while the Grangers came up to Harry and Hermione.
Elizabeth Granger swept her daughter into a hug. "Now, you be careful, sweetheart. I know you've got Harry and everybody else to watch out for you, but...I'm going to miss you so much."
Hermione hugged her mother back with unshed tears glistening in her eyes. "You take care of yourself, mum. I don't want any sad messages about you while I'm school. Besides, how's a girl supposed to get married without her parents?"
Elizabeth laughed.
Bob Granger had shaken Harry's hand, and then pulled him into a brief, manly hug. "Now, you take care of my girl, you hear me? And take care of yourself, son. I want to hear more about Quidditch."
Harry smiled, "I might be able to arrange for us to go to a Quidditch match at some point, or..." He looked at Remus. "Remus, is there anyway we might arrange for the Grangers to come watch a Quidditch match at Hogwarts?"
Remus looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'll talk to Albus about it and let you know."
"Thanks, Remus."
Hermione came over to her father and gave him a hug. "Take care, Daddy, and I'll see you at Christmas, okay?"
He squeezed her back. "I'll be fine, sweetheart. You take care of good care of you and Harry, okay? I've already told him to make sure he takes care of you."
Hermione grinned.
Finally, the goodbyes were over, and the four children stepped through the floo network to Hogwarts.
-*~*~*~*~*-
The children tumbled out of the floo into the Gryffindor common room. While the children brushed their robes off, house elves quickly moved their trunks up to their respective rooms. Harry and Hermione noticed with some interest that both of their trunks were taken away behind the portrait of Godric Gryffindor that now hung in the common room.
Dumbledore was waiting for them standing by the portrait. "Harry, Hermione, here are the living quarters that I told you about. I would assume that you like to inspect them, and perhaps show Mr. and Ms. Weasley them as well."
"Okay, Professor," said Harry. The four of them went over to the portrait.
"Currently, the portrait will only open for you and Hermione, Harry," said Dumbledore. "You may instruct Godric as to anyone else you wish to be able to enter, and under what circumstances they may enter. I would suggest that you limit it only to a small number of friends, as you may always open the door for anyone else. Staff will always have entry privileges, although they will not burst in on you unless they feel you are in danger for some reason. If you feel that any staff member has abused this right, please come see me about it."
Harry and Hermione nodded.
Dumbledore turned towards the painting. "Godric, if you would?"
The painting swung open, and Dumbledore, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron stepped through the opening and into a spacious room decorated as a living area. There was a fireplace on the wall opposite the opening they had just stepped through, and a long, low, rectangular table that stretched perpendicular to the fireplace. There was a comfortable looking couch on one side of the table, and several comfortable chairs scattered around as well. The wall that the couch was facing had another doorway in it. To either side of the doorway were empty bookshelves.
Dumbledore led them through the doorway into what was obviously Harry and Hermione's bedroom. A bed twice the width of the typical Hogwarts dorm bed had its headboard against the far wall. On the right hand wall were two doors, and on the left wall was a single door. Dumbledore pointed to the two doors on the right.
"The further door is your bath, and the closer one is a closet, I believe."
"What's the one on the left," asked Harry.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Why don't you open it and find out, Harry."
Intrigued, Harry and Hermione walked over to the door and pulled it open. It appeared to lead to a balcony overlooking Hogwart's grounds, but from fairly high up. Harry and Hermione went out on to the balcony, followed by Ron and Ginny. Dumbledore remained in the doorway.
"Wow, professor," said Hermione, "This is great."
Dumbledore smiled. "Thank you, Ms. Granger. However, it isn't real. Oh, the view is real enough, but you will find that you can't go beyond the balcony wall. Trying to use a broom to fly off this balcony will only result in you running into a wall. It's enchanted so that you can feel the breezes, and it will feel like you are outdoors. It doesn't rain, however."
"That's good," said Harry. He looked at Dumbledore and said, "It seems strange to have this here when all you have to do is go outside."
"Well, Harry, one of the things the designers of Hogwarts wanted to do was give every student a window or some other form of access to the outdoors--it is healthier, you know." said Hermione with some asperity. "Really, if you'd read Hogwarts: A History, you'd know all that."
"Yes, Ms. Granger," said Dumbledore with a smile. "The bonded student quarters are equipped with balconies because the designers felt that it was more romantic."
They went back inside the apartment. "Well, I really have other things I need to get to," said Dumbledore. "The Start of Year feast is in two hours. I trust that you will be settled by then."
"Yes, Headmaster," chorused the four of them. Dumbledore winked and then left the apartment.
Hermione looked at Ron and Ginny. "You two had better go get unpacked, then."
Ron looked puzzled. "What unpacking? There's almost nothing to unpack. It all stays in my trunk."
Ginny, a bit quicker on the uptake, grabbed Ron by the arm and started to drag him out of the room. "Come on, big brother, let's go find some trouble to get into."
"What? Ginny?"
"Honestly, Ron," said Ginny exasperatedly, "Can't you see they want some time alone?"
"Oh, right," he said. "See you later, Harry."
"Bye, Ron," said Harry.
Once the Weasley's had left the apartment, and the painting had closed behind them, Hermione let out a sigh and said, "Well, let's get unpacked."
Harry looked at her for a moment, and was overcome with a feeling of love for her. Why at this particular moment, he felt so strongly, he couldn't say, but he went with it, and swept Hermione into a hug.
She giggled, "Harry...we'll never get done at this rate."
He looked into her brown eyes and said, "You know, Ms. Granger, at this moment I am wishing that I could call you Mrs. Potter."
She blushed. His bright green eyes were unnerving her. "Harry...I...I know we haven't discussed the wedding much at all." She smiled at him. "That's not to say I'm not interested. When were you thinking of?"
He smiled back at her. "Well, the sooner the better, as far as I'm concerned. But, I want to give you the wedding you deserve, so I was thinking around Easter."
She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Easter, yes, I think that's enough time. I'd better owl my mother...but first, we need to get unpacked."
It took them the better part of an hour to get everything unpacked and put away to Hermione's satisfaction. Their robes and other clothes got hung neatly in the large, walk-in closet off their bedroom. All of their books (most of which were Hermione's) were placed on the bookshelves in the living area. This is what took the most amount of time, as Hermione was constantly rearranging them to her satisfaction. Harry's Wizard Chess set was set on a small, square table between two of the comfortable chairs next to the fireplace, and his broom was placed on a pair of brackets above the mantle--it looked like the brackets had been placed there specifically for the purpose.
After he'd finished hanging the broom, he looked over towards where she was busily engaged at unpacking a number of different nick-knacks that she'd somehow managed to cram in her trunk--most of the decorations in the room were hers--and said, "Love, I'm going to go check out the bathroom. Be right back."
She mumbled something that sounded like "Okay" and he wandered off. He came back a few minutes later, after having done what he needed to do, and discovered that, in his absence, she'd placed a couple of pictures on the mantle. One was a Muggle photograph of her parents; they were smiling happily at the camera. The other was a framed copy of one of the few pictures of his parents that he had; his dad was waving at the camera with one hand while his other was wrapped around Lily. She was holding Harry as a baby and smiling down at him with such love in her eyes that he felt a lump appear in his throat, and felt tears welling up in his eyes.
Hermione felt his distress through the bond and came over to hug him. "Oh, Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't realize..." She went to remove the photo from the mantle, and Harry made a motion to stop her.
"It's alright," he said huskily, "I was just wishing that they could be here, especially for the wedding. I...I still wish I could have gotten to know them." He brushed the tears out of his eyes. "I don't know why I'm getting so emotional about this. It's not like I haven't looked at that photo a thousand times before."
Hermione hugged him tightly, and then pressed her lips to his tightly. When they came up for air, she said quietly, "You've never gotten married before, either."
They quickly finished up with unpacking, and then got ready to go downstairs to dinner. They met Ron and Ginny in the Gryffindor common room.
"Unpacking, hunh?" asked Ron with a joking glint in his eye.
"Actually," answered Harry, "That's exactly what we were doing. You'd be amazed at the amount of junk she had squeezed into that trunk. I know we unpacked more than I helped pack in it." He shook his head in disbelief.
Hermione and Ginny looked at each other with these superior expressions on their faces and then burst into giggles.
"They're both barking mad," said Ron with a grin.
Harry snorted.
The four of them went downstairs to dinner and took seats at the Gryffindor table just as other students began to filter in. They were soon surrounded by Neville, Dean, Seamus, the Creevy Brothers, Lavender, Parvati, and assorted other Gryffindors.
"We didn't see you on the train," said Dean to Ron. "But there were Aurors all over it."
"They were afraid that V...Voldemort would attack the train if we were on it," answered Ron.
"So how'd you get here?"
"Floo."
"Weasley," said a snide voice, "You really talk too much. You're lucky school has not started yet, otherwise I'd be taking points." They looked up to see Professor Snape standing behind them. He looked across Ron and Dean to where Harry and Hermione were sitting.
"Potter. Granger." He sniffed and then walked on.
Professor McGonagall brought the first years into the hall. As she passed the Gryffindor table, she favored Harry and Hermione with a smile.
Harry could hear Lavender asking Hermione, "How was your summer?"
Hermione smiled. "It was interesting, to say the least."
"What happened?"
"Well, I got my house destroyed by Death Eaters," she said dryly.
"Oh, my God!" said Lavender, "Why?"
"Hmm," said Hermione, "I'm Muggle-born. My parents are Muggles. I know Harry. I exist." She looked at Lavender with a smile. "Do they really need a reason? I'm not mad at you. I'm just a little sensitive on the subject."
Lavender nodded.
The conversation was interrupted by the Sorting Ceremony, which was followed by Dumbledore's speech.
"I'd like to welcome everyone back to another year at Hogwarts. I have a few announcements to make before we can eat. First, no doubt the more observant of you noticed the presence of Aurors on the Hogwarts Express. This was to protect you from Voldemort." There was a swell of muttered conversation through the room. "Make no mistake, regardless of what the Ministry would have you believe, he has returned."
"Second, the Forbidden Forest is off-limits to all students. I say this every year, and yet certain students..." He gave a glance at the Gryffindor table, which resulted in laughter from every other house except the Slytherins, "persist in ignoring this warning. Please, for your own safety, stay out of there."
"Third, I would like to re-introduce our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. After last years disastrous class, I am proud to say that Professor Lupin is returning to us." This resulted in cheers from the Gryffindor table. Professor Dumbledore looked pointedly at the Slytherin table, most of whom were grumbling among themselves. "Yes, Professor Lupin is a werewolf. There is no need to remind us of this fact."
"That brings me to my final announcement. Given the seriousness of what we are facing, we cannot afford any divisiveness right now. We can't be Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin; we must be Hogwarts, if we are to survive." He paused and looked out over the room. "Make no mistake, we are at war. I don't expect it to come to us here, but any weakness we show will increase that likelihood. We must be united."
"So, with that in mind...dig in!"
Food appeared on the tables and the students ate with relish. Somehow, the question of Harry and Hermione's summers did not come up again in conversation--they knew that their relationship would become public knowledge soon enough, but it was nice to eat one meal without being under excessive scrutiny from their classmates. Somehow, also, their matching rings went unnoticed. They finished their dinners, and Hermione and Ron got up to take the first years up to the Gryffindor dormitories.
Harry took a seat at one of the tables in the Gryffindor common room where he was joined by Dean and Seamus.
"Hey, Harry, how was your summer?" asked Dean.
Harry smiled. "Eventful," he said.
Dean said, "Harry, don't you live in Little Whinging?"
Harry looked at him. "Yeah, why?"
"I could have sworn I saw you and Hermione on the news this summer. Something about some bloke going nutters and shooting the neighborhood up."
Harry looked across the room to the girl's staircase where he saw Hermione come downstairs. She came over to the table and sat down next to Harry.
"Dean was just asking me about a news story he saw this summer, 'Mione," said Harry.
"Yeah, was it you?" insisted Seamus.
Harry sighed. "Yeah, the bloke who went 'nutters' was my Uncle Vernon. Only he wasn't nutters; Lucius Malfoy had cursed him into trying to kill me. What you saw was Hermione saving my life. If she hadn't been there, I would've bled to death. He hit me twice; broke my shoulder and plugged a kidney."
"Bloody hell, Harry!" said Dean. "Why aren't you still in the hospital?"
Harry looked at Hermione briefly, and then mumbled, "I was lucky."
At that moment, Ron sat down in front of Harry. "So, what are we talking about?" he asked.
"Harry getting shot," said Seamus.
"Yeah, you should have seen him. Bloody mess when Hermione brought him through the floo to the Burrow. Bleeding everywhere, almost died," said Ron.
Harry sighed. "I'd rather we didn't talk about this."
Ron said, "Sorry, mate."
Harry nodded and then yawned. "I'm going to bed, I'm dead tired."
"You look it," said Ron. He grinned wickedly, "You actually going to get any sleep tonight?"
Harry just shook his head, "Ron, that joke was old awhile ago."
"Where's your trunk, Harry?" asked Seamus. "I didn't see it up in the room."
"That's because it's not," replied Harry. "It's behind that painting over there." He pointed at the picture of Godric Gryffindor on the wall.
"Oh? Why?"
"You're about to find out," was the reply. Harry held his hand out to Hermione, "Coming to bed, dear?" He enjoyed very much the shocked expressions on Dean and Seamus's faces.
Hermione took his hand and stood up. "Yes, I think I will. But first..." She came up to him, wrapped him in a hug, and kissed him hard. After a moment of stunned delay, Harry returned the kiss. After what seemed like hours, although it couldn't have been more than a minute or so, Ron clearing his throat brought them back to reality.
The common room was utterly silent; everyone seemed to be watching Harry and Hermione, including Professor McGonagall, who had come in the room.
"Mr. Potter," she said, "And Ms. Granger, I don't think I really need to tell you that the common room is not the place for public displays of affection. That is why you have your own room." Her face was serious, but her eyes were showing her amusement. "I don't want to have to tell you again, because then I would have to take points."
"Yes, Professor," they answered.
"Professor," said Hermione, "I only did that because I thought it would be the simplest way to answer everyone's questions."
"Indeed, Ms. Granger. However, I daresay it only created more." The twinkle in her eye grew larger. "Anyway, off to bed with the both of you. Classes start tomorrow."
"Yes, professor," they answered.
Harry escorted Hermione over to the portrait, where, to the stunned amazement of the other Gryffindors, they opened it, entered, and closed it behind them.